ABOUT LTL SCHOOL

Here at LTL Language School, we believe in the power of community. You’ll not only learn a new language with us, but also become part of a close-knit family of language enthusiasts, supporting and inspiring each other every step of the way.

STAFF EVENTS AT LTL SHANGHAI

OUR JOURNEY

September 2007
LTL Founded by Andreas Laimbock
The initial plan was to call it “Spaghetti Chinese” but thankfully a friend with a bit more marketing experience convinced him to use LTL (Live The Language).
January 2008


TINA BECOMES OUR FIRST DIRECTOR OF STUDIES
After working for four years as a Chinese teacher herself, Tina decided to take on the challenge of building up the Chinese teaching team for LTL.
April 2009

OUR FIRST LTL SCHOOL IN BEIJING
After five months of construction and endless arguments with all kinds of people we finally moved into our first home in April 2009 in the heart of Beijing.
June 2009Our very first homestay student and familyFrom the start the aim of LTL had always been to create an immersive environment for students who want to learn Chinese as fast as possible. And so the Homestay was born.
January 2010 OUR Chinese immersion program is bornWe always knew that to achieve fast language progress we had to get our students to speak Mandarin not only during but also outside class. So we decided to head to Chengde.
may 2010

our first ever student in chengdeOn May 25th 2010 our first student went to Chengde to study and live with a homestay family. We’ve got some funny stories about that! Come to LTL to find out what they are.
June 2011

TIME TO EXPAND our schoolsWe started to run out of class room space and had to build a school extension on the 19th floor of the same building with an additional six class rooms. It was well worth it.
September 2011

our first internWe realized that many of our students did not only want to learn Mandarin, but also gain work experience in China. So we did something about it and started our internship program.
november 2011

ZHongwen joins lTLZhongwen had always believed that Mandarin was her destiny and so did her parents when they chose her name: 仲文 (Zhongwen) which is pronounced the same way as 中文.
September 2012

alex joins ltlAlex joined us as a student advisor in 2012. Back then he organized all full time Chinese language programs for students at LTL Beijing and Chengde. He still lives in China.
december 2012

first gap year program
Luke was our very first full gap year Chinese student. He started as a complete beginner and over the course of a year we took him to HSK 6 with a homestay.
may 2013

our first shared apartments
We started offering shared apartment options in Beijing. Students had full privacy, and lived with Chinese flat mates. The apartments are located in a very Chinese part of Beijing
may 2014

NEW beijing school opened
As our reputation grew we started to run out of space again and needed bigger school facilities. We were lucky as we had bought the premises before prices went crazy!
April 2016

ltl shanghai opensOver the years we had been asked countless times if we could offer Chinese courses in Shanghai. So as usual we did something about it. Not long later our school opened.
January 2017

first multi city studentsWith three schools in Shanghai, Beijing and Chengde we decided to offer a multi city Chinese course in China that allowed students to experience three very different cities.
July 2018

school #3 opens in taipeiLooking back, moving over to Taipei was one of the best things we ever did. Our students absolutely adore Taipei, and we can see why! To this day it remains really popular.
december 2018

school #4 opens in beihaiBeihai is a city unbeknown to a lot of Chinese natives believe it or not. This gem is based on the south coast, hosting some of the finest beaches in the country.
may 2019

ltl xi’an opensThanks to a lot of happy students and a great team we decided to take a further step into China, but where next? Xi’an seemed the natural choice given it’s history.
January 2020

creating free stuff for youSomething our Marketing team spoke of for many months was providing something for our readers completely free of charge. We got to work on making lots of free things just for you.
march 2020

ltl singapore opens We’ve enjoyed planting our flag throughout mainland China but to step further afield into Asia was always a goal of ours and Singapore seemed the perfect place.
october 2020

ltl flexi classes is launchedThe brand new revolutionary way to study languages online – where students can study anywhere, anytime and have complete flexibility to cancel, re-book and change classes.
January 2021

lex the lion is bornAn exciting project our Marketing team embarked on towards the end of 2020 was to bring LTL to life with our very first mascot. After months of debate we were delighted with Lex.
June 2021

new languages launchedAlongside Mandarin, we also teach Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese, plus a number of Chinese dialects including Cantonese and Taiwanese (Hokkien).
September 2023

our first vietnamese schoolVietnamese, to our surprise, proved to be our 2nd most popular language on Flexi Classes. We found a great location in Saigon and flung open our doors.

LTL IN NUMBERS

15
SINCE LTL WAS FOUNDED

since LTL is founded in 2007.

10
CITIES WE TEACH IN

including Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo, and Taipei.

284
TOTAL TEACHERS AT LTL

are currently teaching at LTL

9
LANGUAGES TAUGHT

including Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean

22
LANGUAGES SPOKEN

by LTL teachers and staff members

10k
STUDENTS

from around the globe

105
NATIONALITIES

and they all love us

100k+
HOURS TAUGHT

since it all began

80%
HOMESTAY

the popular choice

98%
EXAM PASS RATE

built for success

38k
INSTAGRAM FOLLOWERS

across four accounts

40k
TIKTOK FOLLOWERS

across four accounts

11k
YOUTUBE SUBSCRIBERS

across two accounts

200+
REVIEWS ON GOOGLE

most of them 5 star

125+
REVIEWS ON FACEBOOK

with more elsewhere

LTL IN THE PRESS

THE TELEGRAPH

“Language is never really learnt in a classroom, but only on the battlefield of everyday life: that is the core philosophy of an inventive Chinese language school in Beijing called Live the Language.” Read More

DIE WELT (GERMAN)

“Wie man Chinesisch in nur einer Woche lernt. “Ein Sprachlehrer in Peking behauptet, jeder könne innerhalb weniger Tage Survival-Chinesisch lernen. Die Schüler müssen sich dafür in der Provinz durchschlagen. Unser Autor hat es ausprobiert.” Mehr lesen

THE BEIJINGER

“German native Andy Zhou arrived in Beijing eight years ago as a student eager to learn Chinese through any means possible, trying BLCU, private language schools and even online learning programs.” Read More

CHINA.ORG (GERMAN)

“Der Deutsch-Österreicher Andreas Laimböck ist Gründer und Geschäftsführer der Sprachschule LTL – “Live The Language”. Als er 1999 als Student zum ersten Mal nach China kam, war er sogleich von der chinesischen Sprache und Kultur begeistert. ” Mehr lesen

SCMP

“To learn the language, live the culture. Andreas Laimböck says expats must escape their bubble to achieve fluency in Putonghua, and his school in Beijing puts the emphasis on going.” Read More

THE PIE NEWS

“The PIE caught up with Laimböck to talk about how Mandarin teaching methods have changed since he first studied it, the increasing popularity of learning the language and why he sends students to a city in China with no foreigners to improve their language skills.” Read More

ACCREDITATIONS

IALC – International Association of Language Centres

The IALC was founded in 1983 and is today the world’s oldest and biggest international private language school association. As a fully accredited member, LTL is regularly inspected by the association and operates according to the IALC code of ethics.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

as an accredited HSK testing centre in China

MINISTRY OF COMMERCE

as an accredited “Provider of Cultural Exchange Programs”

MINISTRY OF SCIENCE

as an accredited provider of “Educational Holiday Trips”

HÖGSKOLEVERKET / CSN

Swedish National Agency for Higher Education

MSU

Michigan State University, United States of America

FHAM

University of Applied Management, Germany

MEET THE LTL TEAM

JOIN LTL

We have a number of exciting career opportunities at LTL as we continually expand. Check out some of our current job roles below and contact us if any are of interest to you.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.