Would 1 Year Chinese program be enough to study postgraduate master program?

[yangyizhi]

Hello everyone, I would like to know, if one year Chinese language preparatory would be enough to follow the master study program after 1 year full studying China?

my Chinese level may be around HSK 4 right now (never taken the test).

please share me your thought

[Angelina]

short answer: no

long answer: will edit this post later

[onebir]

I seem to see at most HSK6 required; that's doable in one year from, HSK 4 isn't it... (?)

 

Perhaps requiring HSK6 is too low for some subjects, but it might be ok for a technical subject? (Maths, science, computing?

[Lu]

I think that what they require (HSK 6) is lower than what you'll actually need. It's probably not impossible if you first work extremely hard during the year of studying Chinese, and then study extremely hard during the program. YMMV of course, but expect not to understand the lecturers and to have to make extreme efforts to get through the written material. And in addition to that you'll need to write stuff yourself.

 

I knew a guy who studied a full BA in Taiwan, majoring in Chinese along with Taiwanese students, starting out with rather minimal Chinese himself. So it can be done, but he said it was crazy difficult, especially in the beginning, looking up every other word in his textbooks while his Taiwanese classmates knew the 論語 by heart and all that. He later went on to get a PhD in I forgot which sinology-related subject, so he was pretty smart to begin with.

[Anatoliy]

Hi Yangyizhi thats exactly my plan and Ive been wondering the same question ha. What kind of master degree you have in mind? Mine is engineering related so Im not so worried as I would be if I were to study a master on literature or history or something like that. I know it will requiere a lot of  hardwork but Im willing to do it

[ninomiya]

why can't my reply be post?

 

it matters what kind of major are you in. Most scientific majors dont need high standard HSK and they can be learned by english. only necessary daily expressions needed.

[Lu]

Most scientific majors dont need high standard HSK and they can be learned by english.

I don't think this is true if you go to a Chinese university. The textbooks will be in Chinese, the classes will be in Chinese, and teachers will not necessarily be all that good in English (and possibly speak no English at all).

[yangyizhi]

 thank you everyone, i think I will take my chances in China !

[zhouhaochen]

Getting to HSK 6 from HSK 4 within a year is very doable. I see people getting from beginner to HSK 6 level within less than a year quite regularly - it all just depends on how you do it.

 

The main issue is that the vocabulary tested in HSK 6 might be quite different to from what you actually need for your masters program. So I would focus my Chinese studies on the subject that you will actually be studying later and less on the HSK 6 vocabulary list (unless the university requires you to pass that test).

[roddy]

I think at that level you'll get through the course, but you're going to end up spending half your time learning whatever you're studying and the other half learning the Chinese you don't know yet. Which is perhaps fine. Ideally, I'd take a year or two more to work on Chinese. 

[Angelina]

It is better to spend more time learning the language before you start your program than be forced to 延迟 graduation or worse (ghostwriting, plagiarism, cheating, dropping out).