Contact with local chinese

[david lam]

Hi folks.

I've just read the definitive guide thread for studying in Beijing. Somewhere round the middle choudoufu talks about the pros and cons between private schools and universities. On both he/she says the cons for BOTH are minimal contact with local chinese. How is this possible if you are weighing one up against the other? Or is it simply that going to school in China you are unlikely to meet locals?

I'm looking to arrive in Beijing soon and would in an ideal world, not speak any English at all for six months and speak Chinese on a daily basis (I'm up to intermediateish stage so far) It seems BNU gets a better mark for this, but can anyone tell me how this compares with private schools. Just using logic I can think that a private language school would have no local students hovering around (except to grab the old language exchange) thus making universities more advantageous. Plus universities would run more clubs to join. Is this correct?

Cheers me dears.

[adrianlondon]

It doesn't depend much on the school, but on you.

You'll be in China. There are one or two Chinese people around that you can talk with ;)

Make friends with shopkeepers, kebab stall holders, cleaners, security staff, random people who chat with you on the bus, internet dating sites (if that's your thing). If you only want to talk Mandarin you can.

Bear in mind that this does get very tiring and also you'll probably want to have some English conversations; partly so you can chat about complex topics without your brain hurting and also so you can talk to non Chinese people! If you enjoy a nice political argument, or simply a decent heated discussion about anything, you'll want to do this occasionally.

Maybe instead of most people having a "mandarin speaking hour" you can have an English speaking one.

It's all up to you. You don't need to speak any English at all, but you could also irritate some Chinese students who are chatting with you in Mandarin in the hope you'll help them with some English.

[BrandeX]

It could help to get out of Beijing. you could try one of the schools in heliongjiang instead?

[simonlaing]

I agree with Brandex, that you're more likely to to fine chinese friends who don't want to learn English if you're in a smaller city.

There are other tactics for your immersion method, One is to go to a smaller school where there are few other westerners or Europeans. So there is lack of temptation to chat in English.

A version of this if you're going to a bigger school is to hang out only with Koreans and Japanese. Most of the time their English is not that good and will want to speak Chinese to you. (This can also back fire as you start to learn Korean, as happenned to a friend of mine you fall in love with a korean girl and follow her back to Korea)

This does take effort, such as randomly going up to people and chatting with them. I did some of this by joining the school volleyball team back in the day. Others have done it with football and basketball. Doing very chinese activities can help as well like playing the Killer/Mafia game or the 80 points card game. (similar to fight the landlord card game).

I had a taxi driver pimp friend once he had 6 different meanings for the word OK, But I learn all about the city of Suzhou, played with master ping pong players and Snooker champs. Discos and other strange but fun activities.

Good luck,

SImon:)

P.S. I chose to study in Nanjing rather than Shanghai because I was worried about not being able to meet chiense people who didn't speak English.

[mr.stinky]

the school is responsible for teaching you the language, but it's your responsibility to put

it into practice. limited contact with 'local people' would be your fault. so cut back on the

cheap dvd's and stay out of the expat bars if you want to progress.

how much time are you spending at school? 2-4 hours per day in class? why stay on

campus any longer than necessary. (i can see hanging around to hit on the cute college

girls, but then that also could be considered immersion, right?)

unless you need specific 'western' products, avoid the carrefour/metro supercenters. do

your shopping in small markets, where the shopkeepers are less likely to know any

english.

you might also try tutoring, but limit this to students that have no english whatsoever.

if you need to explain all the grammar concepts and definitions in chinese, you'll wind up

learning more than your students.

[Lu]

What they said. The thing with learning Chinese in China is that you won't be in class with any native Chinese, as they already speak it. Yet class is the most obvious place to meet people and make friends. This goes for all schools and universities. Ergo, if you want to speak Chinese with locals, you have to get out and meet people, and basically you can do this anywhere, although some places are better than others.

Good luck!

[david lam]

Many many thanks.

I'll look into your suggestions....especially about the cute college girls. I'm sure they're desperate to help someone learn a new tongue.

[david lam]

P.S. BrandeX, I tried googling heliongjiang with "study chinese" and the best that came up was your post! Could you recommend any schools there?

[BrandeX]

Yep, just go here:

http://www.hyccchina.com/index.htm

It's well known on the forums, and they will take care of most things for you.

[Jamoldo]

I can personally vouch for HYCC (detailed report to come in a few weeks), as I'm currently in Dalian at Liaoning Shifan Daxue and got here through them.

As for meeting Chinese, don't let anyone kid you. It's tough as nails to make Chinese friends if you don't have a good linguistic ability or even a decent one. You just can't say too much about anything. Face it would you readily be friends with some strange foreigner who could barely speak English? Maybe not at first unless you had some kind of common interest or social group.

My reccomendation regarding meeting Chinese at university is to join a club (like football, ping pong etc). You'll meet normal Chinese students, whereas the university usually keeps Chinese and foreigners separated. For instance Foreigners are kept in cushy dorms and Chinese really aren't let in unless they register or you accompany them, and this is only during daytime and early evening hours. Chinese students have dorm curfews etc etc etc..

I also disagree about the smaller place less people wanting to speak English thing. I get a lot more stares and hellos and what not in smaller cities. In Beijing its pretty much "oh its another foreigner, meh" kind of thing. Though I'm of Indian origin so I still get enough stares...

There are loads of people in Beijing who don't want to learn English or don't care about it. You can avoid the ones who want to speak English easily enough or see who just wants English lessons. It's a skill you pick up. Actually I have very few Chinese friends (been in China for nearly a year now so maybe this year I'll get better at it) and the two I know are at Beida (I'm at Beishida) speak English quite well but they are always willing to speak in Chinese with us since they know our level of Chinese is far below their English, and because they're very nice. Though my friend and I have volunteered to help them with any English they might need, they have not really taken advantage of the offer, though this might change if they look for a job.

Follow Adrian's suggestions and also feel free to make friends with foreigners who can't speak English. It's not perfect but its a great start. I've got a great Japanese friend here, and I can feel my spoken Chinese has really improved this past month simply because I can't speak English.

I need my western products (Dove Soap, Nutella) and intl restaurants wwith foriegners with whom I can speak English and all that. plus I love to see cities change, so Beijing's ideal for me... though the air quality could improve!

[david lam]

Thankyou once again, I've contacted HYCC. Much appreciated.