Mandarin & french / italian language tutor

[Meilinda]

hey everyone

I'm in a serious mood to learn another language than English. I'm thinking to learn 2 new languages in the same time, which is mandarin and some french / italian.

For the mandarin, I seriously won't be bothered to study the writing. for me, as long as I can speak fluently is already good enough.

therefore I'm thinking if there's anyone who can improve my Mandarin?

And since I'm thinking to take the language classes .. Are they any good? Is it effective?

Kindly need your reviews

[Freaker]

Since you mentioned "improving" your Mandarin - the classes offered by the Evening Language School are either quite basic, or of a very mixed level and with little time, so you may be better off getting a private tutor, unless you have zero knowledge - then give the classes a go.

As for tutors, there are a few Chinese students in St Andrews who are looking for people to tutor - some even just for the experience without taking money. Approach the president of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) about it, or post something in their facebook group, or even better, unless it has happened already, go to their Chinese New Year celebration and ask around.

Good luck, it's a fun language, and once you get past the tones the spoken part is not even all that hard!

[Meilinda]

Where can I find Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) ? I don't have them on my facebook.

Fyi I'm a new student that will only start studying in august hehe

[Freaker]

Where can I find Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA) ? I don't have them on my facebook.

Fyi I'm a new student that will only start studying in august hehe

Hmm... search for CSSA, and you should find a group on facebook. I'd post a link to their group, but I'm in China right now, and facebook is 'harmonised' (blocked) here.

Actually, this might be the link, if it is still valid (found it in an old email.)

The Chinese New Year Event has a facebook event as well, if my emails are to be trusted. It's on the 27th and certainly worth going to if you are interested in the language and the culture.

As a new student, you might want to take classes with Evening Language Teaching at the same time - but have a look if you find a tutor first. The learning will be much quicker (and demanding) that way, and a lot more fun as well, I should think. Especially once it gets to going to a Chinese restaurant and ordering dishes with their original names !

Since you are new to Mandarin, the most important thing is to have patience. Depending on how demanding your teacher is, you'll spend the first few times just practising the tones and pronunciation. It's tedious, but - any minute you invest into getting that right at the beginning will pay off later. In Mandarin, getting the tone off on one word, even if the pronunciation is the same otherwise, is like saying "cold" instead of "tree" in English, and the Chinese won't understand what you are on about. Good grammar (which is incredibly simple to learn) is not nearly as important as good pronunciation. And given that there is a near-perfect transliteration system for Chinese, called pinyin, using numbers to indicate tones, there is really no excuse !

加油！ (jia1you2, keep going!)

[Meilinda]

Thanks for the info. I have already found the necessary information from facebook

Wish me luck