Hi,

I would like to study Mandarin in China but not in a big city as Beijing or Shanghai (even Huangzhou). I am looking for a quiet small city where there are not a lot of foreigner, to study Chinese in the best conditions. My previous experience in Beijing was not really good for that because I spend more time with foreigner or Chinese people who spoke english. So if you have any suggestions, it will be helpfull.

Thanks by advance.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2009 08:21AM by Olive.

Go away from the East Coast. Somewhere in a place like Anhui or central/western China would be my recommendation.

Guilin meet all your requirements. It's a small city, with chinese study programs for foreigners in most of the universities.
Moreover the local dialect is very close to Mandarin.
See: Universities in Guilin

Thanks,

I also found information about Binzhou university on [www.studinchina.net] and it looks like good and what what I am looking for.

hi,i am very happy to meet you in here.can you come to china and i teach you chinese and you teach me english,i like to learn english,i can offer house,you and i hold a class of english training,you will get some money to offer your life.do you agreen my suggest,please sent email to me.my email xlj99316@yahoo.com.cn

Quote:
Demoore: Guilin meet all your requirements. It's a small city, with chinese study programs for foreigners in most of the universities. Moreover the local dialect is very close to Mandarin.

Guilin is not that small and it has a very big Foreigner community. If you don't want English I wouldn't be moving there. It is however beautiful so there is that anyway.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2009 07:50AM by Olive.

HELLO:
happy new year ,everybody.
But in my opnion, GULIN the city itself is a municipal city ,full of foreign
from various countries due to the reputation in traveling .
Meanwhile , the local is also speaking some kind of dialect similar to Cantonese.My proposal will be most favorable site close to megapolis in Northern cities, ,which provides the relatively quiet and comfortable enviroment and favorable context of learning language. The above is just my
suggestion for your reference.

If you can't learn Chinese in Beijing you might want to reconsider if studying Chinese is right for you. Beijing (or any other Chinese city) is ripe with opportunity for one to immerse oneself in Chinese culture and language. There will always be distractions even in the smallest and most out of the way Chinese Uni. in the country. Make sure your problem was really the other foreigners and not your commitment level before you move to a collective work camp to 为人民服务.

I've heard this kind of complaint from many people.
It goes like this: 1) If only I could go to China I could learn Chinese. (then they go to China). 2) If only I could make Chinese friends, hang out with foreigners less, be more immersed, have more interesting classes, have better text books,______________ (insert stupid complaint), I could really learn Chinese. (so they go to a smaller city, or change schools, or move out of the dorms) 3) I can't believe how isolated I feel and how few people like me. I don't understand the way they speak here.

Boo hoo, guess what, the problem was never the conditions. It was the learner. Millions of Chinese people learn English to a very respectable level with out ever hardly meeting a native English speaker. ANYONE can learn Chinese in Beijing. There are millions of Chinese people right out your front door in Beijing, and almost all of them speak something very close to putonghua. I could give you pointers for immersing yourself, but I don't think that's the problem. The problem is probably your level of commitment to learning Chinese. Don't move to some out of the way city. It probably won't solve your problem. You should evaluate whether or not you really want to learn Chinese. Studies have shown that the single biggest factor in a student acquiring proficiency in a foreign language is the motivation level of that student.

You should ask yourself a few questions before you go back to China or move to another city. Why did you allow yourself to spend so much of your time with foreigners when you were in Beijing? How did you do with your studies in Beijing? Did you attend class? Did you do the homework? Did you do well on exams? Why do you want to learn Chinese? Have you continued to study Chinese since you moved away from Beijing? (if you have moved). Be honest with yourself.

There are always many people speak English in college.
~
I suggest Changan University in Xi'an.

or Lanzhou University

Thanks everybody for your advices. I already contacted Binzhou university, Changan university and Lanzhou university but only Binzhou university answer me for the moment. I think that Guilin is not what I am looking for. If you have others suggestions don't hesitate.

why you must study in a university?

I prefer to study at an university because it is easier to meet people and especially in a small city, there are a few proportion of foreigner

Hi, Paioneer:
How are you?
I came from a secondary city in China, called Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province. It only take less than 2 hours train ride south of Beijing. We currently hosting a summer camp program from 2 weeks to as long as 60 days in Shijiazhuang. Here is the website : http://www.mic-america.com
You may try the summer camp program, if you like the place, we can help you find good university in the city that offer Chinese languages, if you only interest in language programs, please let me know.

Thanks.

Annie - A Blackswan

Thanks for this information. Your summer camp program looks good but it is too expensive for me. For exemple, the summer camp program of Binzhou University are 3 or 4 times cheaper. It is also the avantage to study in a small city. The tuition fees are cheaper and the cost of the life is much cheaper.

Paioneer,
You are welcome. Our program is considered one of the cheapest one on offered to American in the US. Thanks for checking into http://www.mic-america.com ; Wishing you the best learning Chinese and going to China. Please let me know if you need help in the future.

Annie - ABlacksan

你好,
我是個中國人,在廣州的郊區工作,但我願意与你用中文交流.

Blackswans,
Your program is maybe considered one of the cheapest but a two months program cost 3290$, about 22 500 RMB. The two month program of Binzhou University cost 6400 RMB, about 935$. Moreover, one term program cost 7100 RMB. You can check this at www.studinchina.net

you can go to Guizhou province to learn Chinese in Guizhou University ,I know their website and one companny is do what you like ,check it www.cnclassroom.com that is good

I think Southwest University for Nationalities (SWUN, [www.e-admission.edu.cn]) in Chengdu, Sichuan Province meets your need.
It offer the Chinese Language Course (http://www.e-admission.edu.cn/college_view_kecheng_user.php?idc=1842&id=swun) for only 5500 RMB per semester.

Hey!

Shanghai and Beijing are waay to big. I did a couple of programs in Beijing and the experience was not at all what i was looking for. I think you're right in looking for a smaller chinese city. I would say something like Shenzhen in the south could be a good bet. A bunch of my friends did this program in Shenzhen and loved it because their program included trips to ancient small cities like guilin and yongding along with intense mandarin chinese lessons. They said to check out www.southchinalearning.com
Goodluck!
JArnold

hello, i am happy to kown you.welcomeyou to china,i teach you chinese and you teach me english,i am adoctor,i offer house ,you may make english training class to make many money for your life,do you want come here,i live in shandong provence qingzhou city,my email hai_dai@yahoo.cn

i live in shandong provence qingzhou city,it is small city,it is situtable for your coming here to learn chinese,my email hai_dai@yahoo.cn

hi, if you visit qingdao, I'm sure I can help you with your chinese.

Hey,
Reading the replies already made me faint,haha...China is a very friendly country as you see.
I would like to suggest Nanyang Normal University,in Nanyang City,Henan.the website is [www.nytc.ha.cn].
I can totally ensure you that you can learn pure Madarin without dialect here.What is more,foreign people are rare in the area so the worry you have got won't happen here.
If you are interested,contact me through liuyuqiao0909@gmail.com
I am in Beijing right now and will go back to my hometown in Nanyang in July.

i agree ! you can google QINGDAO ! it will be the best choice for you!

When I first got to China and heard people speaking mandarin Chinese or “Putonghua” as they call it, I thought I could never learn it. It was so strange to my ears. But I soon found that the language is quite easy to learn to speak. Also the simple grammar and word formation through prefixes and suffixes that are easy to remember easily compensates for the problem of tones. Let me show you how easy it can be with the right tools. Today with the tons of multimedia devices we carry around, Chinese learning is even easier than when I first started learning back in 2002. Download this free lesson on Chinese-ilab.com and see how it works. Don’t forget the interactive games at the bottom of the page which provide a fun and engaging way of learning the language. I love these tools because they have something for all kinds of learning styles.

Hi All, I'm new here.

I found this forum while searching for information about learning chinese/mandarin in China.
I am really curios how is the Author of this post doing now?
If I go to study mandarin in China, I'd like also to go to a small city because I can't stand big cities.
Did he make it to China? How is it? Does anybody know?

best wishes

hi,there.
i think the idea about learning mandarin in a small city has his pros and cons. coz a small city does has fewer foreigners so you can talk to native people more. but many places in china don't use mandarin as much as their native dialect. so it may turns out that even you speak a lot to people, but you can't grasp the correct pronounciation.
just my opinion. hope you'll do well in your chinese learning^_^
cheers~

Hi Bettysh

That's a good point, and I didn't think about it
I have problems with big cities, not only for learning language
I just hate crowd
I can't even stand the big cities in my homeland

I guess I'll stick to self-learning for another while

best wishes