LTL Mandarin School Taiwan (Taibei)

I cannot recommend LTL Taipei enough! I’ve come back twice to study group classes and each time I had such amazing teachers. They care about your learning and the course material is great. It’s not the kind of school that makes you memorize for a test and then you forget everything after! Additionally, if you’ve never been to Taipei before or you’re travelling alone (that was me before) — LTL has such a great community and I was able to feel at home in a new country because of them! 

If you have the opportunity to go — DO IT!! 

Just a little review about LTL Taipei on this forum- I've been studying here for four months now and it has been such a great time, thanks to the amazing people who work here in particular (Riona, Greta, Marine, Alin, Ottavia, and the teachers are really nice as well, Ivory, Chiangmei, Jasmine, Alice...). So many activities are organised every week, which is of great help for socialising, and Taipei is an amazing city for exploration! I learnt some basic mandarin pretty fast and hope to keep improving. I recommend 100%.

LTL Taipei has been a wonderful experience! I arrived with little to no prior knowledge of Mandarin and left after two weeks feeling confident in having simple conversations. The group of advisors, teachers, and students is genuinely welcoming and kind. I highly recommend LTL to anyone seeking competent teachers and a fantastic community. 

I have loved my 10 week course at LTL Language School in Taipei. The course has been tailored to my Mandarin level and specific learning goals, and I have enjoyed the freedom of the classes. The teachers are willing to accomdated for any specific topics or language skills which you want to learn. My teachers have been Jessica and Lin, who have both been amazing. They explain difficult concepts clearly, adapt the classes to any requests and both provide very enjoyable classes.

Additionally, the staff, namely Riona, Alin, Hannah, Greta, Marine, and Ottavia, create a truly supportive and engaging atmosphere. They organise regular activities for the students such as mahjong and night market visits. There are also daily lunch outings, allowing students to sample local food and practice Mandarin in everyday situations. The homestay arrangement facilitated by LTL has also significantly enhanced my language immersion.

The school environment is friendly and open, it is a perfect space for learning. I recommend LTL to anyone thinking about studying Mandarin in Taipei.

I’m currently on week eight of ten total studying with LTL in Taipei, and it’s been amazing. All the staff and teachers are super kind and knowledgeable, and I’ve seen so much improvement in my Chinese abilities. I’m also staying with a homestay set up through LTL, and my host family has been incredibly warm and welcoming. I would highly recommend LTL Taipei to anyone wanting to immerse themselves in Chinese.

As a heads up, I’m including everything I would have liked to know ahead of time, so this is pretty wordy lol.

For context for the rest of the review, I signed up for Homestay Half Board, 20 hours of small group and 10 hours of individual classes per week, the Survival Kit Standard, Connection Kit, and the Safari upgrade. When I came to Taiwan, I was at a high A1/low A2 level, but my speaking and listening was pretty weak.

Classes
I have morning group classes from 9-1, a lunch break from 1-2, and then one on one class from 2-4 on Mondays and Wednesdays and 2-5 on Tuesdays and Thursdays (my teacher and I both enjoy having Friday afternoons off). I had about three weeks of morning group classes, but then my classmate left and I switched to the same amount of time but individual classes. 

I’ve had the same afternoon teacher (Anqi Zhang) for my entire time here. Since my morning group classes go through a standard textbook (more on that later), she focuses our classes on practical Chinese, like ordering at a restaurant, getting directions, and talking about hobbies and preferences. LTL has a variety of supplemental textbooks that she pulls the lessons from, and we also sometimes just talk about our days/life in America vs Taiwan to practice listening and speaking (my weakest areas).

With the Safari upgrade, on Tuesdays and Thursdays (when we have three hour afternoon classes), Anqi takes me around the city to various interesting places. She asked at the beginning if there were any places I wanted to go, and I didn’t have anything in mind but told her I enjoy museums, so we went to both famous places (such as the Palace Museum and the Taipei Zoo) and lesser known (at least in my opinion) but very interesting places like the National Human Rights Museum and the Beitou Hot Spring Museum. I’d expected to need to do a lot more speaking in Chinese, but most museums actually have displays in both Chinese and English, so I practiced less than I’d expected but also learned a lot more than I could have understood from the Chinese displays alone. Though it wasn’t totally what I was expecting, I would still sign up for it knowing what I know now, since I’ve gotten to go to a lot of places I never would have known about (and Anqi helped provide context or answer questions that I had!).

For the first three weeks of classes, I had morning group classes. I had one classmate for that time; briefly another classmate joined us, but on the first day he realized he was at a different level than our class, and LTL moved him to a more suitable class. We use the textbook series A Course In Contemporary Chinese; when I started the class was in level 2-2. I think it’s a great textbook; it has a lot of vocabulary and helpful grammar that I use in everyday life. It also has readings and a workbook with listening and extra grammar practice. LTL provides the textbooks, so I have my own copies of the textbooks that I can write on and will take home with me. For textbook levels 1 and 2, the textbooks don’t come with workbooks, so the teachers make copies of the workbook pages so we can do those exercises. (I’m currently in textbook 3-1, and this level came with its own workbook).

After my classmate left Taiwan, I by chance had individual classes for a week and then decided to switch to full individual classes because I saw a big difference in my rate of improvement. The group classes were definitely helpful and worthwhile, but I do prefer the individual classes While group classes had to stick more or less to the textbook (though we definitely were still able to go off on tangents and talk with the teacher about our days), we’ve been able to pull in lessons from other textbooks on topics I’m interested in, spend our time discussing the news and learning relatively specialized vocabulary like basic math words (since I’m a math major), and adjust lessons to focus on my weaknesses (for example, rather than me reading the textbook’s reading selections, one of my teachers would read the text to me while I had my book closed so I could practice my listening more). Group classes were still great, but if possible I would recommend going with the individual classes for the fastest rate of improvement.

Typically, each class has one or two teachers throughout the week. For my first week here, I had one teacher Monday-Wednesday-Friday and another Tuesday-Thursday. My one complaint with classes is that for various reasons, I’ve had several different teachers throughout my time here (probably at least five, though I don’t have a great memory). I think this was partly due to me coming in the summer, which is the busiest time for LTL since they also have a summer camp running, and partly due to things like teachers going on vacation or taking time off for other reasons. Though this wasn’t ideal, the teachers have great communication so I didn’t have to spend time getting them up to speed and kept progressing. I also enjoyed getting to experience the teachers’ different styles - some focus more on going through the textbook, which I enjoy making progress on, while others spend most of the time engaging me in discussions that help my speaking and pronunciation improve. The past few weeks, I have had a consistent few teachers (Alice, Sissi, and Avery), and they’re all very excited to teach and good at being encouraging while correcting my mistakes. All of my teachers have also been willing to give me honest feedback on my progress when I asked.

Various teachers organize cultural activities maybe once a week or so; I haven’t gone to many because I was tired from class, but the ones I’ve gone to (including learning how to play mahjong and how to wrap and then cook dumplings) have been really interesting and well-organized. Ones I haven’t gone to include laser tag and karaoke.

The academic manager, Alin, and the cultural specialist, Riona, have also been amazing. While I interact with my teachers more, they’re always a friendly face between classes, and they’re happy to help when I’m not sure which classroom I’m in or if I need anything. Because I have the survival kit, the school booked a driver to pick me up from the airport when I arrived. My flight had been delayed so there were some issues with me finding the driver, but even though it was a Sunday, Riona was available over Line (the communication app of choice in Taiwan) to help me figure it out. Riona also organizes lunches a few times a week for the adult students to go to if we choose, so I’ve gotten to try a bunch of different restaurants within walking distance of the school. Alin was very helpful when I mentioned trying to switch into entirely individual classes, even though I wasn’t sure if it would work out since I was already here when I asked to switch. 

Homestay
I cannot say enough good things about my host family. They immediately welcomed me and are always willing to help me with anything or practice Chinese with me. When I first arrived, my host mom showed me to the bathroom (I was sick from my flight and needed to shower). She then took me out to breakfast, showed me around the neighborhood (including the MRT, Taipei’s subway system, which I use to commute to classes), and helped me buy an EasyCard and withdraw some cash from an ATM. On my first day of classes, she went with me to the MRT station, helped me purchase a monthly unlimited pass, and pointed out the route to school. 

My room is very nice, with plenty of storage, a desk and full-sized fridge, a TV, an AC unit, and a strong fan. I have a key to the house and a key to my room, though I’ve never felt the need to lock my room. The house has a washing machine (my host mom insists on doing my laundry for me, which is very sweet of her), and she hangs the clothes on a rack in my room to air dry. Though I brought an adapter (since I read most outlets have two prongs but my computer charger has three prongs), my host mom already had an adapter/extension cord that she plugged in for me. I also use their WiFi mostly without issues (it has gone out a couple times), including for video calls with friends in America.

For the half board, my host family provides breakfast and dinner. They have provided lots of different things so I’ve been able to try various Taiwanese foods, and they’re very observant of what I like and don’t like. My host mom also very quickly realized that I enjoy fruit and now provides fruit for me after dinner every night.

Although my host mom works six days a week, she often takes me out to local markets or parks on her day off. I really enjoy both seeing parts of local life that I wouldn’t have known to go see and getting to spend time with her. I plan to stay in touch with them after I leave Taiwan.

Unfortunately only spent 2 weeks with LTL, but I have to say it has been a very beautiful experience. The attention and care put in making everyone feel welcome and help with language skills is quite admirable. Also really appreciated Riona for taking time to show us the most convenient and delicious lunch spots in Taipei. A big shout out to Greta and Alin for helping with the registration and timetables. Wouldn’t have been that enjoyable without the help of my teachers. Thank you Juju 老師，Avril 老師 and Pinwei 老師 for your lessons. They all have been very enjoyable. Whether you’re just starting learning Mandarin or already have some years behind you, LTL Taipei is a very inclusive environment that caters to everyone’s skills and would 100% recommend it.

I spent nine months in Taipei learning Mandarin from the zero level. I had a great time through and through. Both the staff and the teachers were really nice, fun, and helpful. After morning class, we'd all go out to eat afterward. Sometimes there were activities in the afternoon. There was always something to do so it was never boring. I miss my time their everyday.

Shoutout to Riona, Alin, Greta, Marine, Thomas, Tammy, Sabrina, Sissi, and everyone else there. Too many to list here. Also shoutout to the couch, always good for a nap!

- Vincent Lay

I recently undertook 6 weeks in LTL Taipei's group classes. Despite having no prior knowledge of Mandarin, the classes have set me up really well. I can order, have small conversations and read some menus/shop signs. I loved the external parts of LTL, especially our 1pm lunches and evening activites. I'd be able to flesh out my mandarin and get to hang with my classmates and teachers. It was an experience I'd thoroughly recommend.

Thanks to Riona, Alin, Pin-wei, Sisi, Issa and Thomas. You guys really made my time learning a lot of fun!

Learning Chinese at LTL Mandarin in Taipei was a truly amazing experience! I signed up for weekly group classes with teachers alternating between Avril and Sisi every other day. Both teachers make learning the language fun and interesting. They thoroughly explain grammar topics and give you many opportunities for speaking and writing practice. Jessica taught my private lessons and she was my absolute favorite as she is great teacher! Being in Taipei allows for continuous practice through full immersion and you'll never run out of things to do in! The staff at LTL, including Greta, Riona, and Ailene are very helpful in answering questions and resolving any issues you may have. The survival package was also a great option for someone who had never been to Taiwan.