Award-Winning Mandarin Chinese Courses & Classes in Boulder, CO

If you'd like help learning Chinese, Varsity Tutors offers live online Boulder Chinese courses where you can work with an expert instructor and peers who are at approximately the same level of Chinese language acquisition as you. New courses start each month, so you are never too far from beginning your class once you enroll.

Chinese is considered one of the most difficult languages for English speakers to learn because it's entirely different from English. Learning to write Chinese characters is a lifelong pursuit for even Chinese scholars. It's worth learning since Mandarin is the most spoken language in the world. With the continually "shrinking" globe, learning Chinese can provide advantages in your academic, career, and social lives. You can also gain deeper exposure to Eastern philosophical thought than is possible without knowing the original language.

What kind of information does a Boulder Chinese class cover?

If you're just starting your journey to understand the language, you may start by learning about the four Mandarin Chinese tones: flat, rising, falling then rising, and falling. Words that are pronounced exactly the same can mean very different things. For example, if you want to talk about a system being in harmony, you could accidentally discuss a system being in river crab. Being introduced to and practicing the different tones is likely to be a continuing theme throughout your Chinese course.

Because it can take years to learn enough Chinese characters to be considered even marginally fluent, a written system called Pinyin has been developed. Pinyin uses Western letters to represent Chinese words phonetically so you can write Chinese before you've learned enough characters to express full thoughts.

Each Chinese word has only one grammatical form, which can be confusing. On the other hand, you don't have to learn verb conjugation and tenses. You might come to appreciate that if you've tried to learn another new language with charts and charts of verb forms. Chinese speakers understanding their meaning based on context.

Because using a language is the best way to learn it, your course may begin with introductory words and phrases that can get you into simple greeting conversations as early as your first day. When you learn the top 100 words of a language, you can communicate at a decent level, so that may be one of your instructor's goals for you and your classmates.

Using proper pronunciation is always considered respectful, but as mentioned, it's essential for Chinese. This will likely be an ongoing focus of your class. All aspects of the language can be considered, as well as Chinese history, culture, and traditions.

Why is it better to learn in a Boulder Chinese course than on my own?

Language would be pointless if people didn't communicate with one another. Learning a language with help from someone more fluent than you is not only helpful, but it's the best way to practice using the language in a real-life context. When you take an online Boulder Chinese class, you have access to an expert, fluent instructor as well as a group of classmates. You can all interact with one another during the class, which gives you the chance to practice vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar in real time with real people.

Working in a collaborative classroom environment is proven to increase both learning and retention of the material learned. This is sometimes informally called the use-it-or-lose-it theory. If you've ever experienced not being able to think of a word that's "right on the tip of your tongue," it's probably one you haven't used much recently. It will probably come to you, but if you had been using it on a regular basis, it would have likely come much more quickly, or without even thinking about it.

The same is even more relevant to learning a new language because it's less likely you've heard the word randomly elsewhere, and there are fewer connections in your brain to each new Chinese word. Therefore, getting real-time practice with real-life conversation is an important part of language acquisition at any level, and your Chinese class can provide the time to practice. Additionally, you may meet other students with whom you can continue to practice conversations outside of class time.

There are many methods of memorization, which is a large part of learning a new language. You need to memorize lots of vocabulary, many grammar rules, and even idiomatic phrases and words. Then you have to memorize the spelling of these in Pinyin, and then you continually work on memorizing the characters. If you study on your own, you may only have access to one or two memorization techniques that you've learned in school. That can work out well if you're well-suited to those techniques. But that's not always the case.

If you're a visual learner who has only ever been taught memorization through rhyming or storytelling techniques, you may be having trouble. Your Boulder Chinese class instructor can introduce a spaced repetition method using digital or physical flashcards with a Chinese word and an image instead of an English translation. There are memorization techniques for all kinds of learners, and having a professional help you find the one or two that work best for you can make a huge difference in how quickly you memorize vocabulary, grammar, and more.

Sounds good. How can I get signed up for a Boulder Chinese course?

Whether you're interested in lessons to supplement your Chinese language class at Niwot High School, the University of Colorado - Boulder, an employer-provided language program, or your own personal study, it's easy to get enrolled. Simply contact the educational consultants at Varsity Tutors, provide some information they'll ask you about regarding your schedule, current level of fluency, and goals. With this information, they can get you enrolled in a Boulder Chinese course that starts within a month and meets your unique set of needs. We look forward to helping you as you work towards Chinese language fluency that can open a whole new world of possibilities for you.