Lately I’ve been studying on my own – using a site called http://smart.fm that is great for memorizing characters. It’s helping my reading quite a lot. I think that a multi-pronged attack is best with Chinese. Find the best tools for each individual area – something for reading, writing, speaking and listening. And then just dive in.

That 5-year min. stat gives me some confidence! Thanks!

When I listen to ChinesePod, I can catch up even the Upper Intermediate Level.

Anyway, good luck to us. I do study in the University too. I think, it just takes more patience. Don’t give up. As they say, mastering a language takes more than 5 years minimum.

Anyways, there is a usefull resource on the net where you can find an exchange partner to study a language. The concept is simple : while you teach your peer in China (or elsewhere) your mothertongue, you can learn the native language from your language-partner. Check out the webiste : Learn Chinese Language with Language Exchange

i just came across your post, and i can so relate to your situation. i was enrolled at Suzhou University last spring semester and really it was hard. Being an asian didn’t help much cause i am from the southeast. although the class was rewarding as oppose to the private classes i’ve had before. i was in a class where most of my classmates are westerners and southeast asians too. we did have korean classmates which still balances the learning process.
Like you my spoken chinese is fairly well and so as my comprehension, but then again writing and reading the characters is really such a pain. We’ve had plenty exchange students through the semester all had been learning the language for a year or more, surprisingly though they can’t read much of the characters as compared to us who just started the course. The fact that i speak, read and understand chinese after a semester, is already a big motivation for me to enroll this fall.

Isn’t this what you want? I just graduated with a Chinese degree and you really have to study your ass off. If you really want to learn Chinese, learning 150 new characters is normal and is what I did for three years. Yes, some, if not many, if not most of them slip away right after those quizzes, but you will be surprised how many of them end up sticking, even if they all don’t. Chinese is a difficult language and you have to accept the reality of the study time if you want to learn it. It is completely different from English. The fact that other Asian students have the Kanji advantage should motivate you if you are serious about knowing Chinese.