Studying Chinese at Community Colleges in the US

[Kessha]

Hi!

I don't know if I am in the right forum, but I am planning on studying chinese at a community college and afterwards at a university in the US, I have looked around a lot but couldn't quite find the right one yet. Does anyone know of a good one which offers chinese (japanese/korean) courses?

Thanks in advance!

[Kessha]

Is there really nobody who can't even give me some sort of information?

Please, it is urgent.

Thanks

[mirgcire]

Where do you live? Or ... are you willing to move to any city with a good Community College?

Okay ... I　just noticed your profile sez you live in Austria. Maybe a better question is: Where in the US are you planning to move?

[Kessha]

Yes right know I am still living in Austria, but I would be willing to move to any city if the community college is good and I have good changes to transfer to a university afterwards.

I found some community colleges on the web, but I do not know how their reputation really is.

I appreciate any help!!

[gato]

Yes right know I am still living in Austria, but I would be willing to move to any city if the community college is good and I have good changes to transfer to a university afterwards.

Maybe you can try De Anza College, which is located in Cupertino (where Apple Computer's headquarter is). They have a good transfer rate to the California public universities. Not sure how good their Chinese program is, but there are a lot of immigrant Chinese students studying there.

http://www.deanza.edu/mandarin/

[wrbt]

If location is no object you might want to aim for a place with a cheap cost of living.

Mesa Community College in Arizona offers two years of Chinese, and you could transfer the credits to Arizona State. The Phoenix area has a pretty good sized Chinese population (combination of Intel/Honeywell/Microchip and general California spillover.)

[Kessha]

thank you very much gato and wrbt!

I will get some more information about the two community colleges you two suggested! : )

Yes of course I have to look after my money, so the cost is a big factor in choosing the right college. But the most important thing is that I am able to transfer to a good university after that.

Thanks again for your help!

[PLA 機器人坦克 Squad]

I'm currently attending De Anza college and I'm in my second quarter of Chinese. If you have any questions about anything feel free to post them and I'll do my best to answer.

[Alicia]

You could always use collegeboard.com to search based off preferences.

[m_k_e]

I don't know anything specifically about Chinese programs, but I can tell you something about choosing colleges in general.

I would suggest you try one of the university systems like University of Wisconsin or University of Texas. They will have colleges all across their respective state and transferring within in the system is very easy. If you prefer California, there is of course U of C and Cal State, where the latter one is somewhat less prestigious and probably easier to get into. If you're into the city life, then maybe you should check out the City College of San Francisco. Transferring to SFSU or UC Berkley should be easy if you have OK grades. You will also get plenty of chances to practice your Chinese outside of class.

Now, if you like it more quiet, I'd go for something like UW Eau Claire. If you do OK in school, you'll be guaranteed to be able to transfer to UW Madison, which is one of the top universities in the US.

[Kessha]

I'm currently attending De Anza college and I'm in my second quarter of Chinese. If you have any questions about anything feel free to post them and I'll do my best to answer.

I would appreciate it if you could tell me something about the environment there at the college? How is the location at and around the college?

How are the classes? The teachers and the lessons?

How many hours do you have a week?

Do you have an own apartment there? What about the livings costs?

I will have some other questions, but right know that are the most important for me

Thanks a lot!

I don't know anything specifically about Chinese programs, but I can tell you something about choosing colleges in general.

I would suggest you try one of the university systems like University of Wisconsin or University of Texas. They will have colleges all across their respective state and transferring within in the system is very easy. If you prefer California, there is of course U of C and Cal State, where the latter one is somewhat less prestigious and probably easier to get into. If you're into the city life, then maybe you should check out the City College of San Francisco. Transferring to SFSU or UC Berkley should be easy if you have OK grades. You will also get plenty of chances to practice your Chinese outside of class.

Now, if you like it more quiet, I'd go for something like UW Eau Claire. If you do OK in school, you'll be guaranteed to be able to transfer to UW Madison, which is one of the top universities in the US.

Thank you for the help! I looked around the homepage of the universities you told me and they are all pretty impressive. The next step will be to do more investigation about the Universities and find out the pros and cons.

Do you know where I can find some reports or opinions from student who are attending the above mentioned (or even other) colleges/universities?

[PLA 機器人坦克 Squad]

I would appreciate it if you could tell me something about the environment there at the college? How is the location at and around the college?

How are the classes? The teachers and the lessons?

How many hours do you have a week?

Do you have an own apartment there? What about the livings costs?

I will have some other questions, but right know that are the most important for me

Thanks a lot!

The city itself, Cupertino, is very nice. I've lived here since I was born and like it a lot. There's a very large Asian population, with quite a few ethnic stores in the city itself and the surrounding area. It's not super busy, which is kind of suprising considering how many huge companies are headquartered here. If you ever buy an ipod and it breaks, maybe you can go to the Apple headquarters and complain.

I'm only taking a Mandarin class so I can't really comment on other classes or teachers, but it's been very satisfactory thus far. The lessons are based on the Integrated Chinese books, with teachers explaining grammar in depth (much more in depth than the book what the book includes). Each class is 1 hour 20 minutes, and they are Monday-Friday. Homework consists of the character workbook and workbook. What you actually do in class varies from teacher to teacher. You might read the lesson text while they correct you, make sentences using new vocabulary, or roleplay situations similar to what's in the book with the teacher or your classmates.

I suggest you take a look at the teachers here: http://deanza.edu/mandarin/facultystaff.html

Then look them up here: http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/SelectTeacher.jsp?sid=1967

Considering the importance of a good teacher, you might also want to try to meet them before you make any decisions, if that's at all possible. The two teachers I've had, Irene Hung and Frances Lai, are amazing and will answer any questions you have. I recommend them both 100%.

Since I'm still in highschool and live with my parents, I don't really feel qualified to answer housing or financial issues.

[gato]

Since I'm still in highschool and live with my parents, I don't really feel qualified to answer housing or financial issues.

Monta Vista?

[mpg31337]

Another vote for deanza.edu or foothill.edu. Both are related/sister schools and located quite close to each other in the South Bay area of California. The tuition is dirt cheap, but cost of living around here is pretty high. Cupertino is also near or over 50% Chinese speaking. There are plenty of great Chinese and Taiwanese shops, supermarkets, and restaurants all around to practice at.

I can expand on what PLA said. I live in and work in the area (at one of the companies mentioned already) and this is one of the highest cost of living areas in the US. Expect to pay at least $1300 a month for a semi-decent 1 bedroom apartment.

Edited June 15, 2009 at 06:09 AM by imron

[papen]

I don't know about other places but in Los Angeles ( California ), East Los Angeles Community College has Chinese class from beginning to advanced. It has a large Chinese community here, both born in here and mainland, HongKong, Taiwan

[woliveri]

Pasadena City College Chinese Program.

http://www.pasadena.edu/divisions/language/chinese/

Look for places that offer HSK testing. In those areas you know there will be some intense Chinese study.

I've taken classes at US community colleges in Orange County but found them lacking. The problem was not enough students to go to a higher level.

[Xiwang]

The quality varies a lot between schools so one way of narrowing things down may be to find a school associated with a Confucius Institute. (See links below.) The young teachers sent there are from China who have been trained to teach Chinese to foreigners. You'll be able to avoid college programs, such a one my classmate attended in Oklahoma City, that teaches Chinese only in pinyin.

If you do start looking at a school, you should definitely check on its reputation and its success rate for transfer to a decent four-year college. De Anza is an example of a school with a good overall reputation (although the guy arrested nine years ago for trying to blow it up may disagree). There are other community colleges where the students are, frankly, pretty stupid or who are attending only because they have to in order to continue receiving government welfare.

http://college.chinese.cn/en/node_3778.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius_Institute#List_of_Institutes