Hi, just wondering if anyone has been through the online Chinese course by NTU’s Chinese Language Division (CLD) and would recommend it? Or if there’s a better online Chinese course for that matter.
I know nothing beats learning by immersion but while the borders are closed, I’m thinking of learning online until I can get into Taiwan. But the cost of the online course is the same as the in-person classes, so just wondering if it’s worthwhile.
What’s your level? What are your goals and your timeline?
Although I’ve done a few Chinese courses over the last few years (speaking and listening only), I’d say I’m still at a beginner level. Ideally I’d like to spend at least a year in Taiwan of full time study with the hope that the immersion will help make it stick.
Both free
They have free HSK courses up to HSK 6. I see why people think they need to learn grammar patterns and vocabulary to be good at Chinese — the entire syllabus is based on which grammar patterns you’re going to learn. 
Could take a course in Chinese though (geared towards native speakers). I might do that…
Thanks for sharing, but it’s increasingly more clear to me that language is not learned through grammar patterns and memorization of vocabulary. The entire concept of HSK is flawed, and I spent the first ~5 years of my Chinese learning under the genuine (and very false!) belief that you just need to learn a bunch of grammar patterns and vocabulary until one day, it’ll all just come together. This means you spend years in the time following unlearning these bad habits, which is not a place any learner should be. I have to express gratitude to the world language teachers I met when I was student teaching, who introduced the idea of showing learners a text (that they understand!) in the target language and then doing follow up works related to the content of the article. That allows use of the language, which leads to acquisition. Everyone should read Terry Waltz’s book “TPRS with Chinese Characteristics”. I don’t understand how few people even know that she’s done an enormous amount of research on the topic!
Curious if there’s any online classes utilizing TPRS at this moment? Searching the forum I see many referenced from a decade ago, but nothing current. (Or maybe my search-fu is just bad? 
)
In a perfect world there’d be a website with a list of days/times when groups would be taught and one could simply sign up for a schedule that fit.
Anything like that around? (@ironlady ? 
)
I have a beginner class opening Friday June 2 (US time). It’s at 7 pm East Coast time, which makes it Saturday morning Taiwan time. Might be too early for those who like to indulge on a Friday night, but… lol
How long is each session? (I’m signing up now, lol!)
Technically 50 minutes, but in practice we usually go an hour or more depending. I’m not much of a clock-watcher unless people have to be somewhere else after class. lol
Ive done NTNU and NTU at the beginner and advanced levels. I would say NTU is slightly better for beginners because the class size is smaller and the average student is better than ntnu.
If you want to get good at Chinese most of your learning will have to take place out of class, speaking and immersing yourself in the language.