Please help – choosing an off-season intensive Mandarin course!

[Marky_mark]

Hey guys,

First things first, thank you for the existence of this forum – it’s been a huge help in whittling down my choices for an intensive Mandarin course.

Although a first-time poster, I was hoping that you guys might be able to help me in deciding where to learn Mandarin. Basically, I’m looking for an intensive course, up to 6 weeks, which emphasises ‘survival’ level speaking (over writing and reading). Unfortunately, I’m only free to travel to China between either mid-August to mid-September 2010, or the period from mid-November 2010 to mid-January 2011.

I’m keen to work hard, but also want to learn Sanda (Chinese kickboxing) and keep up the gym in my spare time, as well as have the occasional beer.... so I was thinking Beijing (though this isn’t set in concrete).

As far as I can tell, I have three main choices:

1) Study the 5-week programme at BCLU from 20 Dec to 21st Jan (sorry Santa...). This will cost, as far as I can tell, around £1,500 for lessons and accommodation etc., and can always be supplemented with private tuition. However, from what I’ve read, this seems to be more of an entry-level academic course than a ‘crash course’ in Mandarin.

2) Complete the ‘1-month Mandarin’ course at www.east-westconnection.com – this programme’s more expensive (around £1,900), but seems worth it if it actually delivers what it says on the tin. However, I’ve been to China before, and know first-hand that the internet can be a cruel and misleading mistress.... Has anybody been on this course before / had any experience with this company? Any help / feed-back at all would be greatly appreciated.

3) Get a tourist visa, pitch up in Beijing with a laptop and the Rosetta Stone software, and sign up to private schools / get private tuition at will.

I was just hoping you guys might have any experience / tips that might help me make a decision, especially with regard to the second option – is learning Mandarin for 8 hours a day even a viable option? Won’t my mind melt into a grey sludge after such intense learning? I’m willing to work hard, but not to the point where it becomes a counter-productive exercise in minimising returns...

Anyway, sorry for the long first-time post, but any help or advice would be genuinely appreciated.

Many thanks in advance!

M_M

[Scoobyqueen]

1) Study the 5-week programme at BCLU from 20 Dec to 21st Jan (sorry Santa...). This will cost, as far as I can tell, around £1,500 for lessons and accommodation etc., and can always be supplemented with private tuition. However, from what I’ve read, this seems to be more of an entry-level academic course than a ‘crash course’ in Mandarin.

I would recommend taking one-to-one lessons only for maximum progress. If you choose a programme at BCLU you are in a class with some 20 people. one-to-one classes will give you double the benefit. For around 2000 Euros (not pounds) you would be able to do a 20 hour a week course for five weeks (based on around 130 yuan an hour and 20 euros a night for a standard hotel).

is learning Mandarin for 8 hours a day even a viable option

This is doable but you can probably only learn for around five hours but you can then choose to have casual convesations for the last three. but you need time to do your homework, which is essential if you are doing one to ones. you cannot turn up unprepared. one hour homework/preparation per lesson is the norm.

[Marky_mark]

Cheers Scoobyqueen!

So, would you basically advocate option 3 - essentially, put together my own intensive programme through private tuition and self-study (Rosetta Stone / Pimsleur / etc), whilst living in Beijing?

Also, I'm currently in the process of calculating a budget for my year's travels... is there a cheaper way of learning Mandarin so intensively, or do you think that you get what you pay for?

Thanks again,

M_M

[abcdefg]

Eight hours a day of classes is insane.

[zhouhaochen]

hey markymark,

8 hours of Chinese one on one class is, with all respect, a stupid idea. Nobody can concentrate like this. I did 6 hours of group class at BLCU back then and that was a) too much and B) only possible because half the classes were pretty irrelevant and I had plenty of time to look out of the window.

The fastest way to progress is taking a 2hour one on one course in the morning. If you are very eager, you can do another 1hour in the afternoon. But thats it. Anything beyond this is a waste of your time and money. Spend it going out and having fun, while speaking Chinese.

[Charles Barkley]

The fastest way to progress is taking a 2hour one on one course in the morning. If you are very eager, you can do another 1hour in the afternoon. But thats it. Anything beyond this is a waste of your time and money. Spend it going out and having fun, while speaking Chinese.

I've done two vacations like this (one in Kunming, one in Taipei), doing 4 hours a day of one on one classes. I would usually finish at around 1, then have the rest of the day to explore the city, then at night come back and review for the days lessons. If you push yourself, your Chinese will grow at an absurd clip.

I will be doing another this summer in Beijing and logged on to start looking at recommendations. I did the TLI in Taipei and had a great experience, so if I can't find anything cheaper and of the same quality I'll just go with them again.

Forget Rosetta stone and pimsleur. That's what you do when you're outside the country. Leave those things at home. Use the books they give you so you're reviewing stuff you practice in class, maybe buy a grammar book, and then make use of the resources you CAN'T get when you go back home--native chinese all around you.

ETA: The downside of taking 1 on 1 classes is you don't have classmates to go out with you and practice chinese, meaning you have to take more of the initiative. This is less important for absolute beginners, however.