Chinese language programs in Taipei

[Xiying]

I have a few months to burn so please help me choose a program in Taibei (there and not anywhere else because I get to live and eat for free). I have no problem with speaking and listening (I'm an ABC often mistaken for a local) but am functionally illiterate when it comes to reading and writing. And my vocabulary is a bit limited...

Can anyone tell me about:

1. Mandarin Training Center at NTNU - I've heard both good and bad things about this place. How does it fare at the intermediate level? Do they do a good job separating written and spoken portions of the curriculum, or will I be stuck trying to learn pronounciation with a bunch of foreigners? How about their intensive classes?

2. ICLP at Taida - I heard this place is more intensive than Shida, but they require a year of college-level Chinese. I took Chinese all throughout high school so I *should* be able to test at this level, but how stringently do they enforce this requirement?

3. Any other places you'd recommend? The website for CLD at Tai-Da doesn't seem to show separate written vs spoken classes, so that would probably not work?

How many overseas-born Chinese did you see in your program? Do any of these places separate the huaqiao from the real laowais?

Thanks!

[amandagmu]

First of all, I would recommend searching on this subject on forumosa.com if you haven't done so already.

I am not an ABC but I am at ICLP in Taipei. There are a lot of other ABCs in the program. ICLP has a heavy emphasis on listening and spoken so you will probably get thrown into a high intermediate or advanced class from Day 1 with about 100-200 new words every few days. Just thought I'd warn you about that ahead of time. If you suck at speaking like me, a non-ABC, then you get put in the easy class with little vocab and getting asked stupid questions you could write the answers to oh like 2 years ago. Sigh.

The only problem with ICLP is the cost. Personally I would recommend going somewhere else because I'm not sure it's worth the price tag. ShiDa is much cheaper and it seems like their students are having a better time. But I guess it depends on what you want. Arey ou a serious student who needs their a** kicked to do boatloads of work and learn tons of new stuff in a short period of time? Or someone who wants to learn and get a cultural experience at the same time? Not that I'm bitter... but I feel like with the amount of homework I get every night I don't feel like I have much time to experience much else.

~A