The best way and place to learn Chinese

[gypsyheart1213]

Hello,

I'm trying to choose which university to learn Chinese at in Beijing or Shanghai. I have been reading the other threads in this forum but no one mentions which school has the best program to learn to speak chinese the fastest. I was thinking of going to BCLU for the 12 weeks program. Has anyone else done this and how much chinese can you learn during that time? I would really appritiate any advice. =^.^=

Thanks,

-Alivia.

[Craig]

If speaking is your primary goal you may wish to consider a private school. Most of the universities (in beijing anyways) spend a great deal of time on reading and writting. If your goal is to speak as much as possible in 12 weeks you should consider other options

[ChinaPeace]

Ironically, I've heard that the best place to get fluent in Mandarin is not in China but in Vermont.

Middlebury College specializes in language study using an immersion summer program. The highlight is "The Language Pledge." It says, ""In signing this Language Pledge, I agree to use _________ as my only language of communication while attending the Middlebury Language Schools. I understand that failure to comply with this Pledge may result in my expulsion from the School without credit or refund."

Really. If you are in the Chinese program, all you can speak, read or write, for the whole summer, is Chinese, even if you are just learning. People who have done the program tell me it is what they recommend. Very few people or programs have the patience or training to deal with the issues in an immersion program like this.

It's not cheap. But to become fluent quickly, it's great from what I've heard.

The web site is: http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/ls

[赫杰]

Middlebury College specializes in language study using an immersion summer program. The highlight is "The Language Pledge." It says, ""In signing this Language Pledge, I agree to use _________ as my only language of communication while attending the Middlebury Language Schools. I understand that failure to comply with this Pledge may result in my expulsion from the School without credit or refund."

That is the greatest f***ing thing I have ever heard. F***ing hardcore man. I love it, finally a school administration that takes learning a language seriously AND learns it in a logical manner! I just...that's it, when I get back to America I am moving to Vermont. Seriously, that rocks

HJ

[DaTou]

Everybody has its own way, but I found that for me I learned chinese best when I had a chinese gf. I'm more a self-study guy than an academic one.

[Language Guy]

My friend actually enrolled in that program with the Spanish language, and got about 3 semesters(1.5 yrs) worth of proficiency from a handful of weeks.

But after having studied several languages, I'm convinced that a full immersion from the beginning is not the most efficient. I believe that at least a basic grammar and vocabulary are necessary for an immersion to be very successful.

LG

[venture160]

I would say the fastest, and most effective method, although the most expensive is to enroll in Middlebury's summer program, and then attend the Middlebury/CET school in Hangzhou or Harbin (they are exactly the same) for the fall semester. It will be a whopping $20,000. Right now I am in a program with 18 Middlebury students (CET J-Term) and I know people who started the summer middlebury program without ANY experience, and then did CET Harbin with me, and their Chinese is as good as a third year student in a top-notch american university. All in 6 months. I did CET Harbin in the summer of 2005, the fall of 2005, now I am in CET's J-Term, and will be going back to CET harbin for the spring. I highly reccomend CET Harbin or Hangzhou, and Middleburys summer program. Stay away from programs in Beijing unless you have obtained a very high level of chinese, its just too easy here to speak english. For 6 months in Harbin I barely spoke english, even with my american classmates. I credit that to my improvement. CET harbin and the CET/Middlebury program in Hangzhou are not easy, there is alot of homework, and alot of pressure, but in my opinion that is the best way to learn. If you want to keep studying after you have reached a 4th year level, the only real way to keep going is self study, working in a chinese workplace,or enrolling in IUP or the NTU. Do not study at CET Beijing, its their slacker program.

CET/Middlebury/IUP/ and ACC(hamilton college) and PIB(princeton in beijing) and now the harvard program, are the best American programs over here. The students you will find there are generally from top American schools and very smart, and extremely driven. If thats what you want go for it, but it will be a completely diff experience than you would have over at BLCU etc.

[Harvey]

Are there scholarships available for the language programs, for example Middlebury?

I am especially interested in scholarships available to people who are not currently enrolled in a school.

For us mid-career types...

[deezy]

What is CET?

But $20k/semester? Fook that!

I was in "remote" Guiyang, Guizhou a few years ago and met a red-haired girl from Austin, TX. She had just moved there alone like 3 months ago...knowing NO Chinese whatsoever!

Well, amazingly, she already spoke pretty fluent Mandarin - and even knew many traditional colloquial sayings like soft "tofu heart," etc. Being an ABC, I was embarassed to admit that her Mandarin was already better than mine! So, how did she do it?

1) Total immersion with little contact with other English-speakers

2) I believe she took a class

3) She also had a tutor

I don't know if she could read/write, etc - but her verbal skills alone were already mind-blowing!

As for myself, simply travelling with my bilingual parent(s) and being immersed in the language, my own level shot up a huge notch with each trip. That is really why I want to take a class in China, as opposed to in the US - for the crash course immersion factor.

[Harvey]

Middlebury's summer program is about 7,700 dollars

http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/ls/dates_fees/

[amandagmu]

I'm looking into this program for next summer, assuming I could get some money towards it. Does anyone know (and a previous post also asks) what kind of scholarship options are out there for Middlebury? Also, how "hardcore" is it? By that, I mean how many hours/day, does it focus more on reading/writing or speaking/listening (assess in your mind by percent of time you spent doing each and how much your ability improved in each), do people who sign that language pledge really stick to it, how immersed do you really feel when you have to go to the regular old grocery store on campus and buy something?? I mean certainly you can't ask the clerk yi ping kele duoshao qian? or he/she would give you an odd look... you are after all still in Vermont....

Amanda

[venture160]

Middlebury is Hardcore, english is never spoken, and its a LOT of class, and ALOT of homework, I have alot of friends who went there and swear by it, the government and military also send people there.

Also, CET is not 20,000 a semester, I was saying it would be aroune 20,000 for a year. so its 7,700 for a Midd SUmmer course, 4,000 for a CET summer course, and 10,000 for a CET spring/fall semester. if you can afford it or find scholarship like I did its worth it

[Harvey]

Actually I was hunting for scholarships for Middlebury last night.

The only thing I really saw was Financial Aid offerings from the school.

http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/ls/finaid/

Which I'm disappointed with, because it seems it is only given on a need basis. I have been working for four years now, so I doubt that I would fit their "need" requirements.

I would love to go to Middlebury's from zero 9 week Chinese program before moving to China to study at one of the schools there though. I think it would give me a good head start.

But it's too crazy expensive compared to school in China.

I have calculated that I could go to school in China for (assuming 1400USD for 6 months BCLU tuition) 1,100 dollars per month. That's 13,000 USD a year!

So for 7000 the money, I can go to Middlbury for 9 weeks... or for 13,000 go to China for a YEAR.

It doesn't add up :-(

Would someone give me 7000 bucks so I can go to Middlebury?