A Way for Business People to Learn Chinese

BEIJING – Chinese language teachers in Beijing don’t need to apply for work visas to teach in the United States anymore. From an office in west Beijing they can teach their mother tongue through the Internet language school eChineseLearning to Americans and students in 41 other countries.

Born in Beijing, Fred Rao, founder and CEO of chinese-online, speaks passionately about his teaching adventure and mission: to cover every corner of the world with the Chinese language.

After graduating from Stanford University with a master’s in business administration, Rao launched his Internet language school in Beijing in the spring of 2006, with venture capital from the United States. He said his dream took root in his heart long ago, when he lived with his teacher parents. He started his first weekend Chinese language school in the San Francisco Bay Area while still a student at Stanford.

In the fall of 2006, the U.S. College Board's Advanced Placement Program, which prepares high school students for college-level courses, added the Chinese language and culture class into its curriculum. It brought the Chinese language to the attention of many American high schools, students and their parents.

“As we don’t have enough Chinese teachers in my school, we use chinese-online’s service to provide online tutoring service for our students,” said Mary Hagen, who teaches at a high school in Palo Alto, Calif. “Its service is supplementary to our teaching at the school.”

Thousands of high schools across the United States started offering Chinese courses last year, which Rao sees as opening the door to a huge market to his Internet Chinese language school. Since then, chinese-online has landed an increasing number of individuals, as well as school groups, to learn from more than 40 teachers working in China’s capital. Students and teachers sit in a virtual classroom using the free service of Skype, said Rao.

Rao’s Internet language school would have been a mission impossible only a few years ago, when the technologies needed were rare and expensive. But now, empowered by Skype, Google Talk and MSN, with audio, video and multimedia materials on its website, more than 400 students between four and 72 years old have been studying in virtual classrooms. Rao plans to attract students from at least 100 countries next year.

But it is China’s economic engine that is the most powerful force bringing students to learn Chinese. People from all over the world believe that knowing the delicate tonal language is surely a tool to grab a sizeable share of that market.

Jeff Ryan from New York City said one key reason his company chose to train employees in virtual Chinese language classrooms on a regular basis was “that they (eChineseLearning) can customize lessons to meet our employee’s need and schedule.”

“The price is unbelievably cheap – a small fraction for what you would ordinarily have to pay in the United States for such high quality one-on-one tutoring,” said Anthony Zaloom, adjunct professor of law, business and economy, who teaches at Univ. of California, Berkeley School of Law.

The price is a big draw for individual and group students. eChineseLearning charges students nine U.S. dollars per hour, less than half of the market price for the prevalent tutoring rate of $20 to $30 in the San Francisco Bay Area or in New York. If bought in bulk class hours, students get an hour for seven dollars. From time to time, the online language school offers promotions. Its five dollars per hour price lures new students.

Having been an eChineseLearning student since shortly after the school got started, Zaloom has worked in law firms in China and Japan for more than three decades.

The course is tailored to each student’s need. Rao now offers an advanced-level course, with the student reading and discussing with his or her Chinese teacher the most famous, ancient Chinese novel “Dream of the Red Chamber.”

learn chinese-one on one mandarin lessons online

With the increased popularity of the internet, online learn chinese or distance education has become more popular and mainstream. The learning courses offered online do not require the student to be on campus for most or all class participation. The courses allow the students to work with course materials at their own convenience or communicate with tutor using instant message tools like MSN or Skype.

Online learning are ideal for people who have full-time jobs or other commitments and cannot take time off for full time studies. By leveraging the internet to deliver rich multimedia instruction along with online communities and discussions, e-learning has the power to increase access to education and training, while reducing learning costs.

No matter the level of instruction or information you are seeking, you no longer have to achieve your education through the traditional means. Browse through internet which contains extensive information and resources for today’s online learning and education.

My advice to anyone wanting to learn Chinese is to come to Chinese Online. Rather than paying for a substandard university course you can have a true immersion experience and get paid for your efforts. If you did want to go to University then fee’s here are very very cheap. It is just a piece of cake for people living in the western world.