hey there everyone. I am a girl who is starting her college elementary chinese course on this coming monday and is freaking out b/c all i know how to speak is english and broken french. I want to keep my gpa up and this class might just kill that dream. Help would be fantastic. I just don’t know what kind of help i will need. I’m not in TAIWAN CAN I STILL ASK FOR HELP HERE???
If you did you could.
Easy
get some bopomofo(zhuyin fuhao) flashcards and a language exchange partner. They go over bopomofo really fast and none too thoroughly. Work on your pronunciation and character recognition with bopomofo. Study, study, study and get a part time job that is relaxed where you can have elementary school students help with your Chinese before and after class.
CYA
Okami
Where are you? What books are you using? Is this a beginners course? etc. If you’ve just signed up for Chinese 101 what’s the problem? Do your homework, study at home and listen to the tapes you’ll probably get. Focus on getting proper pronuncian in the beginning I say. If you have trouble keep trying until it’s easy. If you can find a native Mandarin speaker in your uni that’s willing to help you do that too.
See if your college has a Taiwan Students Association (TSA) not Chinese Students Association (CSA). Join them and tell them you’re interested in learning traditional Mandarin, culture and that you’re taking Chinese 101 class. You’ll get a lot more help that way.
If your Chinese 101 class is simplified chinese, then look for the CSA group etc.
[quote=“tigerpretzmo”]hey there everyone. I am a girl who is starting her college elementary Chinese course on this coming monday and is freaking out b/c all I know how to speak is English and broken french. I want to keep my gpa up and this class might just kill that dream. Help would be fantastic. I just don’t know what kind of help I will need. I’m not in Taiwan CAN I still ASK FOR HELP HERE???[/quote].
Don’t be intimidated and erase any preconceptions that you might have. The standards of Chinese classes in my university weren’t particularly high. Doing the homework and showing up to class were enough to ensure that the GPA didn’t drop. If you’re really interested in the language, you won’t have a problem at all.
Imitate your teacher’s pronunciation and bring a recorder to class if necessary. Practice writing characters and learn pinyin. Good luck.
Your original question was, I believe, “Can I ask for help here?” and the answer is, of course, YES.
There are also some other BBSs on the Net which deal with Chinese teaching – don’t have the URLs offhand. Here, at least, you have a fairly high number of people who have learned Mandarin to a pretty good standard and who can give you actual useful advice.
Just don’t panic if the stuff in your textbook makes any language exchange partner you find frown and wrinkle their brow in confusion. That’s prettty normal.
And remember that most of us who have “some kind of level” in Chinese have been at it for a number of years (I’ve been in the game since 1982, for example). It takes awhile, especially the way things are taught (too much emphasis on reading and especially writing characters, IMHO, before the student has a grasp on the language at all).
Take a look around, too, and figure out what kinds of study aids from OTHER fields you could adapt and use for Chinese (mnemonics, kinesthetics, lots of stuff.)
Last step (this may or may not happen, but) don’t let your Chinese teacher brainwash you into thinking this is some sort of religion. It’s just a language. I was brainwashed that way in my 1st year and always feel vaguely guilty when I’m not in a Chinese -speaking environment.
One other piece of advice that I wish I’d been given (maybe I was and I foolishly ignored it).
If you’re just starting out learning Chinese (or any language really), be prepared for the “OMG You’re learning Chinese? Say something in Chinese!” comments that you will get. I always hated being put on the spot like that and made to feel like a trained monkey, and that’s negatively influenced my progress in spoken Chinese.
I’d say either just be cool with it and come up with some stock phrase or something, or (and I would recommend this more) politely tell them to stick it up their arse. I’ve never heard anyone in any other field outside of languages get that sort of thing thrown at them, so screw them. “OMG you study physics? Explain a theory to me!”
your location reads “mizzou”. fret not. the university of missouri has ample resources available to help you. chinese simply isn’t hard. it is the world’s most populously spoken language. the grammar is a snap. the characters will come. having taken chinese 101 twice (highschool and university) the first week or so is by far the most daunting. you may be very well amped up to start talking chinese but many teachers are gonna just drill the sounds of chinese over and over: ma1, ma2, ma3, ma4. don’t sweat it. we have often theorized why they start with such instead of a taster of how things really are. we decided that they want students to drop during the add/drop time. the tones will come. well, not for me. tone deaf and still passed.
mizzou has lots of chinese students. most would be all too happy to chat up a “real” american insteasd of staying in the (sadly) all to typical clique of homeland mates most exchange students get stuck in.
ask questions. let the teacher know you care. if the teacher knows s/he isn’t just droning to another introductory class perhaps the instructor will be less fearful of showing enthusiam on the topic.
if i could learn chinese in st.louis you can surely learn such 120 miles away at the university of missouri ho-humbia.
Don’t worry. Chinese is a difficult language in many ways, but all this means is that the standards are lower. You will not be expected to reach the same level in Chinese in a first year course that you would be expected to reach in French or Spanish.
Find the cutest Chinese TA on campus and promise to be their loyal love slave in exchange for free private Chinese tutoring. Or vise versa.
Or let the fear of a low GPA motivate you to do the homework and practice neccessary to get a good grade.
Oh, don’t let the native speakers taking to course make your worry, their usually in a different class or graded on a seperate grading curve.
But like all 101 courses its all about the attendence. Don’t forget to have fun.
WTF is GPA?
Juba, Grade Point Average.
Okami,I’m not quite sure why someone not in Taiwan would want to learn zhu yin
I thought she was going to learn Chinese in Taiwan. Therefore I gave her advice that I would give to someone in Taiwan. My bad
Embarrassed,
Okami
[quote=“Tetsuo”] be prepared for the “OMG You’re learning Chinese? Say something in Chinese!” comments that you will get. I always hated being put on the spot like that and made to feel like a trained monkey, and that’s negatively influenced my progress in spoken Chinese.
I’d say either just be cool with it and come up with some stock phrase or something, or (and I would recommend this more) politely tell them to stick it up their arse.[/quote]
AMEN, Tetsuo
Whenever that happens to me, I put on a REALLY big smile, look at them right in the eye and very politely say ‘No!’
Hey, Tigerpretzmo. Drop Chinese and take French. It’s facile… Non? But, actually, your Chinese teacher will probably have pretty low standards for you, so you’ll get an A unless you’re a jerk or something.