Because at some point that chance might not be available to you.

Beyond the point, if you are going the journalism route, knowing Chinese very well is at least several times more useful than understanding business better - and you might learn more about business by studying (lots of reading) than actual doing.

I’ve just found your blog through someone else’s blog. I would definitely advise the going to university full time to learn Chinese. I’m one year into a Chinese degree and I am soon on my year abroad in Tianjin. The other thing is that even studying Chinese full time you will still have time to do paid work.

I don’t know whether it’s the course that I’m on in the Tianjin University but I have about 3.5 hours per weekday from 8:30 in the morning till 12. Which isn’t loads and loads but I’m sure it’s more than you currently are studying. And if you did something similar even with homework it would mean that there are still a lot of hours of the week that you can work even taking into account studying/time outside university spent studying and learning characters.

I’m taking your request for advice as a genuine one — I assume you want the truth — and so I’ll offer you my wu-jiao’s-worth. (Also, I’ve been teaching here in China for 5 years and I sympathize with any laowai starting to feel like China’s got a use-by date…)

Mate, I think it comes down to your age. Fluency in Chinese isn’t likely to happen until about 4/5 years of committed study, right? I’d put the cut-off at 30. Still in your mid to late 20s? Go to Uni to study, swot and swindle…meanwhile pick up whatever part-time jobs you can to pay the bills, journo or teacher. Over 30? Take the ‘real job’, the marketing gig…you’ll soon know whether it can offer you a viable career.

I’ve assumed that you’ve got the requisite commitment to making a go of it in this country. Spinning your wheels is never very nice, but that commitment I think is the traction you’ll need.

Cheers,

Rob

P.S. If, on the other hand, control is an illusion, then forget all the above and go with your gut feeling!

Here’s my site at: http://borisknack.blogsome.com

I usually have one 2 hour lesson on the weekend, and go through phases of diligence/laziness. My colleagues are mostly Chinese. After 2 years, I am pretty fluent in speaking, listening and reading. Most of the improvement came in the first year, which was tough. Even now, when people start speaking in dialects…

You can do both (work, learn Chinese) at once if you are determined and know why you are doing both (having a local gf will help enormously too, though I don’t).

I would have learnt much faster and deeper, especially written Chinese, in full time study. I don’t regret the choice not to, as I wanted to develop my career (in a more business direction) at the same time.

My situation then is different from yours now. I came from a media job in HK and never did the English teaching thing full time.

In short, my advice is figure out your direction as best you can and make your choice accordingly.

Actually, although I don’t know you from a bar of soap, the tone of this post would suggest you’re leaning towards the language study. And if it’s journalism you want to do, then I’d say go for it. As you implied, it leaves you more time for freelance writing, which could get you a bit of extra cash and help you build up contacts, experience, a portfolio of some kind, several feet in the door, in other words. Also, you’ll have plenty of part-time teaching, polishing and proof-reading jobs to fall back on when money becomes an issue.

And as others have said, study is an option that won’t come along so easily in the future.

Just my two fen worth.

Oh, and definitely follow the Pandapassport advice and keep writing good stuff here.

Starting now might mean the difference in skipping or not skipping one/both of the 2 beginner semesters. And that makes the difference of getting in a beginning class with a few semi-serious english speaking westerners — or getting into a slightly more advanced class where the less serious students have dropped out, and there’s little/no english spoken between classmates.

(note: At least, that was my experience, having joined Dongcai at the intermediate level with mostly serious students, after the not-so-serious ones had dropped out or gone home)

If you decide to live off campus, get a Chinese roommate.

And keep writing good stuff on your blog, so you have something tangible to show for the year. If you’re strapped for cash, tutor koreans. Or maybe teach part-time in the software park once or twice a week.

Just my thoughts. But as Kevin said, yes, those are nice choices. Weigh ‘em carefully. But don’t sit and do nothing while you decide. I tend to do that sometimes.