Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
to long periods of study. Before you sign up, again make sure you find out the maximum
number of students that will be in your class. You may think you're entering a four-per-
son class but later find the number has mysteriously risen to eight. Find out how the school
allows for holidays and days off. I've been to some schools that allowed me to have as
many holidays as I wanted without penalty as long as each break was a week or more, and
then I've been to other schools where getting any time off at all once you'd laid down your
money was like asking them to donate a heart. Most schools charge by the hour, but in real-
ity classes are only 50 minutes long. Additionally, if you introduce a friend to the school,
there is usually some kind of reward, such as a free lesson or two. If you don't remind them
of this, they'll quietly let it slip by when the time comes.
The next option is having a private teacher. These can usually be recommended by
friends or found on expat websites. Typical rates are RMB70-150 per hour. Lessons usually
take place in cafés or in your home. An alternative is to find a language partner. Expat web-
sites overflow with personal ads for language partners, and on the whole most people are
pretty genuine, but a good proportion of them do have a little more than language learning
in mind, and a handful of them can't be trusted at all. Meet in a public place the first time
and avoid giving out your phone number or personal details until you've met them at least
once.
Finally, there are online options. Choose from dictionaries, such as MDBG and Nciku;
live lesson formats, such as from eChineseLearning or Sinoland College; and podcast pro-
grams, such as Chinesepod, a comprehensive online service that often covers real-life top-
ics that the traditional culture-driven textbooks don't dare stray into.
WHAT TO LEARN
Most private schools focus on teaching k ǒ uy ǔ (spoken language) rather than more formal
language, such as that used in writing or more formal discussions. K ǒ uy ǔ is the kind of
language you'd use in general social situations—with friends or neighbors, at restaurants,
when going shopping. When you learn k ǒ uy ǔ , you'll learn the Pinyin and relevant charac-
ters. If you're not interested in learning the characters, however, it's not hard to avoid them
in the private schools. Teachers aren't too strict. Characters are a substantial part of uni-
versity programs, however, and impossible to avoid.
K ǒ uy ǔ is extraordinarily important and useful; however, if your goal is professional lan-
guage or language that can get you into really meaty conversations, you may feel it's just
scratching the surface. University programs are more likely to delve into more formal or
more detailed language that will allow you one day to speak and write with greater preci-
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