I studied chinese at uni, three years as a major, but when i got to china i quickly found that my spoken chinese was somewhere between poor and basic. Now that i have completed my first year living and working chinese i would like to compare the progress in regard to different areas.
FLAWED UNI MAJOR
Prime minister Kevin Rudd also from the Australian National University Chinese program as have others that i know now speak impeccable Chinese. Over 3 years i would have to say that the program wasn't all that great because of the course structure and syllabus. Basically the departing head of chinese Cam Louie, after 6 months under him, rode off into the sunset (some HK uni post) leaving us with Mrs Yang. Cam's focus was (apparently) more spoken and practical focused while Yang's new regime leaned heavily towards chinese disciplines of flying through the text book (NPCR), learning countless new words, and testing continuously. Its not nessesarily a bad approach nor a strictly chinese one, but id have to say that it leaves a strong foundation in writing, knowing and using character, but a gaping hole in listening and speaking.
ARRIVING IN CHINA
It become instantly apparent to me that most chinese's english was better than my own chinese, HUGELY disheartening. I thought: these guys have english on tv, on signs, pushed down their throat and on top of this they have stuided for countless more years than me - i stand no chance! Luckily they seemed to follow the same cram and ram style learning that i had endured. So they could read and write abit, but not really engage in a meaningful conversation. Plus, like me, they overestimated their language abilities. I thought it was clearly intermediate, if not pushing into advanced, which was way off according to the real language environment and even the HSK benchmark. You have to balance being confident and positive off against the situation on the ground.
REFLECTIONS AFER A YEAR
I spent one semester at Zhejiang University and over 6 months in a infinity superior privite school, on top of that i regularly use chinese at work, home and out. I'm tempted to say that my one year here easily eclipses the three i spent in Australia studing. Quick-fire conclusion don't bother studing at home, just go aborad. But the reason i accelled so quickly is because of a decent vocab, reasonable gramer, and the ability to write and memorise charater quickly, these skills don't nessesarily need to be learned aborad, but i think they click better once combinded with a active environment.
GOING FORWARD
Its imperative to getting into patterns of speaking to native chinese for entended periods of time, on a daily bases. This might be hard but you need to find a way, whether you are the social type and can aquire a friend a minute, pay a tutor to talk to you or find a partner, you need interaction to get to the next level (advanced). I really think keeping your reading/writing abilitiy balanced with your speaking/listening helps heaps as they compliment each other. Reading and writing is a sole quest, but i do use a tutor for working for the nitty gritties like grammer, tones and drafting my writing.
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