A very common and useful way of improving your spoken Chinese (汉语) is to have a language partner (also known as tandem partner) or a private tutor. I only thought about language partners when I was studying at BLCU because that seemed to be the norm, but language partners can actually be really good if you can find the right one.

There’s generally two reasons people go to BLCU:

1. Study and learn the language and culture
2. Cheap food, cheap booze, cheap shopping and party

For those who really want to work on their Chinese, it won’t take you long to realise that hanging out with international students who speak English (or Russian or Korean or whatever language other than Chinese) is not quite effective. This is why most real students will have a language partner (tandem partner)

Definition: Language Partner

Language partners are individuals who are (preferably) native speakers in which they can help you improve your verbal skills in their language. In exchange you will help them improve their verbal skills in your native language. (tandem partners, 互相朋友)

Definition: Private Tutor

Private Tutors are individuals who help aid and teach you in a topic (Chinese) in exchange for money.

Finding a Language Partner/Tutor

Language Partners can be really good if you can find the right one, and unfortunately that’s the main issue I had with them. I found it a bit harder (and when I say harder, I mean that I actually had to put some effort in) to get a language partner because I look Asian. The local Chinese will walk up and approach Caucasians because they prefer Americans or those from UK (to copy the accents). In my case, my roommate introduced me to a local friend she met in her tai chi class.

The best way to find a language partner or private tutor is by asking your teacher. Hopefully your teacher also teaches local students, if not, they would probably know of another teacher which does. Your teacher would also hopefully know of some new/student teachers who are looking for side jobs. From my understanding, many of the younger teachers don’t get paid much, and so they tutor for some extra cash.

And another option would be to advertise for a language partner or private tutor. There are pin-up boards at some language schools in Wudaokou, and even the classified section of The Beijinger which could be easily utilised. There’s also the option of attending a nearby language school instead of private tutoring, but I would personally rather have a one on one session… it’s not that expensive (forgot how much it cost…. ~50RMB/hr?)

What to expect with a Language Partner/Tutor

A private tutor is pretty straightforward; you get exactly what you paid for: a person who will tutor you. But a language partner should be two individuals who get along to some degree. In my opinion, you should be able to call your language partner a ‘friend’ and go on social outings and excursions together, this way you can actually learn words which are relevant to day to day life. But some language partners do one-on-one sessions where you spend 1hr teaching them and then they spend the next hours teaching you.

The funny thing about language partners is that it really highlights the cultural differences between nationalities. I didn’t really notice any differences beforehand because of the minimal interaction with the local students, and the local Chinese I did meet were quite typical.

You just need to keep in mind the differences in social interaction… The easiest way for me to describe a typical local Chinese student in a social situation is to use the analogy of the shy fat kid who suffers from verbal diarrhoea and/or foot-in-mouth when put under pressure.

Don’t get me wrong, not all the locals are socially stunted, there’s just seems to be a higher prevalence of them around international student hangouts? Or maybe I was just unlucky? Either way, you need to watch out for dodgy language partners (especially if you’re female) because it seems to be a common occurrence to use the ‘language partner’ excuse to pick up and/or hit on international students.

The arrangement I had with my language partner was 1hr teaching, 1hr learning. I actually wanted a more ‘hands on’ approach (ie going on learning excursions), but my partner didn’t understand the concept. And it was because of the very rigid class-room approach (although I had more fun in class) which had me very tired of the sessions with her very fast. I was already doing 25hrs of classes a week, at least 1hr a day for homework (yes I actually did it!), and I didn’t feel the need to kill my brain with another 2hr session once or twice a week.

To my language partner’s credit, she really helped me improve my tones (you could actually hear the difference after the first session). And if I was more dedicated in being accurate with my tones rather than improving my vocab, I might have actually appreciated her a lot more.

Conclusion

Language partners and private tutors will help you improve your spoken Chinese, but at the same time you shouldn’t be disappointed with the lack of effectiveness if you don’t find the right language partner for you.

I also want to add that I personally found it more effective to befriend those whom can only communicate with you in Chinese. This way it’ll force you to slowly struggle through conversations and improve your Chinese.

Example 1: Roommate

My roommate, although she’s an international student, didn’t know any English and I can honestly say that she was a huge contributing factor to my improvement of vocabulary. Our simple daily conversations usually ended with both of us flipping through the dictionary trying to work out what the other was saying.

Example 2: Classmates

Classmates are probably the best ones to talk to because you’re all on the same level and it’s a good opportunity to get know them. By the end of your course, you’ll find that you’ve made some life long friends. The bad thing about speaking with classmates is that it’s very easy to slip into English because many of the international students know some English or are learning it as well.

Example 3: Locals

I accidentally befriended a local Chinese storekeeper when I was at BLCU, she works at the Wudaokou Clothing Market 五道口服装市场 and we had some really interesting conversations where she would tell me things and I would only grasp about 60% of what she said. It was a real challenge to chat to her beyond the basics because of my limited vocabulary, but it was very satisfying when you finally understand what was said. Another plus was that I didn’t even have to bargain for the clothes in her stall =D