The Mandarin Fluency Breakthrough Program
A 5 to 10-week intensive program designed to help serious Mandarin learners stop “managing” the language…and start actually living part of their life in it.
You already know more Mandarin than you can comfortably use.
Breakthrough helps you close the gap between studying Mandarin and actually living part of your life in it.
Applications are reviewed individually before scheduling assessment calls.
Most intermediate learners eventually hit the same wall
At a certain point in Mandarin, the problem stops being knowledge.
You already know enough Chinese to communicate far more effectively than you currently do.
You know vocabulary.
You know grammar.
You understand a fair amount when listening or reading.
You may even be able to hold conversations reasonably well.
But when conversations become faster, more nuanced, more emotional, or less predictable, something still breaks.
You hesitate.
You mentally rehearse before speaking.
You simplify your thoughts because expressing the real version feels too difficult in the moment.
You avoid certain topics entirely because you know your Mandarin won’t hold up the way you want it to.
And maybe most frustrating of all: you can feel that you’re capable of more.
That’s the stage this program was built for.
The goal is not just to “speak better Chinese”
Breakthrough is designed to help serious learners close the gap between “studying Mandarin” and actually being able to live part of their life in Mandarin.
Not perfectly.
Not flawlessly.
But comfortably, naturally, and with growing confidence.
The goal isn’t just to help you “improve your Mandarin.”
The goal is to help Mandarin start feeling usable.
To help conversations stop feeling like linguistic obstacle courses.
To help you stop constantly managing the language in your head while trying to communicate.
Because for most intermediate learners, the bottleneck is no longer knowledge accumulation. It’s:
automaticity
recall speed
conversational comfort
flexibility
and confidence under real conversational pressure
That’s what we train here.
Where are you now, and where are you going?
Most students who join Breakthrough fall at least at Level 2 on the Outlier Speaking Scale. If you're not quite there yet, the Activate program may be a better fit for you.
Level 1: Basic Survival
You can handle simple interactions, but conversations are slow and effortful.
Level 2: Functional Conversation
You can communicate about familiar topics, but hesitation and limited conversational flexibility still hold you back.
Level 3: Independent Speaker
You can participate actively in conversations, tell stories, explain ideas, and communicate with growing confidence and flow.
Level 4: Advanced Communicator
You can operate comfortably in demanding social and professional situations across a wide range of topics.
Level 5: Highly Fluent
Mandarin feels like a natural part of your life rather than something you actively study.
Most students can move up a full level in 10 weeks with full participation in the program.
Testimonial
“I’m really happy with the whole thing so far. Even when I haven’t had as much time as I wanted, the sessions have still been valuable, and I can feel progress starting to show up in real ways.
One of the biggest values for me is that I’m not just improving now — I’m learning a process I can keep using on my own after the program ends.
The one-on-one sessions are the most important part for me. That’s where the real intensity is, and where I feel like I’m being pushed in the right way.”
—Rick D., an American living in Taiwan
What Breakthrough actually is
This is not a passive course.
And it’s not generic conversation tutoring.
The program is personalized around:
your goals
your interests
your conversational weaknesses
and the kinds of situations you actually want to handle comfortably in Mandarin
For some students, that means:
speaking more fluidly in social settings,
discussing deeper personal topics,
improving professional communication,
sounding more natural,
or becoming more spontaneous and expressive.
For others, it means finally developing enough confidence and automaticity that Mandarin stops feeling mentally exhausting all the time.
The structure is intensive by design.
Most students should expect to spend at least two hours per day actively engaging with Mandarin outside of coaching sessions. We will give you specific tasks to focus on each day—no guessing.
This program works best for people who are genuinely ready to prioritize improvement for a focused period of time.
What’s included
Breakthrough begins with a detailed assessment of your current speaking ability, including fluency, conversational comfort, pronunciation, hesitation patterns, and overall communicative ability.
From there, we build a personalized fluency training plan focused on helping you become more fluid, comfortable, spontaneous, and effective in real-world communication.
Your weekly 1:1 sessions are highly interactive and performance-oriented. The goal is not simply to “cover material.” The goal is to fundamentally improve your ability to communicate comfortably in real time.
Throughout the program, you’ll also receive ongoing support, accountability, and feedback between sessions to help you stay consistent and keep progressing.
At the end of the program, we’ll evaluate your progress, compare your final speaking sample to your baseline, identify remaining bottlenecks, and help you determine the best path forward from there.
Program Options
5-Week Fluency Sprint
$2,500 USD
Designed for learners who want to make a focused, intensive leap in a particular area of speaking ability, such as conversational flow, hesitation reduction, pronunciation and prosody, or overall confidence in spontaneous conversation.
10-Week Fluency Breakthrough
$4,000 USD
Designed for learners seeking broader and deeper transformation across multiple areas of communicative ability.
This longer format allows for deeper habit formation, greater automaticity, broader conversational range, and more substantial integration of Mandarin into daily life.
* Students who begin with the 5-week option may upgrade to the 10-week program before the 4th week.
The application process
Because this is a highly personalized and intensive program, enrollment is limited.
The process begins with a short application where you’ll tell us about:
your Mandarin background
your goals
the biggest things currently holding back your speaking ability
If we think the program may be a strong fit, we’ll invite you to a short assessment and consultation call to discuss your goals, evaluate your current speaking ability, and determine whether Breakthrough is the right path for you.
And if we think another option would serve you better, we’ll tell you honestly.
If this speaks to you…
If you’re tired of feeling like your Mandarin mostly exists “on paper”…
If you want conversations to feel more natural, fluid, and comfortable…
If you want Mandarin to become something you can genuinely live in rather than just study…
We’d love to hear from you.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from tutoring?
Traditional tutoring is usually focused on:
● covering material,
● explaining grammar,
● correcting mistakes,
● or helping you work through a curriculum.
Breakthrough is focused on helping you become substantially more fluid, comfortable, spontaneous, and capable in real-world Mandarin communication.
That means we spend much more time working on things like:
● conversational flow,
● hesitation,
● recall speed,
● automaticity,
● confidence,
● prosody,
● and your ability to communicate naturally under real conversational pressure.
The goal isn’t simply to “learn more Mandarin.”
The goal is to help Mandarin become increasingly usable in real life.
How much time does this require?
This program is intensive by design.
Most students should expect to spend at least 2 hours per day actively engaging with Mandarin outside of coaching sessions.
That does not necessarily mean 2 straight hours of textbook study every day. Depending on your training plan, this may include:
● chorusing,
● shadowing,
● listening,
● conversation practice,
● storytelling exercises,
● speaking drills,
● or other fluency-building activities.
The students who get the best results are the ones who treat the program as a serious short-term priority.
What level do I need to be?
This program is designed primarily for intermediate and advanced learners.
Most students who are a strong fit fall at least at Level 2 on the Outlier Speaking Scale above.
In practical terms, that usually means:
● you can already hold conversations in Mandarin,
● you understand more than you can comfortably express,
● and your biggest frustrations are related to fluency, confidence, hesitation, or conversational flexibility rather than basic comprehension.
If you’re still struggling heavily with very basic conversation, the Activate program may be a better fit right now.
What happens during the coaching sessions?
The coaching sessions are highly interactive and personalized.
Depending on your goals and current ability, sessions may include:
● intensive speaking practice,
● conversational training,
● pronunciation and prosody work,
● storytelling,
● chorusing and shadowing review,
● hesitation reduction,
● real-time correction,
● and exercises designed to increase fluency and automaticity.
These are not passive lectures.
The sessions are designed to actively push your Mandarin speaking ability forward in real time.
Can I do this while working full-time?
Yes! This program is designed for busy working professionals.
That said, the program still requires serious commitment and consistency.
Breakthrough is designed to compress a significant amount of progress into a relatively short period of time. That means students need to be willing to prioritize Mandarin consistently throughout the program.
If your schedule is currently extremely unstable or overloaded, it may make sense to wait for a better time.
How personalized is the program?
Very.
Breakthrough is built around your goals, interests, conversational needs, strengths, weaknesses, and current speaking ability.
Some students want to become more comfortable in social situations.
Others want to communicate more effectively at work.
Others want to sound more natural and expressive.
Others simply want conversations to stop feeling mentally exhausting all the time.
Your training plan and coaching sessions are adapted accordingly.
What if I’m not sure whether the 5- or 10-week option is right for me?
That’s completely normal.
Some students come in with a very specific goal they want to focus on over 5 weeks. Others want broader and deeper transformation over a longer period of time.
We’ll discuss your goals and situation during the assessment process and help you determine which option makes the most sense for you.
Students who begin with the 5-week option may also upgrade to the 10-week program before the 4th week of training.
How quickly will I improve?
That depends on several factors, including your current level, consistency, previous experience, and how much time and focus you’re able to devote during the program.
That said, students who engage seriously with the process often notice meaningful changes surprisingly quickly:
● conversations feel less effortful,
● hesitation decreases,
● recall becomes faster,
● listening improves,
● and speaking starts feeling more natural and automatic.
The goal is not perfection.
The goal is substantial, real-world improvement in your ability to comfortably use Mandarin in your actual life.
Is this the same as the Activate Program?
No.
Activate (formerly "Speech Activation Training") is focused specifically on helping students progress through the Get Speaking Mandarin curriculum through highly structured, tutor-guided training sessions. The pace is flexible—we can go as fast or slow through the material as you'd like.
Breakthrough is broader, more personalized, and more intensive.
Rather than following a fixed curriculum, Breakthrough is built around your goals, your conversational needs, your interests, and the kinds of situations you want to handle comfortably in Mandarin.
Activate is primarily focused on structured acquisition and guided progression.
Breakthrough is focused on helping learners become more fluid, flexible, spontaneous, and capable in real-world Mandarin communication.
If you're not sure which one is right for you, go ahead and apply, and we'll be happy to make a recommendation.
Our Guarantee to You
We stand behind the quality of the Breakthrough program and are committed to your satisfaction.
Because this program includes live 1:1 instruction, refunds are issued on a pro-rated basis.
If you decide that the program isn’t right for you, simply contact us. We will refund your purchase minus the value of any sessions already completed.
Unused sessions are fully refundable within the 30-day window.
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