learning conversation only in Beijing

[jedermann]

Hi everyone,

I am a complete beginner in mandarin, but have taken 1 month off in September to travel to Beijing and hopefully learn as much mandarin as possible in that time. I am interested only in learning how to converse in mandarin, since I think it would be too much to learn writing as well. All the university-run programs seem to be out of the question since they don't offer 1 month courses in September and these are the only weeks I can take off work. I have looked through many of the posts suggesting different private schools in Beijing, and my Chinese wife has called a few private schools (Diquicun - Global Village, Juncheng) to find out if they offer conversation only courses. The short answer is : no, and they recommend private one on one tutoring in my case. Of course this adds up to quite a lot in school fees.

My question: is there a good program out there that teaches mandarin conversation only to total novices?

Thanks

[crow610]

I think BLCU has a short term program but if you really just want to focus on Speaking I would recomend a private tutor. I'm not in China now so I could not recomend a place to look but I'm sure if you go to a local coffee shop you will find a great deal of postings.

Good luck!