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[quote]
so for chinese, people don't sign up for class until september when they take the placement exam?
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<p>yes. you will get your PTE number on the first day of lecture. you'll need this PTE number to be able to enroll into the class on URSA. </p>
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[quote]
in chinese class, how is the class and how is material taught?
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<p>lecture on tues and thurs. discussions MWF. 1 chapter a week for A-series. i think it's 1 chapter every 1.5-2 weeks for the regular series. for A-series, quizzes every lecture. the professor's really good a lecturing and does a good job at teaching grammar. the TA's mostly help you practice grammar and vocab in discussion, but i heard the effectiveness of the TAs vary. homework due on mondays. for both regular and A-series, the midterm and final includes a grammar portion and a skit. for A-series, you also have to make speeches, have a reading portion, and for winter quarter have essays and for spring quarter debates. it's cool having the same class with a bunch of friends for 3 quarters (and youll probably make friends through this too). it's also refreshing to actually see asians in my class since i'm a north campus major :rolleyes: ... dunno what else u want me to tell you or what specifics you wanted, this response is just from my stream of consciousness</p>
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[quote]
so you still recommend the regular series for Cantos?
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<p>if you can hold a decent convo in mandarin and can understand class instructions in mandarin, then u can give it a shot. remember for the A-series, EVERYTHING is taught in mandarin. you need to be able to understand it, even if you cant read, write, and suck at speaking. most cantos are in the regular series though. although you'll need to catch up somehow... by the spring quarter, i felt somewhat behind because i didnt know as much vocab in mandarin as the native speakers and i couldnt speak as fast as i wanted to for the debates. but that's also cuz i'm cautious not to have an accent; one of my classmates had a really heavy canto accent and sometimes only the TA understood what he said. anyway, if you've never been to mandarin school, then i wouldnt know how much mandarin you can comprehend, so that's something for you to decide. if you went to mandarin school, i'm sure you can fit in into the A-series. </p>
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[quote]
Also, how do you recommend taking Chinese? One class a year, or all of them in one year?
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<p>straight through, 1 year. you'll learn best this way.</p>