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Mandarin not improving, any suggestions? | ||
Tags: Difficulty | Mandarin | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| COF Senior Member United States Joined 5832 days ago 262 posts - 354 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 17 of 25 11 June 2012 at 3:14am | IP Logged | ||
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Yes, although to be honest I never really studied Mandarin in depth and only have a basic understanding of Chinese grammar.
I've only visited China once, and I found the response to my attempts at Mandarin mixed at best. 50-60% of the time my attempts were out-right ignored, and I would be replied to in English, or told to go to the English language counter (particularly at train stations and tourist attractions). To be honest, my initial post was probably a bit over the top. Not all Chinese people have that attitude, and many are happy to speak to you in Chinese, however there are still quite a lot of people with attitudes similar to what I have described and learning Chinese as a Westerner is certainly something that takes perseverance and a thick skin. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| viedums Hexaglot Senior Member Thailand Joined 4667 days ago 327 posts - 528 votes Speaks: Latvian, English*, German, Mandarin, Thai, French Studies: Vietnamese | Message 18 of 25 12 June 2012 at 3:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Going to China or Taiwan for a year sounds like an excellent idea. If you choose Taiwan, you might consider enrolling in a course at one of the universities (the Mandarin Training Center at Taiwan Normal U. for instance) or at Taipei Language Institute. The latter has schools in Taichung and Kaohsiung, which are cheaper places to live than Taipei. Courses at either MTC or TLI are generally 2 hours per day and run for two months at a time. I did 6 months at TLI Taichung and it gave me a strong foundation for subsequent self-study. You could also teach part-time while studying – many foreigners in Taiwan do this – or look for a full-time job while doing the course.
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| Wulfgar Senior Member United States Joined 4672 days ago 404 posts - 791 votes Speaks: English* | Message 19 of 25 13 June 2012 at 8:34am | IP Logged | ||
Not true, imo. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5335 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 20 of 25 13 June 2012 at 10:16am | IP Logged | ||
Is the Mandarin in Taiwan the same as the Mandarin in Beijing? I had some idea that it was different? Oh - and I thougth the OP's update was super motivational!! I am just starting to see if I can learn a tiny bit of Chinese before a trip there in September, and this really gave me a hunger to get going! Edited by Solfrid Cristin on 13 June 2012 at 10:18am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| graemegraeme Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4873 days ago 7 posts - 16 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 21 of 25 13 June 2012 at 10:24am | IP Logged | ||
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Jinx: Thanks, yeah I might start writing a log, might be good for motivation.
Viedums: I'm actually thinking about going to Taichung. What was your experience like? Is the Mandarin quite standard there? are there a lot of foreigners? and was it easy finding work? Sorry for all the questions! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| viedums Hexaglot Senior Member Thailand Joined 4667 days ago 327 posts - 528 votes Speaks: Latvian, English*, German, Mandarin, Thai, French Studies: Vietnamese | Message 22 of 25 13 June 2012 at 3:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would say the differences between the Mandarin spoken in Taiwan and on the mainland are fairly minimal, mainly involving pronunciation. Some people in Taiwan say “zao” instead of “zhao”, “sese” rather than “xiexie”. And they don’t add –er on the end of many words the way people in northern China do, so for “where” they say “nali” instead of “nar”. This is due to interference from the local language, and by no means everyone does it.
It’s not a major issue, and to my ear the Taiwanese accent sounds quite nice. Since studying in Taiwan I’ve traveled in southwest China and interacted with Chinese students here in Thailand, and the fact that I had learned the language in Taiwan was not a barrier to communication. Chinese people think of Taiwan as part of their country anyway, and the people in Fujian and other parts of southern China speak something very similar to Taiwanese. Local accents on the mainland can be quite diverse too, as I think has been discussed elsewhere on this board. What I know about working in Taiwan is not really up to date, since it’s been more than ten years since I did the course there. You might check forums like eslcafe.com and forumosa,com, the latter an interesting general board for foreigners living in Taiwan. It may take you a month or two to find work, although there are chain schools, not necessarily bad places to work, which are usually hiring. Teaching at a university isn’t really feasible unless you have a PhD. Some of the towns near Taichung where there aren’t many foreigners are also good places to look for work. Taichung is not a bad place, a bit dull perhaps. The public transport system is not so good, so a lot of foreigners get around on scooters. Finding a one-room apartment or 套房is not difficult at all, especially out near Donghai University (which is quite a good school and also has courses for foreigners.) When I went there it was my first time in Asia, and I recall it was kind of a shock to walk around constantly seeing and hearing Chinese all around me. (Like the mainland, most of Taiwan is fairly crowded.) A kind of sensory deprivation that I hadn’t felt when I’d lived in Europe earlier. I recovered from it though. Again, the course at TLI was a lot of fun, small groups (4-8 students generally), I had classmates from Japan, Indonesia, the US, Korea, etc. It was an ideal environment for learning, I have to say. Actually I can’t imagine trying to learn Chinese on my own from scratch – why not take advantage of this kind of course, if you have the chance? 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Wulfgar Senior Member United States Joined 4672 days ago 404 posts - 791 votes Speaks: English* | Message 23 of 25 15 June 2012 at 4:23am | IP Logged | ||
Maybe of no interest to the question asker, but mainland uses a large number of simplified characters. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| graemegraeme Newbie United Kingdom Joined 4873 days ago 7 posts - 16 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 24 of 25 18 June 2012 at 7:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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viedums:
Thanks a lot for the information, really helpful. Yea other people have said Taichung is a bit on the boring side. Might have another look at Taipei. I've noticed the sese/xenmexihou type Taiwanese accent in films before, but if as you say the differences aren't much more than that and no erhua then I'm sure it won't make a huge difference to my learning. Thanks again for the advice and for the advice from everyone else, cheers. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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