(Up to) One year Mandarin Chinese course

[Xieergai]

Hello!
 

First of all, I would like to say that I've already read some of the topics about studying in China, including the 'Want to know where to study?' one.

 

To introduce myself: My name is Sergiusz, I'm a 17-year-old from Poland who's been learning Mandarin Chinese for about 9 months now, being a tutee of a private teacher (who's also a Pole, but had lived in China for a couple of years).  I still have more than one and half a year before I finish high school, but my parents and I are looking for detailed information about studying Chinese in the so-called Middle Kingdom.

 

I'm interested in attending an one-year non-degree language course at a public university, starting in septemper 2017 (a long way away, huh?). The budget available is up to about 5000USD (including all the costs of living in China for a year).

If it comes to accommodation, for the first semester I would like to use student dormitory to ensure that I have everything booked before my departure from Poland. After the first semester, I'll either prolong the stay in the dormitory or arrange some other accommodation with the people I meet during the first few months. 

It's highly probable that I'll have HSK3 before I arrive in China, so there's absolutely no need for me to start learning from scratch.

Now, geography. I generally am leaning toward South, as the climate and environment there seem to suit me perfectly. I absolutely can't survive harsh winters, which is not a problem in this region of China, and am just fine with hot weather. I've already found an interesting university in Zhanjiang - Lingnan Normal University (previously known as Zhanjiang Normal University). Studying there would be really cheap and the city is just beautiful, but I am concerned about two things:

First, how much of a problem is it to learn - and actively use - Mandarin Chinese in a region inhabited mostly by Cantonese-speaking people? Won't the south accent be a huge obstacle to overcome?

And second, it is stated on the website of Lingnan Normal University that the dormitory costs just 2000RMB a year. Doesn't this sound to well? It's just too cheap to expect high standards, isn't it?

Thank you in advance for any responses.

[roddy]

That dorm is for six people - the standards are going to depend on how clean and quiet they are. But the price is plausible for a six-person dorm. Bear in mind it may have changed by the time you get there though - it's very rare for foreign students to be in rooms for more than two people. 

 

It sounds like you should be applying for the CSC, by the way. 

 

Welcome to the site, and nice to see a 'where should I study' topic where there's been some thought and research done! Looking forward to seeing where you end up...

[yhs31217]

i lived in guangdong province some years ago when i was in high school

there were no big problem of using madarin in high school (i was the only north people in my class)

in your case, may be even better in university

 

you can use mandarin with almost 90% of people you meet in daily life

but more difficult than in campus

 

what do you mean by the huge obstacle to overcome?

you are worrying about your listening or speaking?

maybe the environment will not be perfect for you to practice if you don't want to learn and speak chinese with south accent in the future

 

 

dormitory prices are always not high 

and international students tend to live in the best dormitory in many universities 

but still, please get more details from LNU

[Xieergai]

I'm surprised to see you've responded in such a short time. I really appreciate it!

 

@roddy

It sounds like you should be applying for the CSC, by the way. 

 

Thank you. I'll do some research and, perhaps, report back if I have any questions.


@yhs31217

what do you mean by the huge obstacle to overcome?

you are worrying about your listening or speaking?

I mostly meant my day-to-day listening ability - having read some of the previous topics (both here and on some other websites), I stumbled upon people complaining about the southern accent being (sometimes really) hard to understand. Another thing is that I currently learn standard Mandarin Chinese and I wonder if it'll be much of a problem to convert to a way of speaking that, at least to some degree, is different than putonghua.

[Coys1991]

I went to Xiamen and the university there was beautiful right next to the island. I forget the island's name but if you want to check out I would recommend it.  Apparently Xiamen University is becoming very popular now. 

[yhs31217]

it would be much more difficult to understand southern accent outside campus

some people especially relatively old ones have stronger accent

but most of them can understand what you say

 

i guess you may sound a little bit like cantonese after a year if you only learn with local students

we sometime call the kind of putonghua with cantonese accent 'guangpu'(广普)，which means 广东普通话

it's not a very standard accent, but were very popular

 

anyway it is hard to find a city you can always here 100% standard mandarin

even beijing, there is beijing accent, too

the important thing is, make sure the accent of that place is not too bad, and try to find people with good accent there 

[Flickserve]

I mostly meant my day-to-day listening ability - having read some of the previous topics (both here and on some other websites), I stumbled upon people complaining about the southern accent being (sometimes really) hard to understand. Another thing is that I currently learn standard Mandarin Chinese and I wonder if it'll be much of a problem to convert to a way of speaking that, at least to some degree, is different than putonghua.

for the listening and understanding part, you will have this problem wherever in China.

For the speaking part, you don't have to worry. Just keep to standard mandarin during the learning. If you want to sound more local, you can copy the local accent mandarin (not dialect), but that would be local to the area where you are staying. I would advise not to worry about local accents.