Job Discussion Forums

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

I helped a Polish couple a while back that had sent me a PM asking for assistance. The lady was an English teacher and trained as a Helen Doron teacher. First of they were offered a job with an institute in Nanjing for 4,500 RMB each plus 1,500 RMB each towards an apartment but they had to do about 25 hours a week of teaching each plus some of the classes they had were at travel schools.

The second last job they got offered was for 6,500 RMB for 12 hours a week plus accommodation teaching young kids. Classes were 30 minute long.

The last offer they accepted was for 8,000 RMB plus accommodation and airfare etc for 13 hours a week, also teaching small kids in Canton or whatever they call it now.

The wages are not so wonderful as some like to make out. You can be lucky but few are. Most of the lucky ones are here in China on the ground so to speak and have experience plus connections.

wailing_imam · Joined: 31 Mar 2006 Posts: 580 Location: Malaya

Grammar is often swept under the carpet, as long as meaning is communicated effectively. Advanced students in China have no idea about conjugating verbs and most of us give up after a while.

Alice, you are not a native-speaker are you? It can be difficult to score the well paying jobs in Shanghai if you are not a native speaker.

alice4 · Joined: 27 Sep 2007 Posts: 19 Location: Thailand

am i a native speaker? well if your meaning of being a native speaker is being a foreigner that isn't asian then 'yes.' but if your meaning of being a native speaker is having an equivalent to or almost to the native tongue, then i do consider myself to be a native speaker. being brought up in international schools and learning english since primary until my university. also, most foreigners would consider me as having a native accent as well. for example, most would think that i was brought up from the states or something, but actually was in bangkok all my life.

thanx anda for the heads-up about your friend's experience.

SocratesSon2 · Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Posts: 134

Thats a no.

therock · Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Posts: 1266 Location: China

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

That's what I'm trying to say. I talked them out of the first offer due to the travel schools, long hours and small holidays. They did a lot of ground work and it paid off. I showed them some places to look on the Net for teaching kids.

They tended to be too slow when given an offer and they found that they were quickly passed over. So be ready to go with a job once you have applied as there seems to be plenty chasing the better jobs here.

Brian Caulfield · Joined: 14 Sep 2004 Posts: 1247 Location: China

My Taiwanese friend has a Chinese wife who was brought up in Bankok and her English is as good as mine. OK hit me .

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

If one is not from a western country and only reads and listens to material that is of a high English standard then quite often the person doing this will end up with better English than that of a native speaker that has grown up in a rough enviroment.

http://www.scots-online.org/grammar/lang.htm

Language or Dialect?
Popular culture usually thinks of a dialect as a substandard, low status, often rustic form of a language, usually associated with the peasantry, the working class or other parts of the community lacking in prestige. Dialects often being thought of as being some kind of erroneous deviation from the norm - an aberration of the 'proper' or standard form of language.

The fact is that all speakers of any language are all speakers of at least one dialect - standard English for example is as much an English dialect as is any other form of English. No dialect is in any way linguistically superior to any other.

Linguistically speaking dialects are usually regarded as dialects of a language, that is, subdivisions of a particular language

The Parisian dialect of French
The Lancashire dialect of English
The Bavarian dialect of German

But - What is a language?

"A language is a collection of mutually intelligible dialects" - A definition which conveniently characterises a dialect as a subpart of a language, and provides a criterion for distinguishing between one language and another.

Take for example, the Scandinavian languages, Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. These are usually assumed to be different languages. Speakers of these three languages can, with little effort, understand and communicate with one another. These languages are mutually intelligible.
Take for example German, assumed to be a single language. There are varieties of German which are not understood by speakers of other varieties.

What does the above prove? One thing for certain - 'language' is not a particularly linguistic notion at all. The reason why Norwegian, Swedish, Danish and German are thought of as single languages has as much to do with political, geographical, historical, sociological and cultural reasons, as with linguistic ones.

There for the term 'language' is relatively 'unscientific'. Linguists usually refer to 'varieties of language'. There for Norwegian Swedish and Danish could be referred to as varieties of Scandinavian.

wailing_imam · Joined: 31 Mar 2006 Posts: 580 Location: Malaya

Very nice Anda, but your average Chinese boss pays more for a white person carrying a passport from a white person's country. This constitutes a native-speaker in this part of the world. He doesn't delve deep into linguistics before making a hire. Sad, but true.

alice4 · Joined: 27 Sep 2007 Posts: 19 Location: Thailand

so i won't be considered as an english native?

anda, do you have any reference?

11:59 · Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 9:28 am Post subject: Re: Um

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

Ah, but 11:59 I didn't say it and it is clearly linked. However it is similar to what Wikipedia encyclopedia states.

Dialect - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaA dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language characteristic of a particular group of the language's speakers. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect - 68k - Cached - Similar pages

List of dialects of the English language - Wikipedia, the free ...Dialects are varieties differing in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar from each other and from Standard English (which is itself a dialect). ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dialects_of_the_English_language - 63k -

11:59 · Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:21 am Post subject: Re: Um

Anda · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 2199 Location: Jiangsu Province

What's wrong with you? Do you always make such a big do out of something so trivial? It is off the link, so what!

SocratesSon2 · Joined: 19 Nov 2007 Posts: 134

In just my short time here Anda I have noticed numerous posters make extremely trivial observations. I think it is simply because they lack the cleverness to respond to the subject at hand. Either that, or they let themselves get personally offended and wish to lash out in a way that is seemingly acceptable. All in all rather juvenile behavior. Rolling Eyes