I completed a Bachelor of Languages at the University of New England, and I am currently studying a Masters in Interpreting and Translation at the University of New South Wales. I have also been attending HSK lessons at Strathfield College in Sydney. In this post I will give my evaluations of each of these educational institutions.
Strathfield College, Sydney
As there are hundreds of dialects being spoken in China today, the Chinese Proficiency Test (abbreviated as HSK from 汉语水平考试 Hànyǔ Shuǐpíng Kǎoshì) is designed for Chinese people to prove their proficiency in the national dialect, Mandarin.
I strongly recommend undertaking a Chinese Proficiency Test preparation course to learn Chinese, whether it be on its own or in conjunction with a Chinese course at university. The HSK courses are usually run through the Confucius Institute and if you take the exam (optional) you will receive an official certificate that can be used to prove your Chinese level when applying for jobs where Mandarin is required, both inside and outside China.
The levels are very well structured and you learn a very wide range of vocabulary. Words are constantly reemerging throughout each level which helps to reinforce what you have already learnt.
If you're not sure of your level, you can take a free placement test, and if you're not sure whether or not you want to study there, you can sit in on one class for free.
You can also apply for jobs in China and scholarships to study in China through this college.
The administrative and teaching staff at the college are extremely friendly and helpful. Classes for all levels are generally held in the evenings from 6pm-8pm. You can find the class timetable and class outlines for each level here.
All other information can be found on the Strathfield College Sydney HSK Centre webpage.
The Strathfield College HSK Centre is located at level 5, 451 Pitt Street, Sydney, just a short walk from Central Station. Their phone number is (02) 9212 7799 (extension 121 or 119).
University of New England, Armidale
UNE is one of the top regional universities in Australia. I don't know if this is still the case, but when I was studying there (2008-2012) it was the only university in Australia that offered Chinese language degrees online.Even though I am originally from Tamworth, which is about an one hour or so drive from Armidale, I moved to Sydney and did my Bachelor of Languages degree online. This was extremely convenient as I could fit my study around my work, and I could study at whatever pace suited me with the option of studying as few or as many units per trimester I wanted. In fact, you could live anywhere in the world and do this course online. Some of my classmates were actually living in Taiwan and China while they were studying the course.
They run one week intensive schools at the Armidale campus each semester with cheap accommodation provided at the on-campus colleges. As a large number of the off-campus students live in or near Sydney, they also organise weekend schools in Sydney near Town Hall where a lecturer comes all the way from Armidale to ensure everyone is up to pace. This usually happens around every semester or every second semester.
This university operates on a trimester format, so you have the option of completing your course faster by studying over the summer.
In the Bachelor of Languages and Bachelor of Arts degrees, you can study two languages equally as a double major, or you can study one language as a major and another as an elective. This means you can focus more on one language than the other. I did a double major in Chinese and French, splitting my units equally between the two languages.
I am very glad to have been able to do this, however with a difficult language like Chinese I now personally think I should have just focused on Chinese alone, which is why I am taking a year off my Masters course to go to Beijing and improve my Chinese as much as I can.
In the Bachelor of Languages degree, there is a compulsory one year period of overseas exchange. To help with this, you can apply for a $1000 scholarship as well as a loan of around $5,000 that you just pay back with your HELP loan with the rest of your tuition fees. If you are on Youth Allowance, you can still receive full payments while you are overseas as you are receiving credit towards a course at an Australian university.
As I was studying a double major, I spent a semester in China and a semester in France. I highly recommend doing exchange if you are at a university. Because of this, by the age of 22 I had visited 11 foreign countries (China, France, England, Portugal, Sweden, Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands).
 | ||||
| My final Chinese calligraphy assignment. |
This university offers a lot of convenience, although I would not recommend it as the best university to go to in order to learn Chinese. Having said this, it is still worthy of consideration.
For more information, checkout the UNE website.
University of new South Wales, Sydney
UNSW is one of the top five universities in Australia and has a good reputation.
I don't know what the undergraduate Chinese courses at this university are like, but I can highly recommend the Masters in Interpreting and Translation for those who have already studied Chinese.
Among the list of lecturers are Dr Mira Kim who specialises in applied linguistics, and Dr Sandra Hale who specialises in legal translation and interpreting. Both of these women are well-known in their respective fields, and have several publications on their résumés.
To study this course your Chinese should already be at an advanced level as you don't learn more about Chinese specifically, you just learn how to translate or interpret professionally.
Through this course you can gain accreditation through the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) and be qualified to work in government departments and private companies as a professional translator or interpreter.
There are many languages you can do through this program including Indonesian, French, Russian, Spanish, Korean and Japanese. You don't have to just choose one language, you can also do translation in another language if you wish, so long as you have studied it before to at least an upper-intermediate level. Last semester I did French technical translation along with the usual classes as I had already studied French in my undergraduate course.
Some of the individual classes include bilingual enhancement, media translation, technical translation, legal interpreting and community interpreting. My favourite classes so far have been media translation and legal interpreting. In the legal interpreting class you learn so much about the NSW legal system and it is invaluable in preparing you for a career related to interpreting in legal settings.
No comments:
Post a Comment