Moving to Beijing after two years of studying

[afriday11]

After taking Chinese classes at Ohio State and graduating with a degree in Economics I am finally moving out to Beijing to teach/look for a job more suited to my degree. I am wondering if any experience Chinese learners could give me some advice on further study. Currently I am struggling though the boring NPCR series (not that it is bad, just after two years of it and other texts I am getting really bored with it all) and looking to stop using it and maybe just using Chinapod/making non English speaking friends. I am comfortable with doing this, but am a little worried that I need more structure to learning.

For the last two years I read the lessons and spend endless hours reviewing notecards to get to where I am today. Not that I am that good or anything, but I can hold a decent conversation and know somewhere around 1400 hanzi. I plan on continuing to learn hanzi, but learning speaking is much more important to me and I plan to continue to focus on it.

So, I guess I am asking should I continue with the NPCR/Chinapod/friends plan, or ditch NPCR to focus more on colloquial Chinese (while still learning hanzi)?

Thanks

[renzhe]

How far along are you with NPCR?

After two years, you should have finished the first four books, which cover most of the grammar you'll need. You can probably start reading materials already. I found NPCR great, but book 5+ is basically reading essays.

Basically, you'll need some reading to keep your vocabulary fresh (and growing) at this stage, but you can switch your focus to more conversation/listening.

Chinesepod is good, but our Grand First Episode Project is better

[afriday11]

I am half way though book three, because after my first year my new teacher used the DeFrancis "Intermediate Chinese" books and didn't teach us hanzi (since I took the spoken Chinese class). I self studied the NPCR 3 this summer and have found it pretty easy, since I already knew how to say a good deal of the vocabulary, but as the months go by it is getting a bit tiresome.

There is plenty of grammar that I should learn, but it seems that I can usually pick it up by learning new sentence patterns. The MIT open course ware is another nice resource that teaches useful vocabulary. I plan on finding a tutor in Beijing, so I guess I will need something to read and talk about with when we are together.

If the first four NPCR books teach new grammar, while the last two are books with articles that changes my opinion somewhat. If I were in America, I would continue with NPCR, but I am not sure if it is best for me to spend a lot of the time that I have while in China reading hanzi.

Thanks again

[renzhe]

The last two books are similar to the first four (well, the fifth one is, the sixth one isn't out yet), only the dialogues are replaced by essays completely, and the grammar explanations mostly focus on the written usage.

I found the grammar in the first four books useful. Grammar is useful in general. You can always go through the books at a faster pace, like one lesson a week.