Private Chinese lessons pair you with one native-speaking instructor for 80 minutes a week, working from a plan built around your level, your goals, and the parts of the language you find hardest. You can take them at our Costa Mesa institute on Anton Boulevard, online from wherever you are, or at your own home or office if that is easier.
The usual package is eight 80-minute lessons at $800, or $100 a session, with a one-time $50 registration fee for new students. What you work on is set between you and your instructor, so the sessions follow your goals rather than a standard sequence. Tell us what you need and we will find the right match.
The Institute has taught in Southern California for over twenty years and works with more than 3,000 students a year. Here is what students say about learning with us.
$800 for eight lessons
Eight 80-minute sessions at $100 each, plus a one-time $50 registration fee for new students.
Native-speaking tutors
Credentialed tutors drawn from a roster of more than seventy, matched to your level and your goals.
Costa Mesa, with parking
600 Anton Boulevard, Suite B, next to South Coast Plaza and the Segerstrom Center for the Arts.
How a Private Mandarin Lesson Works
A package is eight 80-minute sessions. Students who already attend a group class here are welcome to book lessons individually rather than commit to the full eight, and that is the common choice when a specific deadline is driving it.
Your instructor sets the curriculum after talking with you about where you are and what you need. Someone heading to Shenzhen on business spends their time differently than a parent who wants to speak Mandarin with their in-laws, and neither has to sit through material they already know.
When One-on-One Makes More Sense Than a Class
Students choose private Chinese lessons when a standard sequence does not fit what they need, whether that is the pace, the material, or a goal with a date attached. All three are easier to serve with one instructor and one student.
Tones are the other reason students come to us one-on-one. Getting them wrong is the fastest way to be misunderstood, and correcting them needs an instructor listening to one voice rather than fifteen. A private session can stop and fix a tone the moment it slips, which a class cannot do without holding everyone else up.
Heritage speakers are a large part of who studies privately here. Someone who grew up hearing Mandarin at home may speak comfortably but read very little, and no single class level fits that profile. Characters are the usual gap, and one-on-one is where that gets closed.
Semi-Private Chinese Lessons
Semi-private lessons are the option when you want to share the sessions with someone working at a similar level, which suits couples preparing for the same trip, coworkers who need the same workplace vocabulary, or a parent and child learning together. The curriculum still gets built around the people in the room rather than a fixed syllabus, and the cost per student comes down because the instructor’s time is shared. Call (714) 662-5400 to arrange one and to confirm Chinese instructor availability.
What Private Chinese Lessons Cost
Eight private lessons cost $800, and new students pay a one-time $50 registration fee. That package is the usual starting point rather than a fixed product, so tell us if a different number of sessions or a different lesson length fits your goals better, and semi-private lessons bring the cost per student down again.
A group Chinese class runs $295 for an eight-week term and meets for 80 minutes a week alongside up to fourteen other students, so the private rate reflects an instructor’s full attention and a curriculum written for one person. Our pricing for group, private, and corporate programs lists every option side by side.
Who Your Mandarin Instructor Will Be
Chinese instruction here comes from native speakers drawn from a roster of more than seventy instructors. We look for a teaching credential or an advanced degree and real classroom hours, because explaining a language is a separate skill from speaking it.
You will use the same university texts as the group classes, taken in whatever order serves you. Over twenty years in Southern California and more than 3,000 students a year is what makes a roster this size possible, and a roster this size is what makes one-on-one scheduling practical.
Mandarin Tutoring for Children and Teenagers
Private lessons are open to students of any age, which makes them the usual route for a child younger than our group class minimum or a teenager who needs support alongside school Mandarin. Younger students often need the characters slowed down well below the pace a class can hold.
Our Little Lingual children’s classes cover ages 6 to 12, but they form when there is enough demand rather than every term, so private lessons are the dependable route for a younger student. Two or three children at a similar level can share a semi-private lesson, which brings the cost per student down.
Where Lessons Happen
Most students meet their instructor at our institute at 600 Anton Boulevard, Suite B in Costa Mesa, where there is parking on site. Lessons also run online, which suits anyone whose commute or schedule makes a weekly drive difficult, and we can send an instructor to your home or office instead. Tell us which format you want when you get in touch.
Students come to us from across the county, including Irvine, Newport Beach, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Tustin, Anaheim, Fountain Valley, and Orange. The online option puts the same instructors within reach wherever you happen to be.
Start Private Chinese Lessons
Send us the form below and the office will take it from there. Someone reads every inquiry, talks through your level, your goals and the times you can meet, then matches you with an instructor who fits and confirms the schedule with you. Nothing is booked or charged at this stage, so you are free to ask what you like first.
If you would rather talk it through, call (714) 662-5400 Monday through Thursday from 10:30am to 9:00pm and Friday from 10:30am to 2:30pm, or email info@oclanguages.com. Students who already know what they want can go straight to the private lesson registration and payment form, and anyone still weighing the two formats can check the Chinese group class schedule.
Common Questions
Answers to what students ask most before booking. Call (714) 662-5400 if yours is not here.
At the Orange County Lingual Institute, eight 80-minute private lessons cost $800, which works out to $100 a session, plus a one-time $50 registration fee for new students. Students already enrolled in a group class can buy lessons individually rather than in a package of eight.
Our group classes and the texts behind them are Mandarin. Tell us if you need something else when you get in touch and we will tell you honestly whether we can match you with an instructor for it.
Yes, and that is one of the more common reasons people book private lessons here. A class has to pick one level for everyone, and a speaker who cannot read does not fit either the beginning or the intermediate class cleanly.
Yes. Students in a class can book individual lessons rather than a package of eight, which is a common way to work through one sticking point without leaving the class.
At our institute at 600 Anton Boulevard, Suite B in Costa Mesa, next to South Coast Plaza and the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, with parking on site. Lessons can also be held online or at your own home or office.
Yes. Private Mandarin lessons run online as well as in person, with the same instructors and the same curriculum built around one student.