Learning a New Language
Why Learn Chinese?
- Wondering why it’s a great idea to start learning Chinese? Well, here are a few reasons why learning the basics can go a long way in your education, career, and future!
- China is quickly becoming one of the World’s leading powers. With the second largest economy in the World, and a growing competitive edge, Chinese language can go a long way to build bridges between Chinese and foreign offices.
- The opportunity to learn culture through language. Part of living or working successfully in China involves understanding and adjusting to the culture. Learning about culture and customs comes easiest through language, as communicating with locals enables one to understand, make friends, and gain respect for the Chinese way of life.
- Gives Participants a competitive edge in the workplace, or in school. Learning a language while immersed in the country and culture is the best way to improve confidence, vocabulary, and pronunciation. Get ahead in school, or gain some knowledge applicable at work with basic Chinese skills.
Our Approach
We believe that learning basic Mandarin is an important step towards becoming assimilated in China. Not only will this help interns in their daily life, but will also add to their working experience, as they will be able to communicate with local staff. INA offers Chinese instruction for all levels, and our instructors are dedicated to teaching students about Chinese culture, social customs, and understanding through language. In the job market today, knowing even beginning Mandarin is a huge asset to many companies, and affords applicants a leg-up on their competition! INA teachers have experience teaching Chinese to foreigners and are all deeply passionate about instilling interest, and enthusiasm into every lesson. Our teachers use an approach that gets the most out of our short lessons. We understand that Participants will be consumed with their Internships while in Shanghai – subsequently teachers keep students’ out-of-class preparation to a minimum.
Helpful Resources
Many of our Participants find it useful to invest in a Chinese-English (or whatever native language) dictionary. INA will provide every student with the materials they need for the course (including simple daily life phrases in our INA Survival Guide). Have a Palm phone, HTC or Windows Operating System cell phone? Try downloading a Chinese dictionary to your phone! Try Pleco Software, that lets you write Chinese characters and even has audio to play for people if you’re having trouble with pronunciation.
Useful Sites Include:
www.pleco.com - Sells downloadable dictionaries for phones
www.italki.com - Online social network that connects language partners
www.nciku.com - Online Chinese-English dictionary, with Character recognition