Where to learn chinese in Kaohsiung

The program is comparable to the rest, but Hsinchuang is the pimple on the mole in the armpit of Taipei. Although they now have a Subway out there, which should alleviate the gastronomic sufferings of the foreigners going to school there. (I did an MA at Fujen, and some days I thought I would die of starvation.)

I have been searching through forums and am just very confused as to the process of getting student visas.

I plan to go to Taiwan this summer, hopefully Kaoshiung, to study Chinese. However, I am having a really hard time understanding what i should do.

What Visa can I get?
What school can i go to?
Can I rent an apartment legally?

The information is around but its so jumbled up, its really hard for me to put the peices together… If someone could please just help me and give me advice I would greatly apreciate it.

My situation is, that I want to go study during the summer, stay in Taiwan about 90-100 days. Should I get a return ticket in advance or will have to do a visa run? Sorry guys, I’m just so confused… please help me if you can.

[color=green]Note: title modified by mod for content relevance as required by the rules. --DB[/color]

Hi Rabidpie, and welcome to Forumosa! :slight_smile:

First, I’ve changed your post’s title to something indicating the content of the questions. “Help!” and “I’m confused!” aren’t indicative of content.

Second, although I don’t have many specific answers for you, here are a few of the threads which might be useful:

forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … udent+visa
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … udent+visa
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … udent+visa
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … udent+visa
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … udent+visa
forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopi … udent+visa

Good luck! – DB, Learning Chinese co-Moderator

I am scheduled to be in Kaohsiung in Sept 08 to study Mandarin at National Sun yat-sen university. A friend of mine who lives in this city told me the school is good, but he had recommended a few others as well.

The staff at NSYSU seem to be quite nice, in helping me with my overseas enrollment. Does anyone know the quality of teaching, class size there, etc?

Any advice would be useful. (i couldnt find anything relevent in search)

Thanks

im wanting to do the same thing but would rather go to tainan next summer…ive read its smaller and more heritage…all that stuff. why do u want to go to KHH?

I studied two semesters at sun yat-sen and really liked it and learned a lot. I admired my teachers; they were professionals and did a great job.

I edited this post because I read it and my sloppy typing got on my nerves. Did not edit content. Would like to add that I wasn’t a very serious student and managed to learn a lot in spite of myself.

THanks for bumping the thread dirtysouth4lyfe
I want to go to KHH because it is not cold year round, and it will be a much better winter than in Canada.

also the prices are cheaper there compared to Taipei.

To housecat, its good to hear of your good experiences there.
my idea is to take about a year of courses, and then try to continue learning on my own.

Hey everyone.

I just finished a semester of Chinese at Jhongshan U, but I was considering going to Wenzao. The only problem was that I missed the boat on registering there in Sept, so the next course starts Feb 09.

TLI starts in December 08. I did a search but it only brought back a few old threads.
Did anyone go to TLI semi recently? The only thing I can say since i dont know much about the school, is the fact that it is held in an office building, vs the nice location at Jhongshan.

But does anyone know about the quality of education there?? Or am I best to hold out for Wenzao in feb 09

2 other questions if anyone knows.
Can TLI issue study visas anymore?
is there any other schools that are not discussed here that you would recommend in Kaohsiung

Thanks !!

Hi all !

I’m new on this forum, but very interested.

I have been accepted both at National SUn Yat Sen University and at Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages in Kaohsiung (I want to stay in this city).

I can’t make my choice. Both of these schools seem to be excellent. Sun Yat Sen has a beautiful campus in the moutains with seaview, but a little bit far from everything, whereas Wenzao in in Kaohsiungs’ suburb. The Chinese Language Center in older in Sun Yat Sen than in Wenzao.

What do you know about these 2 schools ? Which one do you think is the best to go to learn Mandarin (quality of teaching, atmosphere, equipment, reputation, your experience…) ?

I precise I will be studying Mandarin only (and not doing any degree).

THANKS A LOT for your help, it’s really hard choice, I’m always thinking about which one to choose.

Sincerely,

Louis

I edit to precise that I have searched in the other topics, but no one has any information about Wenzao. And concerning Sun Yat Sen, not a lot of information as well…

[quote=“ljulienne”]Hi all !

I’m new on this forum, but very interested.

I have been accepted both at National SUn Yat Sen University and at Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages in Kaohsiung (I want to stay in this city).

I can’t make my choice. Both of these schools seem to be excellent. Sun Yat Sen has a beautiful campus in the moutains with seaview, but a little bit far from everything, whereas Wenzao in in Kaohsiungs’ suburb. The Chinese Language Center in older in Sun Yat Sen than in Wenzao.

What do you know about these 2 schools ? Which one do you think is the best to go to learn Mandarin (quality of teaching, atmosphere, equipment, reputation, your experience…) ?

I precise I will be studying Mandarin only (and not doing any degree).

THANKS A LOT for your help, it’s really hard choice, I’m always thinking about which one to choose.

Sincerely,

Louis

I edit to precise that I have searched in the other topics, but no one has any information about Wenzao. And concerning Sun Yat Sen, not a lot of information as well…[/quote]

I am currently studying at Wenzao, even though NSYSU is right behind my house.

For me personally, I found the pace at NSY too fast, because I am not the fastest of learners.

Also, even though I was enrolled in the basic level, the teachers in NSYSU are NOT allowed to use ANY english in the class as management does not like this.
If you are looking for 100% immersion in the language, you may like this fact. I didn’t.

Wenzao for me is just the right pace, but a classmate mentioned that it was too slow for them.

In addition Wenzao uses pinyin, and NSYSU uses bopomofo (the taiwan standard), which takes a little more getting used too, but may be more useful in Taiwan as most Taiwanese don’t understand pinyin.

Also, if you go to NSYSU, be prepared for a LOT of homework. Trying to work and study there may be difficult.

It’s a mixed bag no matter where you go. Sorry if this isnt useful.

please help me out …where can i find cheap or reasonable price school to learn chinese that offers ARC? im heading to taiwan to take care of my grandfather cause he sick but im only allowed to stay for 60days with vistor visa unless im accepted in a program to change it to student visa so i can apply for ARC… please help any information would be appreciated!!!

Go to my site here and click on the city heading to sort by city. There are 4 schools in Kaohsiung that offer student visas there.

hey adam thanks for the reply and the link but why is National University of Kaohsiung tution fee only 6000? its not enough hrs for student visa requirements…?

Correct. That is for like a 3 week course. You’d probably have to extend it to at least 3 months to get a student visa. I recommend calling or sending them an email to confirm.

We havea list of common topics for the Learning Chinese Forum here (you can see it in the list of sticky topics at the top of the forum), and in it there is a thread for Gaoxiong (Kaohsiung) schools. I’ll merge this with that.

Hey guys, well I have been looking into studying Chinese in Kaohsiung and after reading some older posts on this forum I have come to the conclusion that studying at National Sun Yat Sen University is the best option. That being said; it is not convenient for me since I don’t have a scooter as of yet not to mention I read that they have a heavy homework load. What I am ideally looking for is to study Chinese for about 6 hours a week primarily on Monday and Tuesday leaving the rest of the week for me to handle my current class-load at my school? I have also looked into National Kaohsiung Normal University which is about 5 minutes from where I live by foot but they offer a full-time option only of 5 days a week or 1-on-1. The 1-on-1 is about 500NT an hour which is affordable for me but I wanted to post on here first to see if anyone else had any other recommendations or suggestions?

Have you considered Wenzao? Is that close to you? I have been studying there for two weeks and so far I like it. From everything I’ve heard it’s comparable to sun yat sen except for the cool location by the ocean (sun yat sen). I’m in a regular 5 day a week 2hr class. But there was a post on the KaohsiungLiving yahoo group (post # 26187) that is looking for a 2 day a week class to start ASAP.

Hi all,

Right now i am in between of these 2 language schools in Kaohsiung (where i will be moving in a month time…). I am planning to attend their summer 3 month intensive courses while i will be looking for a job in the country. The thing is that they are somehow close to the house i will be staying and therefore easier to commute (not a big fan of scooters…). Does any of you have any experience or any idea about NKNU and TLI?

Thanks

(i searched the forum but did not find much information about these Kaohsiung-based schools)

Just got some information from a friend already located in the city who has some experience about TLI (in fact my post was more about this school)…

The things is that as he told me, TLI, seems to support private classes with prices ranging around 15 euros/hour (a bit too much for someone looking for intensive courses). Also as they are a private institute, in the end, they so not provide an official certificate (like private institutions do) although they said that they collaborate with a local university (do not have the name though).
I think i will go for the NKNU… we see…

[quote=“aim”]Just got some information from a friend already located in the city who has some experience about TLI (in fact my post was more about this school)…

The things is that as he told me, TLI, seems to support private classes with prices ranging around 15 euros/hour (a bit too much for someone looking for intensive courses). Also as they are a private institute, in the end, they so not provide an official certificate (like private institutions do) although they said that they collaborate with a local university (do not have the name though).
I think i will go for the NKNU… we see…[/quote]

One thing about TLI is that their prices can vary quite a bit from what I understand based on how big your class is. Is the 15 euros/hr for a private one on one tutor because that sounds expensive even for that? If you are able to get a group of 3-5 I’m guessing the prices are much lower and closer to the cost of doing a typical university class. And I think a small group would be a more efficient use of your time (provided you had a reasonably decent group). I’m in a class of nine (first Chinese course) and a lot of time is used by the instructor working with other students (an expectation but you get more individual help in a smaller group). I think it’s possible that a smaller group of 3-5 could cover the same amount of material in 7 hours (a WAG) instead of the 10 hours of class I have.

Anyways if I were you I wouldn’t dismiss TLI (although I didn’t research it much because it’s not convenient) because their specialty seems to be customizing groups according to your schedule and what you want to focus on and the group aspect of it makes it cheaper. The university option is also good but it’s likely you will have 1 or 2 time options to take classes (and 5 days a week) and adjust your schedule to fit it. Perhaps the other negative is that spring classes started 3 weeks ago so you would have to wait until July to start. but you can also setup a group class at a university if there is demand. I would really recommend meeting with both places to find out what their options really are because I don’t think you are going to get enough info to make a decision from here.