University location and accents

[Meghan2007]

Hi! I'm planning to study Mandarin in China for a year . . . I'll have had 2 years of Chinese in a university prior to this. But I'm not sure where to go. I dont like the Beijing accent and wouldnt want to pick it up, but I want to go somewhere where the local people speak Mandarin. It also very important to me that it be a very good, orderly curriculum, where I will be able to lean Chinese as quickly and fluently as possible in a year's time. Any suggestions? Thank you!! :o)

[sunyata]

umm...Qingdao, Tianjin, Xian....all i can think of...

too bad you don't like beijing accent, you'll be missing out

[Meghan2007]

Do you (or anyone) know which universities down there have the best location? I would prefer a place green and warm :o) Thank you for any help you can give me : )

[Green Pea]

China is a big country with lots of Chinese programmes. Can you be more specific or rank your requirements? For example, is green and warm more important than regional accent? Is fluency in a year more important than an orderly programme? Could you tolerate teachers and classroom materials from Beijing even though you are not in Beijing?

Also, I wouldn't worry about "picking up" a Beijing accent in a year. If you could only be so lucky. You will probably still sound very much like a foreigner after a year no matter where you study. People think that an accent is some infectious, incurable disease that once you are exposed then you've got it for the rest of your life. If only learning languages were so easy.

I hear Chinese students tell me this all the time. "Oh, I don't want to go to [uS or UK] because I want proper [uS or UK] In-ge-lesh." Then they go there and after 10 years they still sound Chinese. Same goes for foreigners studying Chinese.

[Meghan2007]

Haha, I guess that makes sense. Well, having a school that fosters fluency is the most important (my assumption is that having the best of curriculums and having the school located in a place where the local people speak mandarin would make it easiest for me to become as fluent as possible). 2nd would be having it in a pretty, green locale with nearby historical ancient Chinese sites to visit. Third would be having the school in a location without the Beijing accent. Thanx

[Meghan2007]

No suggestions??

[lylestyle]

Actually, my dream place to study Chinese would be Guilin, China. It is absolutely beautiful setting with lush green mountian peaks all around, and I hear they have a decent program at the University there. Might be expensive though. But I think if you want the absolute best instruction with the greatest chance of achieving fluency, you should go study at Beijing. They have the best colleges for learning Chinese intensively. Good luck!

[sunyata]

agree with lifestyle...

you have to decide whether you want scenery or the best environment for learning standard mandarin...

[pazu]

I can't agree with Lylestyle, I've been to Guilin and I think it's such a disappointing place, definitely the local government didn't have any serious plan as to how to develop their city for the tourism's sake. Concrete buildings are everywhere. It was once a dream place, but the charm long disappeared.

And I can't agree with sunyata, Beijinghua isn't Putonghua. Putonghua is based on Beijinghua, but it doesn't mean they're the same.

Meghan2007, I think it's insightful that you don't limit yourself to those schools in Beijing only. Many students in Beijing (to study Chinese) mistakenly thought that Putonghua (Pekingo in Japanese) = Beijinghua, so they thought the best place to study Putonghua was in Beijing, which is totally wrong.

CCTV broadcasters speak in Putonghua, but not Beijinghua, you'll see the difference very easily.

I think the best place to study is in Kunming, Yunnan Province. Kunming has quite a strong university culture, though they have their own dialects (Kunminghua~), Kunmingers are more willing to talk to you in Putonghua rather than Beijingers (personal experience!).

And Kunming is also a good base for numerous 3-day to 1-week short trips, and it's easy to spend your long vacation there and around too. What can you see? Lijiang Old Town, Nvjiang (Angry Rivers~), Banna, etc.

[cuthbert]

why no shanghai,that's a good place.i promise u wil not disappoint it.

someone thinks shanghaiese always speak shanghaiese,it's wrong.

now those who from different areas in china gather in shanghai,it make shanghai to be a mandarin-speaking city.

[pazu]

Shanghai is a good place, but it's just expensive.

Do they have a snow mountain in Shanghai?

[7jason7]

How about Taiwan?

[pazu]

Taiwan is much more expensive, and it's indeed quite isolated geographically.

With a Chinese student visa, you can't travel around China; with a TW one, you can travel in Taiwan only.

[7jason7]

Pazu, nice website. You write in traditional Chinese characters but do not recommend Taiwan. How come?

[pazu]

For any serious learners of Chinese, they should learn to write both Trad and Simp characters.

I learnt to write Simp Chinese when I was in Hong Kong, I don't see why you have to go to Taiwan to learn Trad characters.

[ala]

Shanghai!!!!!!!!! Except they speak Shanghainese (Wu). ergh. But you will still meet many people who speak only Mandarin. And the local Shanghainese would happily and accurately speak Standard Chinese (putonghua) to you. They don't have the -r either. And if you want you get to experience an awesome sounding dialect to diversify your Chinese experience, think of that as a positive. And the city is 24/7 with ample resources (bookstores, cafes, teahouses, universities) to improve your Chinese.

Next is probably Hangzhou (120km away from Shanghai), they mostly speak Mandarin (they also sometimes speak Wu, but greatly Mandarinized). You have a strong academic and cultural environment there (Hangzhou was summer capital of Song dynasty). It's a much smaller city than Shanghai, more orderly, and far cheaper. Buses run on schedules in Hangzhou, while in Shanghai they come every 2-3 minutes and nearly every car in the street is a taxi. Unlike Shanghai's concrete, brick and large centennial trees (which I find great), Hangzhou has a kind of traditional beauty, very romantic and willowy. I think there is a building code prohibiting construction of buildings taller than 10 storeys in Hangzhou. Hangzhou is also close enough to Shanghai (1-2 hrs by train) for you to visit Shanghai often. Nanjing (230km from Shanghai) is also an option, they speak Mandarin and there are good universities there too. So in the green fertile temperate Lower Yangtze Delta area: Shanghai (Wu), Hangzhou (Wu), and Nanjing (Mandarin) are three cities you might want to consider. The region is full of cultural sites and practising Mandarin isn't really a problem for any of these cities.

Dalian or Qingdao are also okay, but they have their accent problems as well. And as pazu said, Kunming is good too.

pazu: No snow mountains though. But Shanghai did snow this winter. Does Beijing have snow mountains? I know they have sand dunes 50 km away. eek

[kekeshu]

If you don't mind the cold weather, Harbin is also a good choice.

[handbus]

Shanghai or Hangzhou will be a good choice.

With a fast development, many foreigners like to live in Shanghai for the modernization and similarity with their hometown.

The life in Shanghai will not a problem for a newcoming foreigner. Many youngsters can speak English, French, German even Spainish and Portuguese quite well, which will help foreign newcomers a lot.

If you can speak Chinese well, then you will never worried about that communication will bring you any problems.

Mandarin is more and more spoken between peoples no matter that whether they are Shanghainese or not.

But living cost in Shanghai as well as in Hangzhou will be much higher than those in a northeast, southwest or northwest city.

There are many masters of ceremony in CCTV are from Shanghai with their more accurate Mandarin.

I can recommend you some universities in these 2 cities.

The stars stand for the reputation of their Chinese educations.

Shanghai:

Fudan University *****

http://www.fudan.edu.cn

Shanghai International Study University *****

http://www.shisu.edu.cn

Shanghai Jiao Tong University ****

http://www.sjtu.edu.cn

East China Normal University ****

http://www.ecnu.edu.cn

Shanghai University ***

http://www.shu.edu.cn

Shanghai Normal University ***

http://www.stu.edu.cn

Hangzhou

Zhejiang University *****

http://www.zju.edu.cn

Zhejiang Normal University ****

http://www.zjnu.edu.cn

[handbus]

And if you are from Germany, Shanghai Tong Ji University will be the best Choice.

Shanghai Tong Ji University

http://www.tongji.edu.cn

[ala]

Jiaoda only 4 stars?? and Shanghai International Study University has 5?