Study in Sichuan-anywhere except Beijing, Shanghai and Dalian?

[sndchang]

I'm planning to learn chinese in China in the fall semester. I am interested in going to Chengdu, Sichuan for study. I know that I definitly do not want to study in Beijing, Shanghai and probably Dalian, even though I hear that these to locations are best for chinese beginners. I had a few questions:

1. Is the difference in dialect a problem or disadvantage for learning chinese? Are people reluctant to speak putonghua or have a strong accent that I won't understand?

2. What are the good universities in Sichuan? I hear that Sichuan University does not have a great Chinese Language program- but could be wrong!

3. Are there many foreigners in Chengdu? Enough to make 1 or 2 friends maybe, but not enough so that I'll speak English all the time.

4. Any other recommendations for locations on learning chinese that are not Shanghai, beijing, Dalian or Qingdao? I hear that xiamen, hubei and hangzhou are good.....

Thank you so much for your help! I've had a very difficult time getting more information about Chengdu and sichuan and so your help would be great!

[muyongshi]

Well first off you NEED to start by searching because many of these question have been addressed before.

The one thing I will add is not to worry too much about the accent in Chengdu. It is not that bad compared to other cities in Sichuan. Chengdu is a big enough city with enough people from other places and also well developed in tourism that you will find plenty of people speaking mandarin and not only with you. And there are a ton of foreigners and you can avoid too many if you want. The rest of your questions can be answered using the search function.

[Shadowdh]

Might I also suggest Wuhan 武汉 as its close to Sichuan and 华中师范大学 (the uni I go to) has a really good teaching program from beginner to advanced... its a good place to study I feel as pretty much no one speaks english to you (the locals), there are very few foreigners here who speak english as well and its a nice location... also apart from the slight accent on the word 十 sounding like 四 sometimes the language here is pretty standard...

[Aremonus]

haha, yea, but u'll get used to it in 3 weeks; sichuan acent sounds for me like american english

[sndchang]

Shadowdh,

Thanks for the recommendation. I think I saw from a different thread that you are attending the Chinese program in Wuhan? Which univerisity? What are the university accomodations like- AC, shared rooms, clean etc? What kind of stuff is there to see and do in Wuhan? Is Wuhan pretty developed? Do you know a general breakdown of the Chinese studying Students (% Europeans/Americans/etc)? Are the Chinese born students and locals friendly, talkative towards foreigners?

Hope these haven't already been asked! I got a little too excited last time.

Thanks!

[mswift]

Sichuan University has a very good program for learning Chinese and taking courses instructed in English across a range of academic areas. You may find information on their website or try AsiaLearn: www.asialearn.org

[huisheng]

Sichuan seems to be a popular destination for foreigners. Any reason to this?

[Shadowdh]

Thanks for the recommendation. I think I saw from a different thread that you are attending the Chinese program in Wuhan? Which univerisity? What are the university accomodations like- AC, shared rooms, clean etc? What kind of stuff is there to see and do in Wuhan? Is Wuhan pretty developed? Do you know a general breakdown of the Chinese studying Students (% Europeans/Americans/etc)? Are the Chinese born students and locals friendly, talkative towards foreigners?

Yes thats right, I am at Huazhongshifan daxue 华中师范大学 and the teaching is pretty good, standard breakdown of classes as most other universities I guess. Accomodation is pretty good, the rooms are big and pretty comfortable. I have a single room and it has A/C (cold and warm), they are clean, have their own bathrooms which are good size, have a tv, desk, bed, chair and stuff... Wuhan has a few touristy things to do (yellow crane tower and some other tourist spots), it also has a few bars and things for the student to enjoy, and Wuhan is pretty developed but not many people speak english there and there are not that many foreigners as compared to Beijing or Shanghai... in my class there are about 6 non asian students the rest are Korean or Vietnamese. Of the non asians there are three Russian, 1 Austrian, 1 Eastern European and me. The locals are very friendly and pretty helpful, they are quite willing to talk to you if you try... there are plenty of opportunities to meet and chat with the Chinese students too, english corner is one place and another is this coffee bar on campus where they have a meet and exchange night pretty much every friday... hope this helps a little... in general I like both the uni and the city... if you want anything else just ask... sorry for the late reply...