Hello,
I will come to kunming in August, and I am looking for a school/university in kunming for 2 semesters. My choice goes to Yunnan Normal University at the moment.
The price is not so expensive (12100 rmb/year).
I do not speak chinese (putonghua), but I have so basis because I do speak wenzhouhua.
Is this university good to learn chinese? Or can you advice me other uni/schools? I prefer university by the way because it's way more cheaper.
ps: I am french, sorry for any mistakes
天不怕,地不怕,就怕温州人说温州话
I don't know the cost of Keats or KCEL now but they certainly used to be considerably cheaper than 12,100 rmb/yr., suggest you contact them through their advertisements here. I don't know that the teaching is any better at the universities.
Thank you, I just checked Keats and indeed it's cheaper, I thought it was more expensive : it's 7800 CNY for 8 months, perfect for me.. However, I'd love to make friends and do sports, and what's interesting in YNU, is that there is football field for example
The price of KEATS and most other private schools is normally for 10 hours a week for 32 weeks.
For universities, it's normally 18+ hours a week for a year.
So, universities are generally considerably cheaper.
You shouldn't have any problem making friends and doing sports regardless of where you study.
unless your sport requires facilities that is. yunnan normal campus at chengong has good sports facilites including a pool (i think). university always work aout cheaper as more contact hours. however teaching style may not suit your needs and there is no flexibility in delivery at uni. there are several threads on here trelated to this subject.
Seems to me that 10 hours per week learning Chinese is about right, but it depends on what your level is and what you are concentrating on. If I do 2 hours per day, I usually spend 4 hours or so doing homework, reading and writing (by hand), but that is because my big problem is always the written language, where what is necessary is really lots of reading & writing - more class time doesn't seem to be worth it. Then again, if it's learning to speak that is your problem, remember you're in China and there is no shortage of chances to practice in daily life.
I know nothing about wenzhouhua, but I'd guess that it is structurally pretty similar to putonghua and with a fair amount of phonological similarity to putonghua, so that you'll be able to pick up pronunciation etc. pretty easily. I say this because this seems to be the case for Cantonese speakers (difficulties noted).
There's a very interesting article in Wiki on Wenzhou hua.
@Daithi: Yes, interesting article, thanks.
However, when I read the saying that you wrote (in previous comment) in characters about Wenzhouhua (Tian bupa etc.) I immediately thought of the very similar phrase, which I heard from numerous people, including a lot of children, when I first studied Chinese in the early 70s in Taipei - only the saying was: 'tian bupa, di bupa, jiu pa waiguoren shuo Zhongguohua'. I can't remember having heard this in Mainland China, although I may have. I've never heard the phrase with 'wenzhouhua' and 'wenzhouren' before. Perhaps the phrase I heard was a derivation, by KMT troops & others who retreated to Taiwan after being defeated on the Mainland, of the one about Wenzxhouren, due to the contact during WWII with American troops whose Chinese, when it existed, was probably pretty bad.
Or the 'waiguoren' version might go back to early Western imperialist/colonialist days, when it was forbidden to teach Chinese to foreigners. But if so, it ought to be prevalent on the Mainland as well, and in Hong Kong...maybe it is?
It's obviously a pretty adaptable phrase.
