How much can I expect to know after 5 months in China?

[meowypurr]

Hello all,

In about 6 weeks I'm going to China to study for a semester. I wanted to get an idea of how much I can expect to learn in that amount of time.

To give some background, here is where I currently stand in Chinese: I've studied it for about 4 years at a high school level; I've been there twice on short-term trips; I am pretty obsessed with the language and culture so I listen to a lot of pop music and watch TV dramas, and I talk frequently with Chinese friends; I can carry on a conversation as long as the subject matter is simple and the person speaks slowly.

I consider myself to be pretty decent at learning languages, and I plan to make Chinese friends in China and speak it outside of class as much as possible.

I know there are a lot of factors that effect how much my Chinese will improve, but I'm just looking for an estimate. Is being able to understand Chinese newscasters a reasonable goal for 5 months, or is that too much?

Thanks.

[kdavid]

If you're studying all the time and only hanging out with Chinese (and speaking Chinese with them), you could improve quite a bit.

I went from 0 to (very) conversational in 6 months. You already have a solid foundation, so you'll probably improve quite a bit in that short amount of time.

[Lu]

You'll probably make a lot of progress, since you already have a foundation, and especially if you manage to speak mostly Chinese also outside of the classroom.

But newscasters? I studied Chinese full-time for two years at home before coming to Beijing and studying another year, and then I gave up on ever being able to follow the news. Studied a few more years and happened upon another newscast, which I understood partially. IMO, the news is just HARD.

[renzhe]

Given your current level, you should improve a lot, at least your listening and conversation skills.

You haven't said much about reading/writing, which is a separate skill.

[meowypurr]

thanks for all your responses!

I guess for now I'm more concerned with improving speaking and listening, but obviously I hope to improve a lot in my reading and writing too.