Would you know which school in Yilan your friend was talking about? Was it 佛光大學?
This is exactly the kinds of decisions that lead people to being in Taiwan for 10 years not being able to speak Chinese. I don’t mean to be harsh on Gilgamesh because I understand that providing for his family of course comes first before the luxury of studying Chinese. I just want to emphasize how important it is to start studying Chinese seriously in a course when you first arrive BEFORE you acquire other responsibilities and interests.
[quote=“Gilgamesh”]Thanks for all the replies.
I talked to my boss the other day and she begged me to stay until the end of the summer. She made some changes to fix the things that were pissing me off. I still want to quit and study but now I may wait until the end of the summer just so I don’t burn any bridges. I may try to work part time there to support my family while I study so I don’t want them to be upset with me.
I’m still tempted to go in the spring but if I stay working we will be in a better position financially by the end of the summer. I think I will try and focus on finishing Book 1 by the end of the summer and get my wife to give me some Chinese lessons when we have the time. It’s hard to find the time with work and looking after two children, both who are under two years of age.
I will go and talk to Fo Guang to see how much they cost. The commute does sound tiring to me as well but it will save me a lot of money if Fo Guang’s prices aren’t comparable to Taipei schools.
Anyway, I have a lot of thinking to do before I decide what to do.
Again, thanks for all the help. The replies were very helpful.
Gilgamesh[/quote]
You’re probably right, I should have started some serious studying when I first arrived. The problem was that I never planned on staying here this long. When I first arrived, I was more interested in working hard, making money and then taking off travelling again. I did this for a number of years until I met my wife and got married.
Plus, to be honest, I just wasn’t that interested in learning Chinese. I’m not a talkative person and do fine skipping along in my own world without knowing what’s going on around me. It’s only been lately when I have seriously thought about learning Chinese. Maybe having kids and realizing that I will probably be here for many more years to come has brought learning Chinese to mind. I used to try and study on my own every now and then. I would pick up the text book, study for a few months and then put it down and never pick it up again for months.
This is one of the reasons why I think I need the structure of going to class to keep me focused and I also need to make more of an effort to talk to people. My real goal is to be able to pick up a Chinese novel and be able to read it. I don’t expect to be able to read history or philosophy in Chinese but I hope to be able to read a regular novel. I’m hoping that after a year or so of class I will be closer to doing this.
Anyway, I think I’ve decided to put class off until the end of the summer. I’ll try and know book 1 well so that hopefully I can skip that book and move on to book 2. We’ll see how it works out
Gilgamesh
I’m guessing that is the same story for 60% of Forumosans (including me).
Man, if I had a dime for every time I heard THAT! 
I’m at Taida in the CLD and I find it quite good. I hear it’s much better than Shida’s program, but I can’t really comment on NCCU as I don’t know anybody in that. Yilan to Taipei every day? That’s quite a commute! The teachers at CLD are very good. I really like my teacher and the one my friend has, both quite great. The textbook isn’t amazing, but the classes are fairly good despite that.
Hello,
I am planning to go to Taiwan to study Mandarin for 6 months. I need some input on schools there. Does anyone know anything about MLC? Am also consider MTC but just not sure which route to take. Do you have other suggestions. Hoping to live in Taipei.
Hi Jammer,
Welcome to Forumosa! Most schools here teach pretty similar curriculums, based around the Practical Audio Visual Chinese books series. I have created a list of language schools in Taiwan here. You can sort the list by location, price, hours etc. and narrow down your choices based on those factors. I would then ask here if anyone has experience at your chosen schools to further guide you.
Good luck!
Apparently Fo Guang, in Yilan, is in the process of lowering their prices. I don’t know much about it but my wife saw a news segment where they were talking about dropping their prices because no one was going there. My wife wasn’t sure but she thought they were going to drop the price by around 20,000 NT a term. I checked their website but didn’t see any indication of a price change. I’ll give them a call in the summer when I’m closer to actually see what their prices are. Maybe I won’t have to do the commute to Taipei after all.
hi everyone~
like the original poster of this thread, the more i read the more i’m confused ><
i started off with 1 or 2 questions now i have like 5+!!
here’s my 1st question:
what are the main differences between NTU’s CLD and ICLP?
at first i thought NTU only had ICLP, and now that i see there’s actually another program there i’m a bit confused 
About 3000 USD difference…
One is the usual, run of the mill, 2 hours a day bit. The other an intensive 8 hours, nose to the grindstone, better for intermediate levels kind of program. Guess which one costs more.
i guess i’ll explain my bg a little …
i’m 23 years old and just graduated from univ in the US with an east asian languages and cultures major (emphasis chinese). my parents are from taiwan but i was born in the US. i lived in taiwan for 5 years when i was young so i can usually understand others when they speak to me in chinese.
i want to go back to taiwan for a year to improve my mandarin. i’ve come to realize that my skills are declining and sometimes i can’t really understand what people are saying.
skills:
i can read most chinese, but not as much newspapers and magazines. i can speak but not fluently. i am not that good with writing but i can type chinese with pinyin. and like i previously said, my speaking skills are above average…but sometimes i struggle with grammar and thinking of the right words to use.
so pretty much my goals from most important to least is: speaking, writing, listening, reading.
it’s also a possibility for me to live in taiwan for a few years in the future. all my relatives live there right now so i would want to be able to communicate with them fluently.
chinese is also very important to me and i don’t want to end up forgetting it.
i also don’t mind the culture classes since i have interest in them. cost of the fees aren’t that important to me as long as it’s worth it. i also want to stick with taipei.
so i’ve been thinking about NTNU’s MTC, NTU’s CLD (or maybe ICLP but i don’t think that’s what i’m looking for?).
any suggestions as to which program might suit me best? any input would be greatly appreciated!! thanks!
If you want to come on vacation, then MTC is for you. They will place you in a lower level to make themselves look good. The groups are too big, and they do not have teh time, skills, not methodology to treat high Intermediates.
If you really want to polish your skills to a professional level and have the stamina to challenge yourself, then go to ICLP, if you can afford it, of couse, but at your level, I’d make the effort.
My 
[quote=“Icon”]If you want to come on vacation, then MTC is for you. They will place you in a lower level to make themselves look good. The groups are too big, and they do not have teh time, skills, not methodology to treat high Intermediates.
If you really want to polish your skills to a professional level and have the stamina to challenge yourself, then go to ICLP, if you can afford it, of couse, but at your level, I’d make the effort.
My [/quote]
thanks! so between ICLP and CLD, would you recommend ICLP?
As a ‘heritage’ student of Mandarin, I think you would be happier at the MTC. You don’t really need more than a couple of hours of class and you don’t need to be sitting in your room writing characters all day either as you will be if you go to one of the NTU programs. These are really more for grad students in Chinese who are desperate to get their Chinese to a reasonable level so that they can write their thesis etc.
While I think classes are a good idea, you would spend your time better (in my view) doing more outside the classroom.
You should really consider living outside of Taipei. The cost of living is lower and quality of life is higher. There’s plenty to do in Taichung and Kaohsiung.
[quote=“Feiren”]As a ‘heritage’ student of Mandarin, I think you would be happier at the MTC. You don’t really need more than a couple of hours of class and you don’t need to be sitting in your room writing characters all day either as you will be if you go to one of the NTU programs. These are really more for grad students in Chinese who are desperate to get their Chinese to a reasonable level so that they can write their thesis etc.
While I think classes are a good idea, you would spend your time better (in my view) doing more outside the classroom.
You should really consider living outside of Taipei. The cost of living is lower and quality of life is higher. There’s plenty to do in Taichung and Kaohsiung.[/quote]
thanks for your input! i want to improve my chinese for personal use more than anything else…so in that case perhaps i should still consider MTC.
oh and my family has an apartment in taipei so that’s why i’m not really considering anywhere else~~
I’d still reccommend looking at the other options. MTC is not worth the grief, IMHO.
[quote=“Icon”]About 3000 USD difference…
One is the usual, run of the mill, 2 hours a day bit. The other an intensive 8 hours, nose to the grindstone, better for intermediate levels kind of program. Guess which one costs more.[/quote]
It’s not 2, it’s 3.
As for ICLP, from what I know, it’s not 8, it’s 4. But their approach is different, i.e. you don’t get much vocabulary drills or smth like that during the class, instead you get lot’s of new material which you have to digest on your own. Thus the enormous amount of time spent on the homework.
As somebody said before, if you do want to pay these couple thousands and and have the time, go to a regular language school and get a private tutor in addition.
The only reason people go to ICLP, is that they are already enrolled in some school in US, and usually go to ICLP via their school, thus getting the credits. As a result, you get a very WASPy environment (as opposed to a very international one). Guess what language you’ll end up speaking during the breaks, before and after school? 
So a person is basically spending an insane amount of money for something they could do on their own? :ohreally:
To go from Yilan to NCCU might not be too bad. The bus from City Hall to NCCU leaves from the same stop where the Yilan bus drops you. It’s a 15 minute ride, although though not super frequent.