I just came back from Shanghai studying Mandarin in Fudan University. Someone said–you can learn any language from anywhere you are. Like you do not need to go to China to study Mandarin.

True. I actually studied Mandarin in my country before I even knew there is such a place called China.

So why the need to go to China learn Chinese?!

Good question. My friend Allan said it best–

The exposure in terms of listening and reading helps a lot. Also, the very valuable opportunity to practice your speaking skills could not be given credit enough. The setting itself allows one to blossom his Mandarin skills.

And with that, if you are planning to go to China to take up language courses, here are some tips to help you along the way.

What school should I go to? Beijing or Shanghai?

Here we are at it again. Beijing or Shanghai? First, realize that there are other places in China aside from Beijing and Shanghai. Like Harbin or Tianjin.

Purists will say that choosing a good school to enroll in is probably the most important factor to consider as the right learning environment will give you the motivation to continue learning.

Personally, I think there is no difference if you go to whichever university or school. [Unless there are people here who think otherwise, I welcome your comments below!] If you are seriously motivated, I think you can achieve your goals still.

Though I have bias to Fudan University in Shanghai as it is one of the top universities in China last 2008 and 2009. Before going to Fudan, my dream school was Beijing Language and Culture University or BLCU for short. They have the best books for Chinese learning.

One of the most important considerations I have heard was that if the place has a lot of non-Chinese. Because if the place has a lot of non-Chinese (and what’s worst, if they know how to speak English), your opportunities of interacting with the Chinese locals are not a lot.

But then, if you are studying Chinese in China after all, there is 99.99% chance that your classmates are foreigners. [The tolerance factor is because I have met Chinese who actually enrolled in the same language program as I did. But their curriculum was a bit slanted. They might have grew up abroad so that they do not know much hanzi or Chinese characters, etc.]

Another consideration is the weather. Do you like the cold? Whether you will be staying in the first semester or the second semester, you still might catch a few weeks of winter (depending on the area). Fall semester generally starts on September 1st, and ends around just before Chinese New Year. Spring semester starts on March 1st and ends in mid-June. You can check out China.org.cn for their China weather map.

And if you are paying your way to China, you might want to think about the cost of living. Different areas in China have varying costs of living. China Briefing did research on the cost of living in 9 major cities in China for 2009.

Now that we are on the subject of money…

I have heard that the Chinese government offers scholarships. How do I apply?

I actually thought of applying for this scholarship, but the requirements were just too tedious, and I had trouble coordinating with our country’s embassy on this. But as they say, no pain, no gain. So you might want to read up on the China Scholarship Council.

This scholarship is actually very competitive. A friend recommended that I ask about the local government scholarships instead. Like within Shanghai only. You have to inquire about this directly to your school of choice.

Just some random question–but where do I stay–dorm or apartment?

Tough decision. If you want a no-brainer answer, stay in the school dormitory. But if you want to have more freedom and/or save on cash, an apartment maybe the way to go. Generally, anything for the international student is more expensive. Tuition is more expensive. And dorm accommodations are more expensive too.

How expensive? I mean, come on, Fudan has a special price list for international students.

With an apartment, if you could find (safe) people who can share with you, I think it would be really fun! But dorm life is also another thing. And at least, it is within the campus vicinity.

By the way, Fudan does not have curfew on the foreign students dormitory.

Fudan University Foreign Students Dormitory

Sample room--actually, my room before I accumulated tons of stuff

Or you could always look for an apartment outside.

I thought going to China has a setting which allows me to”blossom my Mandarin skills”? How could I do that with all those English-speaking people around me?

This is a question of discipline. In China, especially if you are learning the language for the first time, your comfort zone would be around your English-speaking peers. You should go out of your way to maximize local interactions which would not be available in your home country. How do you do that?

Look for a language partner.

I found out that it helps if you have at least one language buddy who will meet with you on a regular basis. There are a lot of Chinese who want to improve their English as well so they are eager to pair up with a foreigner.

But if you are going to China on your own, how do you pick a language partner who does not turn out to be an axe murderer? Ask your teacher for referrals. He or she can post an ad in the school’s BBS or forum. And since he/she is a teacher from that school, he/she would know how the BBS culture of that school is. Another thing is, your teacher might personally know a local student who is also looking for a language partner. That is how I met mine.

Join school organizations.

Are you musically talented? Join the school orchestra. My friend did just that. She said that she was the only non-Chinese in the group, and it really helped her speaking skills.

School organizations are excellent venues for you to meet local students. Many recruit at the start of the school year. Again, if you are hesitant, your teacher would be happy to help you.

Have internships. Volunteer your time.

I was really fortunate to have a lot of learning experiences outside class hours. As an intern with HUBS1 and working with Elliott on Expotia (which is the official hotel reservation service provider of Expo 2010), I have interacted with a number of Chinese-speaking individuals. And because I was in Shanghai during the World Expo, I decided to take advantage of the event by volunteering there as well. [In the meantime, why not check out CNReviews' coverage of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo?]

Some of my friends volunteered at a few migrant schools teaching little kids. They found out about this through a school organization.

Basically, you really need to go out of your way to look for opportunities where you can maximize your Chinese education that you cannot easily have when you are back home. Otherwise, what is the point of you going to China when you can simply learn the language from where you are at?

Now that I have decided to learn Chinese, what your top 3 tips?

Allan graciously shared his tips on learning Chinese–

1. Repetition.

Mandarin is one of the most grueling languages to learn in the world. The sheer number of characters with the limited combination of tones could make the language daunting and confusing all at the same time.

But it is possible, well, a billion people could speak it, so why couldn’t I?

So one should really invest time in writing, listening, speaking etc. until it becomes natural to you. The key here is to focus on the basics, and do not try to do too much too soon. Once you master the basics you will make a solid foundation to build upon.

2. Do not be afraid to make mistakes.

There is a common notion that we learn more through our failures rather than our successes. This is also true in Mandarin especially in spoken Chinese. Do not be afraid to make mistakes as this is probably one of the quickest ways to learn. Do not worry about being embarrassed. People will be forgiving especially when they know that you are a foreigner. They would be happy to see you exerting effort in learning the language. It is also by venturing out that you learn plenty of things that the books would not teach you such as daily expressions and more commonly used spoken terms.

3. Do not rely too much on the books.

What I mean here is, books are definitely a valuable asset in learning the language, no doubt about that. I think though you must take the extra step outside the books in learning the language. Keeping a separate notebook for new words that you hear randomly during conversations, class etc. that you feel you can directly use in daily conversations is very helpful. We all have our varying styles of speaking, and our vocabulary are all different. You are the one who knows the kind of words you usually use, hence certain words for me may not be as valuable as it is to you. Thus, whenever you hear words that you deem important, make mental notes or if possible jot them down right away. This will help you develop smoother and more natural conversations, because you are armed with the words that come out naturally from your thought process

I agree with all of them. Let me just add my own top 3 tips.

• Speak Chinese to your classmates. Do not use English. Even when you are just starting to learn, force yourself to speak the language. And you will develop this habit later on. Because of how I look, some of my classmates at first do not know I can speak English. I had 2 classmates–an Italian and a German–who would converse with each other in English–then turn back to me and translate everything in Chinese. I know it is bad, but I actually let them continue (until they found out much later on that I can actually understand everything!). The lesson here is not to trick your classmates into thinking you are some ignorant person but to develop the habit of speaking to everyone in Chinese. Because we started this way, we still use Mandarin with each other even after class.
• Make friends with everyone. There are 5 vital people–the ayi, the dorm security, the street food vendor, the taxi driver, and the bookstore/clothes shop guy (whichever you frequent). They love a good conversation especially when they find out you a student learning their language.
• And when you done with your China stint, watch Chinese shows and movies and listen to Chinese songs. I really like watching Taiwanese soaps even before going to China. I think I have received most of my Mandarin education through here than 10+ years of Chinese schooling! Let me know if you want some recommendations.

So that’s it! If you have tips of your own, please share them in the comments below. And if you have any other questions on learning Chinese in China, let me know.

US Ambassador Huntsman addressed FACES, a group of American & Chinese students, on Nov. 21, 2009

The student group FACES (Forum for American/Chinese Exchange at Stanford) offers one vision: it brings together 20 American and 20 Chinese students at Stanford University in the spring and then the same students again in China in the fall–the latest conference was jointly held at Peking and Remin Universities in Beijing last week. Three takeaways from my FACES experience:

1. Pragmatists trump ideologues;
2. Familiarity breeds friendship;
3. US-China programs benefit from robust institutional support.

These three lessons lead me to believe that student exchange can contribute to a more cooperative US-China relationship.

1. Pragmatists Trump Ideologues

Students care more about economics and exchange than politics, if FACES is any indication. Admittedly, there is a selection bias: top students passionate about the US-China relations tend to be cooperatively inclined.

Still, the group is willing to tackle sensitive topics: a discussion of religious freedom raised more than a few eyebrows because student groups tend to be closely monitored in China, especially at elite universities. One panelist addressed the subject of why some Chinese youth choose to join the CCP despite then having to renounce (or disguise) their religious faith: “I ask them, ‘Why do you want to join the CCP?’ ‘To get a good job,’ they reply. It’s not because they’re Marxists. I’ve been in China for 6 years and never once met a Marxist.” In the end, materialism–not ideology or the CCP–was cited as the main inhibitor of religion in China.

When a Taiwanese student (3 of the 20 “Chinese” were from Taiwan) indicated a separation between China and Taiwan, he was jokingly jeered. But in a later serious discussion, students were all in favor of holding a FACES “China” conference in Taiwan in the future. The mainland Chinese sounded eager to visit Taiwan—more interested in sights, clubs, and the reputedly gorgeous girls than any political symbolism. The risk lies with older, powerful, and more political generations: jeopardizing sponsorship from Peking, Renmin, and Fudan Universities, for example.

2. Familiarity Breeds Friendship

For one week, students room, debate, karaoke, joke, feast and gan bei together. This in-person exchange is of a different nature from the impersonal internet exchange that can arguably further entrench “rednecks, red guards, and trolls.” Diverse ideas are exchanged in a civil forum, instead of an echo chamber of pre-existing views. I know of innumerable friendships (and a few relationships) that have arisen from FACES, but have not yet spoken to anyone alienated by “the other side.”

Is the social integration seamless? Absolutely not. Social differences persist even among the most internationally-oriented students. Karaoke kept all of the Chinese up late (followed by mafia, the wildly popular group game until 4am). The Americans all dropped out early, with waning enthusiasm for public singing and many exhausted from an earlier night at a club. Many Chinese, on the other hand, paid their first visit to a club (which can be viewed as locales of ill-repute in Chinese culture). Suffice it to say that not all were converted into Paris Hilton, or clubbers at all. On a positive note, it is reported that students were universally satisfied with the copious quantities of banquet food.

3. US-China Programs Benefit from Robust Institutional Support

It seems everybody needs a China strategy today—not just companies, but also governments, universities, and donors, which is good news for China-oriented student groups. FACES was founded at Stanford University to promote mutual understanding following the hysterical reactions to the 2001 spy plane incident. While it required tireless effort, the group has since garnered institutional support from universities (Stanford, Peking, Renmin, Fudan, and Zhejiang) and private donors, as well as corporations (New Oriental and Renren were conference sponsors).

US Ambassador Jon Huntsman feels the air of cooperation in the room

The same goes for attracting speakers: US Ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman delivered the keynote address on Nov. 21 at Peking University, stating that President Obama told him, “some relationships transcend politics” and touting a seemingly genuine spirit of pragmatic bipartisanship; Huntsman did after all give up a governorship and shot at the presidency in 2012 for the post. President George H.W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have spoken in the past, while the President of Stanford University, John Hennessy, regularly addresses the FACES conference at Stanford. Such institutional and financial support indicates that political, business, and academic leaders do attach importance to the US-China relationship.

Hopeless Idealists?

While perhaps idealistic, these students are not of the fresh-off-the boat, coming to see “Red China” for the first time variety. The majority of the Americans speak decent Chinese (some excellent) and have a strong China focus (whether it be politics, arts, economics, sports, or cuisine). The Chinese students all speak fluent English and most have been abroad. FACES students include Rhodes, Marshall, and Truman Scholars, the discoverer of a new species of newt, an accomplished concert pianist, and perhaps the world’s foreign expert on China’s Happy Farm game—future leaders. President Obama was not the only one striving to strengthen the US-China relationship in Beijing last week.

More:

• FACES Website (now accepting applications for the 2010 student delegate class)
• FACES Blog
• Twitter: @StanfordFACES

Kai Lukoff, American, was a FACES delegate ’07, executive ’08, and is now a proud alum. He is also perhaps the world’s foreign expert on China’s Happy Farm game. His opinions do not represent the official views of the FACES Organization. On Twitter: @klukoff

Like many online learning programs, ChineseClass101 operates on a freemium model, offering free account registration that allows access to certain content while other content requires either a paid basic or a paid premium subscription. Each free account includes a 7-day trial of the premium subscription’s features (most of them) so you’re free to sample the service’s more advanced learning materials before plopping down any money. You’ll want to note that a one-time 10% discount off the paid subscriptions is offered during your free account registration process. If you successfully resist the pressure to take advantage of that but later regret it, it looks like you may be able to get the same 10% discount again with an “OOPS” coupon code.

The members section of ChineseClass101, which is accessible after logging in with your free registered account is separated into five distinct sections:

1. Lessons

This is probably where you’ll spend most of your time on the website as this is where all the lessons are presented. If you’re familiar with WordPress blogs, the interface will be familiar to you as the lessons are posts shown in reverse chronological order, the most recent being first and the oldest being last. There are various categories of lessons ranging from “Beginner Lessons” and “Elementary Lessons” (not sure what the difference is there either) to “Advanced Audio Blog” and “Culture Class”, and you can fortunately search and reorganize lessons according to these categories, date, or keywords.

Each lesson’s post includes English introductions and all of the lesson’s materials segmented into Free, Basic, and Premium content. Under Basic and Premium will mostly be PDF files you can download and print out, ideal for visual learners to learn Chinese pinyin and characters. Under Free is the audio podcast, which you can listen to directly on the website, download, or pop-up into a new window. These audio podcasts are high quality mp3s and the hosts/voice actors all speak very clearly (unlike, say, Jay Chou). When playing the audio podcasts on the website, they would often be interrupted by pauses for buffering. However, it is hard to determine whether this is something related to my own internet connection or the website itself. In most cases, the pauses only occurred in the beginning of each podcast.

Since each lesson is presented as a blog post, each lesson also allows users to comment, asking questions and starting conversations. This is the “Instant Lessons Discussion” feature and, while there aren’t many comments on many of the lessons, it can be a great way to share stories and meet other language learners.

There is a new lesson nearly everyday, though not every lesson teaches the Chinese language. Some lessons focus on recent news or aspects of Chinese culture and are presented in predominantly English.

2. Learning Center

The Learning Center is divided into two sections: Lesson Specific Tools and Reference Material. The latter is mostly empty at this point but promises to be developed soon. The former, however, presents the same lessons as in the Lessons section but in a more “textbook” format, dividing a lesson into listening first, then reviewing, and finally practicing with flash cards (see right).

It is important to note here that while ChineseClass101 purports to teach “Beijing Mandarin”, the Chinese text used in ChineseClass101 are actually complex characters instead of simplified.

In addition to the above materials, there’s also a built-in Voice Recording feature that allows you to record yourself practicing your Chinese aloud and then compare with the pre-recorded native speakers. Finally,the Learning Center also lets you mark lessons as completed, helping you keep track of your progress.

3. Forum

The Forum is, as you can imagine, a fairly standard discussion board organized into sub-forums about China, the Chinese Language, Chinese culture, and general chit-chat. It’s a bit empty at the time of this review, but as users grow, forums like these always promise to be filled with random shenanigans.

4. Blog

The blog generally hosts various announcements for ChineseClass101. For example, one notable announcement is their current social-media marketing initiative asking you to follow their Twitter account, become a fan of their Facebook page, and subscribe to their YouTube channel. Doing so gets you up to three chance to win free subscriptions. Moreover, if they can get one million total subscribers, they’ll even give everyone who participated a free 6-month premium subscription ($120 value). Too bad everyone potential Chinese-learner physically already in China is currently blocked from all three services (Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube) by the GFW.

Other than announcements, the Blog section also includes weekly “Twitter Mini-Lesson Recaps” that collect all of the Chinese mini-lessons they published to Twitter over the past week. Each of these mini-lessons are essentially bite-sized one-word vocabulary lessons. If you’re not on Twitter (or can’t get on), you can catch-up on what you missed here.

5. Download Center

The Download Center isn’t very useful for free account holders but possibly so for those with paid subscriptions. Basically, it allows you to use RSS feeds to have their lessons and content delivered to your computer without having to access the website. Free account holders can only access the latest 10 audio podcasts while paid subscribers have access to the full archive.

Overall

My main gripe with ChineseClass101 is with the website’s design and navigation. It lacks some polish in many areas (nothing major though) and the navigation can be confusing at times. For example, using the Learning Center often leaves me wondering just where on the website I currently happen to be.

Otherwise, ChineseClass101 offers a tons of high-quality free content for the casual learner of Chinese (and China). When you’re ready to step things up a notch, it offers three levels of extra learning materials, tools, and even personalized 1-on-1 instruction (sorry guys, I don’t think it’ll be with the qipao girl featured on all their art, like the one on the left here), all at affordable prices with flexible subscription periods. For example, one  month for the basic subscription is just $8.00 while premium is $25.00. Longer subscriptions are up to 60% cheaper.

Of course, my advice is to remind you that key element for online language programs is you yourself, the student. If you’re diligent and disciplined, online language programs are an extremely cost-efficient and flexible method for picking up some foreign language proficiency. ChineseClass101 is a good option. However, if you’re a lazy slop, you might want to force yourself into a classroom paying a higher tuition in hopes of a more structured environment and a teacher to look at you disapprovingly when you goof off.

Read enough? Go learn some Chinese and…

…check out ChineseClass101.com for yourself! »

35% Off CNREVIEWS Discount Coupon

When ChineseClass101 approached us to review their service, we managed to con negotiate with them to give our lovely CNR readers some extra enticement for giving their service a whirl: A 35% off discount coupon that you can use by signing up through this page or entering the code “CNREVIEWS” when signing up for a Basic, Premium, or PremiumPlus account.

Innovative Language Learning is the parent company for ChineseClass101.com and offers a variety of other online language programs for Arabic, English, German, Japanese, Russian, French, Italian, Korean, and Spanish.

Disclosure: ChineseClass101.com affiliate advertising may appear throughout CNR along with its competitors.

According to a survey released last March 24, 2009 by the China Youth and Children Research Center (CYCRC), Chinese students had the longest study hours as compared to fellow high school students in Japan, the United States, and Korea.

After reading “The Myths of Japanese Quality” by Ray and Cindelyn Eberts, it was to my knowledge that cram schools are the most hell-like in the Land of the Rising Sun. Well, this survey definitely proved me wrong.

And especially with June as GaoKao (高考) month, the survey results could not have come out at a more opportune time.

Here are three facts about the China’s National College Entrance Examinations:

• GaoKao is equivalent to 2 days of silence (if you live near middle schools). The police will try their very best to control traffic so that the students will get to school on time and that car honks are minimized if not eradicated (at least for these 2 precious days).

Credit: Liuzhou Laowai

• Cheating is an annual occurence even if the penalty is the stiffest there is:

…a student convicted of peeking at a neighbor’s paper is never allowed to take the gaokao again, and his name is entered in a public database for prospective employers’ perusal.

• Because of the high number of students taking the exam and its mortality rate, the test has been poetically described as “A thousand soldiers and ten thousand horses across a single log bridge.”

The GaoKao reminds me of the imperial examinations of China long ago. I first learned about it in (believe it or not) Raymond Wong’s “开心鬼 (Happy Ghost)” series where he played the un-reincarnated ghost of a Ching scholar who committed suicide because of numerous failed attempts at the examinations!

Back to the survey results, I think Chinese parents are becoming more and more “kiasu” or competitive. They enroll their children in various tuition classes and other extracurricular activities even when they are just starting school and still far off from taking the GaoKao!

The mentality these parents have is that “if we don’t enroll them in additional courses, they’ll get left behind by their peers.” But then kids should be kids. Forcing them to attend extra courses somehow distorts the natural learning curve.

The survey further said, “Moderate study pressure can better drive students to develop, however, too much will squeeze their development space, and can even cause harm to their physical and psychological health.”

Amen to that.

That said, sometimes I wonder if the oversensationalizing of the GaoKao is to blame.

For more great posts and information about China’s education system and the Gaokao, check out chinaSMACK’s recent and amusing Gaokao stress relief post or the wealth of great links provided in this recent weekly review. – Kai