Studying Mandarin in Chengdu
Posted in: Forums > Study • 7 posts • Newest
- listentospoon
May 5, 2009
15 posts -
Hey GoChengdooers
I've studied Mandarin for about a year and a half in Taipei at NTNU's Mandarin Training Center, and I enjoyed it immensely: both because of the teaching methods they used and the pressures of having classmates (so I HAD to study to avoid looking like an idiot!).What are your recommendations for language schools/universities in Chengdu? I'm looking at doing about ten hours of class per week, and I'd prefer to have classmates (as opposed to private tutoring), homework, exams and the like. I'm not looking into earning a degree in Mandarin Chinese, just to improve my language skills, since I figure I'll be living over here for a few more years to come.
If you can give any advice of places to try (or to avoid!), please give a shout! Cheers!
- listentospoon
- hapatofu
May 5, 2009
95 posts -
Hi, well, I have studied at Southwest Uni of Finance and Econ for one semester and also one semester at Sichuan Uni, in addition to trying private tutors and studying on my own. I think SWUFE （新南财经大学 or 新南财大 for short) is really nice in terms of quality of instruction and the care they extend to their students. the program is quite small so classes are small, like 10 to 12 maximum. the main drawbacks of studying there are that compared to sichuan uni they don't really have many elective courses to choose from and the location is also a bit out of the way if you want to live where more of the action in the city is. sichuan uni is the city's biggest department for international students with something like 1,000+ foreign students. so classes can be quite large, 40+, lecture-hall style, and instruction is less personal. they have lots of elective courses including calligraphy, taiqi, news reading, sichuan dialect, etc., but often those courses are taught by grad students who clearly have little or no teaching experience. also a lot of the sichuan uni students from what i've seen tend not to venture outside the sichuan uni bubble. so that can be a drawback of that program. also as a plus for SWUFE they're offering full scholarships for next semester, so you might want to look into that. there's a post about it on gochengdoo somewhere, just search SWUFE. let's see, other than that there are some private language schools that i don't know much about and other unis with programs for foreign students include 新南民族大学 (Southwest Uni for Minority Nationalities), which is probably the second largest program as it's the least expensive; and 师范大学 (Normal University) which is outside the city. hope that helps!
- hapatofu
- hapatofu
May 5, 2009
95 posts -
oh, there are also a lot of private tutors who post classifieds on here, you could try to get in touch with some of them. maybe put together your own class, that can be fun.
- hapatofu
- listentospoon
May 6, 2009
15 posts -
hapatofu, thanks a lot for the info. i'll investigate all of the uni's you mentioned. i'm particularly interested in sichuan uni, mostly so because it i'll be able to walk there from my apartment (once i get to chengdoo). but the big classes are a BIG drawback. on your topic of private tutoring, what do you reckon the going rate for a one-on-one, experienced tutor will be? preferably a teacher who i'd pay to do what he/she does in class, but to an induvidual/small group.
sorry to bombard with the questions, i'd just like to get the ball rolling as soon as possible to get going with my studies again! :)
take it easy.
- listentospoon
- iraglassismyhero
May 10, 2009
74 posts -
maybe not much help to you, but i've heard good things from friends and acquaintances about five rivers and chinese corner; both are private schools. one or the other or both offer private classes as well as small group classes, electives and extracurricular activities. google either name; you should be able to find a lot better info!
- iraglassismyhero
- hapatofu
May 10, 2009
95 posts -
re: going rates for tutors. i've seen everything from FREE (usually a bad idea) to RMB100/hr (teacher better be darn good to charge that--actually the only person i'd ever heard that rate from was some chick who had studied abroad and, it sounded like, didn't REALLY want to teach but needed to make some money). students looking to make some cash on the side usually charge 20 to 30 per hour; professional, experienced tutors usually charge around 50 per hour. i'd look for one with a certificate or degree in teaching chinese as a second language. and also one with experience teaching your level. for example, there are some very experienced and good teachers who have only taught beginning students so they aren't so knowledgeable about materials and whatnot for more advanced students. the above poster mentioned chinese corner; i've also heard good things about their classes and they can arrange private tutors for you.
- hapatofu
- fyen18
June 5, 2009
20 posts -
Here's something else you can do Spoon, and to all those who'd like to master Chinese as well, listen to modern Chinese music (mandopop). Go and download the most popular songs nowadays, or if you want to pursuit it in a more noble manner, go buy the CDs (make sure they aren't pirated too). Then download the lyrics and sing along! Pick songs that you really like, the ones that you think you can listen to them at least 10 times. Look up some of the words that you don't understand when reading the lyrics (you can start from the chorus) and after singing it for 10-20 times, you will have unconsciously memorized many phrases in Chinese that are commonly used. The reason why this works, and it has worked for me, is that when you do what I just described, you will be learning Chinese by doing all of the 3 ways of learning at the same time; visual, kinesthetic and auditory. You'll be looking at the characters, saying and pronouncing the words, hearing how it is said, and on top of that, you'll have a melody that helps the new words remain stuck in your head. Ever wonder why you can remember things better when you make a song out of it? Well why not apply it to Chinese! If you don't think you can sing well, then of course, do it at your own discretion. Then when you have enough courage, you can even sing it to others. In fact, you can even form a little group to go to a KTV where Chinese native speakers learning English can prepare themselves to sing in English and the non-Chinese speakers to do the vice versa with Chinese. A mutual support group, something akin to alcoholics anonymous for learning Chinese ;).
- fyen18
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