I am a overseas born Chinese student (ABC) and am looking to go to Taipei for a few months to improve my Mandarin. I have read through multiple forums but am still struggling to decide which language center would be best for a student like me (can listen/understand fairly well, have a somewhat decent conversation in Mandarin with grammatical errors and struggle to read and write).
I’ve read mixed things about NTU’s CLD, NTNU’s MTC, NCCU’s CLC and have barely found anything on Shih Chien University’s Chinese Language Center.
None. You’re better off staying in America and finding a Chinese community with teachers who specialise in teaching Mandarin to those who have emigrated there, as they know what it’s like to teach kids whose parents moved to the US but want them to still keep their birth country’s language.
I can’t really help you in deciding which school since I have never attended any of those. However, I have heard that NTU’s program is top notch and you do learn conversational mandarin by the time you’re done, but like you said, you’re not starting from scratch. A few of my friends have gone to NTNU and have had nothing bad to say, but I’m sure others will chime in soon about their actual experiences.
Aside from class and homework, I suggest getting involved with the locals. This is where you will learn a lot of your local slang and conversational Chinese, definitely more from interaction with them. I’m not saying, don’t make friends with your classmates, but try going out of your way to try and make friends with the locals. You’ll learn a lot about them!
Also, try trying things just outside your comfort zone and do not be afraid to ask questions. For example, go to a restaurant with zero pictures and zero English translations. Rely on what you have learned to try to make the order!
Try not to get stuck in the go to class, hang out with foreigner friends, do homework and repeat. You’ll soon realize after you’ve finished your classes, you actually didn’t learn much by just going to class!
This is just my approach to wanting to improve your Chinese. Not the only way! There are people out there that can pull of just going to class and studying and learn a new language, you could be one of them!
Going to a smaller/more isolated/less developed place provides more opportunities to practice speaking whatever the locals speak and fewer opportunities to be a lazy foreigner. But there are definitely lazy foreigners in mainland China, even some who have been there for years.
Yes, spot on. If you were able to live with a family where no one who speaks a word of English, in a town where no one speaks a word of English, then you basically can’t fail.
You can’t fail at learning something, but if you’re not careful you’ll end up sounding like a villager – not that that’s necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not necessarily what you want.
You can always stay in a major city – or just about anywhere in Taiwan, if you’re not afraid of catching an island accent – and refuse to speak English most of the time.
None. You’re better off staying in America and finding a Chinese community with teachers who specialise in teaching Mandarin to those who have emigrated there, as they know what it’s like to teach kids whose parents moved to the US but want them to still keep their birth country’s language.
To elaborate on this, the university Mandarin programs tend to teach speaking, listening, reading and writing at the same time. You will be assessed based on your abilities and then placed in the appropriate level. You will likely end up in some intermediary level, where you will be way ahead of your classmates in terms of speaking and listening, so the class conversations and pace will feel incredibly boring and slow. On the other hand, you will be behind your classmates in terms of reading and writing, which can feel incredibly frustrating too.
If you want to study Mandarin in Taiwan, I would recommend that you find a private tutor a few times a week. Someone who will give you lots of homework to write and push you to read articles at home.
If I wanted to learn reading and writing my first step would be the interwebs. Id open some social networks uder a Chinese name and get interacting that way.
I looked into programs a few years ago and most placed me at an intermediate level which had textbooks (nearly) all in Chinese, which I couldn’t really read. I’ve found programs in universities in the US that offer classes specifically to overseas Chinese (or people with similar language issues) and there are a few in China that essentially do that due to simple demand but haven’t seen anything like that here.
Nonsense.
The OP is obviously from a well-off family, is in his early twenties and will spend most of his time at the clubs near Taipei 101 speaking Chinese to the young ladies, when not in Chinese class. How can he get the same experience in the US?
