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Do you suggest any scholarships, so that I can study abroad in China with Georgetown University?

Study Mandarin in Beijing, Wuhan, or Guilin?

  • Hi all, I'm currently finishing up my bachelors degree in science, but I took some first year courses in Mandarin and I really want to chance to become bilingual. My university (UBC) has an Asian Studies department and my professor told me I have a good chance for awarded a scholarship to study language in China for ten months, all tuition paid plus a living allowance. The big question I'm having now is which universities should I choose to apply for? I have three priorities: 1. to be able to learn somewhere where I could travel out of town on the weekends and practise my language skills 2. Somewhere in a scenic region, preferably not too cold or rainy, and not horribly noisy and smoggy 3. A relatively beautiful university My first thought is of course Beijing, and the Peking University caught my eye, being both prestigious and having a beautiful campus. And the dialect there is perfect. However, I am put off by the size of the city and especially the horrible pollution problems they've been having. Plus the climate is quite cold. My second thought is Wuhan University, in Hubei province. Although it's huge university, it is surrounded by a beautiful forest and has some really nice architecture. It also seems to have pretty nice surroundings, although perhaps it gets a bit cold in the winter. My main concern is that the dialect of the Wuhanese people will hinder me in some way - I know everyone is educated to speak putonghua, but I would still feel pretty awkward if people spoke putonghua to me and then muttered wuhanese among themselves... My third thought is Guanxi Normal University in Guilin, Guangxi province. The university itself seems neither prestigious nor beautiful, but the landscapes around it are incredible, with karst mountains everywhere and awesome subtropical weather. Again, I'm worried about the dialect here, and it's also quite a small city, so if I were feeling really overwhelmed with culture shock I'd be screwed. So I guess my question basically is: How important is the surrounding dialect when learning mandarin? Does it have a very large effect on your developing accent? Do you know of any good universities to suggest? Thanks so much Cheers, James

  • Answer:

    Hi James, If there is a local dialect, then the local people WILL speak their dialect EVERYDAY. even though most of them know(and they should know mandarin, since they are chinese) mandarin, they WILL still speak their own dialect with their friends, family or themselves. i grew up speaking only standardized mandarin(born in the north obviously), i've been to sichuan, hubei and guangxi province, I didn't understand their dialect at all! Now I can understand some Cantonese only because I've known more Cantonese people and much longer, also I lived in Guangdong for couple of years. Also I can see Hongkong TV, soap operas, movies... that are in cantonese. I think it will take me forever to understand(just understand, not speak) any dialect from sichuan, hubei, guangxi, shaanxi, shangdong, jiangsu, zhejiang...you name it. All those provinces(mostly southern) have their own dialects. So in one word, I would choose Beijing, yeah, the pollution is bad, i felt like i was smoking a cigarettes when i visited Beijing the last time a couple of years ago, winter is much worse. but beijing has beautiful sceneries too in the suburbs, LOTS of culture, LOTS of people to meet, plus THEY SPEAK MANDARIN. You can always visit Guilin, or Wuhan during your break. Imagine you live in Maui everyday, you will be bored by the beautiful beach, right? You can always go visit. Btw, ''GUANGXI'' is the province. ''GUANXI'' is ''connection'', i'm sure your textbook already mentioned ''guanxi'' and ''mianzi''. you can wiki them too.

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Study in Beijing! Beijing is wonderful though the pollution level is intense.

Bicc

Simple. Been learning for about a year. Going to visit China next month. Beijing! Such a beautiful place. True, cold weather but the dialect is oh ma gosh PERFECT

Grace Pang

form those 3 i will choose guangxi normal university, guilin is a small city compare to beijing or wuhan. but wuhan transportation system is a mess, the city is dirty, beijing is good but it is cold in the winter and hot in the summer, but it is a good city to live in, but you will meet more often with the fellow foreigner than with the local chinese guilin is quite cold as it is situated around the mountain area but you can also go to yangshuo in the weekend. if you are learning chinese only then it does not matter which university you are going to as long as you work hard, do your task and homework ,and attend the class everyday. there are some cities too like xiamen, suzhou, or hangzhou i have never been to xiamen but suzhou and hangzhou are clean one other thing you should consider as well is how many foreign student are studying there? which country they are coming from? because i dont think you want to go to china and speak english everyday because the university has a lot of english speaking students

baracki obawamama

I taught english in China for 3 years. Beijing is a huge, huge city, like 20 million. Cars, skyscrapers, more cars, bicycles, I didn't like it at all. And the only scenic things is the Forbidden City and the Great Wall. Plus it does snow there. Wuhan I've been to. A relatively big city, seemed like more to do and see there when we went. I liked it. Hot in the summer, but there wouldn't be any snow. Haen't been to the other city. But like in the us, the farther south the milder the winters. The regular people speak the local dialect, so your concern is legit. You can be taught standard mandarin and the people out on the street will be speaking the local dialects, except in Beijing. Though at the universities will have people from all over the country there so they'll be other standard mandarin speakers at the university. You might have to look around, though, for them. If you really want to go out inot the country an speak to the 'natives', it should be in the north. You've got the local dialects plus cantonese in the south.

Serene E

Hi James, Personally I would say Guilin. The reason being is it is very close to Yangshuo meaning you can head there every weekend. Yangshuo is by far the most beautiful place in China I have ever visited and it is a very relaxed place, without the hassle and the pollution of Beijing. The best thing is that you can practice your English during the week in Guilin and then head to Yangshuo and practice your English here too or make use of the fact that there are many backpackers here and find friends and fellow-expats. Also, there are bars and restaurants serving Western food meaning you shouldn't get home-sick! I hope this helps!

Sophia

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