They use the 30year old book everybody uses.
The learning is trough studdy and studdy hard witch don’t suit me well, I learn bether by playing with words.
If CCU is cheaper I would go for them because I don’t think you will find anny place where they use modern pedagogic methods.
If your not english or american learn bo po fo mo, for me the pinying(right?) don’t work since moust leters in the alpabeth is prononced diferent in Norwegian.
We used some kind of pinying ourself when we had to learn english.
Cost = low (16000 a semester when I was there last year)
Teachers = A gamble. All 3 of mine were decent. The last one I got “Tien” was great!
Location = Great! Walking distance to Technology Building MRT Station, and right around the corner from the Diner
The previous poster mentioned a lot of studying. This is very true. You will be assigned a lot of homework and are expected to study hard. They push hard to not allow students to repeat levels. (this is so they dont get visa campers wanting an easy ride). I repeated level one because I slacked on my studying my 1st semester and really wanted to learn it all again. I had to pull teeth to repeat that level.
They have free internet lounge (really big) for students, as well as modern classrooms.
Overall, if I had the time right now, I would go back to CCU in a heart beat.
Two of my Japanese classmate in National Cheng Kung University in Tainan were obviously in that situation. They had a much higher level than the rest of us (and specially me) and kept pulling the class forward and forward when I was still learning everything for the first time. That translated into learning 160 new words in the first 3 days, and me simply not learning the characters on hundreds of words since I was struggling to follow the class.
In hindsight, I should have been much more vocal about the fact that this was a beginner’s class, and that these two Japanese ladies should have gone to a higher level even if this was not the most comfortable choice for them (afraid of looking silly making mistakes in front of other students). This is an advice i would give to anybody studying chinese: Don’t let yourself get mixed with people at a higher level, it will screw your learning.
The “basic” optional classes at NCKU are full of these people. One guy, from Columbia, has been studying there for 5 years. Yes… 5 YEARS and he was taking a “basic” optional class.
I really think it depends on your teacher (as with all language learning). There are some things I think are good and other things I think are a huge waste of time. We barely get any time to talk, it’s mostly just sitting listening for hours on end, which can be ok…I think when I move to a new level I’ll be able to compare it with this one and give more information.
I think it has helped my Chinese to improve though.
I am currently at Culture University doing my second semester in the highest level course. I think they don’t care if you keep repeating at that level since all of my classmates have been there for two or three semesters.
I have nothing but good to say about this school. I did 2 semesters at Shi-Da and they were both shite. One teacher was real energetic and motivating but ridiculed us for making mistakes. The other one was as old as Sun Yat Sen and showed up to class 10 minutes late everyday. I had trouble staying awake in that one. But so far I’ve been at Culture for 3 semesters and all of my teachers have been much more engaging and willing to try various teaching methods. At Shi-Da, they just read out of the book with no creativity, group projects, role playing etc. Plus most of my classmates at Culture are not westerners so I have always been forced to speak Chinese. For me it was an easy decision.
I also studied up til the last class, but decided not to keep repeating 優三。
Yeah, I really liked it at Wen Hua, I was lucky to have 2 amazing teacher 嚴老師 and Tu老師! I would still be there if I had the chance to continue in their classes! Unfortunately you can’t choose you’re own teacher!
I really think that a school is only as good as their teachers, Wen Hua has some quality teachers!
Unfortunately I can’t say the same about 2 other ‘older’ teachers there, who were married to each other… one of them was called Hu老師 forgotton the other one’s name, but they should have both been called 呆板老師 instead!
That’s Chinese conversation, of course. 8-10 am, or 7-9pm every Tuesday and Thursday. Has anyone taken these classes? I’m considering signing up, and wondering if they’re any good.
I’m in the middle of my second semester at WenHua. Gotta say I like it. Everything is new, high tech, pretty. Lots of integrated technology in the classroom. Some teachers are obviously better than others. I speak very highly of my current teacher Xu Laoshi (pardon, I have not converted my battleship mac keyboard over to the Ideographic Side.) I will say I have not had experience with Shida, so I don’t know about the speed with which they teach, but we are pretty busy. I am teaching though. My first semester I only had my three hours of class and had PLENTY, or lemme rephrase PWLEHNTIE of time to study. (Too much time, at one point I lost an entire week cruising for Chinese historical linguistics pdfs, trying to figure out about tonogenesis. That was a wee bit advanced at the time…) This semester, I’m wrapped up in the full cliche, with teaching and learning, so I’m a bit occupied…
Anyway, WenHua good - cheap - pretty. You will be in the minority as an English speaker, which will really help. Chinese becomes the lingua franca (most of the time.)
Recently,within the last 18 months, studied two semesters at Wenhua, and two semesters at Shi-da.
Both of my teachers at Wenhua were extraordinarily great. Better than most teachers I have in my entire life. Very creative in class, trying new things constantly. I was excited to go to class and stimulated to learn in every class. Good exchange and practice in class. Very articulate and engaging. Fairly nice building and atmosphere with a more modern open space feeling.
Only one of my teachers at Shi-da was good, but not great. The other one was extremely bad like someone else said, “as old as Sun Yat Sun”. She mumbles, drags off the end of sentences into silence, and does not even complete her own sentences when speaking in Chinese. She constantly says “duay bu duay”. When she tries to relate to local culture for an example, the story seems to be something so old and unrelated to current life that most people under 50 would not even get it. On the first day of class, two new students ran to the office to find another teacher. It seems the only students continuing with her are the ones that started at level 1 and don’t know any different. I was completely stunned by the inability of the teacher to even communicate. She even took up the class critiques herself and we are not sure they ever reached to management. Oh, the building is a bit old with somewhat bleak white walls. The saving grace of Shi-da is that there are mulitiple classes so you can change to new teacher if the first one is incompetent.
Given my very bad experience with one teacher at Shi-da, average ability of the second teacher, and older facilities, Wenhua wins with high caliber creative stimulating teachers and modern facilities.
Wenhua is cheaper in terms of tuition. The teacher I had was fairly decent and had been teaching for over 10 years. She’d always go over our homework individually after she corrected it, which I very much appreciated.
The facility was new, and the teacher often used the computer to look up photos when we didn’t understand a word. She also showed us videos. There are also a selection of other elective classes within the building.
My only complaint was the slow pace. I felt like I could have been learning twice as fast. 1.5-2 weeks per chapter is super slow and we probably had only a conversation with each other every week and a test once a week (very different from the daily quizes at Shida). I tried to compensate by asking questions, and the teacher was pretty receptive to teaching us how to write words outside our books.
The student population here seemed to be a bit different from what I was used to. Fewer Americans, more foreigners from Asian countries. Also, it seemed like a lot of students were trying to work at the same time, so I don’t know if the slow pace was to help work around our schedules. If you want something more relaxed, go here. If you want something more rigorous, I would suggest Shida or Taida instead or to spend more time outside the classroom yourself. If you’re an ABC (can speak better than you can read or write), I would suggest the Shida class that caters to this type of student and pools the native speakers together.
Mandarin Learning Center at CCU
Learn to speak Mandarin in no time!!
Mandarin Conversation Classes
Features：
Taught with HANYU PINYIN
Small class sizes
Ample opportunities to practice Chinese conversation in class.
Interactive curriculum.
Practical teaching materials used
Classes Start：
3/23、4/20 (Held twice/week on Tuesdays & Thursdays)
Class times at your own convenience!!
A: 8:00a.m.~10:00a.m. or B: 7:00p.m.~9:00p.m.
Only for NT$6,400 for 2 months, 32 hours Total!!
Apply before 03/10, no registration fee of 300 NTD.
Other Recommended Courses：
Provides individual classes.Appropriate class materials are chosen to meet student needs as well as meeting them in the quickest possible way.
Learn Chinese through movies!!
Listening, Reading, Writing,
So this is a little unrelated to the topic, but I figured while I wait for the TECO in D.C. to e-mail me I might as well ask… To anyone who has gone to Wenhua (aka NCCU or MLC), when do u feel is the best time to take classes? I’m about to register and I need to pick a time slot…
Hi everybody, I have a two questions regarding the MLC.
What are the key differences between the intensive and standard courses?
By the time I have enrolled, I will have had 2.5 years of Mandarin study at university level (Chinese Link Level 1 +2). So would I be placed into the elementary, pre-intermediate or intermediate classes?
I’ve already had a look at the website, but could not find these answers. Thxinadv~
I’m going to be going there for the October session, and I stumbled upon this.
Amazingly enough I think I can help give some guidance to i_speak_engrish:
Intensive is going to be harder and faster No seriously…if you are serious about learning, there isn’t a reason to not pick intensive. Actually, in my application I didn’t even have a choice. It was individual class, or an intensive class.
If you have completed Chinese Link, I’d think you’d be in the elementary level. I did a minor in college, forgot most of my Chinese, took that placement test and scored an 85% I think (Could have easily scored higher but I was playing SC2 at the same time hehehe and the beijing-ish accent threw me off and I was too lazy to relisten to all the audio)…that landed me in the last stretch of the elementary course (Basic level3?).
As far as course history, I took one course, after college, at a community college, that used Chinese Link, and I found the book to be super easy so I am familiar with it. But at that point I had already gone through lots of 今天台灣, Integrated Chinese I&II, All Things Considered, and probaly about 2-3 other books + some other articles. Of course, if you don’t use it after college, you’ll forget…which is why I’m in a basic level hahaha
What I’m hoping is that if I find I’m in the wrong level, I can easily move up without an issue. Is there another test that they give on the first day to make sure you are in the right place?
Does all the things written earlier in the thread still apply for today? Its been quite a few years for some of those posts…so I don’t know how valid the information still is.
Golly, Chinese Link was easy!? Oh man, looks like I’m gonna be in one doozy of a ride, hehe! At least I can now prepare for the worst and hopefully come out with nothing more than bruises and scratches, haha!
[quote=“i_speak_engrish”]Hey magomago, thanks for your reply!
Golly, Chinese Link was easy!? Oh man, looks like I’m gonna be in one doozy of a ride, hehe! At least I can now prepare for the worst and hopefully come out with nothing more than bruises and scratches, haha![/quote]
Ahaah No problem. I’m not going to the October session anymore…looks like its going to be November now haha.
To anyone who has gone to Wenhua (aka NCCU or MLC), when do u feel is the best time to take classes? I’m about to register and I need to pick a time slot…