About Me

In today's increasingly global society, the ability to communicate efficiently is more important than ever. Mandarin is the single most spoken language in the world, not only among China's 1.6 billion people, but can be found in even the small corners of the world via Chinese who have left home to open businesses in other nations. Chinese restaurants are ubiquitous in every nation on earth, and there are Chinese-speaking people in every profession. To be able to speak Mandarin understandably is a skill that can benefit any individual in too many areas to list. Speaking Mandarin is not as simple as taking Chinese language courses. Written Mandarin is 'formal', and a stilted way of talking. As a single syllable language, where all words are differentiated by 'tones', incorrect pronunciation of those tones can lead to small, and large, communication misunderstandings. Conversational Mandarin is different from written Mandarin. The only way to learn, is to actually do it. Not one word at a time, but one sentence, one paragraph at a time. This not only provides the words and the correct grammatical structure, it is also easier to remember, because you have a context for those random sounds. Using a language makes you more confident of your speaking skills, and makes further learning that much easier. I am a native Chinese speaker, with no accent in either English or Chinese. I learned both languages simultaneously. I continually spoke/speak Mandarin at home, and of course, English everywhere else. This ensures that my ability to speak, as vocabulary and pronunciation do not change over time. To this day, my mom reinforces my language skills by enforcing the rule that if I want to communicate with her, I will speak in Mandarin only! I love talking to my mom, and we talk every single day. My mom was a journalist in Taiwan before moving to the US, her Mandarin diction is the standard which newscasters in China and Taiwan still follow. My degree is from Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service. My Major was International Politics, Law and Organization (the same degree as Bill Clinton's). This gives me a foundation in understanding not only language, but its usage and application in context. I am well aware of the difference between 'learning' a language, and 'communicating' in a language. I took 5 years of German in High School, scored a 90 on my AATG Language Proficiency test, which is 'native speaker' level German. It was painful for me to have a casual conversation with a German speaker, because I had insufficient practical and casual speaking practice. Over the years, this early deficiency made me hesitant to practice and I eventually lost motivation to keep up with it. We typically learn languages out of context for their common usage, and this is where a tutor can help. Use it or lose it. The more comfortable you are using it, the more likely you will. Currently, I am a licensed Florida real estate agent. I enjoy helping students with mandarin because I believe that better communication with other cultures benefits everyone, and my own children are now college aged. If you took the time to learn mandarin, I can probably help you reinforce it enough that you will always have a functional base to expand on. I will first evaluate what the student wants to accomplish. Do you wish to learn Mandarin for travel? For negotiating business deals? To understand the culture better, or work with colleagues in the medical, archeological, scientific, engineering professions? (for this, I will need a list of specific terminology used in your profession to review). I can work up a tutoring plan that is tailored for that specific students and their needs, after evaluating in a few sessions exactly where your specific deficiencies are. After every session, my student should walk away with more language confidence, and a very specific verbal response set for a particular purpose. I do not teach written Chinese characters. I only cover verbal pronunciation, correct conversational form, both formal and informal. The only written form I would go over is the Hanyu Pinyin system (roman alphabetized written form). In many major cities in China and Taiwan, many street signs and businesses use pinyin spelled out, so learning pinyin can be more than just a helpful phonetic/memory exercise. I request that all students have already taken some Chinese, so it is not entirely new, and we are working on being able to converse understandably for your specific needs. How long this process takes is up to you, based on how quickly you learn, your focus and dedication, and how much effort you spend reviewing and practicing what you have learned. I look forward to hearing from you!

Education & Certifications

Q&A with Helen

Tutoring Subjects