你好！加尔各答 Offers These Innovative Courses:
Regular
This is a standard course that helps any student develop a firm foundation in Chinese. We help students prepare for the HSK Certificate Examinations (Level 3/4), the only Chinese language certificate recognized by the government of China. This course has 96 hours of instruction and includes special online learning tools (see The Portals page).
Intensive
With all the content in the Regular course and more, this course is designed for students who want to dig deep. We help students prepare for the HSK Certificate Examinations (Level 3/4), the only Chinese language certificate recognized by the government of China. This course has 112 hours of instruction and includes special online learning tools (see The Portals page).
Custom
We offer customize-able courses, also (for those unable to come to our center). These courses are essentially a blank slate in terms of both duration and content. Contact us to learn more.
Culture Complete
Learn the essences of Chinese culture in an engaging manner. This is a 12 hour course.
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Express
Our crash course is one of our most popular courses and helps people (in a rush) to learn Chinese that suits their basic conversational needs quickly. With a total of 24 hours you can attain basic fluency in as little as a week!
Children Applied
This is a wonderful course for children ages 4 to 12 (yes, from 4! Children are most suited to develop language skills at this age). It teaches them Chinese and builds from the ground up, teaching them language, history, and culture. Children who know Mandarin will certainly have a great advantage in the future! This course has 55 hours of instruction.
Practical Translation
For those wanting to be translators, the Practical Translation course is a must. Our experienced teachers and translators teach you how to quickly and effectively translate large bodies of text, format basic documents/presentations/etc., and retain the most meaning in translation. A minimum of HSK Level 4 is required to avail of the full benefits of this course. This course has 18 hours of instruction.
Business Etiquette
An absolute essential for any business person, this course will help you to be effective and capture the interest of your Chinese business partner. It also teaches how to act in a Chinese office. This is a 5 hour course.
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Business
The Business course is for the smart business person who wants to impress his or her business partners, thrive in a new environment, and gain new and valuable opportunities in China and Chinese speaking countries. This course has 96 hours of instruction and includes special resources for doing business in China (see The Portals page).
Extended I
The Extended I course builds upon a foundation created by previous courses (min. 800 words required) and trains students to a higher degree of fluency. At the end of this course, students can expect to the take HSK level 4 or 5 examinations, depending on their abilities. This course has 96 hours of instruction and includes special online learning tools (see The Portals page).
Extended II
The Extended II course builds upon a foundation created by previous courses (min. 1900 words required) and trains students to a native degree of fluency. At the end of this course, students can expect to the take HSK level 5 or 6 examinations, depending on their abilities. This course has 96 hours of instruction and includes special online learning tools (see The Portals page).
Charitable Chinese
This course covers HSK 6 material in Mandarin with both traditional and simplified characters over the course of two years. Classes are held on Sunday mornings in collaboration with a charity in Tangra and are free of cost. However, only students able to prove a net household income of less than 12000 INR/month are eligible for this course.
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Frequently Asked Questions (with answers!)
What's the use of learning Chinese?
In Brief:
1. China is one of the world's oldest and richest continuous cultures, over 5000 years old. 2. China is the most populous nation in the world, with 1.28 billion people. 3. Mandarin Chinese is the mother tongue of over 873 million people, making it the most widely spoken first language in the world. 4. In addition to the People's Republic of China and Taiwan, Mandarin Chinese is also spoken in the important and influential Chinese communities of Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the Philippines, and Mongolia. 5. China is the second largest economy in the world. 6. International businesses prefer to hire people who speak more than one language. China has become a huge market, and business leaders are looking for people who can speak Chinese and operate successfully in a Chinese cultural context. 7. Knowing Chinese may give you an edge when competing for an important position. 8. China will play a major role in world affairs in the future. As China now has opened up to the West, there are opportunities for employment in all areas. 9. China is a wonderful country in which to teach English while developing your language and cultural skills. The experience is great, and something you never forget. 10. Currently, Mandarin Chinese is spoken by over 1 billion people around the world, about one fifth of the global population. 11. Each year more and more students around the world whose mother tongue is not Mandarin are studying it with enthusiasm and success. If they can learn it so can you! What kind of certificate will I get from (X) course? What is this certificates validity?
Ni Hao! Calcutta is a registered institute in West Bengal and issues it's own certificates (after the final internal examination conducted at the end of each course) while also training students for HSK examinations. Ni Hao! Calcutta is supported by the Chinese consulate and issues certificates that are widely accepted. Successful HSK examinations offer certificates issued by the Government of the People's Republic of China (are often necessary) and are accepted EVERYWHERE.
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Learning Chinese characters is too difficult/ not applicable to me. Conversational classes are the way to go.
This is an absolutely wrong idea. Literally billions of people all over the world can write in Chinese characters; why won't you be able to? Learning characters is also a key method of learning spoken Chinese and remembering definitions. Additionally, learning characters is a fundamental way of distinguishing between often imperceptibly similar sounding pronunciations in Chinese.
I have heard learning Chinese is very difficult, won't western languages be an easier option?
Chinese has a relatively uncomplicated grammar. Unlike French, German, or English, Chinese has no verb conjugation (no need to memorize verb tenses!) and no noun declension (eg. gender and number distinctions). For example, while someone learning English has to learn different verb forms like "see/saw/seen", all you need to do in Chinese is just to remember one word: kan. While in English you have to distinguish between "cat" and "cats", in Chinese there is only one form: mao. (Chinese conveys these distinctions in other ways, of course.)
The basic word order of Chinese is subject-verb-object, exactly as in English. A large number of the key terms of Mandarin Chinese (such as the terms fro state, health, science, party, inflation, and even literature) have been formed as translations of English concepts. You are entering a different culture, but the content of many of the modern key concepts is familiar. Also, pronunciations in Chinese are somewhat close to those in Bengali and Hindi, so it is not as intimidating a task as imagined. I don't think I'm very capable; how can I guarantee success in my studies?
Our teachers all have years of teaching experience and share a common view: anyone can learn Chinese. They recommend regularity and dedication to get the best results from courses. Chinese (or any language) can not be mastered without constant practice. This does not mean hours of study are required every night; even 30 minutes a day can help to guarantee fluency (be sure to concentrate in that time!).
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