Chinese B and I am chinese..will I be rejected?

[Dr. Polaris]

I am a Chinese person, but have only studied Chinese for 2 years. I am now in IB1, doing Chinese B SL. I am getting great marks. But the problem is that my chinese teacher went to a workshop, and there she learned that another Chinese with similar conditions like me (studied Chinese for a limited number of years) was rejected from Columbia (even when he had amazing scores) because they said "You are Chinese yet you study Chinese B"

Now I am extremely afraid. I don't want to be rejected by good universities, but if I take A2 SL, I will definitely have a hard time getting even a 4.

What should I do? Thanks

[chrypton]

I am a Chinese person, but have only studied Chinese for 2 years. I am now in IB1, doing Chinese B SL. I am getting great marks. But the problem is that my chinese teacher went to a workshop, and there she learned that another Chinese with similar conditions like me (studied Chinese for a limited number of years) was rejected from Columbia (even when he had amazing scores) because they said "You are Chinese yet you study Chinese B"

Now I am extremely afraid. I don't want to be rejected by good universities, but if I take A2 SL, I will definitely have a hard time getting even a 4.

What should I do? Thanks

I understand what you are going through, even though you are Chinese you feel that you don't have total command over the language and therefore want to take it at B. The problem is that since you are Chinese, you are stuck with having it labeled as you're mother tongue, whether it's true or not. If it really was a problem for your friend getting into Columbia, I would suggest against taking it, even though I think you should make sure about if it really matters.

My best advice is that you drop Chinese altogether and perhaps take a language at Ab Initio level if it is offered at your school

[Dr. Polaris]

I am a Chinese person, but have only studied Chinese for 2 years. I am now in IB1, doing Chinese B SL. I am getting great marks. But the problem is that my chinese teacher went to a workshop, and there she learned that another Chinese with similar conditions like me (studied Chinese for a limited number of years) was rejected from Columbia (even when he had amazing scores) because they said "You are Chinese yet you study Chinese B"

Now I am extremely afraid. I don't want to be rejected by good universities, but if I take A2 SL, I will definitely have a hard time getting even a 4.

What should I do? Thanks

I understand what you are going through, even though you are Chinese you feel that you don't have total command over the language and therefore want to take it at B. The problem is that since you are Chinese, you are stuck with having it labeled as you're mother tongue, whether it's true or not. If it really was a problem for your friend getting into Columbia, I would suggest against taking it, even though I think you should make sure about if it really matters.

My best advice is that you drop Chinese altogether and perhaps take a language at Ab Initio level if it is offered at your school

No languages are offered at ab initio at my school

[JoeG]

I would recommend talking to your IB Coordinator, or another administrator at your school who could be helpful in this situation. Explain that you aren't proficient enough in Chinese to do well at the level that they are assigning to you. For example, I'm a quarter Cuban, yet I'm absolutely horrible at Spanish, so I get to take for my Language B instead of French B. The same is for other people of spanish heritage in my school who aren't as proficient in the language. The school allows them to take Spanish B SL, instead of French B SL.

Edited January 25, 2011 by JoeGuff

[Dr. Polaris]

I would recommend talking to your IB Coordinator, or another administrator at your school who could be helpful in this situation. Explain that you aren't proficient enough in Chinese to do well at the level that they are assigning to you. For example, I'm a quarter Cuban, yet I'm absolutely horrible at Spanish, so I get to take for my Language B instead of French B. The same is for other people of spanish heritage in my school who aren't as proficient in the language. The school allows them to take Spanish B SL, instead of French B SL.

Well right now I'm taking Chinese B SL. But i'm afraid us universities will reject me because they'll say "you're chinese but you're taking chinese b?!?!" problem is that I absolutely CANNOT take A2. I will struggle to get a 3 or 4

[dessskris]

IMO universities that do that are stupid. Let me tell you a true story that happens in my class.

Indonesians taking Indo A1: 8 students

Indonesians taking Indo B: 6 students

Foreigners taking Indo B: 1

Indonesians not taking Indo (taking English A1+Chinese B): 2 students

The rest are foreigners not taking Indo

One of us is a pure Indian and he is not taking Hindi (I don't know whether its course even exists though) but he was born and raised in Indo so yeah..

I know those Indonesians who are doing Indo B are not that fluent in Indo. Maybe they can speak Indo to us students (as in for chats only, informally..) but they are not confident in giving a formal speech in Indo I am sure it's because they have been going to international schools since they were young so they are used to speaking English and more fluent in it than Indo, or their parent(s) is/are Indonesian(s) but they speak English at home. I am pretty sure these people won't be doing well in Indo A1 class.

I also know two foreigners who took Indonesian A1 and English B at my school they graduated in 2009.

I would like to point out that many people out there are taking their native language B instead of A1 for various reasons. I do think it's stupid to assume that a Chinese speaks Chinese fluently. They might have migrated to other countries or maybe even adopted by American or British and they don't speak Chinese anymore!

So I think you shouldn't worry about this.. Oh well, unless you want to continue your study in China :/ you may have some bits of problem

[Minuet]

That's plain stupid, to be honest. But how about you compensate with your CAS? Universities look keenly into your CAS projects, so how about you do something that praises your culture so they see that you do appreciate the culture, but you're just not all that fluent with the language?

[Bishup]

To be honest, I doubt they will reject you on that premise. But it's pretty bad for a Chinese person to do Chinese B. You shouldn't have done it in the first place. You should have done A2 at least if not A1.

What I say is don't worry about it, what is done and done and if they do reject you which is extremely unlikely then deal with it. There is a time for everything and a time to panick and now is definitely not the time.

[amandabern]

Really, Bishup, it's ''pretty bad for a Chinese person to do Chinese B''?!!! I myself am Asian and have had to put up with that stigma my whole life, people assuming that I speak Chinese because of my appearance and name. For gods sake, my family isn't even Chinese but of Cantonese origin, I was born and raised in Australia like my parents and dont speak a word of Chinese. It's like Asian people assuming that all white people can speak bloody German or something. Pull your head in and look at the modern world.

Listen Dr Polaris, I don't think you need to worry too much. If you get an interview then try to explain that your first language is English, and you don't speak it at home etc. They might find it interesting to hear about being an American born Chinese or whatever.

The case you mentioned is probably not that common. If you're good at the language then there's no point in having to change on the off-chance that you'll be looked at differently. From the sounds of it, you don't really have any other choice than to continue. Keep going with it, I say, and screw those presumptuous idiots.

[zen16]

^ I feel the same. I often feel like people just expect me to be able to speak Chinese just because I'm ethnically Chinese. It really is racial prejudice and it gives me an extra expectation to fulfill, which can be really frustrating at times.

[JustAnotherAsian]

You choose the course...No use thinking about the consequences now when its obviously too late.

People in IB always take slacker way out. Japanese people taking japanese B SL. Chinese taking Chinese B Sl. French Immersion taking French B SL. etc.

Just hope Adcoms realize your situation...but its not the end of the world...

But Asians are already an overrepresented minority, so good luck.

Edited January 29, 2011 by JustAnotherAsian

[Dr. Polaris]

I didn't really choose it though. My teacher saw my low marks in A2 then told me to go down to B. I didn't think much of it, so I took it. a month later she told us what happened at a workshop she went to..

god..i'm also taking math studies.....two soft subjects..

[theloserwins]

First - there's nothing wrong for a Chinese person to take Chinese B. I do it myself, and I don't score well. I would dare say I'm doing much better in English A

Language A/A2 are very different from B. So please don't say that Chinese people can't take Chinese B.

And since a lot of you come from Hong Kong in this post, I think you would know the situation here in Hong Kong - being forced to learn English all our life. My Chinese is crap because of that.

Second - Screw Columbia, all those universities in UK and Canada gave me offers even though I take Chinese B. So no worries. One of them even say "555 in HL except Chinese B"

[Forester]

dont believe her.

i took chinese b sl and im chinese.

i also took chinese sat2.

in fact, i'm taking chinese courses now, in university. it's fine.

[Ice Cream is really yummy]

I don't get it. Isn't the IB all about being open minded? Open minded and also not assuming things? Not assuming false things, as well? Isn't stereotyping just plaing unethical? I understand that it was a university who had commented that way, but they really had no right to do that.

[Daniel Inchan Jung]

I don't get it. Isn't the IB all about being open minded? Open minded and also not assuming things? Not assuming false things, as well? Isn't stereotyping just plaing unethical? I understand that it was a university who had commented that way, but they really had no right to do that.

I agree completely. Yet we must take note of the fact that because Dr. Polaris is Chinese and is taking

Mandarin/Cantonese as a Language B, that simply isn't permissible. As aforementioned by Bishup, he should

at least be taking it as an A2 language.

It also isn't simply due to the fact that you chose your "supposed mother tongue" as a B-language.

The universities assume that because he chose Chinese - also assuming that he is exposed to the Chinese culture -

he is being lazy, though Dr. Polaris may not.

As a result, he may be labelled as a person who doesn't work hard, quite the contrary to what the unversities are looking for.

I suggest that you immediately apply for another language course, if possible. If not attempt to go up to the A2 level and obtain

a bilingual diploma whilst being tutored at home by your parents, by a hired tutor, or a teacher from the dubbed "Chinese schools" that teach the desired language (Mandarin/Cantonese). Furthermore you get three birds with one stone: the A2

level of Mandarin/Cantonese, CAS hours - Creativity, and a billingual diploma.