Chinese Learning Fount

I’ve been studying with Julia (private lessons) for about 9 months now and I’m incredibly happy with my progress. I elected to use the online lesson format because of my tight work schedule and had no problems with it at all. Julia spends a lot of time making sure I’m learning and constantly customizes her lectures to add a comprehensive learning experience.
Wonderful teacher with a great personality. I would recommend ¹⁰⁄₁₀!

I’ve tried studying many languages over the years but none have stuck quite like French which I started the earliest. Ideally any languages should be learned as a child when our minds absorb new information the easiest. We can’t rewind time, but as adults, we have plenty of options to learn ranging from podcasts to university lectures. Yet Mandarin is among the hardest for English language speakers and flashcards alone won’t do the trick. I like a challenge, as long as it is surmountable. Julia’s interactive teaching style and flexible schedule make the impossible possible. She augments obvious gaps in the textbook that makes learning vocabulary easier and breaks down sentences to tackle intonation. Julia customizes each class to go above and beyond as a teacher.

I’ve been taking private Chinese lessons from Julia for a little over 1 year and in that time I’ve learned so much about the language, and myself! I’m half-​Chinese and struggle with a bit of an inferiority complex around learning this language; I feel ashamed that I can’t speak Chinese. Julia is a kind, non-​judgmental, and highly intelligent teacher. Her positivity and skill as a teacher has helped me to quiet the punishing voices in my head and just get on with actually learning Chinese!
As a teacher, Julia knows what she’s doing. It’s not just, «oh she’s a nice person who is bilingual» — she actually knows how to teach a language. Learning Chinese is hard and I feel lucky to have her to guide me.
The lessons unfold in an organic way, with the textbook providing a loose structure. Usually we spend the first half of class conversing on a theme. Julia will weave both new and old vocabulary into the conversation and we’ll explore or review the grammatical structures we come upon as we talk. As another reviewer said, it’s truly like having a chat with an old friend. For me, this is a very natural and productive way to learn and really leads to immediate results in listening comprehension, committing grammar and sentence structures to «muscle memory» and building out vocabulary. There’s so much in Chinese that just doesn’t directly translate to English. Julia is always able to give clarity about the true meaning or usage of something and is very dedicated to making sure you actually understand it.
For the second half of a class we’ll often read through a dialogue and go over new vocabulary from the textbook. For me, it’s usually during this time that difficulty pronouncing words with the correct tones presents itself the most. The Chinese language is very unforgiving when it comes to actually needing to pronounce words with the correct tones in order to be understood. So, Julia is quite stringent about making sure I’m understood in Chinese. This is extremely important for actually being able to use the language in any practical sense.
Over the last year I’ve learned so much from Julia — and I will be learning from her for as long as she’s teaching. I’m really grateful for her as a teacher, and as a 朋友. I am now well on the path to speaking Chinese. How great is that? I can’t wait to visit my family in Taiwan, and be able to know them a little better thanks to her.

I struggled with writing this review. You can take that as a testament to just how great a teacher Julia is. (I also suck at it.) There is simply too much to say, too much praise to be stated, and I know the majority of people hate reading long reviews. I know I do. I read the other reviews and I see many that echo my own thoughts about Julia and her teaching skills. Since so much has already been said, I’ll try to give my thoughts simply and quickly.
I’ve been Julia’s student for two years now. That it and of itself is another testament to how good a teacher Julia is. If you knew my personality you’d know why.
Learning a language is hard, as we all know. The main problem is that unless you are constantly exposed, not only to the language but to the culture, you can begin to feel a kind of disconnect from the language. There are a lot of idioms, culture aspects to a language that many teachers neglect. Julia is good at connecting you to the Chinese culture, idioms and culture aspects of the Mandarin language.
Julia is strict, yet very patient about pronunciation. Especially since I began to read more characters, Julia has been more strict about tone and pronunciation when we are reading the text. When reading aloud, Julia encourages her students to get into character. To act out the dialogue a bit. Which can make for a very hilarious lesson depending on the lesson dialogue.
Julia also host several activities making learning Mandarin more engaging and fun. Such as a Chinese New Year party; dinner get togethers; as well as acting out scenes from movies. Which I think help to break the shyness of not only learning a new language, but also helps with becoming comfortable with actually speaking the language outside of class.
Also, after a certain level, Julia begins to speak more and more Mandarin to you. I admit that I mostly only understand about half of what she says, but that is better than not understanding at all.
Like I said early, I’ve been her student for two years now and I’m happy to call her not only my teacher, but also a friend. I know her other students would agree.
Longer than I though it would be…

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with Julia for a year now… she is great! I forsee working with her for many, many years to come.
I have had a number of language instructors in various languages (I am also fairly advanced in Spanish), so I feel like I have a pretty broad base of comparison at this point. Julia does so much so right! Language instructors offer a lot of really important services, and Julia really shines in them!
1. making you feel at ease and comfortable. Learning a new language can be an intimidating beast, but classes with Julia feel like a chat with an old friend. He friendliness and enthusiasm make me feel silly for ever being down/​negative, and she focuses on forward progress. Something else she has done is when I get distracted by some question or comment, she will connect it to the vocabulary or grammar of the session.
2. In the vein of 1, Julia is extremely patient. I’m sure she’s had to repeat certain words that just won’t stick to me like 10 times. She answers all of my questions, even taking time to answer those that will come in the next couple of months.
3. She gets on my pronunciation. Honestly, I think this is probably THE most important thing a language instructor can do. It seems obvious, but for many instructors once I’ve gotten to the point of being able to converse, they get very lazy about correcting my pronunciation. Julia strikes a very nice balance — when doing reading out loud, she has the patience (see 2!) to correct me over. And over. And over. This is incredibly valuable. And then as we talk, she will make corrections, but also let me finish sentences, that sort of thing. Her rigor in ensuring my pronunciation is good is something that I’ve seen a lot of other language instructors fail to provide.
4. «Peeking inside the black box.» If you’ve ever tried to learn a language from a native speaker who acquired the language as a child, you know how tough it can be. You ask them «why is X like this?» and they stare at you blankly. «Just because!» Julia has been teaching students for a while and herself studied teaching chinese to non-​chinese, so she is very effective at explaining to me why things are the way they are, especially understanding why I might do something in a certain way as a native english speaker.
Julia is simply put a great teacher and a great person. I look forward to my classes with her every week, and I’ve made a lot of progress, which is really exciting and fun to me. Chinese is a hard language, but I know I will get there with Julia’s help.

I cannot recommend Julia more highly. Learning Mandarin from her has been a great experience. I have had several teachers in the past and her lessons have by far been the most effective. She has created for me a comprehensive, tailored learning plan and I have found that my Mandarin language skills have improved quickly and significantly. Her classes are based on a standard textbook for vocabulary, but she often weaves in grammatical lessons that enhance each class. She is overall a great teacher and I highly recommend her Mandarin classes/​tutoring.

Julia has been teaching my 6-​year old son for almost two years now and she is fantastic! I am a native Chinese speaker and was looking for a teacher with a fun teaching style, good Chinese accent, and a creative approach toward teaching what can be a rigid language. Julia has made class really fun with topics ranging from how a car works to what dishes we eat during Chinese New Year.
Julia is also really flexible — I grew up learning traditional Chinese characters and even though she uses simplified Chinese, she was open to teaching traditional Chinese writing.
You can tell Julia really loves teaching — she gets a lot of joy interacting with my son and watching him progress! Highly recommend.

Last year I decided to take a Chinese class. I have a degree in Chinese but I had not used or studied Chinese for so many years that taking a class would be like beginning from the beginning, so I was a bit apprehensive. Luckily I found Julia Xu.
I’ve now been meeting with Julia once a week for about six months and I am very happy with her class and with my progress. Julia has excellent teaching skills and lots of experience. She is diligent and hardworking, but she also knows how to make the class interesting and enjoyable. And she knows how to listen to her students and adapt her approach to their needs.
I recommend Julia highly and without hesitation.

Julia comes from northeast China, where the people speak very standard Mandarin Chinese. She is an accomplished professional and experienced teacher. You can ask her all kinds of questions in class, and never stump her. No matter how hard the grammar may be, she can always make things clear using practical examples.
Julia is great at correcting pronunciation and tones. She is very smart and has a good sense of humor. I really enjoyed her teaching. Learning Chinese can be hard, but Julia makes it both educational and exciting. Whether you are looking for private Chinese tutoring or taking classes, I highly recommend that you learn Chinese with Julia. She is an excellent teacher!

I’ve been on Unilocal for year and years, but never wrote a review. After having lessons with Julia for a couple months, I’m compelled to write my first review!
Learning Chinese has been a lifelong (and mostly unsuccessful) endeavor for me up to this point. I’ve done Chinese school as a kid, classes at the local community college, private tutoring, classes at a Chinese temple, and more — so I think I have a pretty good handle on what’s out there.
I’d say Julia stands out first and foremost because she seems to really care about her students. She really wants to you to learn, pays attention to what your goals are, and will even cater her instruction so you can meet those goals. A lot of teachers I’ve had over the years give the impression that they’re just trying to pump through as many students as possible through the same dated course, so it’s easy to get lost in the shuffle.
Second, I really like that Julia blends both traditional coursework and modern elements. A lot of Chinese courses I’ve done seem soooooo ancient. For example, do I really want to learn some traditional national Chinese anthem from the 70’s? Uh, no. Julia definitely brings a modern Chinese perspective, and she’ll have no problem showing you how to text in Chinese, or teaching you commonly used slang and idioms. My goal is to converse in China and Taiwan and not sound like some textbook from the 80’s, and working with Julia definitely makes me feel confident I won’t.
Anyway, if you’re in the NYC area and are looking for an energetic, super helpful, and capable Chinese teacher, give Julia a shot!

Learning Mandarin Chinese is considered by many to be one of the most difficult languages to learn for native English speakers. People have told me it’s impossible to learn since the language is tonal (your pitch/​intonation matters), the characters are difficult, and the grammar is different. Does this sound familiar to you? Well, I can say with confidence none of the previous assumptions apply with Julia from Chinese Learning Fount teaching you. I can’t imagine going anywhere else.
I had gone to another teacher and while they promised «fast» results, they were not good nor applicable in a conversational setting. There is no comparison, in that Julia’s lessons are much more effective, extremely organized, and you really focus on communicating with people. To me, the main reason why I can see anyone wanting to learn a language has to be at some point to communicate with other people that speak that language. Although the emphasis is conversational, the rest falls into place that you would expect; you learn the appropriate grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary and characters you need depending on the context (going out to eat, weather, meeting people, etc).
I take one hour private lessons but you can also take group lessons/​classes. My friends that are native Mandarin speakers are always impressed at how focused my lessons are and that the vocabulary being taught really is the most commonly used. She teaches all skill levels as well. If you are serious about learning or even have wanted to learn but felt intimidated I urge you to try learning with Julia. You get a free trial lesson where she will review with you more in depth what you can expect. Give it a try I’m glad I did!