In April 2004 I spent a couple of weeks in Singapore just waiting for my flight back to Europe. I had wanted to leave earlier after my study abroad, but my airline, Biman Bangladesh, had no available seats to Brussels. The helpful lady at the counter would told me: "it won't be a problem to get you to Dhaka, but I cannot guarantee you a connecting flight from there to Brussels". I preferred being stuck in Singapore to spending weeks in the Bangladeshi capital.
My idea at the time was to learn Mandarin for these weeks. Unfortunately, this never got off the ground at that time. I did call several language centres, but they did not have courses available with a start date that worked for me, or they could offer that, but only because they would give me one-on-one lessons at a price that was way beyond my reach.
It was at that time that I realized how difficult it is to find a place to learn Chinese in Singapore. In fact, there are many of such schools all around the city, offering mainly English, Chinese (Mandarin) and Japanese courses. But a lot of other Asian and European languages are also offered by various institutes.
This weekend, I spent some time investigating the locations of language schools in Singapore and plotted them on a Google map. (click on the link to go there). It actually turns out pretty neat: you can first zoom to the place where you live or work and see what is on offer close by. After all, learning any language is a long term effort, so the language school you choose should better be conveniently located.
My idea at the time was to learn Mandarin for these weeks. Unfortunately, this never got off the ground at that time. I did call several language centres, but they did not have courses available with a start date that worked for me, or they could offer that, but only because they would give me one-on-one lessons at a price that was way beyond my reach.
It was at that time that I realized how difficult it is to find a place to learn Chinese in Singapore. In fact, there are many of such schools all around the city, offering mainly English, Chinese (Mandarin) and Japanese courses. But a lot of other Asian and European languages are also offered by various institutes.
This weekend, I spent some time investigating the locations of language schools in Singapore and plotted them on a Google map. (click on the link to go there). It actually turns out pretty neat: you can first zoom to the place where you live or work and see what is on offer close by. After all, learning any language is a long term effort, so the language school you choose should better be conveniently located.