How feasible is this plan for study in China

[braveb]

I'm 25 and work full time as a truck driver while going to university; and I'll have an undergraduate degree in 1.5 years. I've managed to save $12,000 so I can either travel abroad, or to get a masters and work part time. Either way, I need to get out of town.

I posted a couple of years ago about doing a Chinese program through the ARAQ network. The idea of studying Chinese at a place like HIT still is in the back of my mind; and once I have my undergraduate degree, I'll feel a little more secure in leaving my full time job to take the plunge. Now if I correctly have the info, I need a HSK 6 to enter into a Chinese language program. Would 1 or 1.5 years of taking classes in Harbin be enough to reach HSK 6 so as to enter the university as a degree seeking student? How long would $15,000 last as a student in Harbin?

[valikor]

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will answer... and of course, much of the answer is "it depends"

But... If you live cheaply, you could certainly survive on 400 dollars a month. (Less would also be possible).

On the bright side, if you're really into studying, you won't have enough time to go out and spend lots of money. Staying at home and reading a book is free, so it's good for both of your goals

I don't know enough about HSK grading to answer the other part of your question well.

[wushijiao]

I'm 25 and work full time as a truck driver while going to university; and I'll have an undergraduate degree in 1.5 years.

Wow, pretty cool.

Now if I correctly have the info, I need a HSK 6 to enter into a Chinese language program.

Generally that's the case.

Would 1 or 1.5 years of taking classes in Harbin be enough to reach HSK 6 so as to enter the university as a degree seeking student?

I think it might be feasible, but as valikor say, it depends. Specifically, it depends on:

1) How diligently you study while in Harbin

2) How diligently you study before going.

I think you have a unique opportunity to be able to do dozens of hours of Chinese audio per week as a truck driver. If you were able to finish a few textbooks (as a self-studier), with audio, and listen to the audio countless times until you memorize it, and then combine that with podcasts and then intermediate textbooks (again, while really concentrating on audio work), so that you go to China with a decent base, then I think it could very well be possible. If, on the other hand, you come to China with no knowledge of Chinese, I'm not sure if a year or a year and a half will be enough time. You simply can't always cram knowledge into your brain in a perfectly neat, efficient, and linear fashion.

Good luck!

[driftman]

definitely possible to make it up to HSK 6 within in one year if you study intensively. But if you are managing a full time job and a university degree at the same time, then you sound like someone who would have the necessary motivation to see this through.

And if you havent been in China before, you could combine studying with a bit of traveling, personaly I would not be so keen on being in Harbin during the winter (-20 and below), so you could do a half year course there during the summer and a half year course somewhere else where its a bit warmer.

[taylor04]

You could also look into the Chinese Government Scholarship which would make it so you weren't forking out all the dough:)

[braveb]

Has anyone on the forum entered into a program as a degree seeking student?

[GreenArrow45]

I would say, to make it to a 6 in a year or year and a half's time would require an astronomical amount of work on your part in terms of studying. Most people i know, studying say 3 hours a day while in class 4 hours a day, after a year or year and a half make it to a 4 or 5 at best, but usually only around a 3 (assuming they have had no language instruction before). I believe your main issue will be the characters, unless you have already had some study with characters, they can be very difficult for non-Asian students at first and we generally have to spend much more time on that.

So, I would recommend as someone else said, use your time at work now to self-study as much as you can and then hopefully most of what you will be working on once in China is your reading/writing, grammar, and more "advanced" words.

[Carwyn]

I'd say it would be difficult unless you work extremely hard during the 1.5 years Most courses in China do 4 hours or so in the morning. You'd want to find private HSK classes in the afternoon too.

As for Harbin, it's hard to say if that's the best option. I know people who've been very successful in Xi'an. Avoiding Shanghai and Beijing has positives and negatives. Positives are there are better language learning facilities and some more experience institutions and staff (that said, a lot of this will be down to you learning characters so you won't always need the best institutions). Negatives are the ease there to be surrounded by English a lot of the time, moving to a smaller city with a lower foreign population will make you use Chinese more. And for money, I'll use Xi'an as an example.

12,000 US is about 80,000 RMB.

You'll be looking at around 15,000 RMB a year for tuition fees for university.

If you do, an additional, 5 days a week of HSK classes for 2 hours each at 20 kuai an hour (which you'll need to get a high HSK level) you'll be spending another 10,000 kuai a year on classes.

In a city like Xi'an you'd then be looking at around 1,000 kuai a month on housing, so that's 12,000 a year, add another 1,300 kuai for utilities for 13,300 kuai.

For food you'll need around 20 kuai a day on a quite nice Chinese diet (with a beer or two added in), so around 7,200 a year.

So around 45,000 kuai a year for basic living (this is from experience) with studying around 6 hours Chinese a day in class.