Does anybody know anything about this program? I already have a decent reading and writing proficiency, and I heard that NCCU CLC focuses a little more on conversation, which would be nice. I was wondering if anyone who’s undertaken classes here could provide some insight as to what they thought about this Chinese program.
Ideally, I’d love to spend a semester at the ICLP but it’s unfortunately way beyond my price range. (sigh)
Thanks!
Just make sure your reading and writing proficiency match, that you’re doing the class full-time as much as possible, and that you get one of the good teachers (you’ll hear about who they are when you get there), and you’ll be OK. I know a friend who in one year got from book 1 to book 4. Another friend got from book 1 to book 3. It depends on you how good the program is.
There is one teacher there who speaks WAAAAAY too much English. Avoid her, and you’re fine.
Anyway, the Shida language center is most famous, and NTU is good too, but NCCU is fine if you’re prepared for some bureaucratic nonsense, I hear.
Dash, could you elaborate on what you’ve heard about “bureaucratic nonsense” at NCCU? I’m planning to go there because I’m taking some poli sci courses at NCCU and it just seems easier to do both programs at the same school…but if NTU will be a better experience maybe I should reevaluate?
Also I’m with the OP in that I really want to improve my conversation, not spend hours pointlessly writing characters, translating, etc
Thanks Dash. I’ve decided to go with the ICLP, because I feel that they’ll push me a little harder. The program is expensive, but it’s also pretty intense.
Regarding NCCU, I talked with a friend who’s going there now, she says she likes it, and that she’s the only American in her class, the rest are from Japan, Philippines, etc.
They spend a lot of time in open conversation.
[quote=“Chauncey Gardener”]Dash, could you elaborate on what you’ve heard about “bureaucratic nonsense” at NCCU? I’m planning to go there because I’m taking some poli sci courses at NCCU and it just seems easier to do both programs at the same school…but if NTU will be a better experience maybe I should reevaluate?
Also I’m with the OP in that I really want to improve my conversation, not spend hours pointlessly writing characters, translating, etc[/quote]
Well I hear NTU is like 10,000 USD a semester sooo…
But anyway, just dealing with the testing, payment, dorm situations, switching teachers, and some other inefficiencies in the system. If you’re a go-getter who won’t take no for an answer, you can get what you want.
If you do any of the language centers, expect many hours of pointlessly writing characters. That’s just the way it is, sorry. You can try to convince your teacher to not pressure you or anything, but your tests will still require on-the-spot written answers, I think. And they really really have pressure to pump out the best students they can, so they will not let up on you about characters.
[quote=“dashgalaxy86”][quote=“Chauncey Gardener”]Dash, could you elaborate on what you’ve heard about “bureaucratic nonsense” at NCCU? I’m planning to go there because I’m taking some poli sci courses at NCCU and it just seems easier to do both programs at the same school…but if NTU will be a better experience maybe I should reevaluate?
Also I’m with the OP in that I really want to improve my conversation, not spend hours pointlessly writing characters, translating, etc[/quote]
Well I hear NTU is like 10,000 USD a semester sooo…
But anyway, just dealing with the testing, payment, dorm situations, switching teachers, and some other inefficiencies in the system. If you’re a go-getter who won’t take no for an answer, you can get what you want.
If you do any of the language centers, expect many hours of pointlessly writing characters. That’s just the way it is, sorry. You can try to convince your teacher to not pressure you or anything, but your tests will still require on-the-spot written answers, I think. And they really really have pressure to pump out the best students they can, so they will not let up on you about characters.[/quote]
OK well living in Ottawa, Canada I’m quite accustomed to fighting against torrents of bureaucratic inertia, so I can deal with that 
Bummer about the teaching methods (when will teachers learn what actually works for students??) but I guess I’ll just use my free time to work on conversation and stuff. Thanks for the reply!
To make a long story short, bad advice given to me by my department’s student affairs guy almost prevented me from taking a class at NTU. I was smart enough to not listen to him and find other opinions. It turned out his directions couldn’t have been more wrong, and his job is to give direction to students! Anyways, after finding out what I should do, which involved going around to different offices at NCCU and making several trips to NTU, everything was worked out. The guy at my department blamed me for the problem, though :roflmao: I didn’t care since I got what I needed in the end. Anyways, my advice to any student there is to ask the same question to as many people as you can from different offices to figure out what you should do.