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Mandarin Chinese Language Programs
What level courses are available?
Courses are available for all levels of Mandarin Chinese study, from beginner to advanced. Prior to beginning your courses, CSA will enroll you in a placement test to gauge your level of Mandarin, to make sure you are placed in the correct class for the duration of your program.
Schools tier their classes within levels i.e. Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced levels are further split into further sub-levels e.g. Basic Beginner, Intermediate Beginner, Advanced Beginner, etc, to ensure that every student is placed into the correct class at a level that best suits each individual's requirements. Each school has a slightly different practice for dividing students into the correct levels so please see our “Schools” section and check out each individual school for exact details.
Class sizes
Classes generally sit no more than 20 students. Average class size is roughly 10-15 students per class.
What's an average day like?
Students are usually placed in one of two 4-hour sessions, with short breaks between classes, that run daily Monday-Friday: either a morning session (8am-12pm) or an afternoon session (1pm-5pm). Outside of class there is no substitute for putting in the hard hours to reinforce what has been learnt during class hours. Homework generally consists of character repetition and learning. Generally 2 hours of out-of-class homework and revision is recommended in order to keep up with the pace of class and make good progress during your period of study.
What can you expect to learn?
This is really up to you, the student. Learning Mandarin is a time-intensive process. There is no substitute for putting in the hard hours practicing character writing and learning new words, so each individual student’s progress is highly correlative to how much time is put in outside of the classroom to practice what is taught during class time.
As a general guide, over the course of a semester of study, we would expect the average student to learn and master roughly 800 new characters (roughly 100-200 characters per calendar month of study)
To put this into perspective, mastery of:
- 200 characters will be enough to survive at a basic level on a day to day basis – introduce yourself, give directions to a taxi driver, order basic food and drink
- 800 characters will allow you to hold basic conversations in Chinese, talk about the weather, your likes and dislikes, perform day to day tasks such as doing your shopping and almost effortlessly getting around town
- 1500 characters will allow you to be able to read a newspaper without fully understanding all the characters, but allowing you to get a good grip on the context of the articles
- 2500 - 3500 characters puts you at roughly the same level as a local Chinese high-school graduate. You will be able to fully read and understand newspapers and television programs, and be able to hold detailed conversation on a variety of topics
- 4500 – 5500 characters puts you at roughly the same level as a local Chinese University graduate. At this level you could be expected to operate fluently within any situation, both professional and private, translate high-level documents and engage in conversations at all levels and for all intents and purposes operate as a well-educated “local”
- 20,000 – 30,000 characters puts you within a very small group of linguistic academic experts who command a very rare knowledge of all obscure vocabulary and subtleties contained within the Mandarin Chinese language. Not many people, foreign or local, ever reach this level – but there’s no harm in trying!
Course Credits
All of the universities we work with are accredited directly by the Chinese Ministry of Education.
At the end of each university program the university issues an academic transcript which lists the courses each student has taken, the number of hours they attended class, and their final grades. Grades are largely based on the final exam, with some weight given to a midterm, homework, and attendance. Most students need to get the program approved in advance with their home-schools if they are looking to transfer credits back.
Because the programs are 20 hours of class per week, they are considered full time study (really, more than full time study by western university standards!). A four-week program is approximately equal to a one semester Chinese course at a western university; a semester is several courses and should be awarded 12 to 15 credits in the US (a full semester's worth of classes).
| Apply Now | Sign up for a CSA program with a friend and you both receive a 5% discount! |
Semester and Year-long Mandarin Chinese Language Programs
When do the programs run?
Chinese schools operate a 2 semester system – i.e. two semester per academic year. A year long course consists of two consecutive semesters; either Spring followed by Fall, or Fall followed by Spring. Each semester runs for a period of 20 weeks which includes mid-term exams at week 10, and final exams at week 20. There are two semesters for each academic year. The Spring semester starts in late February-early March (dependant on the dates of Chinese Spring Festival) and runs until late June-early July, and the Fall semester runs from September to January. Exact start and end dates vary depending on the school. See our Dates and Fees section for exact start dates for each of our partner schools.
How much do the programs cost?
CSA Programs fit any budget. Using our customizable Program Planner, you have full flexibility to choose from our list of options to plan your perfect program. These options, including accommodation and, are fully customizable, so at every point you will know exactly what is included in your program and how much it is going to cost you. Start customizing your ideal program in China ►
Where can I study?
Semester and year long Mandarin courses are available at the following schools:
| Beijing | Shanghai | Kunming | Nanjing | Qingdao | Xi'an |
| Mandarin Academy | Fudan University | Yunnan University | Nanjing University | Ocean University | Xi'an Jiaotong |
| BLCU | Shanghai Jiaotong | ||||
| Peking Unversity | |||||
| Tsinghua University |
| Apply Now | Sign up for a CSA program with a friend and you both receive a 5% discount! |
Summer Mandarin Chinese Language Programs
When do the programs run?
Summer Programs, as you might have guessed, are run every summer with courses available in Beijing, Shanghai and Kunming. In terms of length, there are a variety of options open to you, ranging from 4 weeks to 12 weeks. CSA also offers Summer Study and Travel programs, combining 4 weeks of study with 2 weeks of traveling around China. Please see our Dates and Fees section for exact start dates for this program at our partner schools in the coming year.
How much do the programs cost?
CSA Programs fit any budget. Using our customizable Program Planner, you have full flexibility to choose from our list of options to plan your perfect program. These options, including accommodation and, are fully customizable, so at every point you will know exactly what is included in your program and how much it is going to cost you. Start customizing your ideal program in China ►
Where can I study?
Summer Chinese language courses are available at the following schools:
| Beijing | Shanghai | Kunming |
| Mandarin Academy | Fudan University | Yunnan University |
| BLCU | Jiaotong University |
| Apply Now | Sign up for a CSA program with a friend and you both receive a 5% discount! |
Winter Mandarin Chinese Language Programs
When do the programs run?
A 5 week winter course is available in Beijing at the Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) and runs from mid-December to mid-January. Please see our Winter Break Program or Dates and Fees section for exact start dates of this program at BLCU in the coming year.
How much do the programs cost?
CSA Programs fit any budget. Using our customizable Program Planner, you have full flexibility to choose from our list of options to plan your perfect program. These options, including accommodation and, are fully customizable, so at every point you will know exactly what is included in your program and how much it is going to cost you. Start customizing your ideal program in China ►
Where can I study?
Winter courses are available at the following schools:
| Beijing |
| Mandarin Academy |
| BLCU |
| Apply Now | Sign up for a CSA program with a friend and you both receive a 5% discount! |
12 Week Mandarin Chinese Language Programs
When do the programs run?
12 Week programs are available only at the Beijing Culture and Language University in Beijing and are run twice a year with one program beginning in September and ending at the beginning of December, and one program beginning in March and ending in mid-June each year. Exact start dates run in-line with the semester programs at the school. Please see our Dates and Fees section for exact start dates for this program at BLCU in the coming year.
How much do the programs cost?
CSA Programs fit any budget. Using our customizable Program Planner, you have full flexibility to choose from our list of options to plan your perfect program. These options, including accommodation and, are fully customizable, so at every point you will know exactly what is included in your program and how much it is going to cost you. Start customizing your ideal program in China ►
Where can I study?
12 Week courses are available at the following schools:
| Beijing |
| Mandarin Academy |
| BLCU |
| Apply Now | Sign up for a CSA program with a friend and you both receive a 5% discount! |
Short-Term Mandarin Chinese Language Programs
When do the programs run?
The Beijing Mandarin Academy provides courses year-round ranging in length from two weeks to one year, with start dates every Monday.
BLCU offers the most short-term Mandarin courses of any to university. At BLCU you can enroll in 4, 5, 6, 8, and 12 week courses, in addition to semester and year-long programs. Start dates are year-round. For more information, please visit our Dates & Fees page.
How much do the programs cost?
CSA Programs fit any budget. Using our customizable Program Planner, you have full flexibility to choose from our list of options to plan your perfect program. These options, including accommodation and, are fully customizable, so at every point you will know exactly what is included in your program and how much it is going to cost you. Start customizing your ideal program in China ►
Where can I study?
Short-term courses are available at the following schools:
| Beijing |
| Mandarin Academy |
| BLCU |
| Apply Now | Sign up for a CSA program with a friend and you both receive a 5% discount! |
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