The most effective way to learn Chinese? Recommendations and opinions please.

Hello,

This is my first time posting in this forum, so a brief introduction should be in order. I'm a 20 year old Canadian looking to learn Chinese in China. I've been working for a Chinese family here in Canada for over 3 years. I'm accustomed to the sound of the language, I know the pronunciations, and I have a limited vocabulary. I've also traveled China for 5 weeks last year, so the culture shock won't be so great when I return.

Anyways, on to my topic. My main goal in China is to learn Mandarin. I have been looking at taking a 1-year language course in BLCU for 23200rmb tuition. This is about all that I can afford for tuition because I know the living expenses in Beijing are around 3000rmb/month for housing, food, and necessities. It's a pain for money, but I know I want to learn Mandarin.

Is BLCU the most recommended place to learn mandarin? If not, does anyone have any other more effective ideas for learning Mandarin?

I've e-mailed BLCU's admissions office for the long-term courses, and asked them if I worked hard at the one-year course, what level on the HSK test could I possibly achieve. Their reply was level 3 (Beginner Level A), which to my understanding is a knowledge of around 2000 Chinese words. Anyone's thoughts on this?

I am not a Chinese kid, and I know Chinese people are much better students than Canadians, so the standard is different. But I am determined to work as diligent as possible on learning this language.

Another alternative is to simply extend my visa as long as possible and live in China and try to learn on my own, or perhaps get a private teacher. It might save me some money, but I don't believe it would be very effective. Am I wrong?

Any replies to any of these questions are greatly appreciated for I am very serious about this shift in my life.

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/12187-best-way-to-learn-mandarin-in-china&highlight=harbin

Best way to learn Mandarin in China

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/11989-harbin-institute-of-technology-hit-chinese-program&highlight=harbin

Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) regular mandarin program

Hey,i just came across your message.

I'm a third year Chinese student in BLCU,and major in Teaching Chinese. I don't know if my suggestions can be really helpful,but just let you know what i think. Being a student in BLCU, I have some good foreign friends who are studying Chinese in Beijing. Some of them are studying in BLCU,some are in other universities around,and some have private teachers or tutors. I think it is better to take regular and systematic classes in the university.There are a lot of amateur Chinese teachers in China now,some are really good,while some are not.So it is hard to say if it can be really effective to have private teacher.To the universities, as far as i know, Tsinghua and BLCU are both good.And if you want to take HSK, BLCU can be a better option,since they have a lot of experience in this subject.Also,in my personal opinion and experience,I think you can get much higher level in HSK after one year study.

Hope these can be useful, and welcome to Beijing:D

I did 7 weeks in Beijing last summer (Chinese style, 20 semi-efficient hours per week), and 8 months in a very non-intensive (4 times 50 minutes a week) manner here in Canada. I think that even I could get up to HSK 3 (possibly 4 with a stroke of luck). I think you should aim for at least 6-7 if you plan to study Chinese intensively during an entire year.

If costs are really that much of a concern for you, then maybe you should look at some place outside of BJ...? Tuition fees in most places outside of BJ/SH are at least 30% off Beijing rates, and living expenses would probably be less than half. Even in BJ, living costs need not reach 3,000 per month. It all depends on your preferred lifestyle. (Actually, that's only slightly less than I spend per month in Canada, and then then prices here are somewhat higher than in China...)

Assuming you look slightly foreign, you could probably get a relatively well-paid job tutoring a few hours of English a week. A better one in BJ would pay 150 rmb or so per hour (less in smaller cities, obviously).

Thanks for all the posts. I didn't realize how quick I would get a response.

Gato, thank you for those links. I never really looked at my location so seriously until then. There was one person on the first thread that went to a small city of only 800,000 called Jiamusi, and she was one of the only English speaking people there. The teachers were strict and diligent with homework. That's quite extreme, which is what I like. However, I always take into consideration the fact that cities are good places to make solid connections, and I believe you can create an extreme environment for yourself even in a convenient city.

Yonglin, I enjoy hearing that I should hope to achieve level 6 or 7, but I'm a bit skeptical at that remark. With a small vocabulary to begin with, I'm not totally confident that I could learn around 4000+ characters in Chinese in one year... however, I could be wrong. My boss told me that learning English is different from learning Chinese. English is easy to begin learning, and you only need a few thousand words to be able to live minimally in Canada, however the language is difficult to master for there are 60,000+ words in English. Chinese, he explains, only has around 8000 - 9000 words, and it is very difficult to begin learning, but gets easier and easier to master. This fills me with confidence, but not cocky-ness.

I've read ChouDoufu's article "Definitive guide to studying in Beijing", the sticky, and I've now learned of Beijing Normal University. From the looks of it, it seems that BLCU is more of a relaxed school where students are all there supported on their parents money and don't focus that much and are more interested with being in China than the intentions of being there in the first place. BNU seems to have a larger asian based student population (Koreans and Japanese) and the students are naturally more serious than most westerners. I'm not going to judge automatically, especially when I haven't even been to these schools, I'm just trying to see what the situation is. Does anyone have opinions on BNU?

I'd definitely follow Gato's link and check out HIT.

If you're looking for a year abroad, an elementary level of Mandarin and a good fun time with other foreigners, Beijing would be a good place to go.

If you're looking to be a bit more hardcore about it and willing to make a few sacrifices, Harbin would be a good choice.

It'd also be worth asking what your goals are (specifically, what level of Chinese would you like to achieve, and why? what do you plan to do afterwards?) before answering further.

"What level of Chinese would you like to achieve..."

From one year of study and living in the heart of China, I hope I can be fluent enough to get around a city, have brief conversations with Chinese people, and to understand Chinese writing. I am not sure if these goals are too modest or too grand for my strong ambitions.

Why do I want to learn Chinese?

It is easy to say that anyone interested in the world of economics, that China and India are big news. Their economies, particularly China's, are growing at a fantastic rate. Despite both country's roadblocks in the near future, there is a great wave of opportunity at the moment in China. Whether or not China is getting too ahead of itself (read http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=6407) is not my concern, for I'm quite confident that China will still be an enormous influence in the world, and one that would require more attention from any country whenever it makes a move. Back to the original question of why I want to learn Chinese; the answer is because I find it would be a great tool to have on my belt. Yes, I am aware of China's rich history, and I can appreciate it and learn all about it, but frankly speaking, I need to look to the future especially in these critical times in human history.

You do not need to learn 4,000 characters for an HSK 6-7. The wordlists for HSK up to intermediate level includes more than 5,000 vocabulary, but only slightly more than 2,000 characters (Check for instance http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:HSK_list_of_Mandarin_words). 2,000 in total works out to less than 10 per day if you study for one year. That sounds perfectly feasible to me. That said, you'd also have to practise other things, such as listening, grammar, hsk skills, etc.

I've read ChouDoufu's article "Definitive guide to studying in Beijing", the sticky, and I've now learned of Beijing Normal University. From the looks of it, it seems that BLCU is more of a relaxed school where students are all there supported on their parents money and don't focus that much and are more interested with being in China than the intentions of being there in the first place. BNU seems to have a larger asian based student population (Koreans and Japanese) and the students are naturally more serious than most westerners. I'm not going to judge automatically, especially when I haven't even been to these schools, I'm just trying to see what the situation is. Does anyone have opinions on BNU?

Well, I actually want intense so I can improve faster, but I also don't want to bite off more than I can chew, either. So realistically, I will probably just go to BLCU instead.

The standard rate of improvement (I have heard and read about) is that one's HSK score can/should improve by 3 every year of study in china. So after one year of study you should on average be able to get a 3 (assuming little/no chinese background prior to arrival). After 2, get a six. Of course this varies from person to person. Then there's the whole issue of actually taking the HSK, which is a standardized exam. Lots of koreans and Japanese can do well on the HSK but can't speak Chinese if their life depended on it, since all they do is prep for the test.

In other words, most people have realized that a year of study just is not enough. Relax, do your best and see what happens.

Finally, there is no way Beishida (where I currently study and I really like it) is the Harvard of China. It's a great school, amongst the top in China, especially for teaching, but it's nowhere near as prestigious as say, Bei Da (Peking University) often termed the Harvard of China, where Hu Jintao and other leaders/businessmen/nobel prize winners have gone. There is also Tsinghua, which is termed as China's MIT, which also boasts it's share of Nobel Laureates and visionaries...

but it's nowhere near as prestigious as say, Bei Da (Peking University) often termed the Harvard of China, where Hu Jintao and other leaders/businessmen/nobel prize winners have gone.

fair enough I don't have access to wikipedia, maybe Wen went to Beida? Or Jiang Zemin.. All I know some top dogs and nobel dudes have been BeiDa... I remember hearing somewhere Hu had gone to Beida, but I guess wrong. No worries.

Do a search on baidu for "politician's name 简历" and you'll get the official backgrounds of any given leader. Doing the same search on google seems to trip various flags, resulting in google being inaccessible for a couple of minutes, so it's best to stick with baidu.

Actually, I think you might have got it the wrong way around, many of the current/former leaders were Tsinghua graduates (Zhu Rongji is the other one who comes to mind), or have a strong science/engineering background, which if the teachers at Tsinghua are to be believed is responsible for Tsinghua being granted massive amounts of funding in recent years (compared to other top-tier schools).

Oh well, I don't really care. I just know Beida and Tsinghua are China's top two schools, if you ask most people. Ditto for anything to do with business and everyone I've talked to in that sector. Regardless, my main point still stands, there is no way Beishida is seen as China's Harvard. A very good school, even one very good to study Chinese as a second language by many chinese I've spoken too, but not the top uni in China by any means.

Beida, Tshinghua, and Fudan are the three most selective universities in China, but that's really irrelevant for those learning Chinese as a second language. Nobody goes to Harvard or Oxford to learn English as a second language.

By the, Li Keqiang, the current party secretary of Liaoning province, has a bachelor's degree and a PhD in economics from Beida. There are many reports claiming that he will be the next party secretary after Hu Jintao.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/ziliao/2002-02/25/content_289095.htm

李克强简历

李克强 中共辽宁省委书记，辽宁省人大常委会主任。

１９５５年７月生，安徽定远人。１９７４年参加工作，１９７６年加入中国共产党。北京大学经济学院在职研究生毕业，法学学士、经济学博士。