Forums > Study > Yunnan University vs. Yunnan Nationalities University Yunnan University of Nationalities is so-so...most of the foreign students studying there are either from Thailand or Laos, in the case of the Thai students, most of them are there on a 2 year program learning Chinese to become Chinese teachers back home. There are probably no more than 5 western students in the whole university, so keep that in mind unless of course you'd prefer to make friends from these regional countries and of course with Chinese students instead.
The dorms at YUN also suck badly, although the foreigner's dorms are marginally better than the Chinese student's dorms. Still, the construction of new apartments behind the dorms often goes on at night as well, so if you do want to study there, choose the new campus, though the disadvantages would be distance from the city, as the new campus is located in Chenggong, on the outskirts of greater Kunming and entertainment, food and even transport options are quite limited, though the university does operate regular buses to the city campus for free.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Cable TV in Kunming Anyone know a good company to get cable TV service from? I am talking about a provider that offers the usual English language stations that you get in SE Asia and all over the world, including CNN, BBC, National Geographic, Discovery Channel etc. as well as presumably Chinese language ones. Any idea about costs, contractual obligations etc.?
Forums > Living in Kunming > Kunming sucks the life out of me... Forget Chinese food in Kunming...it's mostly just peas or corn on a plate, much like western food but just served in a different way, and cooked in peanut oil rather than vegetable or olive oil...that's the only difference.
Whatever happened to dim sum and kung pao chicken? You know, the good stuff? Anyway, you can find plenty of great Chinese food in Kunming (cross-the-bridge noodles and hot pot) and of course foreign food. You don't ever have to touch Chinese food if you don't want to, so I don't see the point of complaining about it given you can just eat foreign food (pizzas, burgers, pasta, sushi, Thai and Indian food etc.) everyday. Or make it yourself at home.
Forums > Living in Kunming > What's it going to be like? I agree with all these comments, though I HATE those stares. They may be curious, but it is rude and ignorant to stare for any length of time. I can understand watching a crime scene or a traffic accident for a length of time but not a person. A quick glance might be OK, but imagine if we stared at someone back home. Most likely we'd end up with a black eye.
If people are curious, they should just come up to us and talk...there's nothing more intimidating and uncomfortable than some jackass staring with his eyeballs half way outside their sockets and then going away or some other asshole saying hellooooo!! thinking that's even remotely funny (it's not...get a life and find out what real humor is all about).
I'm wondering what your experiences have been so far xuqiu19. Hopefully positive and I sincerely hope that your experiences have not been too bad...unfortunately this country still has a long way to go to achieve racial equality.
Forums > Living in Kunming > People wanting to learn Spanish... it's ok as a hobby on the side, but obviously it makes more sense to go to a country where that language is actually used, otherwise you won't make much progress.
Getting Away: Vang Vieng
Posted byYeah there are lots of hebrew speaking travellers in Vang Vieng these days. Same with regional tourists from Thailand - frankly given that Thai and Lao are nearly the same language I don't see how a Thai speaker can't read Lao, but apparently many can't hence the reason for the Thai signs you saw. Same in Thailand - at petrol (gas) stations near the Lao border, which are popular with Lao motorists you can see signs in Lao next to the Thai since there are some subtle differences between the two languages.
Getting Away: Vang Vieng
Posted by@Senorboogiewoogie, in Laos everything is flexible due to the power of money aka corruption. I was in Vang Vieng around midnight back in 2009 and it was still noisy in parts, but generally quiet outside the center of action.
Also, while perhaps not a good idea, every foreigner living in Laos knows you can sleep with a Lao citizen of the opposite sex in the same room if you are discreet about it and you'll only get in trouble if you piss someone off. I also think that the government only sees the images of westerners in Thailand and the Philippines "buying" girls at girlie bars and wants to maintain a more lowkey image, but naturally no Vietnamese or Chinese (or Thai) truck driver would be without his karaoke and Lao prostitute in the border provinces. The reality is that prostitution is as big in Laos as anywhere else, but maybe just a little less visible. However, in Vientiane there are large numbers of local girls with western or other foreign "boyfriends", or in genuine relationships.
Booming Southeast Asian trade necessitates bilingual graduates
Posted byHaha, well I don't think I was that pessimistic, and I do agree with you on some of your points - although being quite knowledgeable about languages myself, there is more overlapping of the dominant language from the more economically powerful country into the less dominant one than the other way round - i.e. despite what you said, there is very little Lao spoken in Vietnam, but the other way round there is quite a bit of Vietnamese understood in Laos. Lao officials on the Lao-Viet border can usually speak some Vietnamese, but Viet officials generally can't speak Lao. I have been there and know this for a fact. Same with Viet officials on the Chinese border - they can speak Chinese, but Chinese officials speak only Chinese and English, not Viet.
Vietnamese is also only understood amongst a very small minority of people on the Thai side of the Lao border, not many as you say...same with Thai in Myanmar but not Burmese in Thailand (except amongst the immigrant workers and some Burmese signboards near the Burmese border) in Thailand. As mentioned above, Chinese is quite strong in northern Laos, but Lao is non-existant anywhere in Chinese territory except when it comes to the Dai language, which is fairly close but not exactly the same language.
I've also found that the majority of South-East Asian Chinese language students here in Kunming don't speak much English at all for some strange reason. The ones back in their home countries that didn't major in Chinese are often quite good at English, so I guess there aren't that many polyglots around as you say - 2 languages seems to be what the average person knows and not more.
Although if we're on the subject of which SE Asian language to learn IN ADDITION TO English, which will continue to be important, then it must be Thai. Thai is understood throughout Thailand, Laos, western Cambodia and the Shan State of Myanmar. No other SE Asian language is as dominant as Thai.
This is reflected in the much greater interest amongst Chinese students in studying Thai than say, Vietnamese. I have met tons of Chinese students interested in, or with at least one semester of Thai behind them, but only two who had studied Vietnamese.
Booming Southeast Asian trade necessitates bilingual graduates
Posted bySounds good in principle, but learning to speak all SE Asian languages would require you to be some kind of linguistic genius and probably half a lifetime of devotion. Speaking only one of the languages from the region, say Thai or Burmese or Vietnamese, wouldn't help much in neighboring countries since each language in the region is not mutually intelligible with only limited overlapping...so such an approach would mean limiting your engagement to one country.
In parts of northern Laos and northern Myanmar, no attempts are made by Chinese settlers to learn the local language - everything (signboards, menus etc.) is in Chinese and locals [Laotians and Burmese] who can't speak this foreign language [Chinese] are left out.
Also, I don't think English should be forgotten - despite various levels of English fluency in the region, English is still the only global lingua franca and the global language of business. English is the only language you can successfully use in all SE Asian countries. While it's great to know Thai, Lao, Burmese etc. it isn't realistic unless you are living in those countries. I have also noticed that just like with English, Chinese learners of these SE Asian languages really struggle, and when encountering a local that speaks good English, the conversation will usually inevitably switch to English since the local will assume the other party can't speak their language well enough. It's only once fluency is achieved that this is overcome.
My recommendation would be for both Chinese and other foreigners interested in investing/doing business with the region to know how to speak English fluently, followed by becoming proficient in at least the basics of their host countries' language to at least show some interest and respect. Apart from those interested in becoming translators however, I personally think time and money is better spent gaining technical skills and then applying some language skills on the side - not the other way round.
I've done that and I'm doing quite well. I am an engineer that has worked in Vietnam and Thailand and I speak Thai and some Lao with an almost native accent (and can read and write both languages) - something that is of enormous benefit to me, but I have achieved this as a side passion rather than as my main job. Still, I barely speak Vietnamese and don't have the energy or time to work on it - in any case, doing business isn't difficult as most educated people there speak English anyway and I have a very good friend who helps me so it's all good. Ditto for Cambodia and Myanmar.
Getting Away: Luang Prabang
Posted byThere is an error in this article. Lao Airlines flies only twice (2) a week from Luang Prabang to Jinghong, not daily. They only just restarted this service recently and I highly doubt there would be enough demand for a daily service at this time. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this service were to once again be suspended in the near future. Luang Prabang-Kunming flights are said to be restarted again in the near future too, but no date has been given.
Check out online copies of Lao Airlines' Champa inflight magazine for more details.