Beida University more than likely has non-English speaking teachers. This makes every thing difficult.

It is best to hire a tutor, which allows you to progress at tyou on pace. And it usually is cheaper.

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I treid that. It was useless as the teacher spoke no English. Try finding a tutor. Find a unemployed Chinese who speakes English.

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What kind of teaching you go for depends a lot on your personal situation, and on your personality.

You've got three main choices:

1) Chinese university language programs
2) Private Chinese language programs
3) Private tutors

Some Chinese universities offer excellent Chinese programs -- Beijing University and the Foreign Languages Institute are both excellent in this regard (and they DO have English-speaking teachers...I'm not sure where the above comment about Beijing University not having English-speaking teachers came from).

However, these programs are quite intensive -- 3-4 hours of classes every day (usually in the morning), Mon-Fri. For the person who is really serious about learning Chinese (both oral and written), and who has the time, this is a great option. However, it is not really an option for a person who's working full time.

That takes us to option #2 - the private language school. The Bridge School is a good example of this. The benefit of such programs is that they are more flexible, both in regards to time (you choose the times that best fit your schedule), and in regards to what you study (for example, to focus only on oral Chinese). The programs are quite professional, and will help you understand many of the subtelties of the Chinese language, as well as to address the most common problems faced by English-speakers when they learn Chinese. The disadvantage would be that they are fairly standardized in approach, and you may find yourself studying vocabulary which is not personally very useful to you; and there is relatively little time for actually practicing this in the classroom.

The third option, getting a private tutor, is in some ways best. It means you can choose exactly what you study, when you study, etc. It is far more flexible and personal, and allows you to focus very specifically on those things that are most important to you.

The disadvantage is that private tutors may not have experience (or be very capable) with language teaching. And if your Chinese right now is not that good, I would very highly recommende getting a teacher who does speak good English, so that they can explain the more difficult aspects of the language to you.

But in the end, the most important part comes down to you -- you can study as much as you want, but if you're not using it, it won't amount to diddly-squat (I love that term). In Beijing, it is quite easy to get by with just using English, especially in the workplace. If you really want to improve your Chinese, you've got to force yourself to actually use it more.

Finding private tutors is not that difficult -- you can check the personals sections of various magazines/websites (or post your own ad that you are looking for a tutor); you can contact some of the universities (it will be difficult to find an experienced teacher, but tons of English majors who would love the chance to earn a little extra cash with private tutoring); or just talk to Chinese people in your company, and they can almost certainly hook you up with someone who can help.

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