Learning Mandarin made easy

PETALING JAYA: For Kairesh Jevan Ramasundram, the most rewarding part about being a Mandarin tutor is helping his students boost their confidence in their careers and personal lives.

Realising his flair for teaching, Kairesh opened a language training centre in his hometown Senawang, Seremban, in 2010.

In the past seven years, he and his team of tutors have taught more than 1,000 students to speak Mandarin.

Kairesh, now 32, mastered Mandarin when he attended SRJK(C) Chan Wa in the 1990s. He continued to study Chinese in secondary school.

“Being non-Chinese, I understand the difficulties that my students go through when learning Mandarin.

“So I broke all the conventional methods of teaching and created a simple formula which allows my students to start learning and understanding Mandarin in a short time,” he said.

Having graduated with a degree in marketing from a private university in Nilai, Negri Sembilan, eight years ago, Kairesh said he initially did not consider teaching Mandarin for a living.

But when he landed his first job at an electronics store as a management trainee, Kairesh found it was more because of his command of the language than his degree.

“I noticed that it would be easier for those who are able to speak Mandarin to get jobs. So I decided to teach Mandarin.

“It started with me teaching just one or two people. I did not plan to be a trainer in the dialect,” he said.

Kairesh advertised his services but did not receive any calls for three months until his first client contacted him to train employees at a hotel to speak Mandarin.

“Since then many of my students have come back to tell me, ‘Your teaching changed my life. I got a better job offer’, or ‘Now I can communicate better with my patients’.”

Kairesh said he was gratified to see how his teaching had touched others’ lives.

“This is the ultimate reward of what I do so I will continue to teach,” he vowed.

Other than Bahasa Malaysia, English, Tamil and Mandarin, Kairesh also speaks Cantonese, a dialect he picked up from his nanny who originated from Guangdong, China.

“My mother and older brother also learnt to speak Cantonese from her,” he added.

Kairesh will be launching his first book, 101 Common Mandarin Phrases, next month.