homestay programs in beijing

[lum69]

hi, i'm from australia, currently in 1st year uni, and i was hoping i can go to china during my november-january holidays and study mandarin (i've got a basic knowledge of it, as i'm originally from hong kong, but have no clue or writing chinese or mandarin). are there any programs availiable? as i've read on the uni of beijing it seems most of the language classes are during semester times.

what would you recommend for me to learn how to speak/listen to mandarin?

[Westlife8716]

Hello!

I'm Chinese but currently studying in Australia, first year of uni same as you. I'm going back to China during the Novenmber and January holiday.

I'm not sure about the language programs they offer at Uni in Beijing. But from what I heard that BLCU is a very good place to learn the language. I have seen a lot of foreigners studying at BLCU. By the way, my house is 10 mins from BLCU and I can give you more information about what's around BLCU and things like that.

Also about the homestay programs, probably you need to contact with the uni you are applying and ask them to arrange it for you.

Ps: if you have any questions, please feel free to ask me either on msn or e-mail.

Have a good day!

[MickeyKratz]

Since you are from Hong Kong, you should seriously consider Taiwan instead because Hong Kong uses traditional characters just like Taiwan. Your best bet would probably be getting a tutor if you can't find a program with just the right slots for the amount of time you'll be learning Chinese. In Taiwan, you could probably find a decent tutor for $10-15 an hour ($15 would be a very, very good tutor).