Forums > Living in Kunming > Private English Teachers @tigertiger, thanks for that advice. I think we should all be more prepared to stand our ground in terms of our demands to ensure we are adequately compensated for our time, and ultimately, the students get what they pay for...after all, this is what we assume the students would like to achieve.
I would also say be wary of university students claiming to be "paying for their lessons by themselves", because usually that's a sneeky way of saying "I don't have much money, maybe you could even teach me for free if you prefer"...umm no. But I did teach a nice little girl who was majoring in Lao, a major which i find a little odd, incidentally, I can also speak some of that language, but I digress. Anyway, while she was a very attentive student, there was a miscommunication with my friends who referred her to me, and in the end i got only 210 Yuan for like 5-6 hours of teaching...far, far too low, but after a while she ran out of money and stopped coming (no surprises there, and given she will be going to Laos for one year as part of her degree, her parents probably don't have a lot of money to spare for other things, on the other hand, she can easily find plenty of westerners over there to practice English with, given the large numbers of tourists and expats there).
Lastly, would you recommend drawing up your own contract, or perhaps using a law firm or just a Chinese friend to help write up a contract that can be mutually adhered to? I was wondering for the sake of giving private lessons in the future.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Private English Teachers Some good posts here...valuable advice too.
After teaching for one semester at a university in Kunming in the second half of 2010 (before I even came to China, I was given the silent treatment and later on found out I didn't get the original one year contract due to the fact I don't possess a TEFL certificate, even though I have 2 degrees and a number of years of teaching experience) I found myself teaching mostly private students.
In some cases the money was a bit on the low side (usually only 100 an hour, but I did accept this at first, now i know that's much too low) although I always received my pay after the end of the lesson, however, private lessons are notoriously unreliable because they usually end after only a few weeks at most unless you do what has been suggested above. I can't begin to tell you how frustrated I've become, when after I did everything right and looking forward to getting my pay I would receive a last minute phone call that my lesson was cancelled. In one case earlier this year, the manager of a company that I was teaching business English to suddenly became "too busy" and after only around 10-12 hours of teaching he stopped communication and I knew there would be no more lessons. This kind of behavior is typical. I try my best to cater to my student's needs but if they treat me with this kind of disrespect then I have little desire to continue private teaching as a worthwhile way of making a few extra bucks in addition to my main form of income.
Forums > Travel Yunnan > Train questions - safety and lot's of stuff.. Hi lovesiwo, I might also be moving to Chengdu in a month or so. I was thinking the same thing as you; although I might still go for a plane since I am concerned about safety and until the fast train is completed between Kunming and Chengdu, the thought of having to be constantly on guard against theft for 19 hours (or however long it takes) is a bit nerve wracking. Also, I can easily justify the increased expense of one flight just to be assured that I probably won't be the victim of theft.
On the other hand, I have no experience of rail travel in China (except on the exceptional Shanghai Maglev) but riding on the Vietnamese train up to Lao Cai near the Chinese border a few times was always very safe in my opinion. I have heard they can be compared to the normal Chinese trains, except they don't have the crushing crowds in VN (be very careful when you board your train).
Forums > Living in Kunming > expat population in Kunming It's interesting though that Kunming has mostly Asian foreigners rather than the western foreigners you see in most other parts of South-East Asia. It gives it more of that traditional Chinese (or local) feel than other parts of Asia.
BTW that report (above) is what I am basing my figures on. Yes, so 47000ish is the number i read too. So both Chinadaily.com and the gokunming article have the same figures (probably the same source).
Some people on this thread have said that east coast cities have hundreds of thousands of Koreans and Japanese, and a successful American entrepeneur in Kunming told me that 2-3 million foreigners live in Shanghai alone. If that's the case, then how can there only be 3/4 million foreigners in all of China (according to the report)? I believe more credible figures are 300,000 foreigners IN TOTAL in Shanghai, and perhaps the 3/4 million figure for all of China is indeed correct, but seems very very low for a country that is so important for the world's economy.
On the other hand, I have read claims that there are about 55 million foreign tourists (basically everyone who is a temporary entrant for whatever purpose and for a short term stay) coming to China every year, but where are these people (I certainly haven't seen many of them)? I saw quite a few foreigners in Shanghai, but not any more than what you'd normally see in Bangkok, Hanoi, Saigon, Phnom Penh or Singapore on any given day. And as for Kunming, well, we all know that you can walk through downtown and you'll be hard pressed seeing more than a couple of foreigners at any one time.
Forums > Living in Kunming > Incessant noise in Residential Areas WTF? How stupid are these kids? You should tell them to go fuck themselves (ok so they're just kids, but this kind of racism is unacceptable). I think you should stand your ground and tell their parents that racist insults are unacceptable.
Incidentally, I only have good things to say about my neighborhood. Sure, you get the occassional shouting match down in the street below, but since that street is more of a back alley with only a small amount of truck traffic and since the yelling isn't heard so well once you're 9 stories up, it is rarely a burden. Also, it is dead silent at night...and I have never heard anything from the neighbors (mind you, my place is nice and modern, only 3-4 years old). I used to have an expat neighbor but unfortunately he moved to another part of town and now I have these weird Chinese neighbors instead, although I can't hear them when I'm sleeping either; but they do like to yell sometimes (during the day).
The one annoying thing that has happened (only once) was a resident's car alarm that was on ALL NIGHT. It was infuriating, that sound, that horrible sound. I can't remember if anyone complained, but i don't think residents were happy, particularly the ones closest to the alarm (I wasn't as badly affected, but even with my window and bedroom door closed i could still hear it).
Personally I've found noise in residential areas far more of a problem in South-East Asia than China. Whether it's those 5am "Good Morning Vietnam" wake-up calls, where a car or motorcycle with an amplified stereo churns out some kind of communist rhetoric at the highest possible volume, the weddings in rural Thailand that play country music (mor-lam) until 1am, the roar of motorcycles, people talking with their neighbors etc. plus the calls to prayer in Malaysia you just don't get that in China (at least I haven't experienced it yet).
Getting Away: Vang Vieng
发布者Yeah there are lots of hebrew speaking travellers in Vang Vieng these days. Same with regional tourists from Thailand - frankly given that Thai and Lao are nearly the same language I don't see how a Thai speaker can't read Lao, but apparently many can't hence the reason for the Thai signs you saw. Same in Thailand - at petrol (gas) stations near the Lao border, which are popular with Lao motorists you can see signs in Lao next to the Thai since there are some subtle differences between the two languages.
Getting Away: Vang Vieng
发布者@Senorboogiewoogie, in Laos everything is flexible due to the power of money aka corruption. I was in Vang Vieng around midnight back in 2009 and it was still noisy in parts, but generally quiet outside the center of action.
Also, while perhaps not a good idea, every foreigner living in Laos knows you can sleep with a Lao citizen of the opposite sex in the same room if you are discreet about it and you'll only get in trouble if you piss someone off. I also think that the government only sees the images of westerners in Thailand and the Philippines "buying" girls at girlie bars and wants to maintain a more lowkey image, but naturally no Vietnamese or Chinese (or Thai) truck driver would be without his karaoke and Lao prostitute in the border provinces. The reality is that prostitution is as big in Laos as anywhere else, but maybe just a little less visible. However, in Vientiane there are large numbers of local girls with western or other foreign "boyfriends", or in genuine relationships.
Booming Southeast Asian trade necessitates bilingual graduates
发布者Haha, well I don't think I was that pessimistic, and I do agree with you on some of your points - although being quite knowledgeable about languages myself, there is more overlapping of the dominant language from the more economically powerful country into the less dominant one than the other way round - i.e. despite what you said, there is very little Lao spoken in Vietnam, but the other way round there is quite a bit of Vietnamese understood in Laos. Lao officials on the Lao-Viet border can usually speak some Vietnamese, but Viet officials generally can't speak Lao. I have been there and know this for a fact. Same with Viet officials on the Chinese border - they can speak Chinese, but Chinese officials speak only Chinese and English, not Viet.
Vietnamese is also only understood amongst a very small minority of people on the Thai side of the Lao border, not many as you say...same with Thai in Myanmar but not Burmese in Thailand (except amongst the immigrant workers and some Burmese signboards near the Burmese border) in Thailand. As mentioned above, Chinese is quite strong in northern Laos, but Lao is non-existant anywhere in Chinese territory except when it comes to the Dai language, which is fairly close but not exactly the same language.
I've also found that the majority of South-East Asian Chinese language students here in Kunming don't speak much English at all for some strange reason. The ones back in their home countries that didn't major in Chinese are often quite good at English, so I guess there aren't that many polyglots around as you say - 2 languages seems to be what the average person knows and not more.
Although if we're on the subject of which SE Asian language to learn IN ADDITION TO English, which will continue to be important, then it must be Thai. Thai is understood throughout Thailand, Laos, western Cambodia and the Shan State of Myanmar. No other SE Asian language is as dominant as Thai.
This is reflected in the much greater interest amongst Chinese students in studying Thai than say, Vietnamese. I have met tons of Chinese students interested in, or with at least one semester of Thai behind them, but only two who had studied Vietnamese.
Booming Southeast Asian trade necessitates bilingual graduates
发布者Sounds good in principle, but learning to speak all SE Asian languages would require you to be some kind of linguistic genius and probably half a lifetime of devotion. Speaking only one of the languages from the region, say Thai or Burmese or Vietnamese, wouldn't help much in neighboring countries since each language in the region is not mutually intelligible with only limited overlapping...so such an approach would mean limiting your engagement to one country.
In parts of northern Laos and northern Myanmar, no attempts are made by Chinese settlers to learn the local language - everything (signboards, menus etc.) is in Chinese and locals [Laotians and Burmese] who can't speak this foreign language [Chinese] are left out.
Also, I don't think English should be forgotten - despite various levels of English fluency in the region, English is still the only global lingua franca and the global language of business. English is the only language you can successfully use in all SE Asian countries. While it's great to know Thai, Lao, Burmese etc. it isn't realistic unless you are living in those countries. I have also noticed that just like with English, Chinese learners of these SE Asian languages really struggle, and when encountering a local that speaks good English, the conversation will usually inevitably switch to English since the local will assume the other party can't speak their language well enough. It's only once fluency is achieved that this is overcome.
My recommendation would be for both Chinese and other foreigners interested in investing/doing business with the region to know how to speak English fluently, followed by becoming proficient in at least the basics of their host countries' language to at least show some interest and respect. Apart from those interested in becoming translators however, I personally think time and money is better spent gaining technical skills and then applying some language skills on the side - not the other way round.
I've done that and I'm doing quite well. I am an engineer that has worked in Vietnam and Thailand and I speak Thai and some Lao with an almost native accent (and can read and write both languages) - something that is of enormous benefit to me, but I have achieved this as a side passion rather than as my main job. Still, I barely speak Vietnamese and don't have the energy or time to work on it - in any case, doing business isn't difficult as most educated people there speak English anyway and I have a very good friend who helps me so it's all good. Ditto for Cambodia and Myanmar.
Getting Away: Luang Prabang
发布者There is an error in this article. Lao Airlines flies only twice (2) a week from Luang Prabang to Jinghong, not daily. They only just restarted this service recently and I highly doubt there would be enough demand for a daily service at this time. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this service were to once again be suspended in the near future. Luang Prabang-Kunming flights are said to be restarted again in the near future too, but no date has been given.
Check out online copies of Lao Airlines' Champa inflight magazine for more details.