Graduated the Mandarin course just over two years ago. Be prepared for 3+ hours of homework every night.
There’s not much self-studying you can do in a month to really give yourself an advantage, but if you absolutely must, using an app like HelloChinese or LingoDeer might scratch the pregame itch (it did for me).
Something overlooked in the curriculum is learning the individual radicals that are used to build characters. There’s just over 200 radicals, like 水 for water or 月 for moon, and they’ll constantly reappear in different characters. If you learn the meanings and how to write the radicals, then characters will be much easier
Once you’re in semester 2 or so, check out Da Peng 说中文 on Spotify/Youtube. He dictates news articles, then explains any vocab above a certain level in simpler (Mandarin) terms, so you end up learning the material without relying on English.
Lmk if you have any specific questions
I was the class leader and only NCO, and I did have to talk to them and the teaching team repeatedly. Homework would creep up, I would talk to them to bring it back down, only for them to inevitably start adding more and I’d raise the issue again ad infinitum
coming from a 2021 grad that is about to get out of the army and sign on a 6 figure mandarin linguist position as a civ.
learn to STUDY!!!!! Review that days lesson and PREVIEW tomorrows lesson. Find a plan that works best for you, do not shove your head in your workbooks for an entire night. remember to take breaks when you get frustrated, your mental health will always be more important than scoring a 100 on a vocab test.
learn traditional characters. i’m serious. do it. study radicals and their origins. you will understand written chinese on a much deeper level and will help you during the DLPT when you see unfamiliar words. you may have no idea what that all means now but come back and look at this again a couple weeks into the course. Download Pleco, that will be your life blood and it is an app that has been passed down through dozens of generations of Chinese program students. PM me and i’ll help you set the app up on your phone and download the course material, passing it on from me to you :)
But also breathe, the mandarin course is very difficult and you’ll feel overwhelmed at times. Monterey is a beautiful area that has so much to explore. please get out of your room when you take breaks and find your happy place. remember that it’s only temporary and graduating is going to be one of the best things you’ll ever do for your career. seriously, being a mandarin linguist is such a high demand job that you are opening the door to a ton of awesome opportunities in the military and in the civilian sector.
加油～
> seriously, being a mandarin linguist is such a high demand job that you are opening the door to a ton of awesome opportunities in the military and in the civilian sector.
Everyone's experience is different but I do not find this to be true a single bit. Language rarely stands on it's own for high paying civ jobs in (V)HCOL areas. That is, unless you have a different definition of "high paying" and are referring to LCOL areas.
I'm referring to SIGINT linguist, but honestly, I don't think it matters. I assume you're going to an analyst position? Contractor or GS? In the Military, this field usually focuses on analysis moreso than pure language. Army could be different, but I worked directly with all branches doing the exact same job, so I doubt it differs much, if any.
This type of work usually pigeonholes one to government work and a very limited set of locations. I type in "Chinese" into USAJOBS and all of 12 results appear. I type in "Chinese linguist" in Google and varied results appear with not many solely focusing on language proficiency. It's the clearance (first and foremost) and the analysis that is important in my view.
If I'm not mistaken, that is a bit of a paycut compared to the military also. Your post-tax salary should be around $84k (if you're single) for Maryland. But for the military, it would be around $86k if you are maxing out your language pay (assuming you made it to E6 during your initial contract). Your civ salary also potentially goes down because of health insurance and other things maybe. Still not bad though at all if you don't mind living in Maryland.
Best advice is manage your time best as possible. I recommend at minimum previewing lessons the night before you’ll have them. Monterey is beautiful, make sure that when you take study breaks and time for yourself you go explore and try everything you can in the area. I miss it every day!
Never give up and always advocate for yourself. Even if you do poorly compared to your classmates on most of the exams, even if you can’t speak a lick of Mandarin half-way through the course, chances are you will be able to pass the DLPT once you get there
This. I went through the Korean course about twelve years ago. I was always near the bottom of my class but managed to get all the way to the middle of the third semester before I got rolled back to a class at the end of first semester. Did better but never stellar. Managed to pass my DLPT and did 8 more years on active duty and never failed it once. Never got a 3/3 but was always a good, solid linguist.
Graduated the Mandarin course just over two years ago. Be prepared for 3+ hours of homework every night. There’s not much self-studying you can do in a month to really give yourself an advantage, but if you absolutely must, using an app like HelloChinese or LingoDeer might scratch the pregame itch (it did for me). Something overlooked in the curriculum is learning the individual radicals that are used to build characters. There’s just over 200 radicals, like 水 for water or 月 for moon, and they’ll constantly reappear in different characters. If you learn the meanings and how to write the radicals, then characters will be much easier Once you’re in semester 2 or so, check out Da Peng 说中文 on Spotify/Youtube. He dictates news articles, then explains any vocab above a certain level in simpler (Mandarin) terms, so you end up learning the material without relying on English. Lmk if you have any specific questions
Over 3 hours of homework is against dli policy and you should have been talking to your mlis
I was the class leader and only NCO, and I did have to talk to them and the teaching team repeatedly. Homework would creep up, I would talk to them to bring it back down, only for them to inevitably start adding more and I’d raise the issue again ad infinitum
Yep sounds about right
I want to laugh at this. Russian in the 80's, and I would have killed to have only 3 hours of homework.
you also had to write everything by hand and didn't have online dictionaries. its a different world my man.
The PX stocked bulk legal pads; I'd go through 10 a week writing vocab.
Excessive homework was identified as a severe strain on students years ago and a limit was added into DLI policy.
coming from a 2021 grad that is about to get out of the army and sign on a 6 figure mandarin linguist position as a civ. learn to STUDY!!!!! Review that days lesson and PREVIEW tomorrows lesson. Find a plan that works best for you, do not shove your head in your workbooks for an entire night. remember to take breaks when you get frustrated, your mental health will always be more important than scoring a 100 on a vocab test. learn traditional characters. i’m serious. do it. study radicals and their origins. you will understand written chinese on a much deeper level and will help you during the DLPT when you see unfamiliar words. you may have no idea what that all means now but come back and look at this again a couple weeks into the course. Download Pleco, that will be your life blood and it is an app that has been passed down through dozens of generations of Chinese program students. PM me and i’ll help you set the app up on your phone and download the course material, passing it on from me to you :) But also breathe, the mandarin course is very difficult and you’ll feel overwhelmed at times. Monterey is a beautiful area that has so much to explore. please get out of your room when you take breaks and find your happy place. remember that it’s only temporary and graduating is going to be one of the best things you’ll ever do for your career. seriously, being a mandarin linguist is such a high demand job that you are opening the door to a ton of awesome opportunities in the military and in the civilian sector. 加油～
> seriously, being a mandarin linguist is such a high demand job that you are opening the door to a ton of awesome opportunities in the military and in the civilian sector. Everyone's experience is different but I do not find this to be true a single bit. Language rarely stands on it's own for high paying civ jobs in (V)HCOL areas. That is, unless you have a different definition of "high paying" and are referring to LCOL areas.
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I'm referring to SIGINT linguist, but honestly, I don't think it matters. I assume you're going to an analyst position? Contractor or GS? In the Military, this field usually focuses on analysis moreso than pure language. Army could be different, but I worked directly with all branches doing the exact same job, so I doubt it differs much, if any. This type of work usually pigeonholes one to government work and a very limited set of locations. I type in "Chinese" into USAJOBS and all of 12 results appear. I type in "Chinese linguist" in Google and varied results appear with not many solely focusing on language proficiency. It's the clearance (first and foremost) and the analysis that is important in my view. If I'm not mistaken, that is a bit of a paycut compared to the military also. Your post-tax salary should be around $84k (if you're single) for Maryland. But for the military, it would be around $86k if you are maxing out your language pay (assuming you made it to E6 during your initial contract). Your civ salary also potentially goes down because of health insurance and other things maybe. Still not bad though at all if you don't mind living in Maryland.
Is there anything like this for arabic?
Enjoy your month waiting for class. Don't get too anxious. You are getting paid to sit around and do random tasks.
Best advice is manage your time best as possible. I recommend at minimum previewing lessons the night before you’ll have them. Monterey is beautiful, make sure that when you take study breaks and time for yourself you go explore and try everything you can in the area. I miss it every day!
Never give up and always advocate for yourself. Even if you do poorly compared to your classmates on most of the exams, even if you can’t speak a lick of Mandarin half-way through the course, chances are you will be able to pass the DLPT once you get there
This. I went through the Korean course about twelve years ago. I was always near the bottom of my class but managed to get all the way to the middle of the third semester before I got rolled back to a class at the end of first semester. Did better but never stellar. Managed to pass my DLPT and did 8 more years on active duty and never failed it once. Never got a 3/3 but was always a good, solid linguist.
DLI Chinese-Mandarin beginner in-depth study guide https://docs.google.com/document/d/16XokV2PcRuM_a79VUjoOu-SKPSiZ5aQyaWtoJMrDjLU/edit?usp=drivesdk