Award-Winning Mandarin Chinese Courses & Classes in Houston, TX

Whether you are interested in pursuing Chinese outside a classroom, you are a student at the University of Houston, or if you are in a class in Memorial High School or Clear Lake High School, Varsity Tutors can provide you with the opportunity to enroll in a Houston Chinese course. If you are a beginner, learning Chinese can be a difficult experience, and perhaps you have concluded that a traditional classroom is either not right for you or not enough for you.

It is important that you always practice conversing in a language that you are trying to speak, and Chinese is no different. It requires a lot of practice in both speaking and writing. A Houston Chinese course can provide you with some necessary immersion as well as allowing you to have access to the assistance of an expert Chinese instructor.

There are many different Chinese dialects, some of which include Mandarin, Hakka, Gan, and Xiang. Out of these, Mandarin is the most popular form spoken and is used as the official tongue in the People's Republic of China, which includes Hong Kong. It is also the official language in Taiwan. Historically, though, most people in the United States that are fluent in Chinese use the Cantonese dialect. No matter which dialect is being spoken, all of them follow the same system for writing.

Written Chinese has existed for a long time. Some Chinese characters in the written system were used as far back as the Shang Dynasty. Chinese is the only modern language that is pictographic. Chinese characters are drawings that describe things, though the symbols do not provide any help for learning pronunciation.

As Chinese has over one billion native speakers, it is considered to be the most popular language across the globe. This means that if you know how to speak and write in Chinese, you could have a distinct advantage in international business and trade. Knowing Chinese also opens you up to a variety of Eastern philosophies, so you will be able to dive into other cultures.

Enrolling in a Houston Chinese class could very well be the thing for you, no matter whether you are a complete novice to the language or someone trying to freshen up some previously learned skills.

What material does a Houston Chinese course teach?

Because Chinese has very little in common with the English language, it is considered to be one of the most difficult languages for a native English speaker to master. The Chinese language consists of more than 50,000 characters. Each syllable in a word is represented by one of these characters, with more than 20,000 being commonly used. When writing in Chinese, you can expect to use about 2,500 unique symbols regularly. In your class, you will learn about Pinyin, which is a system that translates Chinese characters into letters of the English alphabet. This system relies on pronunciation for the translation process.

When you are learning to speak Chinese, you will study the basics of this tonal language. The word definition is going to be dependent on which tone is used when speaking. Mandarin Chinese has four tones, which include rising, falling then rising, falling, and flat. There are up to nine different tones used in the other dialects.

Something else that can be tricky about the Chinese language is the fact that it does not use articles, inflections on verbs, or pluralized words. There is simply one grammatical form per word. Some native English speakers have trouble with this, as they use an -s at the end of the word to mark it as plural, whereas Chinese has no changes to the nouns in plural form.

You will also learn about pronouns, which have different characters based on the gender of the pronoun. The word will be the same, but the pronunciation will differ. You will also learn about verbs and differentiating verbs that sound similar, common Chinese phrases, grammar and sentence structure, vocabulary, and more. Your Chinese instructor will be there for you the entire time, and there will be plenty of discussions and chances to practice what you learn.

How will a Houston Chinese course teach me?

Since a Houston Chinese class is fully online, there is no need for a long commute when you are ready to begin studying. You can practice right there in your living room. You don't have to sacrifice interactivity for convenience, though. You will be able to see and speak with your Chinese instructor and your other classmates as well as participate in discussions and various activities.

A Houston Chinese course will also allow you to request some personal time with your Chinese teacher in case you aren't understanding a subject or aren't learning as quickly as you'd like. This one-on-one time can prove beneficial for understanding subjects that you struggle to learn.

Because classes do begin on a rolling monthly basis, you will be able to quickly find a class that will help fit your needs. Additionally, you can pick what times you want to study, so if you need to practice at nights or on the weekends, you can.

How can I get started?

Whether you're trying to help supplement your language learning skills for a class, because you want to explore Chinese culture, or because you want to have an advantage in international business, Varsity Tutors can help you get started in a Houston Chinese class. We will offer you more information on what material you're going to be learning while in the class so you know what to expect. We will also give you details about how and when you can enroll, as well as what classes are currently available for you to join. With the assistance of an experienced Chinese teacher, the interactivity of studying with other students, and the various discussions and activities that boost comprehension in both written and spoken Chinese, you will soon find yourself learning all about the Chinese language and how to speak it. Contact Varsity Tutors today.