Anyone know a remote place to further my Oral Chinese???

[london82]

Hi,

I came to China in Sept 2006 and I am doing my second semester of mandarin. The first semester was in Beijing and not suitable for me really and this second semester is in Jiamusi and for studying I think it's perfect. I am quite shy so I struggled to practice speaking in Beijing as so many people spoke English. In Jiamusi this isn't a problem and I have alot of Chinese friends however, I only have 8 months left in China and I'm really keen to improve my oral massively before I go home. At university I'm spending much to much time studying characters and this is actually resulting in me not having enough time to spend with my Chinese friends so directly affecting my oral progress.

For this reason I have come to the conclusion that I should head out somewhere remote and stop studying in universities and just find an environment that forces me to speak Chinese all the time. The problem is I have no idea where or how. I have no teaching experience and I'm not that keen on teaching english as I have never studied english grammar myself and I don't really understand it however this is obviously the most likely job. I was thinking there may be a farm where I could be like an 'au pair' and live with a family. Or maybe an Orphanage or other charitable organisation. I'm just throwing ideas around and I am actually really flexible.

Then there is also the concern that if I go somewhere ridiculously remote I may struggle with a dialect. For this reason it may be better to stay in the North East?? What do you think?

And finally, I thought I would have to study for my entire time here so I can afford to pay something for bored. Therefore I think there must be loads of families that could do with an extra bit of income and also maybe a hand at work or on the farm or something. It's just a case of I don't know how to get in contact.

I would appreciate any comments or ideas!! This would all be to start in July so I am fast running out of time.

Many thanks

Emma

[simonlaing]

Hi Emma,

No offense to you, but your plan of doing farm work to make ends meet is simply unrealistic. Farmworkers are some of the lowest paid people in China. Plus many farms are about growing rice or vegetables, both back breaking work if you do them for any length of time.

I think you have a couple of options, which all include living very cheaply.

One you can teach class part time and simply live on that. (North east might be good) I had a friend who did this in BJ 3 hours on Tuesday 3 hours on THursday. and the rest of the time studying. I was based in Nanjing doing 8-10 hours a week for 2500-4000 RMB depending on the jobs. This is harder than it was because there are more westerners and private english schools can be more picky.

In Nanjing some people did the tutoring Korean bit. They usually pay more than Chinese, give you a meal or snacks and are generally pleasant, though the down side is that you usually have to tutor kids, and find Korean families that want a Tutor. There are ways to be hosted in a chinese family as well. This also saves of food and allows you just to have a room while keeping access to a bathroom and kitchen if you want it. Sometimes trying to arrange this yourself can save money and going through the university or online boards works.

The other option is choosing to be ultra-cheap. This entails moving down to a southern province where life is much cheaper. (You may need to stay in a medium sized city to have access to non-dialect mandarin speakers.) But even Kunming, and lijiang had very cheap places. If you can handle it, living in a hostel at 15-25 yuan a night is a possibility, and meals there drop from the 7 kuai gaijiao fan to the 2 kuai noodles and meat.

Guanxi, and Yunnan seemed like good place do this. Also trying to share with a chinese student or chinese young person will also reduce costs like crazy. They will also want to cook instead of going out and you can learn how to cook on a budget.

Because the north east gets cold I wouldn't skimp on getting a well heated place. So you have Choices.

where-ever you go you will find teaching english is the best paid entry level job.

Have fun,

Simon:)

P.S. I have only heard of westerners doing DJing and having a good life. In Shanghai, things like writing for a magazine, doing PR spots or other random jobs are possible but you have to put the time in, and cost of living not to mention the cost to your study time is high.

[london82]

Hi,

Thanks alot for replying. My main problem is actually not money however. I don't need to work for money (as I've borrowed it all from the UK). The only reason why I mentioned working was to think of something to do with my time and a way of meetin people. I appreciate what you said about farming and I am a proper little city girl so it is a very valid point that there may be no suitable job for me, but I wouldn't want anyone to pay me as I realise for farming I wouldn't be value adding. I was actually suggesting, as they may be poor, I could help them in some way by paying to stay with them.

A big reason why I don't want to teach is that the people I will meet through that will almost definately speak english or be learning, hence getting me out of the need to speak Chinese all the time.

I know other people seem to be able to learn Chinese no problem whilst living in western areas such as Wudaokou in Beijing but I am accepting that I don't have that personality and when I am missing my friends and family, and I'm in that environment, instead of finding comfort in my Chinese friends with whom there are huge language and culture barriers I am weak and tend to run to westerners.

By lack of response however, I reckon that it a clear sign that people don't do this kind of thing so for me that would mean back to a chinese uni in a remote place rather than teaching.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

Emma

[Pravit]

If you don't want to earn money, I'm sure plenty of families in remote areas would be happy to have you stay with them if you paid for your room and board for however long you planned to stay. You wouldn't even have to work in the fields unless you wanted to, although perhaps you could tutor the kids English. There are some companies that will arrange this but many of them are overpriced and almost none of the money gets to the family. So I suppose the only way is to backpack around remote areas of China and strike up propositions with friendly-looking locals - but that sounds fun enough in itself!

[simonlaing]

Places in Guanxi, Yunnan and Guizhou (the poor one) could be good as these are places that often have backpackers staying in in people's rooms and at the top of restaurants or Bars.

However you may have a catch 22 where the more, remote and poor the village that you go to the less standard the chinese dialect.

The North east has standard dialect in more people perhaps, but their local dialects can be very strange.

There are NGOs, like women's empowerment or the hope project that might need interns which is something you can think about.

have fun,

Simon:)

[mrtoga]

Hi Emma,

Good to hear everything is going OK up there in Jiamusi. Mr. Wang's daughter keeping a good eye on you?

I know what you mean - want to get away from the studying and learn more naturally. I have an idea....

I went to a little village about three hours outside of Beijing last summer. I can't recall what it was called, but it was a tiny place that was the site of a big battle between Japanese and Chinese troops. It is now a tourist village and you have to pay to get in - really picturesque.

Anyway, there is a population of just a few hundred people, no foreigners living there although there are a number come for day trips.

You can stay in the houses there (traditional Chinese houses) for about 20RMB per night. The locals would be delighted to have you I am sure and you could do some interpreting for them during the days if a few laowai come to visit.

I reckon a stay of about a month would be a fascinating experience. I thought of this because when I lived in Japan I was in a tiny mountain village for a year - completely transformed my Japanese ability!

If you are interested do contact me you know where I am! I will find a way of getting you the name of this village (I have the t-shirt somewhere.....)

[london82]

Thanks for the responses. I think I am going to pick up my bag and walk into the countryside and try it that way. Will first check out Charities first however, although aware that all I can offer to a charity is English speaking. I will start start looking into the practicalities of this now.

Hi Mr Toga, Mr Wang's daughter is lovely and I definately recommend this place as a great place to study. I am really interested in the name of the town you mention. Don't worry to much if you can't find it. If it's tourist place, I'm sure I will be able to find it.

Any other villages or towns people have been to and recommend, I would love to hear about.

Emma

[cutty]

I have an idea if you don't care about pay.

How about do volunteer at Wolong?

[mrtoga]

sorry emma I can't find that t-shirt.

I know it is a three-hour bus ride from pingguomen - anyone help out? I will try to start another thread, I am sure someone knows it!