Hank posted some numbers below concerning the price of Mandarin lessons here in Shanghai. Allow me to offer my two bits, as it were.

For the Mandarin learner there are two costs: Time and money. Since these are related, it is useful to manage them simultaneously and as efficiently as possible. I recommend a combination of good study habits, choosing the right place for instruction, and adopting the right method.

Over the coming months we’ll do all we can to help you manage your time (for example, by discarding irrelevant input). We’ll also offer you a method that we’ve developed over 20 years. (Since the method/approach are inductive, you will come to understand it as you go along. Let’s just say for now that it is driven more by the idea of learner discovering the language , than by teacher explicating it.)

As for finding the right place in which to practice, we’re on the case. Nothing is worse than signing up for lesssons that don’t work, and as Hank points out that can cost thousands of dollars.

I believe ChinesePod sovles some of the major issues of cost, risk, timeliness, method, approach, and so on. Perhaps this puts the cost of ChinesePod into some perspective.

I have much more to say on how to maximize your time and your money when studying Mandarin. Stay tuned.

Ken