Making the most of studying in China

[simpleasy]

Starting in September, I will study mandarin in China for one year. This is my only focus for next year, with no other distractions. 

This may sound like it will guarantee fluency in 2017, but I'm afraid laziness and procrastination will still affect me in China.

 

I would like to make the most of this year, and come as close to fluency as humanly possible. So my question is: Does anyone have any tips on how to do so?

Of course the obvious answer would be: just immerse yourself! Avoid speaking English, try to hang out with Chinese people rather than other foreigners, etc.

While this is probably the best answer, it's also one that very broad, and it doesn't say anything about actually studying. I'm afraid just hanging out with Chinese people isn't going to cut it.  

What about the language classes I will get in my university? How can I optimally utilize them? What other tips do you have to improve outside the classroom?

 

I assume some of you have taken similar programs in China, is there something you wish you knew from the start? Is there something you would do differently now?

 

I know this is quite a broad question, but I hope some of you can share your advice nonetheless. Thank you! 

[abcdefg]

I would like to make the most of this year, and come as close to fluency as humanly possible. So my question is: Does anyone have any tips on how to do so?

 

Hundreds and hundreds of posts here ask and answer your exact same questions. In fact, discussing issues of that kind is one of the main reasons for the existence of this forum. Part of the core mission.

 

Start by doing a search. Use the box in the upper right of the page; it is powered by Google and will give you several hours worth of information to sift through. Then return to discuss your findings further.

[Flickserve]

Look up some of the posts by Tamu. Some very informative descriptions of techniques.

Your advantage is being able to devote a good period of full time study.

[realmayo]

What about the language classes I will get in my university? How can I optimally utilize them? What other tips do you have to improve outside the classroom?

 

If it's a typical Chinese university programme, then you're right to want to do additional study. I've studied on such a course. Where you have extra time available to study:

 

Push your textbooks and classwork as hard as you can. So: if homework is to read and understand the text in Chapter 1, then -- time permitting -- try to do more than that: try to internalise the text, listen to it on mp3, relisten, read along with or 'shadow' the audio yourself. Can you memorise the text? Do you understand all the example sentences or exercises in the chapter? And so on...

 

For listening comprehension classes, get hold of the mp3/audio yourself and consider going to the bookstore in town to get the 'teacher's book' too. The audio means you can relisten and relisten to the material you covered in class, and the 'teacher's book' should have a full transcript if you need that too. So as with the main class textbook, my suggestion is to spend some of your extra study time really nailing your core classroom material.

 

Reading comprehension texts often deliberately include vocabulary that you're not expected to know, that's beyond your current level, so in those cases it may not be sensible to do the same type of 'intensive' additional work as described above (because you might end up spending time learning vocabulary that is rather rare and therefore not worth your time worrying about at this stage). So instead, buy yourself an additional reading comprehension textbook from a different course but at the same level and use it as supplementary reading material.

 

And be organised enough that if you've got a spare 15 minutes that you'd otherwise waste online, have at your fingertips the audio from a textbook dialogue that you studied a couple of weeks earlier, or some text that you've already studied, which you can relisten to or re-read.

 

So my suggestion for textbooks and class materials is that, since you're using them in class anyway, spend some of your extra study time using them as thoroughly as possible. Don't dismiss them as just 'non-native materials'. Of course in addition there's nothing to stop you spending time on other learning techniques and priorities that this forum is full of. Such as pronunciation.

 

 

As for meeting native speakers: at a university you should be able to put yourself out there and meet Chinese (nationality) students. Assuming you're comfortable speaking English, find an "English corner" at the university and participate every week. If your university has a language department for teaching Chinese to foreigners, ask (e.g. at an English corner) if any students of that major want to use you as a guinea pig.

 

Or are there English majors studying interpretation who might use you one evening a week when they get together informally to practise together? Or just any student who wants to practise English and will help you with Chinese. Yes there's a risk that you're speaking too much English and not enough Chinese, but this is better than nothing and is a good start, as you move things to perhaps a semi-formal 'language-exchange' meet-up, or just find yourself happy to hang out and listen to new friends speaking in Chinese to each other during dinner etc.

 

You might also consider paying a tutor once or twice a week, to work on pronunciation or conversation or whatever.

 

After a day's studying, spending a couple of hours with Chinese people will always be better than just browsing the internet before going to sleep -- even if there's English spoken and you're not in a 100% perfect 'immersion' environment, it's much much better than nothing, it will still help your language study, and is good socially. I highly recommend making the effort/

[abcdefg]

Excellent advice from @Realmayo. As to textbooks, at each level, starting from the beginner stage, I just went to a large bookstore and bought 2 or 3 others from different series and used them also, as supplements.

 

These early books aren't all alike, lesson for lesson and point for point, but they do cover very similar material. If nothing else, you can get more example sentences to work through, to understand, and you will be given more exercises that provide a chance to try to use the new grammar points and vocabulary.

 

This may sound like it will guarantee fluency in 2017, but I'm afraid laziness and procrastination will still affect me in China.

 

Right, @SimpleEasy. Study habits formed over the years will, for better or for worse, affect your approach to the task at hand. And the task won't always be simple or easy. It will require some grit.

[roddy]

" I'm afraid laziness and procrastination will still affect me in China."
Wherever you go, there you are. A change of scene can be very useful when changing habits, but you might want some extra help (highly recommended). 
 
And don't expect too much of yourself. Better to sustain 80% effort for a year than aim for 100%, fail, hate yourself, and only do 30%.

[Shelley]

Remember to enjoy yourself. Learning is more efficient when you are enjoying what you are doing.

 

And don't forget to take a break, allow yourself some time off, take in the local sites, visit the market and so on. Set yourself study times and stick to them, reward yourself with things you enjoy.

 

Study hard but enjoy it.

 

I hope you have a great year and that it will be something you will remember for the rest of your life.

[Flickserve]

Because you intend to strive for fluency and presumably accuracy of speech, expect and welcome a lot of repetitive work on pronunciation and even more repetitive work on getting consistent and accurate tones.

[feihong]

A year is enough time to get to intermediate level and perhaps beyond, but be realistic and realize that you might not reach anything resembling "fluency" in just twelve months. So use some of that time to plan how you will continue your studies when you go back to your home country and are removed from the immersive environment. Some of the things I did: build up a solid set of electronic flashcards in Pleco (which I still review every day), figure out how to read Chinese ebooks on my phone, and become the organizer of the local Chinese language meetup.