Where can i find a decent chinese tutor

im after a decent tutor - any ideas?

how much should i expect to pay

ta

Here are my recommended criteria for choosing a tutor:
First, can you tell whether their pronunciation is good, i.e., do they juan3she2 (curl the tongue back) for ch, sh and zh? If you can’t tell, try to get a local friend who can.

Second, are they an experienced professional? My local friends who have taught Chinese in Junior High or above are much better teachers than the average local, I have found. So you might start by advertising for a teacher like that.

Third, $500-$650/hr seems like a fair range to me.

Good luck!

Market rates for teaching Chinese to foreigners one-on-one are generally in the range of NT$350-400 per hour.

I would NOT particularly recommend a teacher of Chinese from middle school or high school. These people teach Chinese to native speakers. You want someone who knows how to teach Chinese to a non-native speaker. There is a world of difference.

[quote=“ironlady”]Market rates for teaching Chinese to foreigners one-on-one are generally in the range of NT$350-400 per hour.

I would NOT particularly recommend a teacher of Chinese from middle school or high school. These people teach Chinese to native speakers. You want someone who knows how to teach Chinese to a non-native speaker. There is a world of difference.[/quote]
Ironlady, if it weren’t for your quote of a price far below what you can make teaching English, or I assume translating, I’d think you were trying to market yourself. :smiley: Someone who knows how to teach Chinese to non-native speakers? Of all the Chinese teachers I’ve had, I can’t say any of them knew how to teach Chinese to non-native speakers. :smiley:

Keep two things in mind when you are talking about market rates for Chinese tutors. Native speakers of English here are in short supply, whereas we are surrounded by native speakers of Chinese. As well, one on one teachers of Chinese at language schools certainly don’t get 600 NT an hour. Some are getting as low as 150 NT an hour. Even Shida teachers will teach privately for 350 an hour. When I was looking for a tutor, I just wanted a native speaker of Chinese. Since I am a teacher, I figured my tutor didn’t need any teaching experience. University students working in coffee shops don’t get paid much - 150 an hour is high - and the assistant teachers at my bushiban were getting 200 an hour. I thought the same kind of person, at the same kind of pay, would be perfect. Right now I pay my tutor 250 an hour, and he is excellent. When I advertised for a tutor, I mentioned on the ad that the pay was 250 an hour, and I got lots of replies.

A couple of questions - was the advertisement in Chinese or in English and how many hours a week did you offer? I was thinking of getting someone, but only for a couple of hours a week, and wondering if $NT250/hr would be enough to offer for that.

You all are right about the market prices. I just feel guilty about paying less than a quarter of what I charge. :blush:

Also, I should mention that I have dropped 9 out of 10 of the local language exchange partners I’ve tried, and the top two, it turns out, were or are both teachers of Mandarin at Jr Hi and above.

Of course you’re right that experience with teaching it to foreigners is even more important. Perhaps I’ve just been lucky. :mrgreen:

Do you have a teeny tiny clue that taking a “Teaching foreigners Chinese” course will squander $20,000NT in TaiDa?

Everyone needs to steer clear of such stuff.

Street vendors can help you a lot without charging you any cent. A plethora of White-people-ass-kissers maybe distort reality. I hope you have enormous time to embrace upcoming crazy trivia after taking advantage of their munificence.

Gosh. I hate that I post again.

[quote=“kimichen”]I hope you have enormous time to embrace upcoming crazy trivia after taking advantage of their munificence.

Gosh. I hate that I post again.[/quote]

Do you need any help removing that thesaurus from, er, the location it where seems to be lodged?

Keep in mind, too, that few street vendors can offer an ARC. :sunglasses:

I am also in search of a Mandarin tutor. There is alot of info here regarding the pay rates, however, does anyone have any suggestions as to where to advertise for a tutor? Or do you know a teacher who is looking for more hours? Let me know:)

Buyer beware in all situations (well, that’s true for English teachers, too! :laughing: ), but you could try the classified listings on tea$hit.com (okay, that’s an “l”, not an “$h” in case you don’t know) where I’ve seen a couple of people touting themselves as Mandarin teachers. Most of them have a rather inflated idea of what the going rate is, though! :laughing:

A quiet word to almost any language teacher working in a language center might get you either that person or a friend. Probably better to have a friend do the word-dropping, then it’s not direct solicitation which is not something the language schools encourage (after all, if you can get the same service at the same price elsewhere, but the teacher keeps all the money instead of it going to pay 45 girls who sit behind a counter and make paper stars – well, that’s a no-brainer in my book).

Negative enough, Southpaw??

Stop by Bobwundaye (www.bobwundaye.com) and ask Cathy, She knows several people who tutor privately. At least one of them teaches at Pioneer. Bobwundaye, by the way, is a good place to practice your Mandarin. Cathy and the other people who work there are used to foreigners who speak Mandarin, and they generally prefer to speak it anyway.

Kent–You generally give good advice, but I’m going to have to disagree with you on the importance of ‘standard’ pronunciation. People here just don’t emphasize the retroflexes much. If you do, you will sound strange.

We need a textbook that teaches real Mandarin as spoken in 2004 in Taipei and teaching program that doesn’t allow students to even look at a character for at least the first years.

When I was looking for a Chinese tutor, I had a Taiwanese friend help me write the ad in Chinese, and then I posted it at various universities in Taipei. To repeat, though, I wanted a university student. I was expecting to have to tell the teacher how to teach me, and I provide all teaching materials. The tutor just has to show up for class. If the location is convenient, and maybe if you have them teach two hours each time, I don’t think the number of hours per week should influence the price.
I didn’t want a real teacher precisely because I don’t think real teachers here know how to teach, or if they do, it will be Asian-style teaching.
If you’re willing to pay 500 or more an hour, you’d be better off going to a bushiban and taking a one-on-one class. TLI charges 380 an hour for one-on-ones. Other bushibans are even cheaper. Since the teacher doesn’t get that much, at least some bushiban teachers are willing to teach privately.