When David first brought his daughter Eva to Pistachio in 2023, she was five years old and already familiar with basic Mandarin Chinese through some lessons she attended.
While Eva enjoyed learning, David found it difficult to support her at home — the homework was character-based, which can be especially challenging for families with no Chinese background.
At Pistachio, switching to pinyin (romanised Chinese) made things easier, and over time both David and Eva found themselves enjoying the process. Six months later, when we launched our first group online classes for older learners, David eagerly signed up to learn alongside his daughter. What started as a way to help with homework soon became a shared family journey of language, history, and culture.
- How has learning Mandarin made a difference in your child’s life so far + moment of progress
She likes the fact that she’s learning Mandarin. This morning was cool – usually it’s a struggle to get her to do homework, but this time we had two weeks’ worth and even though there was a bit of resistance at first, she ended up doing a lot of it without me saying anything.
She’s been learning Chinese since she was two and a half. She has a lot of activities, like piano, and most of them weren’t really her idea, I encourage her to do them because I know they’re good for her.
One thing I like about Pistachio is that the programme is designed for parents who aren’t native speakers. Compared to other options, it makes it a lot easier to help her with her homework.
- What were the main reasons you / your children wanted to learn Mandarin?
I just thought it would be a good thing for her to learn another language. A lot of people learn French or Spanish, which are popular, but not many people in New Zealand actually speak them. Chinese is a lot more commonly spoken, both here and globally, and it felt like quite a useful language for her to know.
There’s a lot of business with China in New Zealand – when you think about her future, it opens opportunities that you wouldn’t get otherwise. Even just day-to-day things like going shopping, buying things, reading products or newspapers – it’s all useful.
I was talking to someone from a company recently and they said they have a Chinese desk. That’s becoming more common with big firms. French is nice, but if you learn it here, the most you could probably do with it is be a teacher. Mandarin feels more practical.
- What do you (or your child) enjoy most in the Mandarin lessons?
The classes are well run. She really likes when the lessons are around cultural events – learning about those things is fun, and the stories are good.
She also likes being in class with other kids. It’s more fun doing it as a group, making friends and doing fun activities together.
- Would you recommend Pistachio Mandarin Language Centre?
I already have! I recommended it to a lady at the piano classes. Especially if you’re a non-native speaker, Pistachio is much, much better.
We tried another Chinese school in Flatbush before this, and the homework there would come entirely in Chinese script – it felt like it was really designed for native speakers. That class was for kids aged 2 to 6, and it was a mix of really young kids and 5-year-old boys running around. It was distracting, and hard to focus.
Pistachio has narrower age bands, the classes are more organised, and the teacher-to-student ratio is good. The activities are well set up, they’ve got tables, proper materials, and everything feels organised.
I’ve also done one of the online Thursday classes with Yatchun, and that’s been helpful – it gives me more insight into what my daughter’s learning, so I know more when I’m helping her with her homework afterwards.
Today, David and Eva’s progress is easy to see: Eva now does her homework more independently, and the family enjoys cultural dinners where they practise new vocabulary (like the subtle difference between pán “plate” and bàn “half”). For David, Mandarin has become more than a skill for Eva’s future; it’s a way to connect with his daughter and explore a culture he’s always admired.
If you’re a parent looking to give your child — and maybe yourself — the gift of Mandarin, Pistachio’s classes are designed to support both learners and families, even if you’re starting from scratch. [Get in touch with us to learn more.]
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