Chinese studies UNSW minor BEME (1 Viewer)

[plutonium-238]

I'm interested in Chinese studies - CHINA23403, perhaps choosing it as my minor for the BE ME program. I am wondering if the course is good and useful, e.g. relevance to engineering discipline.
For those who did the Chinese language course, what are your experiences?
Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Squar3root]

yea ni hao

Not really useful, that would be more of an interest thing. Other engineering minors would be more ideal in terms of jobs

Unless you are planning to look for a job in China

 

[4025808]

I've done Chinese before at UNSW. Tbh don't do it at the uni - essentially you're supposed to learn languages at somewhere more practical. In uni though, it's more theoretical and they teach you culture stuff and things don't go too much in depth. Then you just cram for exams (which are fucked to the core), which basically means you don't actually learn enough of the language, but you just learn how to study for the exam.

I suggest you do languages at TAFE - probably much more practical. Or you could hire a Chinese tutor. Or you could go to the middle of China and force yourself to speak the language.

 

[plutonium-238]

I've done Chinese before at UNSW. Tbh don't do it at the uni - essentially you're supposed to learn languages at somewhere more practical. In uni though, it's more theoretical and they teach you culture stuff and things don't go too much in depth. Then you just cram for exams (which are fucked to the core), which basically means you don't actually learn enough of the language, but you just learn how to study for the exam.

I suggest you do languages at TAFE - probably much more practical. Or you could hire a Chinese tutor. Or you could go to the middle of China and force yourself to speak the language.

Thanks for the advice! Would it be a better option to choose from other minors like mechatronics, satellite systems, psych, computing... in terms of providing greater career opportunities?

 

[anomalousdecay]

Choose whatever you find interesting.

The minors are not accredited at all. They only show on your academic transcript but the final degree doesn't mention the minor you completed. You can talk about what you learnt in a job interview, but if you are relying on your minor to pull yourself up then they'll question what else you did in your studies (which you should instead be putting much more focus on than the minor).

I would say the best way to look at it is that a minor may be useful for you to excel within your job/workforce if it gives you the extra skill set. In terms of employability, it makes little to no difference so it doesn't really give you more "greater career opportunities" in a direct manner.