Studying Mandarin during summer

[flying509]

I am a 20 year old male and have just started university. This year I went travelling around China for just over a month when I was 19 on my own. I thoroughly enjoyed. I had, had several mandarin lessons before I left so I can speak the basics however nothing major e.g. buying tickets, ordering food  etc. 

 

My summer break for university finishes beginning of June next year and I have of till september.

 

I would really like to delve further into learning Mandarin however I think I would have to start from beginners class again.

 

I would have approximately 6-8 weeks where I would like to do an average of 20 hours per week. Preferably 4 hours a day 5 days a week.

 

My question is where and how would the best way to do this be. I really don't want to do it in Beijing due to the pollution and there were a lot of other cities that I found much nicer. My favourite city in China is Chengdu however I don't want to learn the Sichuan dialect. I want to speak standard Mandarin.

 

I'm open to suggestions but don't really want to book anywhere I haven't been before in case I don't enjoy it. Shanghai is also an option.

 

Saying this I'm totally open for ideas and if anyone has an idea of a company or university I could do this with I'd appreciate that.

 

P.S What would my level of mandarin be after this 6-8 weeks of learning?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

[tysond]

In any major city I am sure you can find teachers who will teach you standard mandarin, with very little accent (your own accent will likely be much stronger than any accent your teacher passes on to you).

So if you like Chengdu I don't think you have to rule it out on that account.  I haven't been there so can't speak to schools or companies.

 

Shanghai has the same dialect "issue" as Chengdu (Shanghainese is widely spoken) but although I've only visited a few times, it seems the vast majority of people will use Putonghua (Standard Mandarin) unless they know everyone around them is from Shanghai.

Most people's objections to Shanghai are simply that it is too easy to spend your time drinking and clubbing and speaking English with the worldly folk that inhabit Shanghai.  

Depends on your lifestyle and habits whether that's a plus or a minus.  It's your summer holiday as well as a language learning opportunity :-)

 

Cities such as Tianjin and Chengde could be considered - pretty standard accent, little English.  Chengde's weather in the summer is pretty decent compared to Beijing and the sweltering humid south, you can visit temples, palaces, the wild wall, etc from there too.

 

Doing 20 hours a week of study is a decent amount of study and you can make good progress on conversational Chinese in 6-8 weeks (since you have a basic background).  I guess it's a bit more than a university semester of learning.

Hitting HSK2 is definitely doable.  If you manage to setup usage of Chinese in your social life (homestay, local friends) and a bit of self-study then you might hit HSK3 level on listening and vocab, but you'd probably find it hard to make time to do the character learning, which takes time and isn't optimal to do in classes (my personal opinion).   You'll be working a lot of pronunciation, sentence structure and adding words to your vocab, so maybe a 500+ word vocab is doable.  More if are using it heavily outside of class. 

 

My wife did 6 hours a day in 3 weeks in a very small (2 on 1) class, and managed to get from Ni Hao to making reservations at restaurants, navigating in taxis and making small-talk - she can live in Beijing without any serious issues.  But controlling the conversation is her strength, she couldn't follow TV shows or a full speed conversation, and after the introductions are done it's hard to continue the conversation in Chinese without a lot more vocab and listening skill.

 

If Tianjin or Chengde appeal to you (and if you like the homestay idea) check out LTL school - based in Beijing but with programs in those cities which I think are good options.  I have been a customer for about the last year with them.

I am sure someone from LTL can also reply to this thread with details.

[flying509]

Thank you so much for all the info! Will certainly look up what you've said.

My only concern I've got is that I'm going to be there for a couple months and since I'd probably rent a flat or something and have 1 to 1 lessons I wouldn't really meet any people to socialise with etc and that might get very lonely for me as I really do love to talk.

So thats why it would be great if I found a company that does group work with like minded foreigners learning mandarin.

What are peoples thoughts on this.

It just seems a bit scary being a 20 year old in china renting a flat on my own and having 1 teacher (friend) to talk to.

Last time I went I stayed in hostels and so met a lot of people.

Of course I am highly motivated so it won't be a party holiday or anything but do need some sort of socialising.

[muyongshi]

Chengdu should not be ruled out due to Sichuanese at all. Great place to learn and live. There used to be a good language school (private) called 4 Tones but they are something else now. I'd have to ask around.

Even if you wanted somewhere a bit smaller, Mianyang is a great city (shameless plug) and there is a decent language institute here as we'll (shameless plug for a friend).

In regard to what level you may achieve, there is no easy answer. It depends in how good you are, how hard you work and even how good your teacher is. If you are really motivated you could expect to hold some good simple conversations with people and even feel like you are "speaking well".

[tysond]

You can do a home stay, and have a family to stay with.

Or you can look for an apartment to share with people.  For 6-8 weeks you won't be getting a proper lease anyway, probably just easier to rent someone's spare room.

 

I don't like group classes myself because you move close to the pace of the slowest/least motivated student, and very hard to improve pronunciation.

You can often do 1:1 lessons at the school/company , and meet other students on breaks and after class.

[Ruben von Zwack]

quote "It just seems a bit scary being a 20 year old in china renting a flat on my own and having 1 teacher (friend) to talk to."

Especially for such a long time! Have you considered staying in a decent hostel instead? They are full of Chinese, Asian and international travellers, and you can have your privacy, but at the same time easily find someone to chat with. (edit: but you've travelled China so you know that)

I've had good experience with 1on1 Mandarin, but they're in Beijing.

A word of warning about compact 20hrs/week though. I just did that and found it was too much.

Teacher-to-student is not the same as those lame university courses back home where most of the time you are just listening to other people's mistakes and you're grateful if you get to speak twice. It's more like you are being intensively drilled 4 hours a row (with breaks, of course, but still...). It's really, really exhausting. Every day around 11 noon I got to a point where I wouldn't even know how to, for example, write 年 anymore, and just wished it was lunchtime soon.

If I were to do it again, I would spread the lessons out more and give myself more time to review and let everything sink in. I believe that extra time would be well invested.

[flying509]

Thanks alot.

I have actually considered a hostel and it does seem like a great idea. I just don't know how well I'll be able to find peace and quiet since there is usually something always going on and I may get distracted when I should be studying. But unless I can do some sort of apartment share I can't see myself doing anything but a hostel since that last time I spent even 2 weeks on my own in a foreign country in Asia I found it hard to enjoy myself and feel relaxed.

I'm so glad you mentioned the study hours since the thought was actually lingering in the back of my head. What do you reckon would be a good amount of study hours per week and how would you suggest that be split up?

Thanks again

[Ruben von Zwack]

I guess it really depends on how much you can take and if you're used to intense study. Jason obviously coped, and what his wife did, 6 hours/day, I cannot even imagine!

I talked to a guy who did 4 hours a day, like me, before. But he changed his schedule so he only studied with a teacher from 10-12, and spent the whole afternoon doing homework and revising.

If I were to do 4 hours/day again, I would arrange a long lunch break in between and also enough time to prepare for the afternoon lessons.

I know in some hostels there is always some door-banging and squealing and yelling going on, and one can't even find a decent place to sit. But actually 2 out of those 3 I had in Beijing were on the peaceful side. But I don't know how representative that is, I haven't visited any other towns in China yet.

[skylee]

In such threads usually people would suggest Kunming and Qingdao ...

 

Mianyang is something new, though ... 

 

Is money a concern?  The expenses in a big city can be considerably more than those in a second- or third-tier city, I imagine.

[muyongshi]

Too many foreigners! ;)

In regard to how much study, when I first arrived in China for study I did a combined amount of study in the amount of 6-8 hours a day. 2-3 hours in class, 2 hours of self study and 2 hours of practice in restaurants, tea houses or anywhere people would talk to me. And my Chinese was extremely limited, but I still managed to do that much practice.

If I were to do it again, I think if I'd do it the same, it worked well for my personality.

If you like Chengdu, I'd go with it! You're like of a place really can influence your study. However, Kunming is beautiful and Qingdao is a great place too. You have a lot of great options.

Once you decide on a location you will have a lot of recommends for different programs in that place from everyone here.

[flying509]

Hmmm.. Yeh I've been thinking about this for a long time now and I really do like Chengdu so I think that will be my final decision. I was worried about the dialect but thats seems to not be an issue now since most can teach me standard, so thanks for the infomation 

 

So from now, its on to searching for a good mandarin school and appropriate accommodation in Chengdu.

 

I've found this school called Mandarin Corner which is in Chengdu:

http://www.hanmeiedu.com/mandarincorner/Language_course.html

 

What are peoples thoughts on this?

 

As I said I'm open to suggestions.

In terms of accommodation its seems like its either going to be between a shared apartment or a Hostel however if I stayed in a hostel private room with a desk it would cost be an average of £13 a day which is rather pricey. If people have any info on finding shared apartment in Chengdu with people that speak atleast a little english and are 18/20/30 of age that would be great help! 

[GotJack]

Are there no scholarships you could find? 

[flying509]

Not for the amount of mandarin I want to do and it being in Chengdu.

I found one but that requires you to stay a year and only get you to HSK level 1-2.

[muyongshi]

I'm not sure if they have a website or not (I'll do some checking a bit later) but the tutoring place I referred to earlier is called Four Rivers. I'll try to find some more info on it.

[roddy]

Flying, have you had any luck finding somewhere to study?