Postings and pictures while studying
at Peking
University (Beida) in Beijing, China from Darrol Butler, a
Geography and Asian Studies student at CSU Chico.
Dear Family,
Friends, Fellow Students, and Professors:
Hello everyone. I have
not been very regular at sending my email updates out, so here are a few of
them combined into one.
Sorry for the inconvenience and for being out of touch for a
while. My new address is listed at the bottom of this update. DB
February 15,
2006
Moving # 3... This is the
first time I have had the chance to use my computer and to get online in a few
days. I am at a coffee shop about a 10 min walk from my new
apartment. Well, I finally moved the last of my stuff from the old
apartment to the new one using my big backpack and a couple of duffle bags.
All told it took me about three days of packing, cleaning, making
arrangements, and humping my stuff to the new apartment. Using my big
backpack I walked to the nearest light rail station which is about 10 minutes
away by foot. After disembarking at my stop it is again about a 10
minute walk to my new apartment. I cheated two times and used taxis
however. Today was especially fun because it was snowing (about 4
inches) and I had strapped my blue stool to the back of my backpack, in addition
to carrying my indispensable 2 1/2 foot by 3 foot long white board in my
hands. So, people not only stared at me, but many older folks
even stopped what they were doing and gawked at me as I passed them by. In
total I did 5 trips, though my backpack was not full every time (books are
heavy.)
Back to School #1… I am currently preparing for
the start of my next semester which will begin on February 20 th.
I know, it seems like a long break, but we didn't get out of the fall semester
until the second week of January. Unlike our system in America, there
are placement tests at the beginning of each semester, which means instead of
going through the class levels sequentially, a student has the chance of
jumping levels if he or she tests well. So, I took a listening and
reading/grammar placement test yesterday. It was so difficult that I am
sure it could ruin the confidence of even a 2nd or 3rd year Chinese language
student. Following that I had my Chinese Oral placement test today,
which I think I did pretty well on (compared to the listening and
reading/grammar test).
March 01, 2006 Back to School #2… I have been extremely
busy. Classes started and because I jumped several levels due to the
placement test (my classmates all jumped to different levels) I am having to
study diligently to pick up the words/characters in my new books that are new
to me, but that are not new for this level of the textbook (assuming that
one had read the studied the textbooks in sequential order, which I have not
since my placement test caused me to jump levels.) Last semester I was
in Chinese language, reading and grammar level two, oral Chinese level two and
Chinese characters 1-3. After taking the placement tests I tested into
Chinese language, reading and grammar level six, oral Chinese level five, and I
am now in Chinese listening class level six, instead of a character class.
While I am very happy with jumping so many levels, indeed it has been
quite challenging for me to keep up with everything in my classes.
New
Apartment/Neighborhood... After doing a few trips with my big backpack and a
duffle bag I have finally completely moved into my new apartment. As
well as cleaning and settling in I have been wandering around the neighborhood
to get a better idea of my new surroundings.
It turns out that I am located just a few minutes to the
west of the ForeignLanguagesUniversity
. So, there are quite a few international students here; quite a bit
different then where I was living last semester. In fact, this
particular area is known as Little Seoul because of the huge population of
Korean international students here. As the name suggests there are many
convenience stores and restaurants catering to Koreans, with Korean names on
signs and menus. It is quite interesting to see huge billboards with
electric neon lights that have advertisements written out in Chinese, Korean
and English. Of course, the Haidian district where I live (in
northwestern Beijing)
is full of universities, so there are many Chinese students on the streets too.
The apartment I live in is
quite a bit smaller than where I lived last semester, but it is comfortable
enough. I don't have access to a balcony for drying my clothes, so I
will be figuring out my clothes drying procedure pretty soon. However, I
still have a kitchen, an instant (tank-less) hot water heater, and a fridge, so
I am happy. This time around, instead of having a Chinese couple as my
roommates, I have international students. Though I really enjoyed having
Chinese roommates, I think it will also be nice to get to live with some other
people. One of my roommates is Korean, and since we can't really speak
each other's languages, we communicate in Chinese. This will be helpful
for improving my Chinese language skills.
Since my Chinese roommates' English was quite well we spent
most of the time conversing in English. The other bedroom does not have a
steady tenant yet. For about two weeks I had a Slovakian roommate which
was quite fun. He is so tall that he had to duck his head quite a bit to
get through the standard size doorways Because my Slovakian roommate
can't speak a word of Chinese, we used English to communicate, and any time we
went out I would do the translating (as bad as my Chinese is). However,
because I am so short and he is so tall, it was quite a site, and indeed we
attracted a lot of attention, any time we went out together. (Yes Radek,
I tried every Czech word on him I could remember, and he understood all of
them.)
March 15, 2006
Another Year… For those of you who don't
know, I have decided that I will benefit tremendously from another year of
study at BeijingUniversity. So, to that end, I
have petitioned to the CSU International Programs to allow me to study here for
an additional year. Following is my renewal application essay:
CSU International Programs Renewal Application Essay
I am writing this because I
have decided to continue my studies at
BeijingUniversity
in Beijing, China. As with studying any foreign
language, studying Chinese is very time consuming and difficult, and therefore
one year of in-country study is simply not enough to raise my language skills
to an adequate level. I also believe that studying Chinese language, as opposed
to some other languages, puts special demands on a person, especially in terms
of memorizing.
Though I have now had one
semester of California State University (CSU) Chico 's Self Instructional
Language Program in Chinese, and one semester of Chinese at Beijing University
, I have only recently been able to speak to people in any kind of
detail, and of course, even this skill is highly limited by the grammar and
number of words I know. While I was working in Japan when I was twenty years old,
I picked up in three months, without studying, roughly the amount of words that
I have worked hard to learn during the last two semesters of intensively
studying Chinese. The reason for this is that the sounds making up Chinese
words, unlike those of the Japanese language, are quite foreign to the ears of
English speakers. This makes it very difficult to remember words because it is
so tedious to properly hear the correct pronunciation of a word. Furthermore,
because official mainland Chinese has four tones, and tones are so important in
oral Chinese, even more time is required to train the ear to differentiate
between words that essentially are homonyms except that the tone is different.
So, I have come to realize that there is no possible way that I will continue
to progress in proper oral speaking if I return to the
U.S. before I fully know how to correctly pronounce the sounds that
make up Chinese Words.
Additionally, Chinese, unlike many
other languages, has an alphabet of approximately 56,000 or so characters, from
which the rest of their words are formed from. It is estimated that a person
needs to know between 3000 to 5000 characters in order to make the
words necessary to understand around 95% of the words encountered in daily
life. By my own estimates, I have met around 1000 or more characters in my
studies. Of these 1000 or so characters, I have probably completely
forgotten how to write, or even how to recognize, around 500 of them. Of the
remaining 500 or so characters that I remember, about 300 of those I can
recognize upon seeing them, and know their meanings, but I am unable to recall
how to write them. The remaining 200 or so characters I can actually write
from memory. Because the Chinese written language is so difficult, I have found
that my spoken C! hinese has a much larger vocabulary and therefore, with all
of the problems that is has, is still much better than my written Chinese; I
can speak many more words (though not always pronounce correctly) than I can
recognize from sight, or write from memory. In other words, I am mostly
illiterate. This does not mean that I have not learned many characters or that
I am behind my classmates in my studies. Indeed I have learned many characters,
I have studied a lot of grammar and pronunciation, and I am definitely on top
of my studies. The Chinese language is very complex and demanding, for
everyone, so I need more time to increase my language skills to the necessary
level to meet my academic and career goals.
Because I am double majoring
in Geography and Asian Studies, with an emphasis on China and Chinese language,
improving my Chinese language skills to an adequate level or higher is
absolutely necessary for my academic and career goals. I will use the language
skills I learn, to continue my academic goal of understanding more about China and how
its people view the world. I will then return to CSU Chico and continue my
Geography and Asian studies program. After receiving my degree I will apply to
a school that offers a graduate program in Chinese studies so that I can begin
academic research on China.
I am currently looking at graduate programs that will allow me to do some of my
research in China
. Therefore it is imperative that I raise my Chinese language skills to a level
that will allow me to do scholarly work in China . Eventually I would like to
become either a professor of Asian Studies, or a professor of Human Geography,
while specializing on China.
I am also highly interested in government service. Continuing the study of
Chinese language at BeijingUniversity is the most
efficient path for me to reach my career goals.
Okay,
that is the end of my latest series of email updates. I would love to
hear from anyone, so you are welcome to email me or snail mail me (my favorite)
at the addresses listed below.
Until
the next email update, take care, and thanks for reading,
My
new address:
Darrol Butler
c/o Office of CSU
International Programs
Shao Yuan, Building 2, Room
101 PekingUniversity Haidian District, Beijing, 100871 China
Humping my stuff down the street.
Waiting at the light rail station with my stuff
The building I live in at the complex.
The guards at my apartment complex are sweeping
the snow off the street as it continues to fall.
A convenience stand on the corner of a busy
intersection.
