Learning Chinese by Studying Kung Fu

[taijiphoenix]

Hello,

I was telling my taiji teacher about how I wanted to do a study abroad china program in the summer to learn chinese. He said that I should just go to china and learn martial arts and do to just being in china surrounded by chinese all day I would learn how to speak it better. This might be the way he learned english, I'm not sure. But thinking about this it would be a hell of a lot cheaper to study kung fu than the language program I am thinking about. What do you guys think? Is it possible or would I be better off in a class deticated to learning chinese? I would have 2 semesters of chinese language before I went.

Thanks,

Taijiphoenix

[katyjo]

If you only have 2 semesters and no chinese background, I think it would be best to stay put and take a class near you. Supplementing your chinese learning outside of class is always helpful. I personally would not go all the way to China to study Chinese if I weren't at minimum, conversant and have a good grasp of basic characters. A fun trip to Asia would be lots of fun, perhaps you would come back being more motivated to learn Chinese.

[woliveri]

agreed. It's best to have a foundation before you go, that way you can make the best out of your time in China. That said, if you were planning to go for 2 years then I'd say go for it. But even then it's better to get some training to some degree before you go.

[self-taught-mba]

I kind of agree. Coming here and just being surrounded by the language is more often more difficult than people realize because

1) they get caught hanging around foreigners/stay in their comfort zone/only meet English-speaking Chinese

2) it is difficult without a base.

BUT....

If you only have 2 semesters and no chinese background, I think it would be best to stay put and take a class near you.

But over here it was said:

Taking Chinese lessons only 2h per week is a waste of time - at least it is for me.

Progress is extremely slow and you end up forgetting more than you learn. You will most probably only be discouraged by the non-progress and then drop the whole thing.

I definately agree with that sentiment.

We have had several students that have studied for a year in the US/UK and they know less than people who come out of our one-month intensive program at our Mandarin school in Beijing.

A lot of it is because I am damn picky with teachers, we prioritize learning, focus on speaking, and have a system. (call it a plug if you want to--but I'm serious.) But I would be dishonest to say that was the total reason. Some of it just relates to the sheer volume of classes within a short time periord. You aren't going to be forgetting things like you would witn longer gaps between classes. Subsequently less time has to be spent on re-learning in every class, so class time becomes more efficient as well.

When you only have classes a couple times a week and there is no opportunity for reinforcement, it's hard to expect that you're going to make a lot of progress unless you're pretty self-motivated.

The courses that are available here are much more intensive than what is easy to find in the US. And here you can go out and try to practice what you learn. The better your base the more you get out of the environment. However, if there are only low level intensity courses available to you in the US, it might be a long time before you get the base you are looking for.

[Atzzo]

You should learn basics in class and then make some chinese friends and

read books, sing ang talk with them every day a bit.