Chinese 3 Post VCE (CHIN10007) at UOM - your thoughts

[xdecay]

I enrolled in this. After completing Chinese 3/4 in year 11, I'm quite worried that I won't be able to catch up seeing as I let one year lapse without using my skill and don't speak it at home.

Who's done this subject? How did you find it? Are the tasks/levels similar to VCE?

[acinod]

Also interested in this. What bothers me is that I can't find it when I'm picking my subjects for breadth to enrol and there is no timetable for it anymore: https://sis.unimelb.edu.au/cgi-bin/subjects.pl?scode=CHIN10007&year=2012

I remember they had a timetable when the handbook came out late October but now it's gone. I don't want to rely on the previous 2 years timetable because they are totally different so I assume 2012 will change as well.

[astarman]

if youre chinese then they will most likely put you into a higher chinese level! had this happen to me last year!

[acinod]

if youre chinese then they will most likely put you into a higher chinese level! had this happen to me last year!

Hang on there's only 3 chinese breadth entries. Theres one for total beginners, chinese post VCE and this other one...did you get put in the other one?

[dc302]

I enrolled in this. After completing Chinese 3/4 in year 11, I'm quite worried that I won't be able to catch up seeing as I let one year lapse without using my skill and don't speak it at home.

Who's done this subject? How did you find it? Are the tasks/levels similar to VCE?

If you're not chinese then you should be fine in this stream I think. If you are chinese, you won't be allowed to take this stream anyway (unless you say something like you don't speak chinese at home).

[astarman]

i did it last year and at the time it was called Chinese 4a
now its called CHIN10003 Chinese 7.
i dont even speak mando at home (canto) but they still made me go into it. its not actually that difficult!
sort of racist LOL but they do it cos apparently we have higher learning capabilities for Chinese....

[dc302]

i did it last year and at the time it was called Chinese 4a
now its called CHIN10003 Chinese 7.
i dont even speak mando at home (canto) but they still made me go into it. its not actually that difficult!
sort of racist LOL but they do it cos apparently we have higher learning capabilities for Chinese....

But you speak canto and I assume you can read/write chinese right? If that's the case then that's a huge advantage already. I speak shanghainese at home (no mando) AND can not read/write, but they chucked me in 4a anyway... I dropped out after the first class

[xdecay]

oh gosh, i have a chinese background but i purely rely gesticulation to communicate with chinese-speakers. i speak hakka (dialect) at home so half the time i pronounce things wrongly in chinese because they're so different yet so similar.

the thing is, i'm doing this as a major in arts, not as a breadth, and am desperate to do well (75+%) in this subject because i plan to transfer to commerce after one semester which relies on good grades. so do you guys think chinese 7 (4a) is 'easy'/straightforward (none of the 4-worded bullshit phrases, freaking hate those haha)?

@dc302, why did you drop out, because you didn't want to do the advanced one?

[dc302]

oh gosh, i have a chinese background but i purely rely gesticulation to communicate with chinese-speakers. i speak hakka (dialect) at home so half the time i pronounce things wrongly in chinese because they're so different yet so similar.

the thing is, i'm doing this as a major in arts, not as a breadth, and am desperate to do well (75+%) in this subject because i plan to transfer to commerce after one semester which relies on good grades. so do you guys think chinese 7 (4a) is 'easy'/straightforward (none of the 4-worded bullshit phrases, freaking hate those haha)?

@dc302, why did you drop out, because you didn't want to do the advanced one?

I dropped out because I would have spent wayyyy too much time studying just to pass. You have to be able to read very decently, like probably read a magazine article. I could read like 1% of an article. Anyway I switched to japanese 4a which was much much easier for me personally.

Also, getting above 75% is pretty hard I've heard (in 4a, now called 7), as you are competing with very strong native speakers (and possibly some HK international students too!) I've also heard that they do scale marks as well.

[acinod]

Wait I'm did VCE Chinese 3/4 and also chinese myself. But although I am completely fluent in cantonese I'm actually pretty noob when it comes to Mandarin...which Chinese subject will they put me in?

[dc302]

Wait I'm did VCE Chinese 3/4 and also chinese myself. But although I am completely fluent in cantonese I'm actually pretty noob when it comes to Mandarin...which Chinese subject will they put me in?

You will have to do a placement interview I think, but I think you'd get 7.

[acinod]

Wait I'm did VCE Chinese 3/4 and also chinese myself. But although I am completely fluent in cantonese I'm actually pretty noob when it comes to Mandarin...which Chinese subject will they put me in?

You will have to do a placement interview I think, but I think you'd get 7.

Yea probs...the streams are: Chinese (beginners*, non-dialect speakers with Victorian Certificate of Education Chinese, and background speakers)
Technically, they are teaching Chinese Mandarin. I know a lot of people in HK that know cantonese but have no idea how to speak any mandarin...so where does that place them?

[dc302]

Wait I'm did VCE Chinese 3/4 and also chinese myself. But although I am completely fluent in cantonese I'm actually pretty noob when it comes to Mandarin...which Chinese subject will they put me in?

You will have to do a placement interview I think, but I think you'd get 7.

Yea probs...the streams are: Chinese (beginners*, non-dialect speakers with Victorian Certificate of Education Chinese, and background speakers)
Technically, they are teaching Chinese Mandarin. I know a lot of people in HK that know cantonese but have no idea how to speak any mandarin...so where does that place them?

You mean they went through high school in HK? Then at least 7, maybe 9. The chinese faculty are tight like that...no way would they let them take a non 'chinese' stream, unless they radically reflected upon and changed their policies this year.

[acinod]

Wait I'm did VCE Chinese 3/4 and also chinese myself. But although I am completely fluent in cantonese I'm actually pretty noob when it comes to Mandarin...which Chinese subject will they put me in?

You will have to do a placement interview I think, but I think you'd get 7.

Yea probs...the streams are: Chinese (beginners*, non-dialect speakers with Victorian Certificate of Education Chinese, and background speakers)
Technically, they are teaching Chinese Mandarin. I know a lot of people in HK that know cantonese but have no idea how to speak any mandarin...so where does that place them?

You mean they went through high school in HK? Then at least 7, maybe 9. The chinese faculty are tight like that...no way would they let them take a non 'chinese' stream, unless they radically reflected upon and changed their policies this year.

Oh wow that's pretty tight...
Yea I just saw the two levels: 7 and 9 - 7 is for minimal literacy and 9 is for limited literacy. I am completely fluent in cantonese (just came back from HK holiday) however my Mandarin is quite poor. I can listen, write and read chinese proficiently but I can't speak and I guess in the interview they'll probably be looking for speaking.
What level do you think they'll put me in? Is it better to stay in 7 or take the challenge and go to 9? At this point I'm really scared of all the international students in 9...shouldn't they all be in 9 though? I dont think you can be considered to have minimal literacy if you come from China.

[dc302]

If you are international and fluent in mando, then you will probably start in chinese translation (or whatever the subject is called, the one after 10). As for you, they do test reading as well so I'm not sure. 7 will be easy for you though, if you are capable of reading/writing. If you start 9 and are having a really tough time, they will probably let you drop down to 7, but no further.