Find a professional Mandarin tutor near you

When you request for Mandarin lessons via Airtasker, you’ll get a tutor who can conduct basic or advanced classes for you. You can ask for in-person lessons, or online sessions if this is something you prefer. You can also find teachers for toddlers, children, and even adults. 

Your tutor’s approach may differ, as they may have learned Mandarin as a second language or they might be a native speaker from the start. But, overall, here is what you can expect when you start your Mandarin lessons with the help of a Tasker: 

Introduction to Mandarin

If you’re new to Mandarin, your Tasker may begin by teaching you how to introduce yourself and greet people. Your tutor may then explain Chinese numbers, time, money, and terms for various family members, occupations, and ages. 

Basic Mandarin Phrases

There is no Chinese alphabet since the characters are all syllables that are put together to create words. Hence, you’ll go straight to forming words or phrases. Next, your Mandarin tutor shows you how to construct basic phrases and questions.

Your Mandarin tutor needs to know your motivations for learning the language, since they may tailor this to your needs. For example, if you intend to do business with Mandarin speakers, you’ll need to learn business terms and etiquette. If you are vacationing in China, you’ll want to know how to request items from shops or order from a restaurant. 

Basic Mandarin Grammar

As you get deeper into the lessons, your tutor will cover Mandarin grammar elements, such as tones, nouns, verbs, adjectives, and prepositions. The four phonetic tones don’t exist in European languages and English, so it’ll require an attentive ear and lots of exercises for you to master this aspect of Mandarin. 

Nouns don’t have articles or genders, nor distinctions between singular and plural. Verbs are relatively straightforward in Mandarin - they don’t change depending on person, tense, and number. Instead, you’ll make use of tense makers and measure words to convey additional information, all of which your tutor will test you on. 

Advanced Mandarin Grammar

If you already know basic Mandarin, you may want more advanced lessons, such as those covering questions, negative statements, requesting items, “because” sentences, and more. 

By this time, your Tasker may expect you to be able to read, listen, write, and speak quite a lot of Mandarin. They may have you read Mandarin books or watch Mandarin videos, have you converse with others in Mandarin, or even write essays in the language. 

If you’re short on time but need to learn Mandarin to create business presentations, you might like to hire a Mandarin translator in your community.