yesterday I visited the Mandarin Learning Center of WenHua. Today I went to CLD.
At MLC they helped me a great deal; that girl was very helpful and even made a few phone calls to answer some of my questions.
On the other hand… my CLD encounter was a bad one. From the first question I asked, I felt they are just annoyed to spend just a couple of minutes to answer my questions. I went away with all the answers I needed but … the unfriendliness… too bad. I think with CLD I will be on my own if I need help on the visa or other things.
But still, the CLD book looks good; I think I like it more than the MLC book. It has a better presentation, but in the short time I cannot see whether the teaching content is good. I wouldn’t rely on my opinion now, “I have a better feeling about the book”, after browsing through it a couple of minutes.
So I’d really like to know what some of you think. Is someone studying at CLD or WenHua, or has studied there? What are the teachers like? Do you have a good feeling about the classes? And the study books?
I’ve studied at Wenhua for a year and am currently studying there again. I don’t know about the beginners book, sorry. I think the most important thing is, the teachers. If your teacher sucks, no good book will help you. Teachers at Wenhua are mostly waisheng ren, means they themselves or at least their parents came from Mainland in 1949. There are not many Taiwanese local teachers there (or at Shida). This can be a good thing as their pronounciation is more likely to be “correct”. In case you haven’t notices, most Taiwanese do not pronounce the ch/sh/zh sounds.
On the other hand, teachers at Wenhua and Shida can be kind of old, conservative and stubborn. And if they are politically active they are most like to spread their opinions in class, which are not always historically or politically correct…=)
I studied at Wen Hua for a year. I don’t know how it compares to other programs in Taiwan but I was very happy with the education I received at Wen Hua. I think I was also lucky with my teacher who was very patient with me bugging her everyday with my flashcards after class. I completed a language course in Korea not long before going to Wen Hua. The program at this university in Korea has the stature of the program at Shir Da. Comparing these two programs, I was very happy with the educational experience at Wen Hua.