Chinese Institute of Language & Arts

Well as an inquisitive Sinophile, who had finally gathered up the courage to dive headfirst into Mandarin, immediately the first question that popped into my head was «Where can I start? What program will be the best for me?» Now I do live about an hour’s drive away from Boston, but I was willing to brave it. My 3 criteria for a class were, as follows 1) Flexible Schedule and
2) Inexpensive, yet superior quality (hey, anything is possible in Chinatown :)…
Luckily I found everything I need and more at CILA. I was recommended CILA by my Chinese-​American (yes, fluent) friend and immediately filled out the online app. Very simple, it is quick and within 24 hours, I had an efficient response and already felt the personal approach CILA uses to teach. In fact, I had signed up for a Sunday class late, so the school offered me private tutoring to replace the 3 hours I had missed… NO CHARGE. Psyched, obviously, I signed up immediately. And despite the 2 hours of commuting each class, CILA Mandarin lessons have become the event I look forward to each week, well worth the drive. The teachers were incredibly friendly, engaging and put in the effort to accommodate each and every student in the «awesomely small» classes (4 ppl in my case). Whatever the effort you put in to your studies, the instructor will match it and beyond. The classes are truly fun, full of well-​warranted laughs and fast-​paced, yet totally manageable, learning. I cannot recommend CILA classes enough. I can’t stress this enough, but the instructors are AMAZING at their job, in my case a BC professor, and SUPER FRIENDLY. They also are awesome at communicating and scheduling flexibility, which is great for my jam-​packed schedule. Oh and did I mention all of this at a INCREDIBLY REASONABLE price. But don’t be fooled, the reasonable prices in no way take away from the quality, I learned fast and within 3 classes felt comfortable enough to flash my Mandarin skills in Chinatown and with my friends and family.
As for the location, parking (in my case on Sundays) has been a non-​issue, it just might take sometime to get used to for suburbanites. And being in the center of Chinatown provides a great learning experience, each Sunday I feel like I’m being fully immersed in my learning just in the neighborhood. Culture is crucial to language learning, and both CILA and its Chinatown partners don’t lack in this category. the building itself is a typical Chinatown office building, albeit with sufficient elevators and the classroom has air-​conditioning. Not obviously the Ritz, but sufficient and conducive to specifically Chinese language study.
As you can tell by my long post, I am ECSTATIC about CILA and recommend it to anyone who is looking to start on «the Long March» to Mandarin proficiency. CILA is THE SPOT to go for intense Mandarin study, in a conversation-​focused environment. And for all those scared of taking the jump, HANYU BU TAI NAN! (Mandarin is not very hard!) and CILA will help you every step of the way, making the whole experience as efficient and enjoyable as possible. Hopefully I will see more Mando-​enthusiasts there!
ZAIJIAN!

I would like to underscore the comments Kris M and Lauren S made, as they have both captured the sense of professionalism, high-​quality, and good value CILA embodies.
The school is indeed no-​frills, but for those of you who are unimpressed by (and unwilling to pay a premium for) spiffy surroundings, it is an ideal place to learn. CILA instead focuses on the content and process of effectively teaching this none-​too-​easy language in a supportive, but also well-​paced (for all kinds of learners in our group), teaching environment. Our instructors Wen and Jing were excellent — patient, enthusiastic, very clear in their instructions — a pleasure to work with (and we have learned A LOT — in only two weeks!).
I highly recommend CILA for beginners (such as ourselves) — but suspect more advanced students will have an equally productive and engaging time there. Thanks from all of us in the class for a great learning experience!

Oh, this is tough. I give 5 stars, nay, 5 MILLION stars to my awesome Chinese teacher, to the methods, to how much I have learned.
I suppose my problems were foreseeable. Lots of people take the first level or two, but the classes thin as you climb through the ranks.
Then the director raised the minimum students per class (and also trimmed the class length from 120 minutes to 90 minutes – so much for CILA’s sweet price advantage), precipitating the merger of my class with another to a time I couldn’t make work.
Obviously outside of the price change, this is something that will impact very few people, and my experience is still overwhelmingly positive.

I’m not a language-​lover by any means, but when I accepted a job in China, I decided to enroll in the intensive summer course. For 3 weeks for 3 hours a day I was in class with 2 – 3 other students. It was relatively cheap and the quality of instruction was good. Conversation, rather than reading and writing was really the emphasis. Now that I’m living in China, I’m happy to have the base in Chinese that I got at CILA. Learning languages still isn’t my idea of fun (not that I think it’s not a good thing to do), but if a friend was interested in Chinese lessons, I would not hesitate to recommend CILA.

My experience at CILA was great in every way and I highly recommend the school to everyone!!!
I spent 4 weeks taking an intensive class (daily, 9am-​12pm) in the summer of 2011. Having no prior experience with Mandarin, I learned a phenomenal amount of Pinyin vocabulary, an appropriate starting repertoire of characters, and appropriate grammar.
The teachers are engaging, effective, and friendly. They take their jobs seriously and are phenomenally attentive to the progress of their students. They were aware of each students strengths and weaknesses and helped us overcome any stumbling blocks in our pursuit of Mandarin language comprehension. Many teachers are from China and so the accents learned in the class are very good.
For multiple non-​linguist students (of all ages) who had not before studied Mandarin, the teachers made the language very accessible.
Just as important as the effectiveness of the instruction was the fact that it was fun. The students and teachers made this an enjoyable experience. I am motivated to continue my learning of Mandarin, on my own and at CILA.
The price of the course is very, very low as compared to a university summer course or the Boston language institute. CILA offers once weekly classes at a variety of times as well as the daily intensive summer courses.
Thanks, CILA!

Ni Hao,
I have been to China and Taiwan a couple of times and LOVED it!!! As the reviewer below Lauren S. mentions how obsessed she has become with all things China after visiting China I too have found myself infatuated with the culture, people and language. One of my to do’s on my bucket list is to live in China one day for a couple years possibly teaching English and soaking up the exciting culture.
I’m currently taking a class at CILA. I fully recommend taking classes here if you are looking to learn Mandarin or Cantonese the best way possible… right from a native speaker… this is the place for you. The classrooms are small, but adequate and are of groups 4 to 8. My class only has 4 people (including me). It’s intimate and comfortable. They encourage you to practice out loud and ask as many questions as you would like. They provide a great book and CD on the first day of class. All and all… this class is extremely affordable, helpful, and you leave with a sense of accomplishment each and every class.
Happy Learning!
Zaijian!

In my profession, and particularly as a graduate student, I work closely with a lot of native Chinese speakers. Even my advisor is Chinese. At the place I work here in Boston, the majority of my group is native Chinese or Chinese American, including one of my bosses. Thus, I decided that it was about time that I learn how to speak Mandarin, so that I could understand better the language and culture of my fellow students and co-​workers, and so that I could help those who have difficulty or are reluctant to speak in English.
I looked at the Boston Language Institute, but their high prices suggested I look elsewhere. Thanks to Lauren S.‘s review, I found this place, the Chinese Institute of Language and Arts. Their prices are more than reasonable — I paid $ 220 for 20 hours of class in beginning Mandarin, as well as the workbook and CDs. The owner/​manager, Peter, is very friendly and welcoming.
Classes are amazingly small — I think the most I saw from any one class was 5, and my average was about 3. This means that you get plenty of individual attention and practice with the language, including drills on character recognition, help with pronunciation of words and tones, and conversation practice. The teachers are typically native Chinese or Chinese American college students or recent graduates, which is more than enough to teach beginning Chinese. They might not have tons of experience teaching, but they all seem to follow a general lesson plan, and they’re quite willing to help with problems or questions you have.
All in all, I think that going to CILA was a good move on my part, as it helped introduce me to the Chinese language and gave me some tools that I can use in everyday conversations with my fellow classmates and co-​workers. While I need more practice (and indeed, practice outside of class helps a lot), I feel I’m sufficiently prepared to take on more studying of the language in attempts to become semi-​fluent. I would definitely recommend classes here to anyone interested in learning Chinese.

Since traveling to China three years ago, I’ve become obsessed with all things China; I will read any related book or magazine article I can get my hands on.
After a lovely breakup and many months spent shunning all my interests, I decided to finally get off my ass in late ’08 and pursue two of my longer-​lasting loves: learning and languages. I scoured the internet for a class offering Mandarin Chinese and found a couple of schools located in Chinatown that had decent prices compared to the go-​to linguistic center in town, the Boston Language Institute, whose prices were more than double these other two places.
The Chinese Language Institute offered a course breakdown with joining dates for new classes (limited to 6 people!) along with a prominent guarantee of satisfaction. A 10-​week course, two hours a week, cost only $ 180, compared to the $ 450+ offered by BLI, so I warily but cheerfully submitted my interest online, promising to show up on the date of the first class, scheduled for 1÷12÷09.
I dutifully showed up at 6pm that night but was informed that class began the next week (even though the website had not updated the schedule). I didn’t consider this a big deal, so I came back the next week and enrolled with four other people in Beginning Mandarin. I forgot my checkbook that night, but they were really cool about it, saying I could pay them next week and letting me take the textbook and CDs for the class (these were not included in the online price; it added $ 30 to the total class fee).
A little bit about the space– it’s a small area of a couple classrooms that are in, uh, dilapidated condition. This, I imagine, is probably quite unlike the BLI, which probably has gleaming whiteboards and spanking new desks. However, I cannot praise CIL enough. This is the kind of place where you get as much as you want out of the class– you’re not there to pay to have a teacher clap their hands and hand you a fancy certificate at the end of the class. You’re there because you want to be there, and the teachers will give you two hours of their best work each week.
The first night I had a different teacher than the one I have now– she was very good, but the teacher I’ve had since the second night is amazing. She is firmer than the first girl and throws in so many different teaching activities in two hours that I’m really impressed (I work in textbook publishing so I know a little bit about teaching styles). We sometimes sing songs, work off picture charts, practice conversation with each other… in terms of the environment, it’s bare bones essentials, but Wen Laoshi (Teacher Wen) has taught me a hell of a lot in only a few weeks. She sends us emails in Chinese and English with song attachments and is always fetching us tea on breaks. She’s smart and makes the class challenging and enjoyable at the same time.
In short, I love CIL and I am very glad I signed up for a class. If you want a language class that has an official syllabus and nice classrooms, then this isn’t the place for you. But if you want to learn Mandarin or Cantonese in a supportive, engaging environment, then CIL is your best bet. Cheap classes, fantastic instruction– one of the best things I’ve found in Boston.
Wo hen mang. Zaijian!