Harvey Posted March 26, 2006 at 08:25 AM Report Posted March 26, 2006 at 08:25 AM Hi all, I will be going to a language school in China this year, and have no formal Chinese study background. I would like, if possible to not start from zero, because the pace would be slow. I have heavy background in Japanese, so I think my knowledge of foreign languages in general, and also with Kanji would help me proceed al ittle faster than other from zero students. Having said all that! If I were to study, in order to start in the 2nd year, or at least 2nd semester class at say... BCLU... What specifically should I study? How does the "entrance" exam work for most schools? Is there some set pattern? Is speaking a part of it? Thanks for any tips in this area! - Harvey Quote
Craig Posted March 26, 2006 at 09:03 AM Report Posted March 26, 2006 at 09:03 AM Many Japanese and Korean student do start from level zero at BLCU (Japanese was the largest group in my class last fall at BLCU) The entrance exam for BLCU is a modified HSK which one must test at least a 2 or 3 on in all sections to start at second semester and a 5 or 6 for second year. I would forget about starting at second year as most students at that level have studied for at least 2 or 3 years in their home countries and have vocabularies of around 2500-3000 words as well as be able to understand movies in Chinese and start reading a newspapers classes focus much more on shumian. Your best bet at BLCU wouldn't even be starting at second semester but instead starting at level B book 1 (second semester is level B book 2 level 45). You would need to learn the grammar as well as the vocabulary or you would have a difficult time but it could be done self study in about 4 or 5 weeks of about 2 or 3 hours a day. (they do a class a day for the first 30 days at BLCU then on lesson every 2 days or so until second year). If you have Pleco i can send you the flashcard lists for the first 30 lessons or so. Although, the flashcards might only work with a palm pleco (i think). Quote
Harvey Posted March 26, 2006 at 11:00 PM Author Report Posted March 26, 2006 at 11:00 PM Thanks for the advice! Wow. Would you believe I have been on these forums for so long and never knew what Pleco was? Could you go ahead and send me those flashcard lists? PM me and I'll get you the contact info. - Harvey Quote
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