Beijing Normal Univ (BNU) or Capital Normal Univ (CNU)?

[dgca4]

I have read the comments about BNU and it's pretty good. Does anyone know anything about CNU? It's not that popular but i heard that their program is also good.

[jie2li4]

I went to CNU for a semester. My situation might have been a little different from most, since I went through a program with my school (Calvin College), so a lot of people from my school were there, and we all had to take a special history class. But anyway, the standard CNU Chinese program involves 4 hours of Chinese 5 days a week. You have different teachers for different subjects such as reading, conversation, listening, etc. Theoretically, at least, the classes are conducted entirely in Chinese, though in my experience most teachers liked to show off by throwing in a few English words here and there. When you first arrive, they give you a placement test to determine your level and then put you in the class they feel is appropriate. This ended up being a huge pain in the neck for me, since at the beginning I was placed in a class that was way below my level. (One of my teachers actually approached me and asked what I was doing in that class.) ^^; During the first week, they allowed us to go around visiting different classes to see if we might want to move, but this was all very confusing, and there really wasn't enough time to get the "feel" of the different levels. So I ended up being stuck in this far-too-easy, completely un-stimulating class where I learned very little, until finally, halfway through the semester (with the help of my American history professor), I was able to change classes. Maybe this is just one of those bizarre horror stories that only happens to a few unfortunate people, but anyway, that was my experience. The other problem I had with CNU is that I had to live in an international dormitory where there were no Chinese students. Actually, the dormitory is part of a whole international *campus* that's completely separate from the campus Chinese students attend. Contrary to the blurbs in the program brochure, opportunities to befriend Chinese students were slim, since we didn't live with them and had no classes with them. At least my school (Calvin, not CNU) did arrange for each of us to have a Chinese tutor, so that way I managed to make one Chinese friend. I ended up speaking English most of the time I was in China, though, since I was always with Americans. If you really want a genuine immersion experience, it would probably be better to go on your own than through a school program-- and if you have to live in an international dormitory, try to get a roommate from Korea or something, so you'll have to speak Chinese with them. I don't want to bash the CNU Program, as I'm sure it's great for a lot of people, but for me personally it was an overall disappointing experience. If you have any specific questions, though, feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer.