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TESOL Teaching if Mandarin fluency is important
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griz326 -

I intend to retire and teach English for a few years. Attaining a good level of Mandarin fluency
is an important personal objective. Is there any hope of learning good Mandarin in the NW or SW of
China or must I stick to the Beijing area?

I presume instruction in the written language is not affected by location.



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Xiao Kui -

I think you will learn Mandarin much faster in a northeastern city (I'm not sure which are your
best bets as far as Mandarin - maybe Dalian, Beijing, Qingdao, and Harbin, I'm sure there are
others, it's been discussed many times in these forums where to get the best CHinese), where it is
spoken in daily language by the locals, but it will still require discipline on your part not to
lean on English and not to let people use you to practice their English.

I've lived 5 years in SW China, and I'm convinced that I would have learned Mandarin better and
faster if I'd been in Beijing or Dalian for this time. Because you very rarely hear Mandarin
spoken on the street in Kunming or Chengdu, and you rarely overhear or get the chance to
"eavesdrop" on a Mandarin conversation. The only Mandarin environment you have is in your Chinese
class. Living in Kunming, I rely on Chinese TV for my Mandarin - otherwise I won't improve.

As many will testify, simultaneously teaching English and learning Chinese is a difficult balance
to maintain, why make it harder on yourself by living in an non Mandarin speaking environment? I'm
still hoping to move to the Northeast one day so I can hear Mandarin spoken in daily life - I
think that would be so rewarding to me after having studied the language for 9 years.










anonymoose -

I think to a certain extent Xiao Kui is right, but most people (except the elderly) will be able
to speak pretty decent mandarin wherever you go. So you should not have a problem if you are
talking directly to them. Of course, when they are speaking to each other, they are likely to be
using local dialect which will make eavesdropping difficult, but then, even Dalian has a local
dialect, or at least local accent, which is often difficult to understand.

I think what is much more important is your attitude to learning Chinese. I'd say your success at
learning will depend 90% on your attitude, and only 10% on your environment (assuming it is
somewhere in China).

By the way, as for characters, you are right - it is the same everywhere on the mainland. However,
Hong Kong and Taiwan use traditional characters, which are seldom used on the mainland (except in
places like shop-signs).










roddy -



Quote:


Originally Posted by anonymoose

I think what is much more important is your attitude to learning Chinese. I'd say your success at
learning will depend 90% on your attitude, and only 10% on your environment (assuming it is
somewhere in China).


That's exactly what I was going to say. It's also worth bearing in mind that where you live is
going to affect how much you enjoy your stay and therefore how motivated you are to study. If you
have a deep and abiding hatred for cold weather, then a winter in Harbin will see you huddled up
in your quilt feeling sorry for yourself, which is no good for your Chinese regardless of how good
the local Mandarin is. Go somewhere you think you will enjoy and create your own opportunities.












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