Alright, so I've dug through most of the threads over the last 3-6 months...but I really didn't get what I was looking for. Can a few of you provide me your take on the best school to attend for quality MANDARIN training in Kunming? My wife and I will be moving to Kunming later this year (from the US)...and I'll be jumping into the first available class. It seems like many of the schools require boarding on "campus" - which is not an option for us.

I've reviewed websites of KEATS, SUMMIT, and KCEL. They each look like they have a good selection of classes and some decent success.

Any recent reviews on any of the above (or any other) schools to consider?

I appreciate the feedback!

My thoughts in general.

Learning on campus you will learn to talk about lots of useful (not) things, like the campus office, and the dormitory, and the canteen. You will also have to go at the speed of the class, as such I would not recommend uni classes for absolute/true beginners, ever. Most Chinese uni courses are delivered using Chinese learning methodology, which does not suit most westerners. Personally, I hate it, others like it.

Taking private classes, at a training centre or at home, you can study for your own needs and at your own pace. You can study with your wife, and tailor the classes to fit your lives. All of the above schools offer classes more suited to living, and are used to teaching westerners, in a style that suits our mindset perhaps a little better. With a Uni you pay for a whole semester and you are stuck, even as a day student. However you do get a student visa.
You need to contact the uni admissions office and ask the specific question about day students, living out. However this may cause a visa problem. This visa problem is not insummountable, but if the Uni admin department is lazy (Yunnanitis) nothing will happen.Uni classes are often 8am-12noon. That may mean a long early commute.

One big thing to consider is location. The closer to your home the better, unless you have other reasons to want to go the the schools locale everyday. Commuting on public transport can be a real drag.

Advantages of a private tutor. If you don't like them, you can change them. Classes are on your schedule. Disadvantage, no visa. In schools and unis, as a couple you will need to pay two sets of fees. However, a private tutor at home will usually have a sliding scale if there is more than one person.

Private school/training company. You pay up-front for a course, but you get your visa. OR pay as you go, but no visa. The schedule will be flexible.

Before asking this question you should first mention your reason and purpose for learning chinese so others can better point you in the right direction. Also, your age is important as different schools cater to different age groups. When you say you are moving to Kunming, how long do you plan to stay here - a few months or a few years. Personally, I think paying money to learn chinese while living in China is a complete waste of money. I understand why people pay outside of China but not inside. As you can see from the many language exchange partners advertised on this very same website, that there are many people to choose from. After you pass the beginner level I can see a reason for moving on to a school environment.

As HFCAMPO wrote, it would really help to know your purpose and aims of study.

Generally I think it helps to have a teacher at the absolute beginning to properly help you with with pinyin notation, pronunciation, and tones. Most language partners will not correct you, and just struggle with you, and probably not have a methodology to teach you these basic building blocks. This creates the potential for having to un-learn mistakes later and re-learn. Or they will over correct and do your head in.

After you have crossed the true beginner stage, then I agree, a language partner can help a lot. However, they may teach you Kunminghua dialect and local pronunciation. This is far from standard Mandarin.

If you aim for qualifications, you need Mandarin.

If you need a visa, then the institution must be considered.

Thank you for the feedback so far.... so a few answers to your questions:

1. We expect to be in Kunming AT LEAST 2-3 years.

2. I'm 30 years old
3. Purpose would be to eventually communicate at a "business" level.

I'm a relatively good self-learner / motivator...so I've made progress on teaching myself. But this obviously can only go so far in building a foundation. I do think I'll have at least an elementary level prior to joining whatever school I choose later this year.

I also understand the implications of having to commit to class 4-6 days a week for a period of time. This comes with the 'territory.'

Nonetheless, I'd be interested in knowing why you think a Private Tutor is more effective than schooling.

Main question, if you don't come as a student (with a teaching body that can provide a Student Visa) what visa do you intend to come on.

Tutors will tailor to your needs. You can learn what will be useful to you. You will not be going at the pace of the book to 'touch-down' for the exam. You will go at your pace, may be faster or slower at times. You will have the attention of the teacher most of the time, not sharing time with a larger group, unless you find a school with smaller classes.
Tutors do not work 8-12. You can schedule to suit you. You can also schedule around a job. If you get a job in the public sector you will get a visa, and place to live, and pay, and still have time to study.

Hey mutigers77, you seem to be in a very similar situation to myself (30 years old, here for long term, and serious about studying Chinese), so here is my take:

Firstly, regarding Chinese schools, I've always been at KCEL so I can't compare others, but I'm really happy with them - my teacher's great and the class is usually only 2 or 3 people. But, look, there's no way anyone can recommend what is the best school for you - even the "best" schools sometimes have bad teachers, and even if your teacher is good, you might end up with a load of non-serious classmates who will bring the class down. Your best option is to go to a few schools and sit in on some classes, then when you find one you're happy with, stay there. Defo check out KCEL.

At my school I only have 1.5 hour class every Mon-Fri 08:30-10:00. After class I go to a coffee shop to self-study for a few hours. If you are motivated, then self-study should definitely make up the core of your study time - but it's essential that you find good material. I use Chinesepod, which I can highly recommend because it teaches totally useful *spoken* Chinese, as opposed to the useless rubbish you find in many textbooks. For this to be effective, however, you need to write down and systematically memorise every sentence you don't understand. This can be gruelling, but it's essential. When you memorise a sentence, speak it aloud (or at least whisper), paying attention to the tones - you must do this because doing so over and over and over again will teach you how to speak in a natural way. Speaking in a natural way is the hardest thing to acquire when studying Chinese, because the sentence structure and sounds are totally alien from English.

Don't bother learning long vocabulary lists - when you want to learn a new word put it in a *sentence* and memorise the sentence - this way you are practicing vocab, grammar and speaking skills at the same time, and you will be learning how to use the word in the right context (very important). Also, this way is important because many of the linguistic patterns in Chinese are impossible to understand by trying to think about them in a logical way or by relating them to your native language. You can only understand by hearing this pattern in a certain context. Once you've encountered it enough times you'll have the "feeling" and it will make perfect sense, although you won't be able to explain it to an English speaker. So my advice is learn a lot of sentences.

I recommend you learn to write characters, although for the first year or two you should focus heavily on speaking and listening, just learn to write a few new characters a week. But, if you question the value of writing (as I did at first) I can tell you now it's essential, because the more characters you learn to read the harder it is to retain them all in your memory - writing them is the best way to cement them.

I cannot stress how important it is to make as many Chinese friends as possible (very easy), and avoid being one of those people who only hangs with foreigners (although you will need some foreign friends to keep you sane). The best is to get Chinese friends who can't speak a word of English; of course you won't be having any deep conversations, and it might be awkward at the beginning, but they won't care - they'll just be delighted to have a foreign friend. Aiming to speak at least an hour of Chinese a day will see your language skills skyrocket. If money isn't a problem, I'd recommend getting a private tutor every day, say 1.5 hours in the evening, and having a conversation class with them (mainly them asking you questions and then correcting you when you go wrong). I'm thinking about doing this. It may seem like a waste of money when it's so easy to get free language practice, but there are huge benefits having a proper teacher over a language partner.

OK, sorry for the massive post, but studying Chinese has become a passion for me, and I wanted to share my method. OK, everyone has a particular way which works best for them but this way has worked for me and I think if you follow these rules and, most importantly, put the effort in, you will do very well. But be patient. Even if you're a language genius and you study 10 hours a day, progress will always be bit by bit, piece by piece. Although this is one of the things I like about it.

Massively useful post.
Seems like a good system to me Chris8080, I will add a couple of things to my programme.

I found travelling on a students budget also useful to improve my spoken Chinese as you really have to use Chinese on the cheap road.

Great post chris8080. Copied, saved, printed, framed, called the Queen, called the Pope, and even the head of the Illuminati.

Thanks!