Taiwan Mandarin Institute

Well, all and all, that went well. I learned some stuff, but nowhere near as much as if I’d applied myself a little more. I’ll be signing up for a 1 on 1 class after the New Year. I will say that my classmates improved a great deal. 3 of them, who actually did homework, were reading characters by end of term. The shy ones lost that glowing red sheen across their brows and really got into it. Personally, I am satisfied with the overall experience even though the classroom pace was a little slow for me. I would imagine it to be perfect for a beginner though. However, it’s yi dui yi from here on in for me.

Good luck!

@simonb81 I am so curious if they do that conversion rate at this moment…I checked on their website and found no prices, but through a Kayak like page, I saw 560$ which went away as I clicked on it. I did go to MLC for 9 months and I like the structure and hours, but I need a location which is closer to my house. I might just pay extra to go to NTNU because it seems a little more official. Quality is far more important than price. The actual looks of the TMI school demonstrate red flags. I think your message did justice for those of us looking at TMI because generally Universities have been around longer and they just do not relocate to new locations or even change names and erase messages on websites.

New term begins on Monday 11th January. Any students who have not yet registered for the January term can visit the institute before Friday 8th January to register. Below are the classes and level information. Each class has a maximum of 9 students per class :

Starting Monday 11th Jan 2016 :

Morning Classes
Beginner Class 9am-11am ( Seat Available )
Lower Intermediate Class ( Full-No seat Available)
Intermediate 9am-11am ( Seat Available)

Night Classes
Beginner Class 7pm-9pm ( Seats Available)
Lower Intermediate Class 7pm-9pm ( Seats Available)
Intermediate 7pm-9pm (Full-No seat available)

For more information or to reserve your place you can visit the institute reception in person or email info@tmichinese.com

Thanks

TMI Team

Hello, I am looking at some schools in Taipei, but I heard that students at TMI were just put in whatever class without consideration for their level. Can any students at TMI share your experience there? I also noticed that the Ministry of Education and Taipei City logo that they used to put on their site was taken off. Any one know what is going on?

Are you basing this on what I said? Yes the class was slow for me. TMI management offered to put me in another level, but I declined, preferring to ease into my lessons.

You have either Sherlock Holmes level of observation skills or…

I have no idea, but so what. TMI provides quality instruction at reasonable prices. Management is, in my experience, happy to listen to your thoughts.

Hi Folks,
I’m considering the intensive course (lower-intermediate or intermediate level) at Taiwan Mandarine Institute in Taipei (http://www.tmichinese.com/). Their schedule seems very flexible, where you can start on any Monday and join for the week. I’m interested in improving my listening, speaking and reading comprehension, but not writing (given that I mostly type, I don’t want to spend any time on writing characters). I definitely don’t want the Pinyin-only TLI experience. That didn’t work for me. Yet, the university programs are too focused on writing!

The TMI staff said their classes focus on listening and speaking, but not reading/writing. Yet, it looks like they use the Audio Visual Chinese textbooks. :ponder:
My question is whether in their intensive course they use Pinyin or Chinese characters? do you learn how to read the new vocabulary introduced in class?

Of course, I’m very interested in hearing about any feedback folks might have about TMI. I couldn’t find any feedback on TMI on Forumosa. The only reviews I found are here http://www.languageinternational.com/school/taiwan-mandarin-institute-taipei-63693#section-reviews (and it is all pretty glaring).

Thanks for your help!

did you manage to get through all the courses? i read on their website that there are like 4 levels.

They follow the same levels as universities which mostly use the same book ACCC A Contemporary Course in Chinese. But the handwriting of characters is not so labor-intensive so you have more time to actually learn to communicate in the language.