[skip to content]

Department of the Languages and Cultures of China and Inner Asia

Chinese 102: Elementary Modern Chinese Language 2

Course Code:
155901218
Unit value:
1
Year of study:
Year 1
Taught in:
Full Year
This course aims at helping students with their acquisition of basic modern language (putongua) through attention to the spoken forms of the language and to their written equivalents. There are laboratory classes, grammar practise classes, drill and conversation classes. The written language is first studied in the traditional full forms of the characters.

Prerequisites

This course is designed for ab initio learners as well as for beginners up to the GCSE Chinese (i.e. approx. 500 characters) level.

Objectives and learning outcomes of the course

At the end of the course, a student (ab initio beginner) should achieve a working knowledge of 800-900 characters and of basic grammar and sentence patterns. Advanced beginners should have a working knowledge of 1200 characters. Students should achieve a basic working knowledge of the vocabulary based on those characters, be able to hold a simple conversation in Mandarin and function adequately in standard social situations.

Workload

Total 23 weeks of teaching with ab initio learners and advanced beginners having 6 hours per week (2 hours of language classes and 4 hours of language laboratory work).

Method of assessment

One three-hour written examination (70%) taken in May/June, oral examination (10%), listening examination (10%) and homework and classroom participation (10%).

Suggested reading

  • Colloquial Chinese P C T’ung and D E Pollard (Routledge 1982)