Yes. Universities will have several grades of course all starting and finishing on the same dates. There will normally be between 9-12 levels, from Beginner through to Intermediate and Advanced.

Students that can read more than 3,000 characters and speak fluently may find they are too advanced for such courses and would benefit from studying with native Chinese students.

The courses are useful for “overseas Chinese” who can speak but have limited reading ability and don’t understand the rules of grammar properly. They are not so useful for students from areas like Hong Kong or Singapore that read and understand the Chinese language well but need to improve their “Putonghua” pronunciation.

 

 

Before the commencement of the course each student will be given a “level-test” written and oral examination to decide which class would be most appropriate. Complete beginners are not required to take the test. After the test a class will be allocated. Usually the most important factor is reading ability, as the textbooks for the courses are all in Chinese.

 

 

Sometimes your teacher will realize that you are too good / struggling within the first few days and suggest you to move class. If you feel the class is inappropriate you can also request to move. The university will normally be quite flexible in the first week. The university will only normally refuse the change if a student wants to move to a more difficult class but is clearly not good enough, as this would negatively affect the progress of the other students in that class.

 

 

Participants on HYCC programmes have varied between 17 and 52 years old. At the universities it is not unusual to see retired Japanese or Korean gentlemen (rarely ladies for some reason) in classes. Usually a class will have a couple of students in their late twenties, another in their thirties and sometimes an older student.

In general, older students tend to have more difficulty identifying tones when listening. Studying of the Chinese characters is also harder. However they find the experience fascinating and seem to appreciate the learning experience more. The universities are concerned mainly with the health of the applicant. We recommend that the applicant takes a standard health check before application. We can coordinate with the university using such a document.

 

 

Very little. At lower levels the teachers may say a word or two in English to help individual students occasionally, however they are discouraged from doing this by the universities. The main reason is that the majority of the students are Koreans, Japanese and Russians who normally speak English quite poorly. Therefore in principle the classes are held in CHINESE ONLY with occasional exceptions to save time. This is considered by the universities to be a more healthy learning environment.

 

 

This will depend on the level of the class you are in. At Beginner and Intermediate levels it is not unusual to see classes of up to 20 students in the first week. At Advanced levels classes fall to eight students or less. However the university knows that a certain proportion of students are not motivated enough to attend throughout the semester. Usually by the end of the first month the class sizes have fallen to between 8 – 12 students per class. 

(Typically it is some of the younger Korean “rebel” students and some of the Russian students who drop out. You will see them in the dormitories and in the bars and clubs but rarely in class after the first few weeks. Often they are sent to China to study by their parents but really have no interest or motivation to study)

 

 

Normally 20 hours are provided. This also varies slightly depending on the level of the class. Often Beginners are given slightly fewer class hours because they have to spend more time outside of class learning how to recognize and write characters.

 

 

Usually each class will have four teachers, with an occasional guest teacher for a special class.

 

 

This will depend on the level of the class, but in general there are four core component classes: 

 

Comprehensive:  This is the most regularly held class, usually four times a week.

Conversation:       Usually held twice a week.

Listening:              Usually held twice a week using CDs and text to help students get used to identifying sentence patterns.

Writing:                  Usually held twice a week. 

 

At intermediate and higher levels different kinds of classes are introduced, like Newspaper Reading, Chinese Society and even Ancient Chinese Literature for the most ambitious.

 

 

Most classes are held in the mornings, from 8am – 12.30pm. It is not unusual to have one or two afternoon classes per week, and these usually start at 1.30pm. In principle, mornings are for study while afternoons are for practice and revision and evenings for socializing (usually in Chinese as well).

In the afternoon the universities will often hold some elective classes like calligraphy or Chinese cooking. Attendance is not compulsory.

 

 

The universities will require you to pay for the course during the first week after course commencement. HYCC will help you to setup a bank account and have money wired over from your home country – this is safer than carrying cash and cheaper than using a credit card. Note that tuition fees are in RMB. By the time you reach China they will be different from the prices on our website which are shown in EUR / US$ for your convenience. Therefore the overall cost of your programme may be a little higher / lower than shown on our website at the time you apply.

 

 

Yes. Often the universities will arrange trips to local sights. They also hold events like speech contests, Karaoke contests and plays (in which the students of each class are requested to act – all in Chinese of course!).

 

 

No big problem if it only happens occasionally. If it becomes a regular occurrence your teacher may speak with you about it, especially if he / she feels you are falling behind in the class. Note that the university has little ability to control whether or not fee-paying students attend classes or not. The responsibility is on the student to attend, not on the university to force students to attend.

One exception here is for students attending full-degree courses. For such courses a minimum attendance record must be maintained in order to graduate.

 

 

Yes. It has happened before. Offences such as smoking drugs, carrying a weapon or instigating a fight in a club / bar have been punished by expelling students and revoking their visas. To be honest, if you are caught doing any of the above then being expelled may be one of the smaller problems you face.

 

 

There is no individual tuition on the standard curriculum. However the university (or HYCC) may introduce a “fudao” (study assistant) to students who request one. This is usually a Chinese student with a good understanding of Chinese grammar. Foreign students can arrange to pay the fudao a certain amount of money per hour for assistance, or alternatively teach English or another foreign language in return. It is a good way to make new friends.

If you require more tuition from a qualified teacher out of regular school hours we suggest you contact HYCC for an introduction. Your university teachers are not supposed to take on “private work” with students under the terms of their contracts.

 

 

For Beginners this can be a big problem, as in the first week the most fundamental principles are learnt. For students with some Chinese ability it is not so much of a problem. A level test can be given after the student's arrival and an appropriate level of class identified.

The universities do not like to encourage this practice, and students should have a good reason for arriving late. Students should inform the university in advance.

 

 

There are examinations before the mid-term break and at the end of the course. Certificates of course completion will normally only be issued to students that pass the final exam.

A more useful examination that can be taken by students while they study in China is the HSK. This is a Chinese language proficiency test administered internationally and slowly becoming recognized by employers and foreign universities. The universities will handle applications for participation in these exams. Click here for more details.

 

 

You can leave whenever you like, although the university will only provide a refund in exceptional circumstances (extreme illness / accident etc.). It is possible to apply to take the final exam early, but at a maximum a week or two early. HYCC can arrange to have your certificate posted to your home address if necessary.

 

 

We don’t have these lists when students apply, because the decision of which books to use is only made by the faculty a few weeks before the new semester starts. We can suggest some good texts for students to buy and even send them with their visa application forms (for a fee) but we cannot guarantee that these will be the same books used by the university the student applied to.

 

 

If you come to China with no knowledge of the language at all, then realistically you are not going to walk away in a year’s time with the ability to read a Chinese newspaper. After one semester you will be able to say several basic sentence patterns and write a couple of hundred characters. You will be at a basic conversational level. After one year you should be able to live in China fairly independently. You should be able to make yourself understood in daily life and recognize a lot of the common characters and signs that you see around you.

Traveling for a few months within China after completion of your study allows students to practice what they have learnt and gives them a huge amount of confidence. It is often only after they do this that students really realize how much they have learnt.

 

If you come to China with some ability in the language already then you will find progress is much quicker. Generally, after three months you will be able to adjust to the tones and local slang used by locals. Studying of the characters is still a long, hard process though. Students should avoid making the mistake of concentrating on conversation too much at the expense of reading.

 

Each student is different. Often some will become conversational very quickly but really struggle with the characters. Others will love studying the characters but struggle with the pronunciation. Occasionally we will come across a genius that finds both pretty easy. Overall, those students that enjoy their life, get involved in various activities and travel here in China tend to improve more.