Anyone studied at New Concept Mandarin?

[Chinese Learner]

Hi,

I'm finally in HK and planning to go to Beijing in January to do a month of Mandarin. I still can't find a course that seems effective...I know, I know...I'm looking for a learning miracle in a short space of time!!!

I know this has been asked before but...

Has anyone studied at NCM?

Are they any good?

Their website makes a lot of promises but their prices are 4 times more than anyone else! They can't be that good can they?

Is there a definite 'best' private intensive school in Beijing?

Thanks for the help!!

[self-taught-mba]

I've heard a couple good things about them and any program that has some kind of teacher training program and quality control I can respect even if they are a competitor. There are too many crap schools here that don't care anything about quality so it is good to see that they have at focus at least.

The marketing does seem a bit aggressive though:

according to this page:

~.com/classroom/proficiency.asp

At the end of for nine 32-hour sessions you should be "Native-Like"

"Learners are able to master Mandarin with proficiency equivalent to that of a native speaker of the same socio/cultural variety."

288 contact hours to be fluent!

Jeesh! And I took some heat for marketing our study in China program as being able to get people the equivalent of a years worth of Chinese classes in the states in a month at our school (At many schools in the US the amount learned in a year is only 600 or so words because they spend so much time on characters. Our customers normally come away with much more than that and a decent understanding - results vary based on aptitude, attitude, and diligence of course.).

Give our school a look. It might not be for you because we are less intensive on the characters and we specialize in beginners.