After learning Chinese with Kent for a year or so, I attended in July 2007 a four-week intensive Chinese course at Beijing Language and Culture University, six hours of classes a day, Monday to Friday. Almost no English was spoken in the classes and I managed to follow the lessons. I was pleasantly surprised at my results in the exams at the end - 96 per cent in the written test and 95 per cent in the oral. All the teachers said I had very good pronunciation. Thanks Kent!

Jim Jenkins
Beijing 2007

I started learning Putonghua from Kent nine months ago, three hours a week, one-on-one. I had travelled once on the mainland before then and had had great difficulty with even the simplest communication. But six weeks into my lessons with Kent I went for a two-week holiday in Guangxi and had no trouble buying bus and train tickets, asking for specific food and drinks in restaurants and having simple chats with people. I have been on three more trips since then (taking in Beijing, Shanghai, Qingdao, Xi’an, Pingyao and several spots in Yunnan), and each time my proficiency is noticably better. It’s amazing how the Chinese, who can look so serious, burst into grins and chat happily when you can speak some Mandarin.

Friends of mine with other teachers have been surprised, saying they have great difficulty being understood. I’ve found out their teachers are native Cantonese speakers and they have the wrong accent, while Kent has taught me the pure Putonghua accent.

Jim Jenkins
Senior Sub-Editor
South China Morning Post