taipei language schools

[owen]

I know there was already a thread about studying in taiwan but i was looking for some more specific information on any taipei language schools that anyone has attended. I am looking to study there for a few months so a university is probably out. Another option i'm considering is just paying some young man or woman to tutor me. For this i don't really feel that i need someone who is a teacher by trade, just someone i might like to converse with and can ask questions. Is that at all reasonable or is a 'professional' teacher a must?

[roddy]

Forumosa.com is always a good place for questions specific to Taiwan - there are people on here in Taipei though, so hopefully you'll get some useful info.

[wix]

Have a look at my webpage Studying Chinese in Taiwan for some useful links. As roddy suggested you will find some good information at forumosa.com. Do a search first, because if you ask a stupid question there you will get flamed badly!

I think a private language school is a better choice if you are only studying for a few months. If nothing else it will be a bit more flexible in its timetable. Many people speak well of TLI although there some of the posters on forumosa say there is little difference in what the school offers and most teach using the same techniques.

I think you are better off spending the money on an experienced teacher. Perhaps it depends on your level of Chinese. If you can already converse quite comfortably then maybe you can just learn through conversation, but why pay someone for that. Just go out to the pub or walk down the street and start chatting to people.

[owen]

If you can already converse quite comfortably then maybe you can just learn through conversation, but why pay someone for that. Just go out to the pub or walk down the street and start chatting to people.

I don't know about all yous guys out there learning chinese but I can't help but start to get uncomfortable when someone starts talking full on chinese at full speed to me and I can only get about 50%. I don't have the nerve to keep saying 再说一次, for fear that the conversation will end with him or her being frustrated and angrily exclaiming 你不懂！ To avoid this I usually start pretending to know and if we get on a topic where I'm really losing them I just try to change it as quick as I can. If I was paying someone however I would have no reservations about stopping them mid-conversation to take notes or ask a language question.

By the way I have checked out your website and it was very helpful. thanks.

[mpallard]

I have been studying in Taiwan for 2 years and I have given up on language schools, they all suck.

I just started hiring a Taiwanese person to tutor me 2 hours a day (which is tons) and I pay about the same per hour as I was paying taking language courses at the university.

Just go to Taiwan, put up a sign, and there will be tons of people who reply wanting to teach you chinese. Just be carefull you don't get someone who is just planning to use you to learn English.

I believe any Chinese person can teach Chinese but you will have to lead them through the lesson and tell them what you want to do. What I did was found a textbook that was appropriate for my level and already being used by most of the language schools and went over that with my teacher.

My Chinese has improved way faster with the private teacher than it had been in school.

Also don't pay too much. Teaching you chinese is a slack job (provided you provide the course materials) and requires virtually no special skill (showing up everyday is the most important thing). I had many people oferring to teach me for cheap (although some people wanted ridiculous sums like $US 20 per hour).

You will have visa problems that will require you to go to HK to renew your visa. This is a bit of a pain in the ass but HK is a cool city and you now have an excuse to see it.

[owen]

mpallard i;m glad to here that someone is doing it like you are and realizing success as i think language is one thing that is very conducive to that approach. i agree about it being a slack job in cases where the student is taking the initiative to learn. I have mentioned to friends that i'm looking for a tutor and mention that i would pay them about half of what i would get payed for an hour of teaching and they all seem pretty offended by that. But like you said if you are providing the materials and planning your own lessons than i think that is at least half of the job i do as an english teacher. Not to mention the fact that i'm in taiwan and supply and demand dictate that i should be paid more. And i don't think i require a university educated chinese speaker. Actually that would probly be worse because as you said they would be bringing english into it constantly. I had a language exchange for a few months and he was a graduate of tnu and it was a total sham. We did an hour of english conversation completely led by me supplemented by grammar explanations and little worksheets planned by me, and when it came his turn he just waited for me to ask him questions about chinese. So i finally bought a childrens book to go through with him and all he did was listen to me read it correcting pronunciation and then tell me what it meant in english.

I don't have to worry about leaving as i have an ARC until next year.

this site is a free school. God bless it.

i'm really high

[mpallard]

Yeah, language exchanges are crap, an hour of me teaching English is worth way more than an hour of an of being taught Chinese.

There are literally a billion Chinese people learning English and only a handfull of native English speakers learning Chinese. The language exchange mentality of an hour for an hour is totally flawed.

[ophion]

I had a mostly satisfactory experience at the Roosevelt Rd. branch of TLI. I took both private lessons and classes there. I learned more in the classes because I found that the interplay a group engenders sparked my interest.