Learning Chinese in Taichung fading away.

[sedition]

I just heard tonight from a friend of mine that the Chinese Language Program at National Chung Hsing University is closing down.

The same friend then called 'Biz House' -the downtown extension of Providence University- and apparently they are also closing down soon.

I'm not sure if this represents a drastic reduction in the number of foreigners living in Taichung who want to learn Chinese or perhaps a change in Gov't policy whereby University affiliated language centers are now subject to new rules and new pressures.

TLI in Taichung is still around as is National Taichung University.

Times they are a' chang'in.

[Rabidpie]

Well, there is still Feng Chia university.

What could this mean? Taichung is one of the best places to learn Chinese. Cheap but great city to live in, not too many English speakers but still north enough that people use Mandarin.

[Lili]

Well, there is still Feng Chia university.

What could this mean? Taichung is one of the best places to learn Chinese. Cheap but great city to live in, not too many English speakers but still north enough that people use Mandarin.

There's your answer. Probably not enough demand.

[archylgp]

The scholarships are harder to get, I hear, and part-time work isn't as easy to come by with all the new teachers. I think these were the two things that brought many students here, but now that they're not as prevalent, students will go to China. And I don't blame them; the Taiwanese speak a very non-standard variety of Mandarin (in more ways than most of you are aware). (When I was in Beijing I was so surprised how well the some of the people spoke, but I'm a sucker for standard Mandarin. )

[pqkdzrwt]

One of the many places (the one that I have never heard of) here is closing down, plus a "campus" of another one?

Meaningless unless Fengjia or donghai shuts down their programs I wouldn't read too much into it.

[tommy525]

I don't understand people who complain about Taiwan's Mandarin. Its not mainland mando that is for sure. YOu want to learn mainland mando , go to China !

Its like studying french in Quebec. Its not french french is it?

[Rabidpie]

The scholarships are harder to get, I hear, and part-time work isn't as easy to come by with all the new teachers. I think these were the two things that brought many students here, but now that they're not as prevalent, students will go to China. And I don't blame them; the Taiwanese speak a very non-standard variety of Mandarin (in more ways than most of you are aware). (When I was in Beijing I was so surprised how well the some of the people spoke, but I'm a sucker for standard Mandarin. )

Standard? Are you sure your heard well? Taipei definitley has the most standard Mandarin. Talk to any taxi driver in Taipei vis-a-vis Beijing, I'm sure you'll get a much better handful of standard Chinese with the Taipei lads.

[Rabidpie]

Well, there is still Feng Chia university.

What could this mean? Taichung is one of the best places to learn Chinese. Cheap but great city to live in, not too many English speakers but still north enough that people use Mandarin.

There's your answer. Probably not enough demand.

I was referring to Taiwanese that speak English well, sorry didn't make that really clear in the post. Reading it again, it makes it look like I was referring to other joe's and john's.

[archylgp]

The scholarships are harder to get, I hear, and part-time work isn't as easy to come by with all the new teachers. I think these were the two things that brought many students here, but now that they're not as prevalent, students will go to China. And I don't blame them; the Taiwanese speak a very non-standard variety of Mandarin (in more ways than most of you are aware). (When I was in Beijing I was so surprised how well the some of the people spoke, but I'm a sucker for standard Mandarin. )

Standard? Are you sure your heard well? Taipei definitley has the most standard Mandarin. Talk to any taxi driver in Taipei vis-a-vis Beijing, I'm sure you'll get a much better handful of standard Chinese with the Taipei lads.

You must be kidding...

Even Taiwanese people who speak Guoyu (Taiwanese Mandarin) better than Taiwanese generally have some non-standard (that is, not standard Putonghua or Chinese Mandarin) tendencies; for example, using 有 like in 我有去過 not using 兒化音 (rhoticization, like in 館兒) at all, nearly no neutral tones (輕聲), 3rd tones that don't fall but are low and level (and of course never rise), mixing up retroflex and palatal fricatives/affricates, non-standard tones -- 期, 質...., I could go on.

[Baas Babelaas]

Slightly off topic, but I spent my first three years in Taichung, then moved to Xiamen.

The Xiamen locals sound very similar to the Taiwanese when speaking Mandarin as their first language is Minnanhua/Taiyu.

They seem to understand my Mandarin better than non-Xiamenese (ie. the rest of China).

Same same for when I visited Taiwan twice this year - the Taiwanese seemed to understand me better than the Mainlanders - maybe I have a Taiwan accent