Job Discussion Forums

[parrothead]

Wow, Sanchong, you reached a comfortable conversational level in one year. Did you have any prior Chinese experience before going to Taiwan?
I agree, understanding any language well requires as much immersion and exposure as possible. It sounds like it would be much more difficult if I had a full-time job, however. I would like to spend 2 or 3 years in Taiwan, but would be disappointed if I didn't take advantage of the opportunity to learn a bit of the language. Perhaps a six month study would be the best way to go about it, and then search for work.

[SanChong]

I did take one course in University before coming to Taiwan, so that did help me somewhat. I think it is possible to become conversational in a year. You won't be able to talk about politics or philosophy, but you could do everything you need to do and get around without any problems. In two years you could become fully fluent.

Again, I don't think that's the norm (and I'm not at all fully fluent). It's possible though, if you surround yourself with Chinese friends and really make learning Mandarin your priority. The best thing I ever did was carry around little pocket notebook with me wherever I went. When I heard a word I didn't know, I wrote it down (or came as close as I could to writing down the sounds I'd heard!). Then I asked my friends later on what the word meant. That kept me constantly engaged with learning, 24 hours a day. It also made it more fun and practical and helped me learn different words than I was learning in class.

[parrothead]

[englishmaster]

I spent three years on the mainland, and later did another three in Taiwan. I studied Mandarin in both places, so I know the difference between traditional and simplified characters, as well as their dialects. In my opinion, it's better to learn trad first, since you can then move "down" to simp.

Learning to write trad characters is very hard, since each one requires about thirty repetitions before you can memorize it. However, it's easier than the other way round, which is what I did.

Tones are hard to pronounce, too, but they aren't as hard as the writing.

The penultimate obstacle to functioning in Mandarin is that native speakers often can't understand each other. As a laowai, you'll have to repeat every request for directions thrice: once to get a passerby's attention, once to convince him or her you are speaking Mandarin, then a third time to be understood. After all that work, you'll learn that Taiwanese don't know what's in their own neighborhoods!

[btkong]

I've been studying chinese in a Canadian university for 8 months (two courses); each course was really intensive Chinese...two courses crammed into one, so I guess my 8 months is equivalent to about two school years of Chinese. I think I spent about 8 hours a week in class, and about another 5-6 hours a week in homework, fo 8 months.

I am now in taiwan for a two month intensive mandarin immersion program at a university. I spend about 20 hours a week in class (the class is taught in mandarin and the teacher speaks no english...), and a good portion of the day speaking mandarin with locals, ordering food, talking to women in clubs (in mandarin), etc.

I find it's much much much easier to speak mandarin then it is to understand. I can say quite alot, but understanding is difficult sometimes -- more so from my lack of vocabulary (i know only around 800-900 words). I can understand, but it's often "the gist of it" more then understanding everyword spoken. It's pretty taugh to understand my teacher since she speaks rapid mandarin during the class. I can have pretty good conversations with locals though. I am not fluent though, nor am I quite "conversationally fluent" either.

However, in only a week, I've learned to understand a LOT more mandarin. I can actually listen to conversations and understand. I expect in 2 months, I should be able to understand most of what's said. After Taiwan, I am heading to China for 2-3 months of travel, so I'll have more practice.

I can't say how long it will take you to learn from scratch if you've never studied chinese. If you come here with about a year of university chinese, I expect you could be conversationally fluent in 3-6 months.

Writing is another thing altogether. my character knowledge is pretty bad.

[Imagine8]

[quote="parrothead"]

[mandalayroad]

Wow, a blast from the past, TLI! I went there back in the 90's and loved it. I even helped my teacher writer a textbook that was used there for a few years. Back then, most of the classes were 1-on-1, and you could request an instructor. Some of them were quite good, and much better than MTC at Shr Da. I also liked their reworking of the classic Yale University texts.
I also taught English there for a while and loved it, making a lot of great contacts with their corporate clients.

[SanChong]

[parrothead]

I can read a couple hundred Japanese kanji, so perhaps that would help...juuust a smidgen, but really my goals would be to become semi-conversational...focusing on listening and speaking, less so on reading and writing. TLI has been getting a lot of good reviews here. They should be pleased...

[JZer]

Or get yourself out of Taipei and date women that cannot speak English. It is not so hard to do.

[mandalayroad]

[JZer]

[roywebcafe]

how much did it cost you by the way? When i finish teaching in Belgium i would like to take up lessons for a while but also considering a DELTA or the first part anyway.

[JZer]

[cucaracha]

I am finding this book the be very helpful :

http://www.amazon.com/Reading-Writing-Chinese-Traditional-Character/dp/0804832064/ref=pd_sim_b_1

i have a new edition which includes some traditional and some simplified characters. I focus on learning two characters per day - in addition to some classes that I take with a native speaker. The book is a necessary tool for translating and learning the stroke order and writing form during the class. I use the book primarily for self-study.