At the time the only blog of note really was Chabuduo, written by an Aussie named Matt. Though the scene has grown a bit since, Matt’s blog was, for a long time, the only real window into foreigner-living in Suzhou.

Through the time we both mutually resided in Suzhou Matt and I exchanged several messages to meet up for drinks, but never seemed to get around to it. Then, just over a year ago, he folded shop and returned to Oz – for higher education, of all things!

Well, Chabuduo was back in town recently, fresh off an all-expense paid trip to Hunan for a major Chinese speaking competition (Matt was chosen as the best CSL speaker in Australia, and is a mad 绕口令 master), and we finally were able to meet in person and have that beer – several in fact.

It’s always great to meet folks that you’ve only ever known in an online capacity, and even better when it’s over mid-week afternoon beers. Matt’s a great guy, and has lent further weight to the fact that I’ve never met an Aussie I didn’t like. He’s also inspired me to work harder on my Chinese – seriously, mad skillz.

And for any fans of Matt’s blog that are weeping over the fact that he’s only posted 8 times in the last year, there were mumblings that he may re-fireup the engines and start posting more regularly, with a focus on food, and if his most recent post is any indicator, it should be a tasty read.

ChinesePod.com

An affiliate program might not mean much to many of you, but I know a lot of folks that read this blog regularly also run their own China-related blogs and sites, and so I figured I’d help the folks over at ChinesePod get the word out about it.

For any that don’t know, ChinesePod.com is a rather hip podcast that delivers free daily Chinese lessons in a fun and contextual radio-show format. The podcast and and lesson discussion are free, and if you want to get more involved in their learning program, you just pay for one of the subscription services.

Here’s a little graphic to show the different plans (click to expand it):

I’ve been listening to ChinesePod off-and-on nearly since their inception almost three years ago, and can’t tout the service enough. So, as you may have guessed, I’ve registered as an affiliate – you’re damn right I have. How could I not want to encourage people to use a service that I think is great, that costs them nothing and helps me keep the lights on ’round here. That’s what Michael Scott calls win-win-win.

So, if you’re a blogrunner, site monkey or newsletter guru, check out their affiliate program. And, if you’re looking to learn Chinese, why not try ChinesePod for free.

Incidentally, if you’re at all interested in learning Spanish, they’ve also got SpanishPod, which I’ve not tried, but imagine offers the same high quality content of the Chinese version.

First, the title of this post is a bit of a misnomer, as overall I really like studying Chinese, think my teachers are great, and I really like SuDa’s environment. However…

Having lived in China now for a few years, I have a rather messy Chinese “level” in that my speaking and listing are pretty good, but my reading and writing are a bit crap (“bit” being an understatement). As it were, I was placed in the second level class (which I’ve recently been told may in fact be what used to be Level 2 and Level 3 merged).

At this level each chapter in our texts consist of about 30-35 new words or phrases, which can easily add up to 50-60 individual characters – all of which I’ve never seen before. Now multiply this by three classes and you’ve got about 100-120 characters (there’s some overlap) per week to stuff into your head.

Generally speaking, I find it hard to remember any character I don’t write (while actively paying attention – as opposed to just mindlessly repeating) at least 20-30 times. Taking the lower of those two numbers (100 new characters * 20 times), that’s 2,000 characters of writing.

The Kickers

You may be sitting there thinking that’s not all that much, or you may have survived this carpal-tunnel-to-be and are laughing at me, however the real problem comes when you factor in that despite studying a chapter a week, you don’t get seven days to commit this iconic vocab to memory.

Nope, after reviewing the pronunciation of the vocabulary on day one, the rest of the week it is expected they’re in your mushy mass already (day two generally being quiz day).

The reason for this brings me to my final point, and the point that is really at the core of why I would even suggest studying Chinese at university as being a bad idea. If you are, like me, of the non-Asian persuasion, you’re going to have the cards stacked against you learning in a Chinese university for the simple reason that you’re going to be in a class where the majority of students are East Asian (Korean and/or Japanese).

This difference quickly becomes apparent, as both the Koreans and Japanese have solid foundations in Chinese characters, or Hanzi (known in Japan as Kanji and in Korea as Hanja).

The pronunciations are, of course, different, making that first pronunciation run-through uber-valuable to the E. Asian folks in the room. And as the E. Asians make up the bulk of the class, the teacher has little chance to spend the time needed for us Westerners to get the writing/reading down.

Exchange Students Be Warned

I’ve befriended a couple exchange students who study Chinese back in the US, and are doing a semester in China as a credited course. The differences between Level 2 Chinese in an American university and a Chinese one is drastic, and unlike myself, who could care less exams are passed or not as long as something is learned, these students’ marks count towards their degree back home – and, in one case at least, towards their scholarship.

The fact that these students were just plugged into “the next level” says a lot for the dimwittedness of the administrations involved. They are essentially saying that studying a year of Chinese a couple times a week in a non-Chinese environment in the US is equal to a year of studying Chinese everyday surrounded by things Chinese. Talk about stupid and unbalanced.

The Result

I’m now faced with a difficult decision on whether or not to stay in university next term, or to explore some of the private language schools in town, where I’m more likely to be classed with other Westerners, and in turn be able to focus on the areas that are hardest for me.

The benefits I see of switching to a private school are, A) as mentioned, being paired with other folks that have the same lack of foundations in writing and reading Chinese, and B) having the more complicated grammar points explained to me in English, as opposed to having to double my needed vocabulary just so I understand the teacher’s instructions.

However, I haven’t ruled out the university yet. It’s hard, sometimes impossibly hard, and some days I just sit and wonder why the hell I’m bothering when so much of what is being taught is just slipping by me. Despite this, it still puts me in the seat. It forces me to study hard or feel the fool in class. And it guarantees that 3-5 hours a day I’ll be studying, writing, reading, speaking and thinking Chinese. That, more than anything else is extremely valuable and I fear leaving uni I might lose that.

Private classes, and particularly tutors or self-study, are so incredibly easy to skip out on. Chinese university, whether because I so quickly fall behind, or because I have some ingrained fear of truancy, forces me to attend and has caused me to learn more Chinese in a month and a half than I have in near the entire three years I’ve been in China.

ChinesePod, Google’s IME, Adsotrans and Google Translator, Wenlin and a bunch of great freeware and Firefox plugins – just to name a few.

However, about two months ago I was casually browsing the local diànzǐ chéng and I stumbled on a little USB input device that allows you to write Chinese as an input method for your computer. I finally pulled it out of the box and played with it the other day.

First, for those that haven’t attempted to input Chinese on their computers, there are several ways to do so. The most common method is to use a pinyin-based IME (of which I prefer Google’s). With an IME you simply activate it, type in the pinyin, choose the characters and it outputs the hànzì.

This works well for us laowai, but is a bit slow for Chinese typists. For them a similar method is used, but instead of inputing the pinyin and selecting the characters, they often use rather ingenious software that attributes strokes to the keys of a standard keyboard. By inputting the strokes of the desired character you are able to much more efficiently output Chinese (100+ characters a minute – faster than you can say it!) – that is if you can remember what the goddamn stroke order is.

And now, for a mere 35 RMB, I have a third way. The little USB-powered tablet is about 6.5″ x 3″ with a small writing area where you use an included plastic stylus to write the strokes of Chinese characters. The included software then interprets this and outputs the proper character.

In my testing of it I was all over the dictionary with what characters it identified as what I wrote. However, when the steadier hand of Maggie gave it a go, it was bang on 100% of the time so long as she wrote the characters properly (Chinese tend to revere “messy” handwriting as “art” more than we do in the West).

It’s not fast. Or at least Maggie didn’t feel it would save her any time in ordering stuff on Taobao. However, for a student of Chinese, such as myself, it’s awesome. It is pretty unforgiving when it comes to stroke order and placement, forcing you to practice and remember how to write things properly.

Now PC tablets are nothing new, and if you’re not in China, you’ll likely be stuck buying one of the more expensive versions designed more for graphic applications than handwriting practice. However, if you’re in China and looking to improve your Chinese writing, with a $5 price tag, this is a great little tool.

Additional Resources:

• Lost Laowai’s Mandarin software/freeware/Firefox plugin links
• What is an IME and how do I use it?
• Chinese software

I’m often praised and then quickly chastised by Chinese co-workers on my level of Chinese. When they first meet me they lather it on, but once they know I have a Chinese wife, their faces screw up and they try desperately to understand why I can’t speak better.

The truth is, nothing has hurt my Chinese more than having a Chinese girlfriend/wife. This isn’t a slight against her in anyway, as she does her best to push me in the right direction – correcting my tones, telling me for the thousandth time how to say random vocabulary, etc.

The problem is, nothing is a keener motivator than the day to day struggle of having to deal with the Chinese-speaking masses just outside my door – and with Maggie by my side, even simple conversations that I could navigate through, are handled by her.

Well, enough is enough. I’ve watched friend after friend make huge strides with Chinese while I sat dumbly by mumbling “ting bu dong”. I’ve made the decision that come the end of this term I’ll be turning from teacher to student and exchanging my ESL lesson plans for Chinese homework.

I’ve settled on a program at Soochow University (aka Suda) – don’t ask me why they still use the silly Wade-Giles spelling. The term runs from September to January and costs about 8,200 RMB (about $1,200 CAD). This breaks down as:

The price structure seems similar to various other Mandarin courses I’ve seen in other Chinese cities. Though not “cheap”, considering what a foreign student pays a term when they attended Canadian schools, it’s a steal. It’s four hours each morning (8~11:30), Monday to Friday. The program also offers some interesting electives – Chinese History, Chinese Calligraphy, Traditional Chinese Painting, Tai Chi and Chinese martial arts – in the afternoon, so I may enroll in a few of them as well.

I’m quite hyped about being a student again. It’s been on the back burner for quite a while now, as the wedding basically stole the show (and emptied my bank account) over the past year. Now with married life settled into, I can start focusing on the rather massive collection of other things populating my “todo” list.

I’ll be registering in the summer (as my Z visa expires, and I’ll need to transfer it to the appropriate student visa), and as such will be taking a placement test. I’m a bit nervous about this. My language abilities are all over the place – I know some rather complicated vocabulary reasonably well, but am completely lost with other, relatively simple, things. I can say more than I can read, read more than I can write, and write more than a beginner, but not by much.

As such, I’m going to try and hit the books before hand and get some sort of consistency in my Mandarin knowledge. With having a relatively passive interest in learning Chinese since I first arrived, I’ve a huge collection of links, books, software and such to help me – but am open to any suggestions that have worked for you readers.

I’m planning to put into practice Mark’s good advice (Learn a Language by Taking Advantage of ‘Hidden Moments’) and also some tips gleaned from a Pick The Brain article.

These ideas, coupled with my use of ChinesePod‘s free MP3s, Active Chinese‘s cool lessons and a couple of text books I’ll have to dust off, will hopefully cause me to, at the very least, not get put in the “NEEE HOW” newbies class.