studying in TLI

[nakmuay]

I am planning on studying in TLI in Beijing for 6 weeks. I was thinking of going to the branch in wangufjing. Is there much of a difference between the 2 locations? I am thinking I will do about 12 hours per week of individual tutoring. What are the accomodation options like? How much should I expect to pay? I dont mind even staying in a dorm, I want to keep it cheap.

Thanks

[IndhuRen]

I too have the same questions as nakmuay. I sent email to both Wangfujing and Chaoyang branch and received a prompt reply from both.

The Chaoyang branch has said that the accomodation costs are 75 Kuai for Shared Two Bedroom. I guess that Chaoyang branch might be a better option as the Wangfujing area is closer to the tourist locations and thus the food has got to be more expensive.

I am also confused as to how long I should go for the course. I have done all the 3 levels of Pimsleur and thus I might qualify as slightly above beginner. I am not interested in learning characters now. Even though 110 kuai/ hour is very expensive, I think that it is probably worth it. I was thinking of attending 50 hours if that is enough to give me a reasonable level of grounding.

Therefore I am looking for input from the Dons here like Roddy etc as to how much money it might cost totally and also how many hours I need to study.

I

[IndhuRen]

I sent his IM to Onebir a senior forum member who has also been to TLI Chaoyang

Hi Sir,

I have read your positive reviews regarding TLI and thus am convinced to attend TLI Beijing in November 2007. Actually I wanted to go further afar like Dalian or Tianjin but am terrified about getting conned in these places. Atleast in Beijing I would have access to my country's embassy....

Ok I was seriously wondering where to go Chaoyang or Wangfujing. I have done the 3 levels of Pimsleur and thus could be called a scratch above beginner. I am only interested in Conversation and not characters.

1) How long do you reckon that I go for the One-to-one instruction to get a reasonable fluency. (110 kuai/ hour )

2) Can you also suggest cheaper accomodation (75 kuai/ shared 2 bedroom as advertised by TLI )

3) Expenses on food. (I don't drink beer)

4) Miscellaneous expenses (I am going to Beijing strictly for learning Mandarin and not interested to going for any sight seeing trips)

regards

IndhuRen

This was his reply

Hi

I wouldn't worry about being conned - just get the main TLI office to confirm the website you're looking at is one of theirs.

There's stuff in the forum on the two locations. I was at Chaoyang; transport's not great from there, but I remember reading it's a bit livelier...

I think reasonable fluency could take a couple of months, but it's very hard to say...

You might find cheaper accommodation in that's beijing classifieds. For food, RMB30-40 a day will be enough, if you eat chinese. Transport RMB10-15 if you avoid taxis. (or buy a bike - RMB 150 s/hand - see threads). I guess RMB2000 a month ex accommodation and course fees would cover it...

Good luck

(PS - why not post this, then other people could read the reply in future...)

[palindrome]

I studied at both campuses. They both have their positive and negative attributes. The instruction is the same and they use the same books. Some of the teachers work at both locations.

Wangfujing:

-close to lots of major public transportation lines, including many of the central Beijing buses. Walkable from subway.

-lots of food in surrounding area, including lots of cheap places. Dengshikou Dajie, where the school is, is at the back of the tourist area, and kind of on the border of where the Wangfujing nightmare turns into a regular neighborhood.

-new, pleasant classrooms. The carpet glue smell should be gone by now.

-Across the street from the best yarn shop in Beijing. This probably doesn't matter to you.

Chaoyang:

-a little further out. If you're not into biking, you'll need to learn the bus system to get there, a pain if you don't know characters.

-the closest cheap food is a fifteen minute walk away in Maizidian

-located next to a really noisy construction site, at the moment. I live in the neighborhood, so I can affirm that they are STILL working on the building they were using the concrete saws on when I was studying at this campus back in October.

I guess looking at the above I can see that I slightly prefer the Wangfujing campus, although if I were to go back now I would go to Chaoyang just because it's so near my house.

You can do cheaper than 75 per night. You might look for a short term sublet apartment with roommates. I never lived in their dorms, so I can't speak to that.

I don't know what to tell you about time and fluency. Everyone's different. I saw beginning students there make amazing progress in two months. I really like the beginner's texts they use and wish I had gotten to use them starting out instead of the maddening Princeton books that go against all the logic of book-using that you've ever learned.

[IndhuRen]

Hi Mr. Palindrome,

are the TLI Wangfujing dorms located in the same campus as where they conduct the lessons. Moreover as for the cheaper accomodation, how much cheaper are they. If I am gonna save say only 5-10 kuai, its not a big difference especially if the dorms are conveniently located next to the learning centre.

I was planning to take 3 hours per day of individual instruction. Any advice on how I should space out the lessons or should I sit for one continuous 3 hr session. Do you also think that I should get a PDA with Plecodict installed in it.

How about the TLI audio lessons, are they on CD's or Tapes which would mean that I need to also bring along a tape record player.....

[gato]

indhuRen, you said that you are interested in learning characters right now. I think you should rethink that because being able to READ (as opposed to write) characters will help you to learn more quickly. Another poster here, flameproof, used to be adamant about not wanting to learn characters before knowing how to speak, but eventually succumbed to the world of characters and regretted that he didn't start earlier. You can try to learn as many characters/words as you can in your home country before your trip because that does not require a full-immersion environment. Then you can concentrate on speaking once you are in Beijing.

Yes, if you are serious about learning Chinese, do get a PDA and PlecoDict.

As for your three hours a day, I would recommend two hours of speaking and one hour of reading/grammar per day.

[IndhuRen]

Oh dear, I was told that the only effective method for memorising hanzi is by writing them hundreds of times. I took me close to 3 weeks to do all the 120 radicals in Zhang PengPeng's book called Most Common Radicals.

Is there any effective method for learning to read,

[gato]

Oh dear, I was told that the only effective method for memorising hanzi is by writing them hundreds of times. I took me close to 3 weeks to do all the 120 radicals in Zhang PengPeng's book called Most Common Radicals.

Hehe. That's for remembering them well enough to write them by hand. Remembering them for reading purposes takes much less time and effort.

Using flashcards is what most people do and what I would recommend. You can try jMemorize on your computer or PlecoDict once you get that. You can try to learn in batches of 30-50 (not yet memorized) characters per day. jMemorize and PlecoDict can both help you to keep track of what you have learned and automate the process.

http://jmemorize.org/

jMemorize

http://www.plecoforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=614

PlecoDict

Here is an earlier thread on learning characters:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/12-horse-horse-tiger-tiger-slang-and-idioms730&highlight=character+list

Chinese "most commonly used" han zi

You can try this character list used in Taiwan schools:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?p=64602#post64602

See here for some earlier threads on why you should learn to read:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?p=103921#post103921

Learning only how to speak Chinese (vs write or read it)

http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?p=105714#post105714

Search: (simple) reading for pleasure suggestions

http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?p=101782#post101782

How/When to Learn Characters

[IndhuRen]

Thanks a lot Mr. Gato. :D

I think I will follow your advice and try to learn as many characters as possible. That's quite a comprehensive list of links, would keep me busy. I still got about 5 months until November when I was planning to go to Beijing. Infact I am gonna start with characters from today....

[onebir]

Oh dear, I was told that the only effective method for memorising hanzi is by writing them hundreds of times. I took me close to 3 weeks to do all the 120 radicals in Zhang PengPeng's book called Most Common Radicals.

That's great! I had that book but gave up on 三! Couldn't get the frigging lengths right & after the 50th attempt decided writing just wasn't for me...

[palindrome]

"I was planning to take 3 hours per day of individual instruction. Any advice on how I should space out the lessons or should I sit for one continuous 3 hr session. Do you also think that I should get a PDA with Plecodict installed in it."

A second on the Pleco. It's great. If I had had it starting out it would have saved me a lot of agony.

I think the spacing depends on how you learn. I always did mine straight through, but I had a friend who would schedule her three hours two in the morning and one at 3 pm so that she had a big chunk of the day to sit and study at the school.

You're making me wish I could afford to go back. I miss the teachers.

As for the questions about the dorms, I really don't know. You can find a room in Beijing for as low as $1000 per month, more likely $1200 if you're looking on That's Beijing.

[gato]

You can find a room in Beijing for as low as $1000 per month, more likely $1200 if you're looking on That's Beijing.

You mean 1200 yuan, right?

[palindrome]

oh, yes... yuan, not dollars.

[IndhuRen]

You're making me wish I could afford to go back. I miss the teachers.

It is very expensive Sir. I am a poor graduate student in Singapore and I had managed to save around 4K S$ over the past 3 years by doing tutorials etc. Looks like I am gonna blow the entire lot in the 6 weeks I study at TLI:cry: But then I am hard pressed for time and I guess that the investment is worth it judging from the positive feedback from many forum members.....

I also sent an email to the TLI Tianjin branch but I haven't heard from them yet. Have they shut down????

[onebir]

It is very expensive

Maybe check out other places?

A post recently said you could get 1-1 a lot cheaper even in Beijing. Certainly you can at private schools in Kunming (though the dialect hear means less practice outside class)

(Search for ELCEC & Summit)

[IndhuRen]

Maybe check out other places?

A post recently said you could get 1-1 a lot cheaper even in Beijing. Certainly you can at private schools in Kunming (though the dialect hear means less practice outside class)

(Search for ELCEC & Summit)

I am aware of the post by Mr. Badr but how effective are these alternatives compared to TLI.

I have also heard of the schools in Kunming. But as I had said, I am hard pressed for time. If spending money on TLI can guarantee me better results than Kunming, then I might as well go for it. Maybe someone knows any teacher from TLI who wants to moonlight by taking private lessons at cheaper rates(sh) .

The most important thing for me apart from the expenses is that I really want to speak some degree of mandarin after spending 6 weeks in China.

Having said that, I would like to know whether anybody has been to ELCEC or Sumnmit. BTW isn't Summit supposed to be a new school which is still in the process of developing a curriculum.......

[Tashi Ci]

Greetings All,

I have been studying at the TLI-Wangfujing institute for the past month and have been entirely pleased by the institution, the instructors are effective and professional and the school itself is located in a very modern, well air-conditioned (a real perk during the Beijing summer) building. Despite its proximity to Wangfujing, Dengshikou is actually a quiet, pleasant, tree-lined street with very little traffic and tourist presence. While there are some upscale establishments in the area, it is easy to find inexpensive restaurants and accommodations.

I think I should add that while I was trying to make a decision whether to study at Wangfujing or Chaoyang, I was told by a Chinese friend that the difference between the two was like the difference between Manhattan and the Bronx. While I have never been to Chaoyang and would not like to slight it by verifying the comparison, I can say that there is a similar sort of center-of-the-universe vitality here in downtown Beijing and this has been a compelling reminder of China's significance. I have been particularly impressed by the students studying here as they come from around the world and many of them work in multinational corporations or study at leading academic institutions. Suffice to say, when I was deciding which institution to attend I thought of it as a choice between serenity and energy and while I cannot speak for the serenity of Chaoyang, I can say that there is definitely a lot of energy here in down-town Beijing.

[HaoZhuYi]

Hello Everyone,

This is my first post here! I have bitten the bullet and decided to travel to Taiwan next month. My intention is to go to TLI in Taipei and do nothing but intensive one-on-one lessons there. I have done all 3 volumes of Pimsleur Mandarin(twice) and about 40 chinesepod lessons. I also read xinhua using the Perakun add-on for firefox (it rocks incidentally, I totally recommend it). I am hoping to do entirely conversation classes, since I figure I can bone up on my characters back home.

I am going to be about three weeks in Taiwan and would ideally also like to get some travelling done while over there too (but where to?). I guess my question is how many hours of intensive one-on-one instruction can I usefully do per day without my soft brain becoming overloaded. I read somewhere that three hours a day is plenty, but since I have limited time, I was thinking of four and maybe five hours a day. Is this total insanity on my part? Especially considering that I really only want to do conversation classes? I am generally a fan of the get-your-ass-kicked-by-as-much-conversation-as-you-can school of thought but maybe I should go easy?

Is it best to do all the classes in the morning and leave afternoons free to recover/study on my own? Also should I do ten days non-stop or give myself a weekend off too?

Any thoughts you guys have on this would be greatly appreciated.

xie xie,

Hao ZhuYi