Studying Chinese but have never been to China

[autumn]

I have studied Chinese for two years. First at Polytechnic and am now working towards a BA with a major in Chinese and linguistics.

I have never been to China but despite this fact feel that I am making good progress.

I do not as yet have the funds to get to China and feel that I should graduate first and then go.

I would like to hear from people who first studied Chinese in their native country and then went to China.

How did you find studying Chinese in your home country? Were you dissapointed with your progress before you went to China?

Also are there any native English speakers here who consider themselves conversational in a Chinese dialect other than Mandarin, Cantonese or Shanghainese? How did you go about learning the dialect that you're proficient in?

[Adam]

Which University are you at? Im still at AUT, currently in my last semester. I went to China for a few months and felt that was equivilant to a full semester (+) of studying Chinese here.

[bathrobe]

I don't know about Chinese, but I studied Japanese full-time for 4 years before I went to Japan. When I arrived there I found it was very easy and I was able to make extremely rapid progress. Having learnt it formally and carefully at university meant that I had a very strong basis for coming very rapidly up to speed.

My greatest moment of triumph was soon after arriving in Japan when an American girl who had been studying in Japan for 6 months, after first informing all the Japanese that my English was not 'standard', then admitted that my Japanese was better than hers (which it was by a long shot!)

[Lu]

I studied Chinese for two years before going to China. I had just studied Chinese in the classroom, never really using it on real Chinese. I didn't give much thought about how fast or slow my progress was, I just did my homework and came to class and did ok at that.

When I got to China I discovered I had a good basis, but that I lacked some very useful vocabulary, and practice. My roommate, who had learned Chinese for only one year, spoke it at least as good as I did when I got there. But I got a lot of practice in China, and learned a lot, both inside and outside of the classroom, and soon I got better than her. My progress was much faster than it would have been if I had stayed in Holland.

What can I say as advise... If you're learning Chinese, the sooner you go to China the better, even if it's only for a short time. But if you have no money or opportunity now, well, then don't go to China. But do try to get practice outside of class, with native Chinese, to make sure you can really make yourself understood, not just for your classmates and teacher but also to anyone else.

[kudra]

see this post

http://www.chinese-forums.com/showpost.php?p=52839&postcount=4

although some are skeptical about the possibility of getting good pronunciation and tones while not in China.

Also, see self-taught-mba "Story of My Learning Chinese"

In summary I'd say I was glad that I studied first in the controlled environment of a US classroom with good instruction. It was nice to have the basics fairly clear in my head before getting the total immersion in Taiwan.

[autumn]

Thanks for your replies. I'll try to get to China as soon as possible but continue doing what I'm doing until then.

Adam - I'm studying at Canterbury. What is the program like at AUT?

[Adam]

Canterbury eh? I didnt know they had a chinese program there? Is it any good?

The AUT program has been really good, more of a focus on speaking and listening than writing and literature. Its aimed at preparing people for the work place rather than becoming a scholar. Did anyone from your University enter the Chinese Bridge (HanYu Qiao) speech comp?

[autumn]

I have only just completed second year. We used the Integrated Chinese II textbook. The program is okay but the focus is definitely more on reading and writing.I do most of my study out of class.

We were invited to enter the Hanyu Qiao Speech Contest but I didn't hear anything about the results. It was the first time that students from the Polytechnic or University entered. Maybe we'll fare better next year.

[makeli]

你们好！

I'm new and exploring around, but this caught my attention because I've been thinking about it a lot lately. I've studied in a tiny Chinese school for 3 years, where we use the Practical Chinese Reader. A frosh in undergrad, now, I now get small chances to practice with a half-Chinese room-mate and some Chinese girls in my dorm, but they need the practice as much as I do, and we all make frequent mistakes.

According to a friend with my background, having a background (knowing basics) helps a lot when you into immersion. Thing is that, she has the habit of saying that things will make more sense and come a lot easier after going to China.

Personally, I think there's a point where it's most beneficial, perhaps necessary to go into immersion. I'm frustrated with my own progress because it just feels like useless memorization because I'm not using it as much as I'd like.

It's that point where you know how to say basic things, but you want to start expressing a bit more than "Hi, how are you?" "Would you like to go eat?" etc. and you can't because you lack the syntax or vocabulary and the time for test and correct.

Saying much and saying, nothing. Sorry.

[deterius]

I've studied chinese "Intergrated chinese" for the equavalent of 2 years, 4 classes. I believe I could have learned all that in roughly 3 months in china..

When I came to china i've enrolled in a language school, and I've seen bigginers progress in one semester how much I progressed in 4!

Don't get discouraged! Studing some, is WAY better than none, and if you get alot of practice you'll be fine.. but nothing, absolutley nothing can replace being there.