Chinese Language Study

Elementary Chinese (I) & (II) (Mandarin)

ELEMENTARY CHINESE I (CHNS 1201 & 1202)
"Elementary Chinese I" is the beginning class designed for students with no previous knowledge (or less than one year) of Chinese; it introduces students to the official Chinese language called "Mandarin” by English speakers, putonghua in the People's Republic of China, and guo-yu in Taiwan. The course aims to help students obtain an adequate grasp of basic language skills in both spoken and written Chinese and lay a good foundation for further study of this language. Upon completion of the semester course (Elementary Chinese I ), students will have mastered a set of essential sentence patterns, approximately 400 Chinese characters and a vocabulary of more than 1,000 words. At such a proficiency level, students will be able to talk with native Chinese speakers in daily-life settings, write on simple topics, and travel with relative independence in China and other Chinese-speaking areas. In addition, this course will help students to achieve a better awareness of Chinese culture and society, which will form an important aspect of a truly global perspective expected of today’s college graduates.

ELEMENTARY CHINESE II (CHNS 2201 & 2202)
This course is a continuation of Elementary Chinese I. In addition to helping students to consolidate their elementary knowledge of Chinese obtained in the first semester, this course will introduce them to more vocabulary and grammar. We will continue to focus on improving oral fluency and comprehension, and will also develop reading and writing skills. At the end of the semester course, students will have learned about 1000 characters and basic grammatical rules, which will enable them to converse and write on simple daily topics with relative ease and effectiveness.

Elementary Chinese classes will be guided by one or more of the following language texts:
Survival Chinese, by Don Snow; The Commercial Press
Coversational Chinese, Beijing Language & Culture University Press
Chinese Made Easier—Book 1 & 2, Shaanxi Normal University Press

FOR A SAMPLE SYLLABUS CLICK HERE