I am applying for the Taiwan scholarship to study Mandarin and can only apply to one school. I have basically never studied Mandarin before. The schools I was thinking of are:
NCKU Tainan
National Kaohsiung University
Sun Yat Sen
Tsu Ji (not sure about this location)
What do you know about these programs. I don’t care about prestige. I just care about quality of instruction.
Ciji’s in Hualien, it’s a Buddhist school, but that’s all I know.
Sun Yat Sen students seem to be a pretty happy bunch, Chinese seems OK.
Never met anybody from NKU so can’t quote!
NCKU is where I went, they’re pretty good. Use the same textbooks as everyone else but the office and teachers are brill, and Chinese is the lingua franca as there are so many people who can’t speak English.
If you’re after a really good programme, I’ve heard good things about Wenzao Catholic Uni in Kaohsiung. There’s a place in Ilan which is supposed to be very, very, very good too.
NTU apparently has an 8 month course where they ‘take Chinese and shove it up your a$$’; keep in mind there are lots of English speakers in TPE (not that there aren’t anywhere else, but…) and it’s easy to survive with just English and no Chinese. Well, easier.
[quote=“NYC119”]I am applying for the Taiwan scholarship to study Mandarin and can only apply to one school. I have basically never studied Mandarin before. The schools I was thinking of are:
NCKU Tainan
National Kaohsiung University
Sun Yat Sen
Tsu Ji (not sure about this location)
What do you know about these programs. I don’t care about prestige. I just care about quality of instruction.[/quote]
I can only comment on Sun Yat Sen, as I studied there for a bit. I wasn’t a very serious student at the time, but I managed to learn quite a bit in spite of myself. I really enjoyed the program and the people --which is what did if for me. I was interested in speaking to my teachers and peers. I was not interested in spending my free time with my nose in a book.
I’m not saying that I didn’t have to study, or that I didn’t study. I mean that I didn’t study nearly as much as I could/should have, but was motivated to learn because I liked the people I was interacting with.
My first term teacher was excellent! Friendly but firm and kept class interesting and focused. I didn’t like my second term teacher as well because she was very Chinese old school and just drilled drilled drilled, was sharp in tone and manner, and did not brook any enjoyment of the learning process. I couldn’t brook that approach and left the program after that term–though I did still learn from that teacher.
Hope this helps.
Thanks. I will take all this under advisement. I am mainly looking at Sun Yat Sen and NCKU at this point. But I will check out Wen Zhao and if I can figure out the name of the school in Yilin I will look at it also.
Any thoughts on the differences between Tainan and Kaohsiung, not better or worse, just the differences?
Also - this school in Yilin County – is it Fo Guang University?
And also, what is it that makes it so, so, so, so good?
Tainan is a smaller place with lots of character. Kaohsiung is a big city with a laid back southern vibe and closer to Kenting. Either one would be a great choice–far cheaper than the north and much better weather.
Kaohsiung is easier to drive in. NSYS is pretty far out of town, in a secluded little area on the mountainside where monkeys steal your lunch. (I started to regret not going there when I heard that!) I went there the other night and can guarantee that late-night transport is a pain in and out; apparently, unless you buy a scooter, you WILL be bored if you live in the dorms.
People who live in Kaohsiung tell me it’s one of the greatest places in the world. I can never find anything to do there! I think it must be really boring until you know where you’re going. Public transport seems good.
Tainan is full of teeny winding roads (well, as teeny as you can get in the fourth-largest city in Taiwan…) where people drive in … oh, about 5 different directions. I’ve noticed lately that lots of them are all one-way, too, but what the hey. NCKU is right behind the train station. I’ve seen buses around more often now (I think they’re trying to improve the bus service) but bicycle/scooter is still the best way to get around.
One of the things I like about Tainan is that you notice something new every time you go out. I’ve been here for 8 months and know the place very well, and still notice some little shop I’ve never noticed before on each outing.
One good thing about the language centre in NCKU is that you take 10 hours of classes, 5 hours of optional classes, and then if you want to take more optionals you can. Basically you can take as many optionals as you want and pay no extra. Which I think is cool.
Hmm, what else about Tainan? Lots of temples, lots of food. Apparently the food here is quite sweet compared to everywhere else in Taiwan. Lots of late night bars. Not that I’d know anything about that… 
[quote=“tsukinodeynatsu”]
NTU apparently has an 8 month course where they ‘take Chinese and shove it up your a$$’; keep in mind there are lots of English speakers in TPE (not that there aren’t anywhere else, but…) and it’s easy to survive with just English and no Chinese. Well, easier.[/quote]
Hey! Is this 8 month course a special programm? Or just the regular CLD?
Thanks!
I think it’s a specially designed program. I think it’s the ICLP:
iclp.ntu.edu.tw/index.php?option … =2&lang=en
Don’t quote me on that though, since I’ve never looked into it myself. A quick scan of the details makes me think that’s it though. (A couple of places do ‘intensive’ Chinese programmes with 20-hour weeks.)
Likewise one can apply for scholarships from this portal too…several scholarships are here.
http://www.buddy4study.com/