Chinese Language and Culture (1)

In this level of Mandarin Chinese students will study the Hanyu Pinyin system. Also, they will learn the five tones of Mandarin. Traditional and simplified characters will be introduced, however, from the very beginning students will be required to recognize and write only simplified characters. During the first weeks of the course the main emphasis will be put on studying Chinese phonetics (reading, writing and auditory recognition of initials and finals, the five tones). During this initial stage the students will also be introduced to basic Chinese character writing rules and 50 basic characters. They will also learn simple conversational language phrases. Following this stage is a comprehensive study of basic grammar, accompanied with reading, writing, speaking and listening practices. At this stage the learning material is organized in three major topics consisting of four lessons each. First topic: Identifying and Introducing (propositional sentences is-isn’t; interrogative sentences with particle ma; the adverb ye; the structural particle de; sentences indicating possession; basic measure words; interrogative pronouns; counting numbers below 100; sentences defining quantities). Second topic: Time and Position (ways of expressing date; sentences with adjective predicates; ways of expressing time; time words as adverbial; ways of expressing position). Third topic: Daily Necessities (alternative questions either-or; ways of reading money; elliptical questions with ne; sentences with verbal structure in series; counting numbers above 100). At the end of the semester students are expected to be able to use at least 30 grammatical structures, recognize and write about 150 – 200 characters and use about 300 – 350 vocabulary words.

To acquaint students with basic Chinese language structures and cultural factors that are important for the formation and learning of this language.

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Introduction to the Chinese system; phonetics and practice Introducing; oneself time and position daily necessities.

Ability to explain the East Asian region through the prism of language and culture; Ability to describe Japanese, Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese cultural characteristics and differences; Ability to speak Chinese at A1 level.