My first semester of studying Chinese
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Vincent
26 September 2012 | China, Chengdu
Where to begin…. let’s go back half a year. I had just started studying at the Sichuan University in Chengdu. I had taken some private lessons for about 2 months before the university started, so I had some very basic knowledge of Chinese when I started and could actually read some characters. And that was a lot more than the one and a half year before in China when I had spend little time on learning spoken Chinese, but no time at all to learn any characters. But the university asks knowledge of speaking, reading and writing, so I had a lot to learn.
Now half a year later I’ve really learnt a lot already (I know about 1000 character combinations) and sometimes my reading is even better than my spoken Chinese. It helps that often a part of the character is for pronunciation and another part for the meaning. So sometimes I can read it, but don’t actually know what it means. But let’s go back to the start of my studies.
My idea is to stay in China long term, and I’ve always said that I don’t understand the people that immigrate to a country, but don’t take the effort to learn the language, if only it are the basics . But now I’m the foreigner and 1.5 years later I have very little knowledge of Chinese and I’ve decided to change this.
My first idea was to study Chinese for half a year to one year at a university, because this should be enough to learn how to have basic conversations and from then on I could learn more besides working. But another thing about living in another country is a visa, which enables you to stay somewhere legally. Up till now I had worked, but not on the correct visa’s but because of varies reasons this is not strictly controlled by the government. Only, who knows how long this will continue.
But for a working visa you need a bachelors degree and the study I had completed in Holland is not a full bachelors degree as my school didn’t offer it at that time. So this kept me thinking while I was studying and then it came to me… I want a bachelors degree AND I want to speak Chinese (if possible fluently), so why not do a bachelors in Chinese language!?!
I asked my teacher about the details of doing a degree at the university and although the course is 4 years, if you take extra classes it’s possible to graduate in 3 years. 3 years… hmmm it’s a long time, and I’m already 32, but what is 3 years on the rest of my life and if I really want to stay in China this is seriously going to help me. Of course to find a job, but also everyday life as it’s so much fun talking with the Chinese people who can’t speak English.
So after my first semester I decided to start my bachelors degree, but unfortunately this first half year can’t count towards the 3 years I need to study, because I hadn’t signed up for the degree at the start.
Now that I had decided what to do for the coming years it was first time to go back to Holland for a visit, because it was already 2 years ago since I had last been there.
I flew back the beginning of July and of course my wonderful parents were waiting at the airport, as they always do when I return from a long holiday. Of course we had a lot to catch up about although they had visited me a year before in Yangshuo.
I would stay in Holland for 3 weeks and I had many appointments to visit friends who I hadn’t seen for a long long time. Of course I met all of my best friends in Utrecht, but I also met up with Sigrid and Esther with whom I had studied together, my aunt and uncle, of course Renée, Coen (although they were on holiday for a long time) and Jorn, and even with Pearl who I had met in Yangshuo and who moved from China to Holland to live with her Dutch boyfriend.
But two special occasions made me come back at this time. The first one was the marriage of Lennard and Inge. Unfortunately I had already missed a wedding earlier that year of Lianne and Marc, but this one I couldn’t miss as well. It was a wonderful day on which we got picked up in Utrecht in an old English double-decker bus and along the way to Oudewater we picked up other friends and family. In Oudewater the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Van Vliet arrived driving in an old-timer. The bride looked amazing and the groom had a smile on his face only Lennard has. And this promised to be a day not soon to forget.
After a breakfast in Oudewater we drove back to Utrecht to marry the couple. After that there was a ceremony in the church and then we got into several boats and sailed to Maarssen to have a dinner and party. While we got into the boats the sun came out and shined so bright it was like the icing on the cake. After the dinner we had a crazy party and danced till late in the evening while enjoying Dutch beer again.
The second reason was my dad’s 65th birthday which was the same weekend as the wedding and that day the weather was even better. My parents had rented a location in Kamerik and there we had a lot of sun the whole day while enjoying the music played by a jazz band. This day I saw most of my relatives and talked with so many other people I hadn’t seen in a long time.
And by then the 3 weeks had flown away and it was time again to return to China. On the way to Holland I had packed very lightly, so on the way back I could bring a lot of my old clothes. So with a full backpack I returned to China, although because of a typhoon in Hong Kong my flight to HK was cancelled, but they put me on a direct flight with KLM to Chengdu instead. Not bad, although I had to wait for about 8 hours on the airport. But when I finally boarded the airplane I got a funny surprise, because the Chinese girl in Chengdu (Maggie) who I was teaching Dutch, was working on my flight back to Chengdu, what are the odds?!?
Back in Chengdu it was hot as ever. I had almost forgotten about the summers in China as in Holland it was nice and cool. My university would only start 1 month later, so I decided to not stay any longer in Chengdu, but quickly travel to Yunnan where it’s more comfortable.
But this travel will be a long story, so I’ll first give you this update and soon you’ll get a longer story about Yunnan.
It was great to see all of you again in Holland and thanks for all the good times I had with you during these few weeks. It really felt like it had not been such a long time and I hope future visits will be the same!
Now half a year later I’ve really learnt a lot already (I know about 1000 character combinations) and sometimes my reading is even better than my spoken Chinese. It helps that often a part of the character is for pronunciation and another part for the meaning. So sometimes I can read it, but don’t actually know what it means. But let’s go back to the start of my studies.
My idea is to stay in China long term, and I’ve always said that I don’t understand the people that immigrate to a country, but don’t take the effort to learn the language, if only it are the basics . But now I’m the foreigner and 1.5 years later I have very little knowledge of Chinese and I’ve decided to change this.
My first idea was to study Chinese for half a year to one year at a university, because this should be enough to learn how to have basic conversations and from then on I could learn more besides working. But another thing about living in another country is a visa, which enables you to stay somewhere legally. Up till now I had worked, but not on the correct visa’s but because of varies reasons this is not strictly controlled by the government. Only, who knows how long this will continue.
But for a working visa you need a bachelors degree and the study I had completed in Holland is not a full bachelors degree as my school didn’t offer it at that time. So this kept me thinking while I was studying and then it came to me… I want a bachelors degree AND I want to speak Chinese (if possible fluently), so why not do a bachelors in Chinese language!?!
I asked my teacher about the details of doing a degree at the university and although the course is 4 years, if you take extra classes it’s possible to graduate in 3 years. 3 years… hmmm it’s a long time, and I’m already 32, but what is 3 years on the rest of my life and if I really want to stay in China this is seriously going to help me. Of course to find a job, but also everyday life as it’s so much fun talking with the Chinese people who can’t speak English.
So after my first semester I decided to start my bachelors degree, but unfortunately this first half year can’t count towards the 3 years I need to study, because I hadn’t signed up for the degree at the start.
Now that I had decided what to do for the coming years it was first time to go back to Holland for a visit, because it was already 2 years ago since I had last been there.
I flew back the beginning of July and of course my wonderful parents were waiting at the airport, as they always do when I return from a long holiday. Of course we had a lot to catch up about although they had visited me a year before in Yangshuo.
I would stay in Holland for 3 weeks and I had many appointments to visit friends who I hadn’t seen for a long long time. Of course I met all of my best friends in Utrecht, but I also met up with Sigrid and Esther with whom I had studied together, my aunt and uncle, of course Renée, Coen (although they were on holiday for a long time) and Jorn, and even with Pearl who I had met in Yangshuo and who moved from China to Holland to live with her Dutch boyfriend.
But two special occasions made me come back at this time. The first one was the marriage of Lennard and Inge. Unfortunately I had already missed a wedding earlier that year of Lianne and Marc, but this one I couldn’t miss as well. It was a wonderful day on which we got picked up in Utrecht in an old English double-decker bus and along the way to Oudewater we picked up other friends and family. In Oudewater the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Van Vliet arrived driving in an old-timer. The bride looked amazing and the groom had a smile on his face only Lennard has. And this promised to be a day not soon to forget.
After a breakfast in Oudewater we drove back to Utrecht to marry the couple. After that there was a ceremony in the church and then we got into several boats and sailed to Maarssen to have a dinner and party. While we got into the boats the sun came out and shined so bright it was like the icing on the cake. After the dinner we had a crazy party and danced till late in the evening while enjoying Dutch beer again.
The second reason was my dad’s 65th birthday which was the same weekend as the wedding and that day the weather was even better. My parents had rented a location in Kamerik and there we had a lot of sun the whole day while enjoying the music played by a jazz band. This day I saw most of my relatives and talked with so many other people I hadn’t seen in a long time.
And by then the 3 weeks had flown away and it was time again to return to China. On the way to Holland I had packed very lightly, so on the way back I could bring a lot of my old clothes. So with a full backpack I returned to China, although because of a typhoon in Hong Kong my flight to HK was cancelled, but they put me on a direct flight with KLM to Chengdu instead. Not bad, although I had to wait for about 8 hours on the airport. But when I finally boarded the airplane I got a funny surprise, because the Chinese girl in Chengdu (Maggie) who I was teaching Dutch, was working on my flight back to Chengdu, what are the odds?!?
Back in Chengdu it was hot as ever. I had almost forgotten about the summers in China as in Holland it was nice and cool. My university would only start 1 month later, so I decided to not stay any longer in Chengdu, but quickly travel to Yunnan where it’s more comfortable.
But this travel will be a long story, so I’ll first give you this update and soon you’ll get a longer story about Yunnan.
It was great to see all of you again in Holland and thanks for all the good times I had with you during these few weeks. It really felt like it had not been such a long time and I hope future visits will be the same!
-
26 September 2012 - 14:51
Miranda:
Hoi Vin! Leuk om weer van je te horen! Het is gewoon alweer bijna 2 maanden geleden dat je in NL was, jeetje de tijd is voorbij gevlogen. Je vakantieverhalen lezen we snel! Of horen we snel, want je komt toch gewoon naar het vriendenweekend!?! Hahaha... Tot volgend weekend! Skypen??!! XX -
26 September 2012 - 19:14
Lieming:
Hallo Vincent,wat heb je in die 2mnd weer ontzettend veel gedaan.super dat je zo snel chinees leert ,je moet toch een talen knobbel hebben,of is het gewoon doorzetten,je hebt gelijk dat je de taal goed onder de knie wilt krijgen,zeker als je een baan gaat zoeken.Hier is het nog steeds lekker weer vandaag ong 20 gr niet gek,hopen dat het zo nog even blijft.Want het buitenleven trekt me meer dan binnen.Nog bedankt voor de chopsticks we gebruiken ze vanavond ,we gaan zelf weer chinees koken heerlijk.De tijd is zeker omgevlogen maar we vonden het super dat je bij ons gegeten hebt met de fam.Volgende keer weer.We komen net terug van een antiekbeurs in delft, waar prachtige beelden uit de Mingdynastie stonden,we hebben maar niet gevraagd hoe kostbaar het was ,maar mooi was het zeker.In een heel simpel interieur komt dit het mooiste uit.We zijn trots op je en al je ervaringen die je op doet,super.We keep in touch
Frans en Lie Ming -
26 September 2012 - 19:41
Marleen Snel:
Super leuk om te lezen Vin! vond het erg verrassend je te zien bij het begin van inge's vrijgezellendag. Haha
Wish you all the best!
Ik ben begonnen aan mn nieuwe p en o- job bij amsterdamse rondvaart. Vnvd een cocktail cruise -jaja, dat valt onder bedrijf leren kennen :-)
Nou, geniet ervan! En leuk je verhalen te lezen! X Marleen -
26 September 2012 - 21:22
Shemay:
Nihao Vin,
Heerlijk om weer wat van je belevenissen te lezen. Heb vanochtend toevallig nog eens je laatste verhaal gelezen en nu zag ik je op facebook. Lukt het een beetje met je studie? Hier gaat alles goed en we beginnen eraan te wennen dat Eric nu ook de deur uit is. Ik kijk nu al uit naar je volgende verhaal.
Liefs van ons. xxx Shemay
-
26 September 2012 - 21:22
Shemay:
Nihao Vin,
Heerlijk om weer wat van je belevenissen te lezen. Heb vanochtend toevallig nog eens je laatste verhaal gelezen en nu zag ik je op facebook. Lukt het een beetje met je studie? Hier gaat alles goed en we beginnen eraan te wennen dat Eric nu ook de deur uit is. Ik kijk nu al uit naar je volgende verhaal.
Liefs van ons. xxx Shemay
-
28 September 2012 - 12:46
Inge (van Vliet, Haha):
Hey lieve Vin,
Leuk om weer even te lezen hoe het nu met je gaat! En vooral erg leuk om jouw beleving van onze bruiloft zo te lezen. Wij vonden het ook erg bijzonder dat je erbij was! Ik zal je nog wat foto's mailen, heb er echt enorm veel!
Enne.. wat Miran al voorstelde: skypen tijdens het vriendenweekend? Bv. vrijdagavond 5 okt?
XX -
29 Oktober 2013 - 08:44
Owen:
Yeah,hope you can enjoy the time in Chengdu. -
29 Oktober 2013 - 08:44
Owen:
Yeah,hope you can enjoy the time in Chengdu.
Reageer op dit reisverslag
Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
