Languages of China & Inner Asia at SOAS: Mandarin Chinese
The lingua franca of China is known to English speakers as Mandarin, which corresponds to the old term Guanhua, “language of officials”. In the Republican period (1912-49) it was called Guoyu, “national language”, a term still in use in Taiwan and some Chinese communities outside the mainland. In the People’s Republic of China it is called Putonghua, “common language”, and it is spoken by over a billion people, either as a first or second language. It is based on the speech of Beijing and incorporates elements from Northern Chinese dialects that have been accepted into the national modern language. Mandarin is a tonal language with a complex writing system. Besides studying the spoken language, students also do close reading of a variety of texts in the original, selected from the rich literature of over two thousand years.
If you would like to learn Mandarin Chinese and the Chinese script, contact Dr Lianyi Song (ls2@soas.ac.uk) Department of the Languages and Cultures of China and Inner Asia.
SOAS at the Chinese Bridge Competition 2017
In 2017 Akshay Nugent, then a third year BA Chinese student won the best Eloquence prize in the Chinese Bridge competition. He didn’t enter the top three due to misinterpretation of assessment criteria by some judges although special award was given to him at a later stage.
His coaches Wanli Gao and Zhaoxia Pang were extremely proud for his performance. Zhaoxia Pang said, "when Akshy came to SOAS, he was a total beginner who didn't even know what ‘nihao’ (Hello) meant. His achievement in less than three years sets a shining example for all other students who learn Chinese at SOAS.
Akshay Nugent at the 2017 Chinese Bridge Competition
Degree Programmes
- BA Chinese Studies
- BA Chinese (Modern and Classical)
- BA Chinese (Modern and Classical) and ...
- MA Chinese Studies
- MA Comparative Literature (Africa / Asia)
- Degree Programmes with Language Options
Degree Course Options
- Chinese 101: Elementary Modern Chinese Language 1
- Chinese 102: Elementary Modern Chinese Language 2
- Chinese 104: Introduction to Classical Chinese
- Chinese 301: Intermediate Modern Chinese Language 1
- Chinese 302: Intermediate Modern Chinese Language 2
- Chinese 304: Traditional Chinese Language and Literature 1
- Chinese 401: Advanced Modern Chinese Language
- Chinese 404: Traditional Chinese Language and Literature 2
- Chinese 405: Styles of Modern Chinese Literary Language
- Special Course in Chinese 1A
- Special Course in Chinese 1B
- Special Course in Chinese 2
- Special Course in Chinese 3
- Special Course in Chinese 4
- Special Course in Chinese: Reading Classical and Literary Chinese
- Chinese 201: Modern Language and Reading Comprehension (Beijing course)
- Chinese 202: Readings in Modern Chinese (Beijing course)
- Chinese 203: Sinological Research Project (Beijing course)
- Chinese 204: Basic Classical and Literary Chinese (Beijing course)
- Practical Translation: Chinese to English
- Practical Translation: English to Chinese
- Special Chinese: Advanced Chinese for Business and Management
- Special Course in Chinese 1A (Postgraduate)
- Special Course in Chinese 1A (Postgraduate)
- Special Course in Chinese 2 (Postgraduate)
- Special Course in Chinese 3 (Postgraduate)
- Special Course in Chinese 4 (Postgraduate)
- Special Course in Chinese: Reading Classical and Literary Chinese (Postgraduate)
- Traditional Chinese Language and Literature
Language Centre
Other Resources
- Chinese Proficiency Tests (HSK)
- Chinese Reading Maze
- Elementary Chinese Listening Materials
- Teaching Chinese Tones
Please Note: Not all courses and programmes are available every year