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Post by Mattholomew on Sept 20, 2006 6:46:09 GMT 7
Hey all,
After two years of teaching I'm back in the US for the holiday season, but I'm beginning to plan my next move to China. Rather than teach this time, I'd like to dedicate a year or so to studying Chinese full-time. Alas, I'm not entirely sure how to go about it. Here are some questions:
- Does it really matter where you study in terms of learning a proper form of the language? I'm not looking for Da Shan-style perfection, but don't want to sound like a complete bumpkin.
- Is it possible to show up a few weeks before the semester starts and sign up, or do I have to begin the process months in advance?
- Any warning signs or red flags to look out for?
- I can speak and understand a whole lot better than I can read and write; will this cause problems in course placement?
Thanks for reading and I look forward to hearing your responses...cheers!
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Post by Raoul Duke on Sept 26, 2006 18:20:16 GMT 7
Hey Matt,
Nice to see you again.
My inclination would be to stick with a University-based program rather than a private school. I think the private programs will be a lot more expensive, and after all these years in China the words "private language school" make my skin crawl a bit. But I guess as long as you have a good teacher and a good curriculum, it doesn't matter too much.
If you want a student visa, you'll need to start the process very early. Otherwise, just waving money some time before classes start will probably do it.
Red flags? The usual....unrealistic promises. Prices way out of line with other comparable programs. Programs that insist you buy huge bales of questionable supplementary materials.
For the fluency-literacy gap, shop different programs. You may find one flexible enough to give you a low-level written class and a higher-level oral class.
Good luck. I envy you being able to do this.
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Post by Nate M on Sept 27, 2006 7:52:55 GMT 7
I'd also buzz in over at www.chinese-forums.com and see where they recommend. The owner there is a class act, and they seem to know their stuff when it comes to learning Chinese. |
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teleplayer
Barfly
Ni3 you3 hen3 duo1 qian2. Gei3 wo3 yi4dian(r)3 ba.
Posts: 541
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Post by teleplayer on Sept 28, 2006 9:26:53 GMT 7
Nate,
Glad to see you posted this link. I just recently (last week) found these folks while searching for transcriptions of Pimsleur series. There is a transcription of the first 30 lessons of Pimsleru I by a woman named Taryn and you can read the edits by members.
Interesting note to all is that while Pimsleur series gives good pronouciation, after the full 90 lessons one has only covered just under 800 words. Too, you will see notes that the delivery is slow. While it has helped me to get praise for correct pronouciation and I have gone throurh each series three times working on pronouciation, remember it doesn't help one to hear at full speed.
Those using Pimsleur will appreciate that there is an EXCEL sheet with all of these words save the formal names--don't understand why the guy didn't want to include streets that reallly exist in Beijing or the names of flowers, but a minor inconvenience. Some of his definitions are dodgy since he used an on-line dictionary that the owner of chimed in it sometimes gives less than ideal defs. I have both Taryn's transcriptions and the spread sheet, though I'd prefer you go get direct from them
Lastly, the U.S. Foreigh Service Institute's Mandarin (all in pinyin w/o characters) is a free download. While vocab not much more than Pimsleur, it makes up by using extended vocabulary for housing, travel, news, and politics. Also, the speakers use faster delivery so will help one to hear more "real time."
Oh, one more, Taryn, who transcribed Pimsleur I has a personal blog where she's started a thread of using Pimsleur I but varying the English interludes/directions so that they are more like gossip and ennuendo. Adds a new twist and humour to the program. Regardless, for the transcription and the blog she does the Mandarin parts in Hanzi so a good reading exercise for basic Mandarin.
Now, to turn all that FSI stuff into Characters to help us all.
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Post by icebear on Sept 28, 2006 12:50:24 GMT 7
TP could you post a link to that U.S. Foreigh Service Institute's Mandarin? I didn't see anything worthwhile using a Google (China) search.
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teleplayer
Barfly
Ni3 you3 hen3 duo1 qian2. Gei3 wo3 yi4dian(r)3 ba.
Posts: 541
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Post by teleplayer on Sept 28, 2006 21:47:19 GMT 7
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Post by ilunga on Oct 2, 2006 23:22:22 GMT 7
Matthew, you can pretty much just turn up a few days in advance. Courses tend to start Sept 1st and March 1st. Same deal as when you're teaching.
I wouldn't worry about your reading/writing not being up to much. You pick the characters up so fast when you're looking at them every day in class. After a while they just stick. I still find speaking/listening much harder than reading.
I'm studying in Xi'an, which I think is a good place to learn. Obviously money goes further than it would in say Beijing, which is a bonus when you're not working. There's loads of cash-in-hand teaching gigs too, if you ever find yourself a bit short.
What's the deal with chinese-forums? I tried to register a while back, and they weren't taking memberships but you could e-mail them and they would consider new memberships if you were 'interesting enough'. I vaguely remember calling them a bunch of m'kaywits and asking if that was interesting enough for them. Pretentious tossers. It's not like there's anything worth reading there anyway. I only wanted to ask a couple of study-related questions.
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teleplayer
Barfly
Ni3 you3 hen3 duo1 qian2. Gei3 wo3 yi4dian(r)3 ba.
Posts: 541
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Post by teleplayer on Oct 3, 2006 5:02:30 GMT 7
What's the deal with chinese-forums? I tried to register a while back, and they weren't taking memberships but you could e-mail them and they would consider new memberships if you were 'interesting enough'. I vaguely remember calling them a bunch of m'kaywits and asking if that was interesting enough for them. Pretentious tossers. It's not like there's anything worth reading there anyway. I only wanted to ask a couple of study-related questions. Ilunga, I saw the same message. Waited a day or two, tried again, and they accepted me. You're right though, there are a few knowledgable folks who leave bits of wisdom, some good folks trying to learn. There are so many other sites where the same information can be gleaned depending on how you do your Google search. |
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