Penn State students share their experience and tips.

* * * * * * * * * *

David Bittle

I’ve taken Asian languages before Chinese and I think they all have one thing in common when it comes to studying, you have to do it everyday. I know that sounds difficult, and sometimes you don’t have time, but even if it is just a little bit, maybe 10 or 15 minutes just looking over the characters, it helps to remember them in the long run.

You should identify what your weak areas are and seek to correct them. For example, towards the beginning of the semester, I was very weak with tones. I couldn’t tell the difference between the second and third tone no matter how hard I tried. Realizing this, I decided to listen to the audio tapes over and over with tone practice, saying the words over and over to myself to get a feel for which tone was which.

Understanding didn’t come overnight but after awhile, I started to get it. Now, for the most part, I can tell the difference between all the tones.

Another thing is that the teacher says that you should listen to the audiotapes everyday. The teacher doesn’t say that just to make you do extra work and waste time. It is really helpful. The listening practice helps you to be able to understand sentences quicker and it also helps you to get use to hearing the different sentence patterns.

If you have Chinese friends, trying using some stuff you learned in class. Not only is it good speaking practice, you can get a better feel for whether or not you are pronouncing things correctly. I have a few friends from Taiwan and whenever I see them, I try to throw out a few phrases that I learned and get some feedback. Something else that has helped me is watching Taiwanese TV dramas. I started watching Taiwanese dramas well before I decided to take Chinese and I think it really helped me pronounce things better since I already have an idea how things are suppose to sound, even if I haven’t actually learned it yet.

Some dramas I have seen and would recommend are Devil Beside You, Hua Yang Shao Nian Shao Nu, Metereor Garden I + II, Marmalade Boy, KO One, Love Contract, Prince Turns Into Frog (Wang Zi Bian Qing Wa), and Why Why Love (Huan Huan Ai). These were pretty interesting and you can download them with subtitles. 

* * * * * * * * * *

Jamie Kunkle

I choose to take Chinese as a graduate student for a number of reasons. The school I did my undergraduate degree at did not offer a Chinese program, so when I saw it was available at PennState, I jumped at the opportunity.  Even though I thought Chinese might be a little more challenging than Spanish or French, I also knew it would end up being far more valuable. It is well known at this point that China is the fastest-growing superpower in the world, and that more and more of our industries work with or rely on theirs in one fashion or another. Learning to communicate comfortably in Chinese will make me much more valuable to any company I choose to work for, and would also cause my resume to stand out all the more to a potential employer, not only because I possess a valuable and rare skill, but because I showed initiative in choosing to learn a more complicated language than most.

My experience in learning Chinese at PennState has been phenomenal so far. Not only have I learned substantial amounts of the Chinese language and culture, I have found use for that learning on a regular basis. In my department, there are many Chinese professors and students, and I have found myself able to communicate more fluidly and comfortably with them. They have been extremely excited to learn of my interest in their language and culture, and eager to share their knowledge and practice speaking with me. I have developed several mutually beneficial relationships with other students as a result of my learning so far, and I am sure that I will continue to be able to forage such relationships later on in the workplace once I graduate.

Chinese class itself has also been a highly enjoyable experience. We do work hard to learn and retain our knowledge, but we also do activities and play games using the language. We practice with other students, give mini-presentations, and often get a good laugh out of our attempts to manipulate the language to tell jokes or make up funny situations. I have made many friends through the class, and look forward to continuing to work and joke with them as we continue our education.

Having enjoyed my experience so much, I plan to continue taking Chinese and am even exploring to possibility of obtaining a minor in it. It is my hope that one day in the near future I will get to travel to China and spend several months touring there teaching English. I cannot recommend learning Chinese at Penn State highly enough to other students. Penn State’s Chinese department is phenomenally supportive and creative and I could not think of a more ideal group to learn this language from.

* * * * * * * * * *

Alison Chen

My parents are from Taiwan and they speak Mandarin to me, but I speak English back to them. I never really spoke it until I started going to class, because my pronunciation was all wrong, and I just sounded really American when I spoke.  While being familiar with the language is definitely an advantage, when it comes to writing, I’m on the same level as anyone else because I didn’t know how to write before.  Also, with each lesson, I’m learning words I didn’t know before, despite my previous “knowledge” of Chinese.  So even if you’re coming into class with experience with Chinese, I assure you that you’ll still have to put in a lot of time and energy in to learning this language correctly and to doing well in class.

The hardest parts of Chinese are the pinyin and the writing.  With pinyin, A lot of practice is the only thing that can help you.  In the beginning of the year, I had to teach myself the pinyin because I started class late.  You can’t have someone just tell you what the sounds sound like.  That’ll hardly ever work at all – I tried and failed.  You just have to listen to the tones and just practice writing them.  Pinyin spelling was challenging at first, but after a while, you get much better because of how much you’ve been listening to the different initial and ending sounds.  You become familiarized with the tones and spelling a lot more than you know after a month or two.  Learning pinyin and knowing it well also helps a lot with pronunciation. 

With writing…oh god. Especially because words consist of strokes, rather than letters, it’s a lot of work to remember each character. Writing – or Chinese in general – is cumulative.  It’s not a class where after you’ve taken the first test, you can forget everything you’ve learned.  Especially with writing.  To stay prepared for each quiz, I practice all the characters up to that point.  It’s a lot of practice after 8 lessons of vocabulary or so, but when it comes to test or quiz time, it all pays off.

So in the end, it all comes down to practice, practice, practice and also paying attention.

* * * * * * * * * *

Haemin Choi

It is my pleasure to share my experience in Chinese 001 class with you. There are several reasons I got good grades in test and quizzes. First, I always wanted to learn Chinese. It is very important to have this kind of thought in your mind so you can keep up your work; it should be yourself who force you to study foreign language. Second, I tried to talk to my Chinese friend in Chinese with the words I learned in the class. For example, I always say Ni Hao, instead of Hello, to my Chinese friends. Third, I always finished the homework before a test in order to get a good grade. Sometimes the phrases in the homework appeared on tests. I hope these kinds of study method work for you, too.

[Return to Top]