Want to Learn Chinese? Choosing the Best Language Program

Want to Learn Chinese? Choosing the Best Language Program
Apr 02, 2010 By Fred Dintenfass , eChinacities.com

Mandarin is all the rage right now. Unfortunately, many prospective learners don’t realize what they’re in for. We’re going to save you several painful, expensive years by filling you in on the things that most people considering learning Chinese don’t discover until it’s too late. It’s not all buzzkill, by going into the process with more realistic expectations, you can make better choices and avoid wasting time and money on programs and courses that won’t help you accomplish your goals.

Why?
You need to start with this existential question: what is possessing you to learn Chinese? The more you consider your goals the more you’ll be able to pick the course of study that is best for you.

Harshing the mellow
Unless you’re 10 years old, speak Mandarin at home, take classes to read and write and study really hard for the next decade you’re never going to be really great at Chinese. After three years of concentrated study in China, most people are able to converse reasonably well, read a variety of materials from newspapers to books – with the help of a dictionary, watch movies and generally get around pretty well. You will not be able to practice law in Chinese, write contracts or blaze through literature. Even if you can do business well in Chinese, you’ll probably feel more comfortable with the position of power afforded by your native language. There are many different definitions of fluent, but it’s safe to say that you will not be anywhere close to a native level. Unless you want to work as a translator or interpreter, and these jobs are not particularly plentiful or reliable, you will need to marry your language abilities to another skill set. Three years of study will not make you able to do accounting or medicine in Chinese – you will not be a strong candidate for many of the bilingual jobs currently on offer in the West. In addition, the time needed to learn Chinese will take away from the time you could be spending pursuing your career. Before you take three years off from your chosen field of study or expertise to study Chinese, you need to weigh carefully the pros and cons of what you’ll be able to gain during that time and what you’ll give up by largely being out of the game.

Going for it anyway
There are still many great reasons to learn Chinese. Some of them are covered here and here, so we’re not going to spend any more space on that. If you still think learning Mandarin is the right move for you, here is some advice on picking a program in China. Some people are advocating staying at home to study, but it’s hard to get the language environment and the experience with the culture you need to make your Chinese really useful, without being here. We’ve covered the merits of private language centers vs. language programs at Chinese universities before. The discussion here is over the factors you’ll need to consider to find the best program for your needs.

Time
You’re going to need a bunch of it. Doing a semester in China is not going to do you much good unless you already have a strong grounding in the language. If you’re still starting out you’ll want to spend at least a year here. You can do it in one chunk at a university or by doing multiple classes at a private center. If you’re going to be in China that long, a university will be able to give you a student visa, a language center won’t. If you’re unable to get away for a whole semester, an intensive summer program is the next best thing.

Reading and writing
If reading and writing aren’t a priority for you – although they probably should be – you’re going to want to make sure your program doesn’t focus on them. Some programs only do pinyin (a Romanization of Chinese characters) so if you want to learn some characters but mostly focus on speaking you’ll need to do some research. Most universities teach characters – in general you’re going to have more flexibility at a smaller, private program.

Cost
Several Western universities now do programs in China that are housed at a university here but run through the home university. These programs often include language pledges – you can only speak Chinese for the duration of your stay – and a much higher standard of teaching, including more one on one time with a tutor. The downside is the cost: a semester at Tsinghua’s Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies is USD 7,500 a semester, at the Beijing Language and Culture University it’s about 3,000 USD.

Environment
The smaller the city (and few Chinese cities are small) the less likely you’ll be to end up spending all your time with other expats. The downside to this is your sanity – if being able to get a decent cocktail or burger with people who speak the same language as you is important, you’ll want to stay first tier. You’ll also need to consider the local dialect and accent if you decide to head south or west of Beijing – being immersed in an environment where everyone speaks a different dialect or really heavily accented Mandarin may not be very useful. If you’re a city person, heading out to a second or tier third tier city, despite the size of the cities, may not be very rewarding culturally. You also need to consider who you want to meet while you’re in China. I first came to China to study Chinese in order to work in the art industry here – Beijing, as the home of 798 and a number of other art districts – was the ideal place for me to learn more about that scene and make the connections I needed so that I could find work when I was finished with my studies.

 

 

 

The other factor to consider is classroom environment. If you do one of the expensive Western programs you’ll be surrounded, even with your language pledge, with students from the same university or country. If you want to make your experience as immersive as possible you’ll want to pick a school where most of the students don’t speak English. Many of the language centers and less well known university programs cater mostly to Asian students, usually Koreans, which will force you to use Chinese much more than if all your classmates speak English well. On the other hand, being in a class with people from ten other countries can be a more rewarding cultural experience.

Hopefully this article hasn’t soured you on learning Chinese – it really is a great skill and a great experience to have. Many people rush into it without fully understanding how long it takes, what they’ll actually be able to accomplish, and what the cost will be in terms of time and effort. You’ll enjoy learning Chinese much more if you make the most of your time and don’t find yourself, two years in, with a whole lot less than you bargained for. So think carefully, choose wisely, and jia you!

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Related Links

Where to Learn Chinese? University vs. Private Language Center
7 Reasons You Should Learn Chinese: 4-7
The 7 Hurdles in Mastering Chinese
Is There Really a Mandarin Scam?

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