BNU Bachelors in 汉语言

[cliveloughlin]

Hi guys

As some of you know I'm currently on the BA programme (sorry, i'm british!) at BNU. A few people have asked how things are going so i'm back (Finally) with a very messy, brief update!

Some of you will know that BNU puts students into one of 9 classes based on your performance on the entrance test when you first come to the school to register. These levels are as follows: 100 (complete beginners), 101, 102, 201, 202, 301, 302, 401 and 402(time to graduate).

The first class is really for absolute beginners who have had no prior experience of learning Chinese. They start from the basics of how to write characters (stroke order etc.) and I think they also learn pinyin. I started in 101 (having worked in China for a few months before starting on the course) so i'm not 100% sure what exactly goes on in the classes but i know that they have 3 modules: speaking, listening and reading/writing.

My first semester (101) included speaking, listening and reading/writing. They expected quite a lot in terms of characters (which was scary for me as i couldn't even read/write “一，二，三，四 etc” when i joined but i got the hang of things quickly enough. Although i don't pay attention to stroke order (or capitalisation in english) the characters that i write are legible...thats the main thing. Class contents: everything comes from the textbooks; mainly focused on food, transport and festivals. Not uninteresting but i think the teachers could factor in some other methods/topics. Overall: good quality of teaching. Exams not difficult at all, although the speaking tests place a lot of emphasis on tones at this level. Plenty of focus on grammar, sentence patterns in all of the classes (useful stuff)

102 (first year, second semester): classes as above, with additional newspaper reading class. Not much difference from the content in 101 and there also doesn't seem to be much of an increase in difficulty. It seems like a natural progression. Lots of emphasis on tones and new words (many being very formal, not so "real-life"). Continued emphasis on grammar stuff and new words. During your second semester at BNU you can start to choose electives (more about these later).

201 core classes as 102, difficulty much the same as 102 except that the texts are starting to get longer and it seems that less importance is attached to grammar, more focus on new words. A small step up in terms of difficulty, but it's very manageable. Electives (see below).

202; core classes as above (not much variety) and longer texts. Pretty much the same as 201 in terms of difficulty. I really think that the books are well structured - there are no major leaps in difficult in the core courses (but electives are getting more and more complex!).

301: just finished this level, core modules are pretty much the same as 202 but listening is replaced with视听说(see, listen, speak---something like a mixture of speaking and listening). This class involves watching excerpts of movies/TV shows and analysing their contents/grammar/vocab etc. then putting the contents into your own words. The exams are just like speaking tests - not difficult at all as you have 10 minutes to prepare for the test.

Overall, teaching quality in the core classes is good, about 20 people to a class, the majority of whom are koreans who often don't like to speak out in class (shy, scared of making mistakes) and a few japanese/indonesians. Apart from one guy from Brazil and a few from Turkey i'm the only non-asian in my class...i guess i can qualify as being the only European on the degree course at the moment (sorry if you think Turkish people are European---i'm not sure where they fit in!). This is an advantage, it means that the teachers all notice me! I get a lot of extra attention and opportunities to put forward my ideas in class.

Electives: BNU splits classes into: core/compulsory classes, major-specific electives (also compulsory) and electives.

The first category has been covered above (from 101-301 most of the classes are the same). Apart from those, there are other classes which we much choose to complete the required number of credits to graduate. These classes include: history (ancient and modern), ancient chinese (grammar), literature (ancient, modern and contemporary), survey of china, martial arts, modern chinese (grammar based course, starts at 302) and one of either calligraphy or painting. As well as these classes, we have to complete a 7000 character thesis on a topic of our choice and attend two "language internships" (basically just outings (last year we went to tianjin for 2 days)) and write a short report (about 1000 characters) when we get back. Literature is quite difficult (not because of the language used but due to the type of questions that the teacher asks in the exams, i enjoyed the short-stories that we studied last semester but i found it difficult to convey the ideas in the exam---maybe i'm just not very literary!). History was also tough - the speed of the class was quite fast and i was a complete beginner to chinese history (i still know very little!).

The major-specific classes are more interesting: there are two essay-writing classes (starting in 302), ancient chinese (really great teacher who explains things really well), listening to the news, a special topic (who knows what this may cover!), a second foreign language (choices: japanese, english, korean), intensive reading (2 classes, the first one is quite hard, the second is fine) and advanced speaking. We start to take these classes in the second year, but some can only be chosen in the forth year. Personally, i feel the workload is not that bad...some are tough but others are quite straighforward. My favourite class is ancient chinese!

Electives: we have to choose 14 credits for a list of about 15 choices (varies on semester), most classes are worth 2 credits but there are some 1 and 3 credit courses. The variety of choices is good, examples include: travel geography, essay-writing, chinese customs, PC usage (really easy stuff, pretty much a waste of time apart from the study credits), introduction to education, introduction to the economy of china, business chinese (useless), pronunciation correction, 成语idioms as well as a few literature classes (which i have vowed not to take!). To be honest, a lot of these electives are only for making up study credits, you don't learn very much. These classes are large (up to 60 people) and the teachers don't take them as seriously as the core and major-specific classes. Most of the korean students sit at the back of the class chatting, texting or sleeping! If youre not a bachelors student, don't waste too much time on these classes (you should choose from the major-specific courses).

BNU has a few scholarships which are available to international students: the most important obviously is CSC (there are other threads available on this so i won't go into it here). Then there is the Beijing City international student scholarships which provide study fees for a year. This scholarship is offered to people who are already enrolled on BNU bachelors/masters/phd programmes and are judged mainly on your results and your contribution to the school. There are also small scholarships which are based solely on your exams results - the first prize is about 6000RMB for self-funded students and 2800 for government scholarship holder (enough for travelling during the holidays!).

Campus life: as with most universities in china, campus life seems to be limited. To be honest, i have plenty of friends but none of them were really found in school so i don't tend to get involved in campus activities. sometimes, the international students office will organise the odd activity for international students (competitions, the odd "party") but i feel that more could be done to help international students become part of the overall BNU campus body.

international students office: very good, most of the staff are very helpful (if you are nice to them!), they are knowledgeable about visa and seem to actually care about us. I've never had any problems that couldn't be solved.

Insurance: you can buy your own insurance before coming to register or can buy the pingan insurance on offer at the school for 600rmb (it doesn't cover anything apart from emergencies, so if you're worried about being sick while at BNU buy your own insurance---expensive though).

Food on campus: lots of canteens, most are near the west gate, quite far from the east area where international students have most of their classes but just outside the east gate there are plenty of options (dumplings, xinjiang (halal) food, donkey meat, pizza etc). At the east gate (inside the campus) there is a japanese, korean and chinese restuarant...of course mcdonalds is really close and there will be a new subway opening closeby sometime soon!

Bars: eStation is the most famous bar inside the campus (maybe the only one?). It's just above the first dorm (the one for govt scholarship students) - not expensive. There are a few coffeeshops near the east gate but no starbucks Not much nightlife on campus, but houhai isn't far away. Sanlitun is quite easy to get to on the subway at mudanyuan and taxis are always available at the east gate.

Shopping; BNU is in a great location - just a 10 minute bus ride to jishuitan (has everything you need; supermarkets, pizza hut etc) and about 25 minutes (depending on traffic) from Xidan (the well-known shopping area).

Parks; not far from牡丹公园（mudan park) and 双秀公园(shuang xiu park).

Accomodation: i live outside campus (anzhen) but i have been to all of the international student dorms on campus. the best one (and most expensive one) is the Third dorm (above mcdonalds) but the others are fine. Lanhui and Xinsong are mainly rooms with 2 single beds (but i think they also have single rooms at a higher price). Prices are available on the website.

Website: http://www.bnulxsh.com/. Choose the chinese version as the english one is out of date and most of the info is actually in chinese anyway...i'm the fat white one on the lef-hand side picture when the website loads haha.

Have to go to work now but if anyone has anything else that they would like to know about the school/applications etc feel free to let me know and i'll reply as soon as i have a minute.

Take care

cj

[Daan]

I don't have any plans to study at BNU myself, but thank you for writing this all up! It's always interesting to hear how other programmes are arranged.

If you like Ancient Chinese (or Classical Chinese, as it's more commonly known in English), be sure to check out the Classical Chinese forum here

[adrianlondon]

Brilliant write-up Clive. I studied 101 there at the end of 2006. Reading your post makes me want to quit my job again, go back and do 102 ;) I'd need to revise 101 though ...

[chinadude2006]

Nice review!! However I have a few questions:

1. How long does it take to complete the degree? Say you begin at level 301, does that mean the degree will only take 1 or 2 years? Is there a minimum about of time you have to be studying there in order to receive the degree?

2. How much is tuition per semester?

3. Are the students on the degree program in one class or do they mix the classes up with students who have come here for a semester or two just for language study? Are there any other differences between students on the degree program compared to the language students?

[cliveloughlin]

Hi again

A few quick answers (even though the first few are available online: http://www.bnulxsh.com/jieshao/undergraduate_CCLC(2010).html

The degree normally takes 4 years but you can join at any level (depending on the entrance test). You have to study for a total of three years at BNU; fees for 4 years have to be paid!

Fees: One semester: 12400 RMB One year: 24000RMB (paying for a year at a time is a bit more economical). There is an application fee of 500RMB.

Classes: classes are generally mixed but in 202 & 301 most of the students in my class were bachelors students (with about 3 in each class who were general language students). The other differences are the number of classes that we take. Most language students don't bother taking electives (and of course they don't have to) but bachelors students must complete study credits so they are obviously a little busier!

If there's anything else you would like to know just ask.

Clive

PS: whilst classical chinese is the generally accepted term, i don't like it haha...

[chinadude2006]

Thanks for your reply!!

I believe at Xiamen University if you score HSK 6 they allow you to enter the degree starting from the third year. So this means the degree will only take 2 years.