[ExpatInfoDesk]

Posted by steveK, 5 replies

I will be going to China for a three year posting. My company offered me to spend first 3 months learning Mandarin, however without pay (they pay for the course and accommodation only). I am thinking about doing it but have never been to China. Is it necessary/helpful to speak Mandarin in China?
If I chose to study, where in China should I do the course? Any suggestions for good Chinese schools in China with a flexible schedule?

 

5 replies

Massum

If you can financially afford it to earn less for a quarter of a year then do it for sure. If you do not speak Mandarin, your life in China will be limited to expat restaurants, bars and places which gets quite boring after a while. I think it is great your company is offering you that opportunity. It will be helpful for work too I assume.
Where you study Chinese really depends on where you want to live (where will you be based later?). LTL is one of the biggest Chinese language schools in China and they offer different locations if you want somewhere to start checking out Chinese cities http://www.livethelanguage.cn/learn-chinese-in-china/ Beijing and Shanghai are very different to the rest of China, so the first thing you should look at if you want to live in a big international metropolis or not.
Best would be to go to China and have a look yourself first of course though, have you discussed that with your company?

whatsoever

If to choose live in China for three years,it would be a big pity not to learn chinese.i advise you to learn chinese by asking help from the unversity students,they’d love to teach you chinese and at the same time improve their own english level.find them on unversity forum.

maybethisweight

Learn Mandarin. I’ve visited a few cities in China, including Beijing, and English doesn’t get very far here. Just for the sake of practicality, you’ll need to know the language to take a taxi/transportation, and to order food practically anywhere. The culture and locals are not that tourist friendly – they don’t often go out of their way to understand or accommodate. Many signs around the big cities have English, but the translations can sometimes be odd or inconsistent.

Even at the Dalian airport, the immigration officers didn’t know English – I needed to call a local friend and hand the phone to them.

Loverke

I recommend it to everyone learning Chinese! I found this school http://www.hanbridgemandarin.com on a Google search cause I live in Australian and I need to learn Chinese online. I was very impressed by the teaching method and the virtual classroom, and of course, the experienced and professional teachers! I started with Hanbridge Mandarin half a year ago, which turned out to be perfect, now I’m able to chat with my Chinese friends easily.

Loverke

The answer is YES!!

Mandarin is becoming common currency, particularly in Asia where trade ties with the Middle Kingdom are supplanting those of the region’s longtime primary partner, the U.S. Indeed, because English is spoken so universally, it no longer offers companies and employees the edge it once did,In many Asian countries, in Europe and the USA, Mandarin has emerged as the new must-have language.

In case you need, here’s the Chinese learning solution http://www.hanbridgemandarin.com highly recommended by a numbers of Chinese learners.

[Dariya Lopukhina]

It is possible to live and work in China without speaking Mandarin, but only if your job doesn’t require any language skills and if most of your local colleagues speak English. You will also need to have a local friend who is always there to help you with your social activities, administration procedures, and other stuff.

However, foreigners who are able to speak Chinese are having a much more comfortable lifestyle. Learning Chinese gives you the ability to talk to locals, go anywhere on your own to eat (even to small restaurants with no English menu), understand signs on the streets, and do whatever you want without the help of anyone. So, even if you don’t need to know Mandarin for job purposes, it still makes sense to learn it in order to have a normal social life and to experience various great things during your stay there.

If you want to take the Chinese language course, LTL Mandarin School is a good place to go. I would also advise you to take advantage of the range of Chinese learning resources available online. What’s particularly great about online tools is that you can learn on the go or whenever you have a break, which saves you tons of time. To have a better idea of where to start, check this guide: https://www.hackchinese.com/blog/a-pre-beginners-guide-to-learning-chinese. It gives some good tips on learning Mandarin for beginners.

I hope it helps!

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