Chinese for Business (PG)

This module has been designed to provide an opportunity for students to enhance their understanding and knowledge of business related Chinese. It will enable students to make better use of their Chinese language skills in both formal and informal contexts.

The module will cover aspects of all language skills (i.e. reading, writing, listening, speaking and translation). The materials will be mainly business-related and cover various aspects of business, finance and management.

The teaching materials will be provided during the course to ensure they are most current and relevant. Students will be provided with specific vocabulary and expressions related to business transactions and interactions. The teaching will be conducted mainly in Chinese.

Prerequisites

15PCHC020: Chinese 5 (PG)

Objectives and learning outcomes of the module

On successful completion of this module a student will be able to:

1. understand and translate formal business documents and give presentations in Chinese.
2. use online Chinese sources effectively to enhance their knowledge and skills for business purposes
3. conduct business-related verbal (e.g. face-to-face, telephone) transactions.
4. understand and employ business Chinese terminology, translation and presentation skills in language-based research and scholarship (PG-specific learning outcome)
5. understand the dynamics of language acquisition and language-based research and scholarship through the attendance of seminars (PG specific learning outcome)

Workload

Total of 10 weeks teaching with 3 hours classroom contact per week consisting of a 2 hour lecture and a 1 hour tutorial.

Scope and syllabus

• Chinese government policies regarding economic development (e.g. the five year plans).
• Formal business documents (contracts, agreements, etc.)
• Business cases (success as well as failure cases.of business operations in China and in the west with the focus on foreign businesses operating in China).
• Business correspondences
• Business reports
• Business-related news
• Business reports and analysis
• Ad-hoc materials selected by the student in agreement with the course tutor in preparation of a Portfolio (specific for PG students only)

Method of assessment

One two-hour written examination taken in May/June (40%); coursework assignments and in class tests (10%); a portfolio of 1000 Chinese characters consisting of one translation and one composition to be submitted on day 5, week 1, in the term following teaching (20%); 2 oral presentation of 5 - 10 minutes  10% each (20%); a one-hour end of term test (10%).

Suggested reading

The materials for this module will be prepared the teacher(s) teaching and/or convening the module (approved by the department).

Disclaimer

Important notice regarding changes to programmes and modules