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Studying Chinese Language in China
The significance of an immersion experience in language acquisition cannot be overstated. Students of Chinese are strongly encouraged to find and make use of a study-abroad opportunity and to spend an extended period of time (i.e., weeks, months, or semesters) in China. To better exploit such an experience, however, they should usually wait until they have acquired a desirable foundation in the language, such as after taking “First-Year Chinese I and II” or any core courses at higher levels.
Both Mainland China and Taiwan abound in quality language programs for foreign students, such programs falling into one of the following three categories: 1) programs run by a U.S. university or college, 2) programs operated by a U.S.-based educational organization, and 3) programs held by a Chinese university or college.
In selecting a program to attend, you should usually consider four factors, as follows:
- Prestige and competitiveness of the program as well as of the institution that runs it. Quality programs, however, are bound to be more selective in admission. Among the most selective are programs like Princeton in Beijing (PiB) and Associated Colleges in China (ACC).
- Location of the program. This should be a consideration if you have special interest in a certain aspect of China or Chinese culture. Students interested in ethnic minority culture, for example, may want to find a program in the Southwest, home of most of the ethnic minorities in China. Students interested in China’s economy, on the other hand, may target programs in Yangtze Delta or Pearl River Delta, where the economic growth rate has been the fastest. Many students, of course, find Beijing, the capital of the country, the most attractive. Remember, however, that major Chinese universities in major cities are more likely to have their resources stretched for hosting foreign students and running international programs, and they sometimes cannot deliver what they have promised.
- Cost of the program. Programs operated by profit-making educational organizations are usually more expensive, although they are more likely to have a successful mechanism for guaranteeing instructional quality and student service. Programs run by U.S. universities and colleges, especially those that are more established and competitive, can somehow be expensive too. Less expensive are usually programs run by Chinese universities or colleges, but these programs admit students from all over the world and you will have to study in the same class with speakers of other languages, such as Korean and Japanese. In short, you will have to be very careful with your selection so as to get into a quality but cost-effective program.
- Convenience in credit transfer. In the absence of a language study program set up by the University of Michigan itself,, the UM’s Office of International Program (OIP) provides study-abroad opportunities which allow students of Chinese language to earn U-M credits:
- (Summer +) Fall or Fall/Winter:
Chinese language study with the University of California Program in Beijing at Beijing Normal University or Peking University.
Refer to http://www.lsa.umich.edu/oip/Programs/Flyers/china_beijing.html
Courses in Chinese culture (offered in English) with mandatory Chinese language study at IES (Beijing), located at Beijing Foreign Studies University. Honors Program. Must have taken Asianlan 101 or higher.
Refer to
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/oip/Programs/Flyers/china_beijing_winter.html
Intensive Chinese language study with CET (Beijing) at Beijing Institute of Education, a program to be started in summer of 2008 as an equivalent of two regular semesters of Chinese language study on the U-M campus. This is an 8-week program from mid June to early August, with optional CET-selected and paid Chinese roommates. We highly recommend this program because it uses the same textbooks as ours at the first-, second-, and third-year levels, in the same lecture-recitation format, and because it has a dedicated academic director, who provides effective training and supervision to the instructors. Interested students please contact OIP for more information.
This program requires a course of Chinese culture with mandatory Chinese language study with CET (Beijing) at Capital Normal University. The language part of this program will be treated as an equivalent of one regular semester of Chinese language study on the campus. Interested students please contact OIP for more information.
Note: Admission to the above-mentioned programs is usually selective, and placement (for the language part) is typically based on a test at the beginning of the program.
If for any reason you choose not to go via OIP and instead decide to study Chinese language in China through your own arrangement, you had better consult your Chinese instructor before you make the decision. In this case, credit transfer after your return is still possible but not guaranteed. There will also be a procedure involved, which is posted at http://www.lsa.umich.edu/asian/language/lang_faqs/ as follows:
How do I transfer course credits to the University of Michigan from another school?
For this issue, you should contact the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and academic advisors in your own college or school. If they ask for verification, an assessment, or a recommendation from the language instructor, you should contact the Coordinator for that Language Program. At the scheduled meeting with the Language Program coordinator, you will be expected to present the following: program descriptions (if any), course syllabi (if any), instructional materials, official transcripts, instructors' letters (if any), and other supporting documents or materials.
For your reference, we have prepared a list of Chinese language programs in Mainland China and Taiwan for foreign students. The list is far from complete, but we believe that it includes all the most recommendable programs.
Revised 11/7/2007
Chinese Language Program
University of Michigan
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