I chose LTL Mandarin School knowing that it could offer me the program that best suited my needs and my Chinese knowledge. In addition to wanting to improve my Chinese, my main goal was certainly to embark on a career in China. My student advisor was able to satisfy all my requests and in this way I became part of the LTL community. My program lasted 4 months in total. During my first month in Beijing I was an LTL student attending the individual program in which I had 4 hours of Chinese class every day. During this time I had the opportunity to study Chinese with 3 different teachers. All of them were very well prepared. Studying with three different teachers gave me the opportunity to listen and understand different points of view and, at the same time, to learn Chinese through three different teaching methods, which allowed my Chinese to improve rapidly.

Discovering Beijing

After the first month of study, I started my internship for LTL. In this way I was able to observe LTL school from both perspectives, as a student and as a worker. Working for LTL gave me the opportunity to learn a lot of new things, all very useful for my career.

I joined as part of the marketing staff where I had a great opportunity to start and complete the entire translation of the LTL site in Italian. I was given great responsibility to manage a number of tasks and I greatly improved my knowledge in a number of fields including email marketing, SEO, designing graphics ad so forth. Being given the chance to manage a large project such as the Italian site was a great challenge and I am really proud with the end result the team produced.

Daniela with LTL Students and Staff before Christmas

My manager was impeccable, every day he taught me something new, making sure I was able to get by myself at the end of every single day. He was able to teach me things that I did not think were possible for me, making it all very fun and relaxing. It was really a pleasure, and a unique experience for me to work and be able to learn from such a qualified and professional person.

During my 4 months in China I chose to live with a Chinese family, and, now my experience has concluded, I can say that it was the best choice I could make.Although my “host family” was made up of only one person, I really felt at home. Not only did I have the opportunity to speak and improve my Chinese, but also to create a beautiful relationship with my “roommate”, whom I thank again for the delicious food that has prepared me in everyday.

I believe that the ties created during this period at LTL will last a long time and that this experience will be impossible to forget.

My name is Kevin Riehl, I am 22 years old and from Germany. Between my bachelor and master studies I performed a gap year in order to collect enriching experiences. During my self organized gap year I spent six months in China, with the support of LTL. I studied Chinese in Shanghai for two months at LTL and then attended an internship in Beijing. During the whole time I was living in a Chinese homestay, which I can definitely recommend.

The support of LTL’s services was always excellent. The survival kit at the beginning was very helpful, as well as the support with opening a bank account and getting a Chinese Simcard. Furthermore LTL supported me to find a great internship that exactly fits into my field of studies and let me grow a lot personally. The support for finding clean, safe and friendly homestays was outrageous; for me it was more than a homestay, it was like a real, warm family.

The lessons at LTL have been very good and the teachers support was very helpful. During my six months I managed to improve my Chinese skills a lot and I passed two HSK examen (level three and four). Furthermore the time at the school and the social activities have been very enriching, because you can meet a lot of very interesting people from all around the world with totally different backgrounds, from pupils, university students and hobbyists to seniors and business men.

Learning Chinese at LTL enabled me to use the Chinese language independently and to travel all by myself through China, create a professional network in China and make a lot of very good friends. I thank you very much LTL, I riehly :-p lived the language and enjoyed my time in China 😉 and I will never forget it.

My name is Alina, I’m 24 years old and I’m from Russia. I’m a Master’s student in Beijing. In my last year, we are recommended to take an internship. I was lucky to be part of LTL Mandarin School as an Online Marketing Intern. I was an intern almost for 6 months, originally I decided to take it for 3 months but I really liked my job and team so I stayed longer.

Alina, staff and friends winding down at the weekend

All my supervisors were professionals and the knowledge I got in marketing will definitely help me with the job search. The office looks pretty and perfect for work, people are very friendly and you can meet people from all over the world. When you are in LTL you fell yourself part of a big family and this is awesome because most of stuff and students are far from their families.

The company is well known in Beijing and developing fast. During my internship, we were working on the Russian website, but at the same time, our team was working on 3 other websites for different countries. The main feature of this company policy – thinking outside of the box and creating something new. New ways of teaching and immersion in the language. Our team was always generating tons of new cool ideas and it’s the best feeling when you see progress and you know you are part of it. Thank you LTL for this experience and to my team, love you guys!

LTL Staff Dinner – Russian Food!

I decided to go to China right after graduating from High School: a new country, new language, new culture, new people, first time living alone, basically everything new. Before the internship with the Chinese architecture firm I spent a week studying Mandarin in Beijing to improve my extremely basic language skills.

Once I got to Beijing my first adventure was when my landlady showed me around my apartment in Mandarin which was quite a challenge. However, somehow it did work in the end; with a lot of sign language, a bit of English and my few Chinese words, we managed to communicate. After a week of Chinese at the school and later with the help of my colleagues I could order food in restaurants that did not have menus with pictures and get the basics of daily life done.

China itself was fascinating. There are people everywhere, in every street and every park. While where I come from, old people often sit at home in front of the TV, in China they seem to be all outside, playing Mahjong, cards, table tennis badminton or even singing and dancing in a public square. It was actually surprisingly easy to get used to living in China and whenever I was lost there was always some Chinese person who came to me trying to help or show me the way.

Lisa with her colleagues

After my – unfortunately a bit short – one week Chinese course, I started my seven week internship. Like the school, our office was situated right in the middle of Beijing’s Central Business District.

On my first day, the manager picked me up from the lobby, showed me the office and introduced me to the rest of the team. I worked together with five colleagues in the same office, several of whom could not speak English, however I very quickly became friends with one lady in the office who did and she quickly became my go to person whenever I had a problem.

She and everyone else in the office tried to help me to learn more Chinese which was very nice. In general the atmosphere was very friendly and supportive and we went for dinner after work together several times as well.

Considering I was only working there for seven weeks, I did a lot of things. I went to client meetings with colleagues, all in Chinese of course, but at the end they summarized for me what they had talked about. We also had several meetings about working style, discussing what was going well in the office and where improvement was still needed. This was all very relaxed and whenever the team manager finished, he asked everyone for their opinions – even me!

It was also very interesting to see how the business culture in China is quite different. After meeting a client usually we would go for lunch together, something I would not have expected to be so important. On the one occasion when a client did not want to join for lunch, my colleagues told me that this was a very bad sign that he was not happy with the meeting, something I would have never thought of myself.

As I started my internship in Beiijng right after High School, I didn’t have any previous work or internship experience. However, my manager gave me my first task right on the first day of work. At the beginning I should edit pictures for their website. He first showed me how to do it with an example and then I continued myself. Afterwards, I also helped with some English editing and did a lot of research for the company. My biggest project was writing a research report about different architectural styles in shopping malls, which was very interesting.

I was also asked to use the computer programs used in the office. First SketchUp, a program for creating 3D architectural plans and then AutoCAD, which is used for creating 2D construction plans. I started first by watching a few learning videos and then asked my colleagues whenever something was not clear. I started using AutoCAD quite soon, for example transferring traditional Chinese designs patterns into AutoCAD and creating details for houses my colleagues had designed in SketchUp.

I really enjoyed both my internship and China. I learned a lot during my time in Beijing, both about architecture and how an office works in general but also, what it means to work in a Chinese team and company in China. I think I also understand a lot more about Chinese culture, Chinese people and a little bit more about the language now, even though I think there is still a lot left to learn.

Charles (France) , Anelle (Benin)  and Luke (USA) came to China as part of LTL’s internship program. They undertook internships in different companies and studied Chinese part-time. Watch to find out more about their experiences …

Monika from Germany came to Beijing to take an internship program with LTL in 2015. In this video she talks about her internship at Puhua International Hospital, life in Beijing, as well as her 1-on-1 Chinese Classes. Watch this to find out more about her experience…

Experiencing Chinese culture had always been a dream of mine. To make this dream come true, I decided to do a three month internship in Beijing from January 2015 until April 2015. Due to the fact that I couldn’t speak a word of Mandarin when I planned my internship, I came to the decision that it would be very helpful to learn the language as well and so I signed myself up for a language course – ten hours a week – at the LTL Mandarin School in addition to my internship.

Although I have been very busy during my stay – the usual working time in my company was from 8.30am to 5.30pm – I never regretted my decision. My private teacher always considered my wishes and made it possible to study late in the evening or at the weekend. Everything was very flexible. If an important appointment came up at work, it was never a problem to postpone a language class and to catch it up later.

Fred interning in Beijing

In addition to classes, LTL helped me to find a homestay apartment in Beijing and supported me in applying for the visa. Especially within the first weeks after my arrival in Beijing, I was very glad to have contacts in the language school who were always willing to aid me with any occurring difficulties. Contrary to my expectations, it is very difficult to find one’s way in Beijing if you don’t understand Mandarin at least a little bit because the average taxi driver and shop assistant doesn’t speak English. Fortunately, my progress in learning Mandarin has been faster than originally expected, thanks to my excellent teacher and the homestay family I lived with. For this reason, I was able to manage the daily life in Beijing after a few weeks of learning Mandarin on my own. Especially the oral Chinese basics are not as difficult as I feared.

Progressing with Chinese – it is possible! Furthermore, my advances in learning Mandarin were quite useful during my working time in the company as well, although the main part of my colleagues was able to speak English fluently. Even small Mandarin skills really helped me on a day to day basis and allowed me to establish personal relationships with Chinese people who are incredibly hospitable, friendly and welcoming.

The Summer Palace – Fred’s Favourite Place in Beijing

Besides all the time spent on working and learning, I of course also had some free time and Beijing is a great place to enjoy it. There are a lot of famous places like: The Great Wall, The Temple of Heaven and The Forbidden City, that are incredibly impressive and totally worth a visit but I especially recommend a visit to the Summer Palace with its gorgeous lake, the beautiful hills and impressive buildings. It is the perfect place to find some quiet and relaxation in a city that is always noisy and hectic.

I also found that it very easy to enjoy my hobbies in Beijing. I really like to do sports and especially love to play badminton. For this reason I looked for a badminton club shortly after my arrival and it was no problem finding one. The local people in this club were really friendly and open-minded and loved including me in their group. They invited me to participate in all of their exercises and I enjoyed it so much, I ended up playing with them three times a week.

I would recommend anybody who has a hobby, like doing sports or making music, to look for a club or a band in Beijing. Since it is such an enormous city, it is very easy to find one and the local people are really willing to get to know you. It is a great opportunity to enjoy your free time, make friends and at the same time learn more about the Chinese culture.

Finally, I hold the opinion that the best advice for anyone planning a trip to China is to be open-minded and to be willing to try new things. The Chinese people are very interested in every foreign person and it’s easy to get to know them and even to make friends with them. The Chinese food is very versatile, absolutely tasty and nothing to be afraid of, especially typical traditional Chinese food like jiaozi and baozi. I had never heard of these prior to my trip to China – they are incredibly yummy and totally worth a try!