Translator Interview: Brendan O'Kane. "Chinese-as-a-second-language teaching materials suck, for the most part, and don't really do much to prepare students for dealing with Chinese as a living language. (When asked my opinion of Chinese textbooks, I tend to rate them from ‘bad' to ‘less bad.') Once you get past a certain level, language environment is the real make-or-break factor — but I think there's a lot to be said for beginning one's studies overseas and coming over here as a relatively autonomous individual, as opposed to starting from scratch in China and getting into the habit of relying on English speakers or Chinese-speaking friends at the outset."
This is great. I studied Chinese for several years in college, including one summer immersion program (in the US). The 9-week immersion was invaluable to my conversational ability, but living "there," even briefly, makes a huge difference in any language aquisition plan IMHO.
but living “there,†even briefly, makes a huge difference in any language aquisition plan IMHO.
Ditto. In fact, there is much in spoken language that contradicts all textbooks.