Linus Liu

Chinese lessons with Linus are always exciting. With every lesson, I feel more confident with my understanding of spoken and written Chinese 😊

I am currently taking the B1/B2 class, and Linus was very prepared and tailored each class to suit my language skill and level. He has a wide range of material that he uses and the lessons never get boring. We are currently working on reading comprehension and conversation, and I am already seeing an improvement after a few classes. The materials he has given me thus far build upon each other, so there is a natural progression. This is great if you like a structured course. I also purchased the conversational Chinese course package from Linus. The conversational courses are fun and more informal, and are a great supplement to my B1/B2 lessons.

This teacher seems to be more for intermediate and advanced. We did not do any introductions. We dove straight into reading a Chinese dialogue and that was extremely stressful. Learning mandarin is very hard as it is. It’s important I think to have a relaxed environment and learn about the person and their goals. It’s a trial so I though we would try a few things and talk about where I was with my level and experience and what my goals are. I was also taught mainland Chinese which is fast. He told me over and over I spoke too fast and did not drag the pronunciation long enough. My friend helped me realize the difference between teaching Taiwanese mandarin and mainland China. Overall, it was unexpectedly stressful. I think it wasn’t a good match for me with the differences in learning and teaching. My level is only beginner, so I didn’t need something so advanced during a trial.

Linus' lessons are always tailored to my needs - whether I want to work from textbook, or have a discussion about a Chengyu I've heard, he makes sure I leave the lesson without unanswered questions. I've been learning with Linus since I first started studying Chinese, and his lessons have been a cornerstone of my learning. I would recommend Linus as a teacher to a Chinese student of any standard, who want a personalized learning experience from a teacher who is passionate about teaching Chinese.

My first session with Linus was great. I wanted help in speaking and listening and he slowed me down to ensure I was saying each character/word with the proper tones. What was largely unintelligible mandarin coming from me is now (slow) but much more understandable mandarin speaking.

I had a great first lesson with Linus, he was super patient and by the end of the lesson I had learnt something about pronunciation, I’m looking forward to the next class!