Is it possible to get a Chinese degree without being able to write Chinese?

[Peeter]

During my time in China, in which my studying was 100% individual self-study, I decided that it's best if I concentrate completely on oral Chinese and text comprehension, since being able to communicate with others was my top-priority - if I needed to write somebody, I could send SMSs or write via my computer or something and that posed no problem for me, since I know pinyin.

I'm basically studying Chinese the same way I learnt English - alternately drown myself in the language environment (watch movies, listen to music, chat, read news and so on) and then read up on the grammatical rules. In my opinion this is a rather dynamic and entertaining way to learn - as long as one's able to hold off any feelings of frustration and keep interest in absorbing the materials at hand.

However, when it comes to Chinese, I found that due to a complete lack of practising physical writing, I can't even remember the exact components and shape of virtually any Chinese character, whereas I'd recognize perhaps up to a 1000 of them. The human memory is a funny thing indeed！

I am quite determined to study Chinese intensively for the next 3 years, so I would be prepared to earn my second university degree in China. I have a good headstart in all aspects except writing. What I'd like to know is whether or not I would be required to be able to write Chinese when applying for a university. Or would it also be possible for me to write all I need (and hand in tests and such) with an electronic device? (wouldn't really be a bother for me since I intend to buy a notebook for functionality anyway)

Any information or advice would be much appreciated!

Edited April 21, 2009 at 12:22 PM by Peeter
typos

[Gaogao]

Hi Peeter!

Though I´m not as advanced in Chinese as you and haven´t studied in China either, I think to get a degree in ANY language you need to be fully literate in that language, so to be able not only to speak it, but write as well. Since you already speak Chinese so well and you also recognise characters, I don´t really think it would be too difficult for you to learn to write characters now. Even if you can use a laptop, one can never now in an academic environment (or real life ). There are lots of books, softwares etc.etc. out there to teach you how to write Chinese and also, practice is the best teacher in this field, I think.

Good luck!

If you like, have a look here, it´s a really nice online study tool:

http://www.skritter.com/

[skylee]

Learn to write, and then contribute to this thread -> http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/14918-handwriting-thread

You can speak, read and type in English and you can write it longhand. You should be able to do the same in Chinese.

[renzhe]

I have only started learning to actually write characters by hand very recently.

It has been my experience that it's not too hard, provided (and this is a very harsh requirement!) that you can already read really well.

I can read over 3500 characters and have read quite a lot of text in Chinese (several thousand pages). After that, you notice that the very common characters become rather easy to learn (and you can write many of them already). I started actually writing characters for the first time less than two months ago, and can already write most of the most common 1000 characters -- I could recognise and visualise them so well. My goal is to write the most common 2000 characters per hand eventually, and that should be enough for everything I need. I rarely write by hand anyway.

If you really have 3 years ahead of you to work on your Chinese, you could do it like this -- invest a lot of time into reading and learning characters (using a good SRS flashcard program), and then concentrate on writing the most common 1000-2000 in a few years after your reading improves.

You won't need to write too many characters to qualify for a degree in China (you need an HSK 6, and there's very little writing involved in that), but you will have to be comfortable at reading far more than 1000 characters, so I think that this approach makes sense.

[imron]

If you can type characters, then yes you probably can get a Chinese degree without being able to write them. One thing to consider though is that if you don't learn to write, including learning to write cursive, then you'll never have any idea what the teacher is writing on the blackboard or on your test papers when they are handed back.

[roddy]

Surely you're going to need to write in exams though? They can't ALL be multiple choice?

[Shadowdh]

For my exams they do have a written element, translating into english or Chinese depending on the task... also fill in the blanks type stuff.. Also more in the final year, we have had to write a few essays in Chinese long hand...

[renzhe]

I think that the thread starter is interested in doing a degree at a university in China, not doing a degree in Chinese in his home country.

[Shadowdh]

If thats the case then heck no... all you do is write... write and then for something different write some more, the amount of homework I got was pretty phenomenal... every night and extra on the weekend...