acceptable price to learn Chinese in Saigon

One reason maybe that in view of might of China,  mainland Chinese is more relevant in future than Taiwanese Chinese. The characters are entirety different. It's not the price.

As matter of fact,TAIWAN characters are more traditional,means with rooted culture with history.But you are not wrong, people are more prone to the simplified Chinese characters.

Although Vietnam's economy is doing fairly well and some people are making a lot of money, the average local can't really afford to pay that much. As a result, VN is not really a good place to teach languages privately. You can try closer to $10 and you should price in VND around 250,000 - 300,00 and see what happens.

Some people have some success setting up scheduled classes, and then students can join the class. They like to study in a group and that way everyone can pay much less, for example 4 people paying 75k vnd = 300k (approx. $13). You need to have an appropriate location/venue though.

Another thing you can try is targeting expats. Not sure how much demand there is among Japanese and Koreans, but there may be a fair number of westerners who have some interest.

Give some thought to how you are marketing yourself as well, what your ad says and where you are advertising. Be creative.

As I mentioned earlier, the tendency is to learn mainland Chinese as its how over 1 billion people communicate. These days, students in Europe, America, Sweden , Australia etc are learning Mandarin Chinese. The Chinese taught in International schools here is also mainly Mandarin Chinese.

The Taiwan Chinese is only taught in Taiwan School in district 7 and with that proficiency it's only good for Taiwanese companies in Vietnam or for those locals wanting to go to Taiwan to work. In that vein, if you go to PR China, you will be completely lost. Or perhaps, there may be some utility in Hong Kong or Macau.

Frankly, like someone said, the price quoted - for expats more likely is not affordable for your likely audience.
If its any comfort, my kid learns Mandarin at one to one at usd 21 per hour.

I emphasize, it's the relevancy and functionality of the language in focus here.

This article seems to assert that the pronunciation differences between Mandarin as spoken on Taiwan and the PRC are negligible especially for a basic learner.   The only thing is that certain pronunciations may show that you had a Taiwanese teacher which should be easy enough to explain if you learned in Vietnam.  In the same way, Vietnamese as spoken in Hanoi is sometimes referred to as the "proper" form but far more people must speak with either central or southern pronunciation.

http://ccalanguagesolutions.com/regiona … nd-taiwan/

As far as characters, I doubt that most beginning instruction would include more than basics anyway.  The article does say that if you learn the traditional, it is easy to switch to the simplified but not the other way.  Anyway, it takes over 2000 characters to be even basically literate so that is unlikely to happen in a few private lessons.  You will probably be lucky to learn enough to read road signs.

Hi!

Just clarify I teach mainly simplified Chinese and pinyin. Taiwanese Mandarin teachers normally understand these two systems. Thanks!

Hi Lisa. I sincerely apologize. Since you are so proficient, should have no problem getting students. All the best.

Hi Lisa, please provide your contact details to me at  xxx.  may need lessons in future. Xie xie.

Hi,

Thanks for your support. I replied you already, please check your email. Thanks!

Apologize for oversight.

Hi Lisa,

I run a private tutoring marketplace.
I would say between 200K and 400K based on the average fee our tutors teaching Chinese, you can have a look here [link moderated]

Cheers

Hi Lisa,

I am looking for a Mandarin Chinese tutor. I have recently done a 4-weeks course in Taiwan and would like to continue studying Chinese. Can you give me some info about your classes?

Hi!

I already dropped you message.

hello! I am interested to learn mandarin. having said that, I do work and having time limitations. may I know what are the options here?

LOL!!! You have got to give the Chinese Credit! They sure know how to bypass "Rules"!

Hi, my name is X, is Y too much for Z ... teehee Lets negotiate so i can advertise my services.

For anyone that would like a better price, visit almost any Pagoda in Saigon, most of them have FREE language classes by volunteers. I met my wife at one of those ironically ( i don't recommend seeking women at a pagoda! )

Hey this is Zac, are you still teaching Chinese to Vietnamese students?
Can you email me as well please