Introduction

So you want to learn Mandarin, teach English and live China? Well I’ve only been in China for two months and I’m definitely not an expert but before I moved to China I had six months to kill so I spent that time surfing the internet and finding everything I could about China. It still didn’t prepare me for what it’s really like over here but it was better than nothing. So I figured I’d add to the growing body of knowledge and add my two cents.

The rest of this document is divided into three main sections.

The program I am using to learn Mandarin and how I developed it.
Some questions you really need to answer before you move over to China.
Some resources I found while I was in Australia.

I hope you enjoy reading this document and get something out of it.

Nathaniel’s Mandarin Program

Now before I take too much credit for the method I’m using to learn Mandarin I have to give credit to Bill Handley’s book Fast Easy Way to Learn a Language which is the basis for how I am learning Mandarin. I don’t think I can recommend his book highly enough. For those of you that can’t get access to it here are the main points I got out of it.

Use multiple resources / techniques.
Learn in two stages.
- Passive - Just try to learn stuff as quickly as possible. It doesn’t matter if you fully understand it or not.
- Active - This should be roughly a week to a month behind the passive stage. Now go over the material again and make sure you really understand what’s going on.

If you read his book the first thing you’ll probably notice is that I’m not using all of the techniques that he recommended. The ones I’ve listed are the ones that work for me. Everyone learns differently so try all of them and see which ones work for you.

At the moment there are four main things that I am doing to learn Mandarin:

A Mandarin course.
Pimsleur’s Mandarin Chinese course.
Living Language’s “Ultimate Mandarin Chinese Beginner-Intermediate” text book.
Pleco Dict on my PDA and ZDT on my computer.

The Mandarin course is keeping me motivated and at the moment they are doing a great job at teaching me new concepts at a fairly fast pace. Before I started the course I was learning Mandarin by myself and it was really too easy to procrastinate. The fact that I can’t procrastinate anymore is worth the price of the course but to be honest I’ve been really impressed with them so far.

Pimsleur’s is an audio only course which means you can do it virtually anywhere. The whole course is broken up into half hour lessons which are fairly easy to digest. The thing that really makes this course stand out and makes learning Mandarin easy is that each lesson only introduces one or two concepts so I’ve never felt lost or out of my depth. I’ve down a couple of lessons twice just to make sure I knew I understood everything but I always felt that I was in control and learning something. The problem with an audio course like this is that if you only use it and nothing else you’ll end up with a fairly small vocabulary.

It took me about a month to pick a textbook. The textbook I ended up picking was the Ultimate Mandarin Chinese Beginner-Intermediate by Living Language. Lots of other people online recommended it and it also comes with audio CDs to help with pronunciation. The textbook is easy to read and is well laid out but if you are planning on doing classes or having a private tutor then the audio CDs became a bit of a mute point and you may as well save some money and buy one of the cheap Chinese textbooks.

Pleoc Dict and ZDT are very similar. Here are the features they will have in common once Pleco Dict version 2 comes out:

Chinese -> English dictionary
English -> Chinese dictionary
Display the stroke order of the Chinese characters
Teach Chinese using Flash cards.
Say the Chinese word

While they both do the same basic functions there are a couple of major differences.

Pleco Dict is on Pocket PC and Palm (PDAs - which you can carry around)
Pleco Dict is commercial and costs money.
Pleco Dict has access to commercial dictionaries which are much better than the free ones.
Pleco Dict has character recognition.
ZDT runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X (Computers - which you can’t carry around)
ZDT is Open Source and Free.
ZDT only has access to free dictionaries which are mainly designed for Chinese -> English not English -> Chinese.

I personally use both of them. ZDT on my computer and Pleco Dict on my Treo 650 which is a PDA phone. If you have the money buy Pleco Dict. If you don’t ZDT is the next best thing.

Moving to China

Do you really want China?

First of all what you need to figure out is do you really want to go to China? If you just want to teach English and travel then the Middle East is an option that pays really well at the moment. If the Middle East sends shivers up your spine then you might prefer Japan which isn’t a developing country. I know people who have taught in both of these countries and they both loved it. If you look around you will be able to find lots of countries that are looking for English teachers so don’t think that China is the only country where you can teach English.

So why did I choose China? Well, the thing that attracted me to China was the fact that China is an amazing country with a fairly low cost of living. The clincher for me was that I want to learn Mandarin so that made China a fairly obvious choice.

Do you really want to learn Mandarin?

Do you really want to put in the time and effort that is required to learn Mandarin or do you just want to experience China and have a good time? Why is this an issue? Well there are lots of different dialects in China and while all schools are taught in Mandarin it doesn’t mean that it is the default language for that town or city. A general rule of thumb is that the further away you go from Beijing the higher the chances are that you’ll get a city / town where the dialect differs significantly from Mandarin. So if your serious about learning standard Mandarin then you’ll want to limit yourself to towns and cities as close to Beijing as possible. If Mandarin isn’t your top priority then it doesn’t matter where you decide to live. You can still learn Mandarin you’ll just need to adapt it to the local dialect which you will probably learn better than standard Mandarin.

Let’s take a short break and talk about dialects. The Chinese written language is the same across the whole country but almost every single city seems to have a slightly different dialect. Some of the dialects are very similar. Think of the difference between the British accent and the American accent. That being said the two main dialects are Mandarin and Cantonese which are more like different languages. In theory all kids are now taught in Mandarin and learn English so as time goes on everyone will be able to speak Mandarin. If you decide to live in a town that has a dialect that is different from Mandarin you’ll have to choose what is more important. Speaking to the people around you now and correcting your Mandarin later on or learning standard Mandarin now and get frustrated with the people around you.

Do you want a city or a town?

So do you want cheaper living expenses and a more authentic Chinese experience or all the luxuries of home? If you decided to living in a city or town that isn’t very touristy then you’ll find it very hard to find western goods like cheese, custard, spray on deodorant etc. That being said it will generally be a lot cheaper simply because it isn’t touristy so you’ll get local prices. In a large city like Beijing they have import stores all over the place which carry goods from Europe, America, Australia and virtually everywhere else as well. That means that there is a fairly good chance that you’ll actually have more choice in Beijing than you did back home. The down side is that it’s a lot more expensive that the smaller cities and towns but it is still probably be cheaper than what you are use to. It really comes down to a personal choice and what you get offered.

What’s the deal with Visas?

I wasn’t sure if I should talk about visas because the information is slightly different for every country and it’s likely to change. If you need reliable information please go to a Chinese consulate or travel agent in your country. The reason why I finally decided to include this section was because it was really hard to find any information about visas at all. If the information gets to out of date I’ll probably cut this section out.

Most people really only care about four of the visas.

F – Tourist visa. A three month visa that doesn’t let you work but does let you study. You can apply for an extension while you are in China that will last for another three months. If you just want to visit China then this is the visa to get.
L – Long Tourist visa. To get this visa you generally need to have a letter from someone in China inviting you. This visa seems to be designed for people that have come to China for a specific reason that isn’t working or studying. I have heard of spouses getting this visa when they want to live in China but not work in China or become a Chinese resident. Unless you’re a special case you’ll generally want to avoid this visa because it’s a lot of effort.
X – A student visa. You need to have an invitation from a school that can legally invite students. The visa lasts as long as you are a student but you can’t get a job with this visa.
Z – A working visa. You need to have an invitation from company that can legally employ foreigners. You are also suppose to have a degree but this requirement isn’t always enforced. If you can get this visa then it’s the one to get. You can work, study and do virtually anything with it. Your spouse automatically gets a Z visa so they can work in China as well if they want to.

The Chinese government is very bureaucratic and will often give you conflicting information. If your local Chinese consulate tells you one thing and the Chinese people tell you something else listen to the consulate in your country. They seem to know more about Chinese policies than the Chinese people in China do.

It sometimes seems like the entire country is one big government department and if everything was done the correct way then nothing would ever get done. That means that people often have to work around the system. So people often come to China on an F visa and then get it turned into an X visa or a Z visa after they’ve arrived which is perfectly legal. The problem is lots of Chinese people are desperate and will make promises that they can’t keep so if you can get a Z visa or X visa before you leave your country it will make your life a lot easier. If you can’t get a Z visa or X visa before you leave make sure you talk to some current or previous employees to make sure you’re not being taken for a ride and that the employer can actually get you the correct visa after you’ve arrived. If you look on some of the Chinese forums you will find lots of horror stories from people that went over based on false promises.

Preparation

The amount of preparation you have to do before you move to China depends upon what your goals are in China. If you only want to visit it for a couple of months like an extended holiday then you could just jump on a plane and fly over once you have a job lined up. If you are planning on staying for any serious period of time then I’d recommend that you do either a TESOL or TEFL course. While they aren’t entirely required it will make it a lot easier for you to teach English and you’ll generally get paid better as well. The course is fairly cheap and it comes in many different shapes and sizes. I’d recommend doing either the four week intensive or the three month part time course. I haven’t heard anything good about the weekend courses that let you do the work at home so I can’t recommend them. A good course will give you lots of practical experience so try to have a look at the course outline before you sign up. Refuge and immigrant centers are a good place to start because they generally teach English so they’ll generally have first hand experience with the TESOL or TEFL courses around.

You’ll also want to bring over some spending money as most schools only pay monthly after you’ve already done the work. If (your) you’re planning on staying for a while then you might want to bring over a little extra to setup your new home.

Which Job?

Before you even start looking for a job you need to decide if you want to work for a private school or a public school. Private schools promise a lot more than public schools but don’t always live up to their promises and they often use people whereas public pays less but has a lot less demands. If you look online you can find lots of horror stories from people who have accepted jobs with private schools without doing their homework first. My recommendation is apply for a number of jobs but before you accept any of them talk to a current or previous foreign employee and find out what they’re like as an employer. If they won’t let you talk to a current or previous foreign employee then that’s a really bad sign and proceed with caution.

It’s generally easier to get a job in the country than it is in one of the major cities so if you’re not having much luck try looking a little further out. Be aware that China really blows everything out of proportion. Generally towns that are looking for English teachers are fairly large but that doesn’t really mean that much. In China you can have a small town with between a couple of million residents but no city center, no night life, no malls and no import stores because it’s too small to be a city. Basically don’t just go by the population of the city and assume it will be like a western city.

Resources

Websites

Books

Bill Handley: Fast Easy Way to Learn a Language
Living Language: Ultimate Mandarin Chinese Beginner-Intermediate

Software

Schools

Recommendations

First of all I’m impressed that you got this far. Congratulations! I left my recommendations till last because I don’t know anything about you and I personally don’t feel that I’m qualified to give you life changing advice. That being said people always want advice so here’s my advice to the people that want to move to China, learn Mandarin and teach English while you’re there/here:

Read “Fast Easy Way to Learn a Language” and start creating your own language program.
If you’re not in China and don’t have access to Chinese lessons then get a copy of Pimsleur’s Chinese Mandarin course and work through all 90 lessons.
If you want to learn Characters and build up your vocabulary then either get some some Chinese flash cards or if you can afford it get a PDA (second hand is ok) and buy Pleco Dict. Also download ZDT and install it on your computer along with the extra dictionary and audio plugin.
Do a TESOL/TEFL course. It’s should only be a four week intensive. Don’t do a weekend course, you will be cheating yourself.
Check out some of the forums and find out where you’d like to go.
Apply for a number of jobs and make sure you contact current employees. Find out if the company will sponsor you to get a Z visa.
If possible it’s nice to have a bit of extra spending money since it really goes a long way in China.
Have fun. Remember: It’s an adventure!!

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