The Chinese Language Institute (CLI) teaches business and everyday Mandarin to employees one-on-one, online wherever they work or in person at our school in Guilin, China. Online lessons are $16 to $20 an hour. A multinational’s Learning and Development team, a nonprofit and a European foreign ministry have all paid for their people’s lessons with us.
Times shift by an hour when clocks change for daylight saving time, and lessons depend on teacher availability. Weekend lessons are possible but harder to book, and Chinese public holidays can affect the schedule. Employees already in mainland China are on the same clock as their teachers.
tointo the next dayYour timeHear itPlayingPlayPauseOnline lessons are the easiest place to start, since they fit around a working week. For someone about to move to China, we recommend at least two weeks in Guilin, because they have four hours of class every weekday and then practice in a city where few people speak English.
| Format | Online, one-on-one | Immersion in Guilin | A program for a group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wo | From home or the office, on Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WeChat or VooV Meeting | At the CLI Center, our school building in Guilin, in southern China | In Guilin or elsewhere in mainland China |
| Class time | From one lesson a week to several a day, booked around each person’s calendar | 20 hours a week of one-on-one class with three teachers, Monday to Friday | Built around your dates: daily lessons, culture, practice in town and company visits. Past groups have met representatives of GE China, Amazon China and Sinopec. |
| Länge | Hours that never expire | One week to a year, starting on a Monday | Agreed with you |
| We handle | Teacher match, scheduling across time zones, the hours balance | Housing, airport pickup, orientation, visa help and 24/7 support | The plan, teachers, housing, transportation and activities, run by our custom programs team |
| Preis | $16 to $20 an hour | From $1,490 for two weeks with a private room at the CLI Center | Quoted per program |
Online hours are $20 each for 5 to 19 hours, $18 for 20 to 59, $17 for 60 to 99 and $16 for 100 or more. Hours bought together for your team count as one order, so 100 hours or more are $16 each. Immersion prices include housing; the full rate card is on the Immersion Program page.
The professionals we teach often have a date to work toward, like a move to China next spring, a first visit to a supplier in Shenzhen or a new role that requires Chinese. Since every class is one-on-one, a beginner and a fluent speaker on the same team each work at their own level.
Since 2020, a multinational group’s Learning and Development team has sponsored employees for online lessons, for eight or twelve weeks in Guilin, or for both. A nonprofit has trained its fellows with us before their work in China for nine years in a row, and a European foreign ministry paid for an employee’s lessons through its purchase-order system.
For someone who buys from suppliers in Guangdong, the first month of lessons might include sentences like these.
“I had studied Mandarin in college, and CLI helped me refresh and improve my business language skills. The teachers tailored my lessons to my individual wants and needs.”
Angel, one week in Guilin, Go Overseas review
“I am a foreigner living long-term in China, and came for 2 weeks to give my language learning a boost. I had many colleagues recommend CLI to me and I have to say that it truly exceeded my expectations.”
Carly, two weeks in Guilin, Go Overseas review
The CLI Center is our school building in Guilin, with classrooms, a lobby where students and teachers talk between classes, and private rooms for students who stay with us. We meet each person at the airport and write the visa invitation letter, and our team in Guilin is there day and night if anything goes wrong.
Four weeks here is 80 hours of one-on-one class, about what a learner with one online lesson a week covers in a year and a half.
Invoices are in US dollars and come from The Chinese Language Institute, LLC, a US company registered in Virginia, and online lesson hours can be invoiced too. You can pay by bank transfer or check. Lessons can start once we send the invoice, and you pay on your usual accounts-payable schedule.
We have worked with purchase orders and supplier registration forms, and we can send a formal quote. For Guilin, the invoice can show tuition and housing on separate lines.
Yes. Hours your organization buys sit in one balance, so you can move them between employees as people join or leave, and hours bought for the team in one order count together for the rate. Hours don’t expire, and a lesson the teacher cancels doesn’t use any. The rules for organizations are in our online lesson terms.
Our online teachers are based in Guilin and work for our school there, and many of them also teach our Immersion students. We choose each learner’s teacher by level, goals and schedule, and if someone would like to try a different teacher, we’ll see who is available.
Yes. Teachers build lessons around each person’s work: meetings and calls, negotiations, work emails and WeChat messages, presentations and the vocabulary of their industry. Company-sponsored learners have used their lessons to write emails and read business reports and contracts in Chinese.
Yes, and their own emails and slides make good lessons. We suggest they bring only material they’re allowed to share outside your organization.
Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WeChat or VooV Meeting. If your organization requires a particular platform, or would rather host lessons on its own account and invite the teacher, tell us and we’ll check whether our teachers can use it from China before the first lesson.
Sometimes. A private class for two or three colleagues at a similar level is possible when their goals, schedules and teacher availability line up, so ask us.
Lessons can be canceled or moved with 24 hours’ notice. A lesson canceled with less notice, or missed, is deducted from the balance. The full rules are in our online lesson terms.
A free trial lesson needs at least 24 hours’ notice, and Immersion programs start on a Monday and run from one week to a year. Progress depends on the starting level and the hours per week: two company-sponsored learners in 2023 and 2024 went from below HSK 1 to about HSK 3, and from basic to between HSK 3 and 4. Our guide to how long it takes to learn Chinese gives realistic timelines.
Yes, partners and other family members can take lessons online or in Guilin. Tell us their ages, and whether your organization or the family is paying.
Tell us roughly how many people, their levels and your timeline. We reply within two weekdays, and often sooner.
Tania Yeromiyan 燕倓雅Marketing Managertania@studycli.org
Tania has a degree in Arabic and Chinese from the University of Leeds and has spent eight years helping CLI students plan their studies.