Chinese Language Academy

Fantastic place and teachers to help really learn the language. Would highly recommend to anyone interested in learning mandarin!

I love Chinese Language Academy! When I first moved out to Los Angeles, I did a search for Chinese schools on the west end for adults. I am so grateful I found Chinese Language Academy (CLA).
I started with their CLA16 crash course into the Chinese language and culture, which is 4 sessions of 4 hours each, 1 class a week. From there I moved through their Elementary A and Elementary B courses, currently in the Intermediate A course.
The teachers are all amazing. The director of the academy, Isabella Chen is an amazingly skilled, supportive, and caring teacher. You can really feel how passionately she cares about your language learning goals and ambitions. She has an incredibly talented staff that work with her. I have had 3 different teachers so far at CLA, and I have nothing but praise for each and every one of them. They are smart, patient, supportive, friendly, and fun to learn from.
CLA really tailors the classes towards working professionals with busy schedules, and allows make-​up classes for those with hectic travel schedules. I have found CLA to be a great place not just to learn Chinese, but to also network. As an actor myself, I have met producers, actors, directors, all with a specific interest in China or the Chinese film industry. I have met teachers, accountants, business executives, athletes, the list goes on and on, all brought together by our desire to learn more about the Chinese culture and language.
Last but not least, CLA feels more like a family than anything else. I look forward to class each week, because I know it will bring not only new language insights, but also A LOT of laughs. We have a fun time in class working through each lesson and making up random Chinese sentences on the fly. For someone who has tried studying Chinese using audio programs in the car for years, trust me when I say CLA makes learning a difficult language like Chinese a lot easier and WAAAY more fun. CLA also hosts optional meet-​ups and get-​togethers outside of class where we test our new Chinese skills in the real world at restaurants, Chinese night markets, KTV bars, you name it!
IF you want to learn Chinese quickly and have fun doing it, look no further than CLA. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

I have started to take Mandarin Chinese lessen from Chinese Language Academy since August 2015 until present. I completed the CLA 16 Crash Course in August, an intensive 4 week, 16 hour course for beginners to Mandarin. I also completed the CLA Practical Chinese Elementary Level Section A in September 2015. I am currently taking CLA Practical Chinese Elementary Level Section B. I can’t believe how far I’ve come. I can read, write, listen and speak Chinese. I am now able to understand some Chinese radio and able to watch some Chinese movie. The courses are well prepare and well taught, however, you need to devote a lot of time outside the classroom to truly get the most out of this course. This was the best experience I’ve had learning a language, the instructors are very knowledgeable and responsive and always willing to meet with you for personal tutoring sessions. The class format is manageable and ideal for working professionals, I would highly recommend CLA. I will continue to take Mandarin Chinese lessen from Chinese Language Academy.
Pam

Review for summer camp… They mean well but this is not worth the money. The last day of camp they have the children write an essay that is then translated into Mandarin. However, they add their own statements to the essay and claim the children wrote the glowing comments about their camp experience. Things like «The teachers are so wonderful here. I have learned so much while at summer camp. I am so lucky to have gone to the CLA camp this summer and have learned so much» My son never said these things. We were expecting an intense learning experience– were told this would be the case. However it was basically learning colors, numbers, and coloring in printouts. Everyone was nice which is why I didn’t give them one star.

I started looking for Mandarin classes a year and half ago and couldn’t find any serious weekend programs. A dear friend reached out to me at the end of last year to tell me that she found a program. This friend speaks five different languages fluently so I know she wouldn’t be wasting my time by asking me to sign up to this class with her. And true to her research, this class rocks!!! Why?
The class is four hours long but feels really like a 30 minute session. The instructors are patient, diligent and very supportive. You’ll also quickly find out that the other students come from varied backgrounds and all have different reasons for studying Mandarin. Getting to know all these people through their questions, point of views, angles in life, by way of studying Mandarin together is what makes the time in class fly by.
If you can imagine it, the class is taught almost in a non linear way which serves two purposes. It keeps you on your feet and it goes back to the previous lessons to reinforce the concepts. It’s an awesome way to lock in the information.
Lastly, its not just the vocabulary and grammar that’s being taught. The instructors have actually arranged extracurricular assignments such as TED Talks and many other interactive multimedia assignments that help you see the contextual side of Mandarin.
This is the best program on the market so far. Enjoy!!!

I just completed the CLA 16 Crash Course, an intensive 4 week, 16 hour course for beginners to Mandarin. I can’t believe how far I’ve come in only 4 short weeks, but know that you need to devote a lot of time outside the classroom to truly get the most out of this course. The teachers are excellent, they are very patient and encouraging. In addition, the classes are small so they are very interactive. I would highly recommend this class to anyone thinking about learning Mandarin; I’ve already signed up for the next level course.

This was an awesome class. I took the crash course with Doris and Ysabella. They were both extremely nice and taught me so much to get my grasp of the Chinese language back. I wanted to continue my learning for the business world of real estate and this class was perfect for that. Not only were the classes small and a great learning environment, but Ysabella and Justin (the heads of the academy) worked with classmates time constraints to make this experience unmatched by any other language class! I had the option of Rosetta Stone or coming to this class, and I am extremely happy I chose this route!

As a Chinese Mexican, I learnt a little bit Mandarin before, but it was so hard that I can hardly remember any Chinese characters. Ysabella was very patient, she taught me a lot about Chinese characters and history. I wrote a letter to my mom with Chinese last month and she was so impressed!

I was looking for a way to learn Mandarin here in LA and happened upon this gem of a school geared for professionals located on the west side. I enrolled in the CLA16 program which offers four 4-​hour classes as a «crash course» in Mandarin.
Mandarin is arguably one of the most difficult languages to learn for westerners but the instructors, Ysabella and Selina, eased us in and made the class enjoyable. Be aware that you need to put in a lot of work outside of class to make things stick. I’m looking forward to continuing on in the more advanced classes. I think the pricing is very fair given the high level of instruction and dedication of the staff. They were very accessible after class hours to answer questions, etc. Highly recommended!

This was the best experience I’ve had learning a language, the instructors are very knowledgeable and responsive and always willing to meet with you for personal tutoring sessions. The class format is manageable and ideal for working professionals, I would highly recommend CLA.

After a while of trying to find a good Chinese language class in Los Angeles, I came upon CLA in Culver City. The Chinese Language Academy definitely deserves 5 stars! After a month of studying there, I not only learned basic Chinese language skills, but also tidbits on Chinese culture. Their introductory Mandarin Chinese class really helped me to build confidence in pronunciation of the language. I found myself gaining the capability of understanding and speaking Mandarin sooner than I thought I would.
My teacher at CLA was very patient and passionate. She trained us how to distinguish different tones and she corrected our pronunciation one by one. The most important part was that she made the class fun. During the breaks between classes, she even told jokes (in English of course since we did not know that many Chinese words yet. hah!)
The classroom was adequate but not spectacular. The classroom sometimes got cold but parking is easy (and most importantly FREE). All in all, I think the $$ on this class was well-​spent. I would recommend the Chinese Language Academy class to anyone who wants to learn Chinese.

Definitely a great Chinese learning experience!
I learned some Mandarin years ago, and I have always wanted to practice my speaking skills. So when my friend found out about their Mandarin classes in Los Angeles, we signed up together. The class was definitely a lot more intense than I thought it would be. I didn’t expect them to teach Pinyin because it feels very time consuming to me and I didn’t think they would be able to cover it in 16 hours.
Our instructor Ysabella is a true pro, somehow she managed to get us through basic pronunciation techniques, a little bit of Chinese history and culture, and some basic grammar without making us feel completely overwhelmed. I was truly shocked to find myself making simple sentences in Mandarin more easily than before. I guess if you really paid attention during her classes and worked a bit on the materials after class, you can make huge progress. It may sound unbelievable but after these classes, I don’t find the Chinese language that hard to be master any more. I highly recommend their courses to anyone who’s tried and (kinda) failed in learning Chinese: their stuff works!

I took a one month crash course at the Chinese Language Academy and it was a very good experience. The instructor Ysabella was funny, patient, but energetic. She taught us the foundation and broke down the language to make it a lot easier to learn.
I never spoke Mandarin before but the way she taught the class, it made the experience easier and far more enjoyable.