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2020/2021

Language II: Modern Chinese

Code: 101573 ECTS Credits: 12
Degree Type Year Semester
2500244 East Asian Studies FB 1 2
2500244 East Asian Studies OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Pau Viladiu Illanas
Email:
Pau.Viladiu@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Other comments on languages

The subject is taught in Catalan and Spanish, but Chinese will also be used as much as possible in class

Teachers

Pau Viladiu Illanas
Mireia Vargas Urpi

Prerequisites

Specifically, this subject requires prior knowledge obtained through the following subject Language I: Modern Chinese course.

Objectives and Contextualisation

The aim of this subject is to reinforce students’ knowledge of the most basic elements of the Chinese language and to further develop the four communication skills acquired in the Language I: Modern Chinese course. It is important that students assimilate its content in order to keep on studying the language in the subsequent term and academic years. On successfully completing this subject, students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of Standard Chinese phonological, morphological, lexical, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic structures.
  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the principles that govern language variation: traditional and simplified orthographies.
  • Apply linguistic, cultural and thematic knowledge to communicate both orally and in writing in Standard Chinese about topics related to areas of the most immediate relevance.
  • Apply strategies to solve comprehension problems related to areas of the most immediate relevance.
  • Develop autonomous learning strategies.

Competences

    East Asian Studies
  • Developing self-learning strategies.
  • Ensuring the quality of one's own work.
  • Produce oral texts in one of the languages of East Asia.
  • Solving problems of intercultural communication.
  • Understand oral texts in one of the languages of East Asia.
  • Understand texts written in one of the languages of East Asia.
  • Write texts in one of the languages of East Asia.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Apply knowledge of lexis, morphosyntax, texts, rhetoric and linguistic variation.
  2. Apply strategies to produce oral texts for different contexts and for specific communicative purposes.
  3. Apply strategies to produce written texts for different contexts and for specific communicative purposes.
  4. Apply strategies to understand oral texts from various different contexts.
  5. Apply strategies to understand written texts from various different contexts.
  6. Deal with interferences between the working languages.
  7. Developing self-learning strategies.
  8. Ensuring the quality of one's own work.
  9. Produce oral texts for different contexts and for specific communicative purposes.
  10. Produce oral texts that are appropriate to the context and linguistically correct.
  11. Produce written texts for different contexts and for specific communicative purposes.
  12. Produce written texts that are appropriate to the context and linguistically correct.
  13. Solving problems of intercultural communication.
  14. Understand the communicative intent and the meaning of oral texts from various different contexts.
  15. Understand the communicative intent and the meaning of written texts from various different contexts.

Content

The subject’s content can be divided into the following types:

Phonological and graphic:

  • pronunciation and distinction of Standard Chinese phonemes, syllables and tones
  • Pinyin transcription system
  • basic principles of writing

Lexical and morphological:

  • identification of 100 common radicals
  • identification and writing of a minimum of 500 basic Chinese characters
  • understanding and usage of basic common vocabulary related to everyday life

Grammar:

  • interrogative pronouns
  • numerals
  • measure words
  • verbs with double object
  • modal verbs
  • verbal aspect
  • verb reduplication
  • adverbs
  • prepositions
  • conjunctions and subordinate sentences
  • aspectual, modal and structural particles
  • complements

Communicative and sociocultural:

  • talking about the family
  • describing people and places
  • dating
  • suggesting, inviting, requesting
  • asking and explaining how to go somewhere and where something is
  • asking and telling the time
  • giving opinions and arguments for and against an opinion
  • expressing duration
  • expressing possibility
  • expressing preferences
  • comparing

Encyclopaedic and instrumental:

  • basic knowledge about the Chinese language
  • basic knowledge about certain aspects of Chinese culture

Methodology

Learning activities are organised into three categories based on the degree of student autonomy involved:

Directed activities (90 h): each unit’s content will be explained and there will be exercises involving the four basic skills (reading, listening, writing and speaking), grammar points, vocabulary, translation, revision of previous content, etc. These activities will be carried out individually or in pairs or larger groups.

Supervised activities (51 h): listening and speaking exercises and correction of exercises.

Autonomous activities (150 h): calligraphy, study of characters and vocabulary, preparation and review of texts and new grammar points, correction of exercises, self-assessment.

To achieve the established objectives students must attend class regularly, study new content in advance, carry out exercises and review previous content.

Assessment activities consist of exams and the preparation of a portfolio.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Exercise correction 20 0.8 1, 5, 4, 3, 2, 15, 14, 7, 12, 11, 10, 9, 6, 8
Master class 30 1.2 1, 7, 6, 8
Oral and written comprehension activities 20 0.8 1, 5, 4, 15, 7, 6, 8
Oral and written expression activities 20 0.8 1, 3, 2, 7, 12, 11, 10, 9, 6, 8
Type: Supervised      
Exercise correction 30 1.2 1, 5, 4, 3, 2, 15, 7, 12, 11, 10, 9, 6, 13, 8
Oral and written comprehension activities preparation 15 0.6 1, 5, 4, 15, 14, 7, 6, 8
Written expression activities preparation 6 0.24 1, 3, 2, 7, 12, 11, 10, 9, 6, 8
Type: Autonomous      
Correction of vocabulary, grammar, characters, pinyin, etc. exercises 70 2.8 1, 5, 4, 3, 2, 15, 14, 7, 12, 11, 10, 9, 6, 8
Learnt content revision 20 0.8 7, 8
New content preparation 20 0.8 1, 5, 4, 3, 2, 15, 14, 7, 12, 11, 10, 9, 6, 8
Written comprehension activities realization 20 0.8 1, 5, 15, 7, 6, 8
Written expression activities realization 20 0.8 1, 3, 7, 12, 11, 6, 8

Assessment

Assessment is continuous. Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing tasks and tests. Task deadlines will be indicated in class. Assessment activities consist of:

Portfolio (30%)

  • vocabulary tests
  • written exercises (handwritten) 

Exams (70%)

There will be two exams, a mid-term exam and a final exam at the end of the semester.

In the case of retaking an exam (or retaking or compensating for any other assessment activity), the highest mark that can be obtained is 5/10. 

Related matters 

The above information on assessment, assessment activities and their weighting is merely a guide. The subject's lecturer will provide full information when teaching begins. 

Review 

When publishing final marks prior to recording them on students' transcripts, the lecturer will provide written notification of a date and time for reviewing assessment activities. Students must arrange reviews in agreement with the lecturer. 

Missed/failed assessment activities 

Students may retake assessment activities they have failed or compensate for any they have missed, provided that those they have actually performed account for a minimum of 66.6% (two thirds) of the subject's final mark and that they have a weighted average mark of at least 3.5. Under no circumstances may an assessment activity worth 100% of the final mark be retaken or compensated for. 

The lecturer will inform students of the procedure involved, in writing, when publishing final marks prior to recording them on transcripts. The lecturer may set one assignment per failed or missed assessment activity or a single assignment to cover a number of such activities. 

Classification as "not assessable" 

In the event of the assessment activities a student has performed accounting for just 25% or less of the subject's final mark, their work will be classified as "not assessable" on their transcript. 

Misconduct in assessment activities 

Students who engage in misconduct (plagiarism, copying, personation, etc.) in an assessment activity will receive a mark of “0” for the activity in question. In the case of misconduct in more than one assessment activity, the students involved will be given a final mark of “0” for the subject. 

Students may not retake assessment activities in which they are found to have engaged in misconduct. Plagiarism is considered to mean presenting all or part of an author's work, whether published in print or in digital format, as one's own, i.e. without citing it. Copying is considered to mean reproducing all or a substantial part of another student's work. In cases of copying in which it is impossible to determine which of two students has copied the work of the other, both will be penalised.

More information: http://www.uab.cat/web/study-abroad/undergraduate/academic-information/evaluation/what-is-it-about-1345670077352.html

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Oral and written exams 70% (30% + 40%) 6 0.24 1, 5, 4, 3, 2, 15, 14, 7, 12, 11, 10, 9, 6, 13, 8
Portfolio 30% 3 0.12 1, 5, 4, 3, 2, 15, 14, 7, 12, 11, 10, 9, 6, 13, 8

Bibliography

Textbook:

¤ Casas, Helena; Rovira, Sara; Suárez, Anne-Hélène. 2013. Lengua china para traductores: 学中文，做翻译 (Vol. I i II). Bellaterra: Servei de Publicacions de la UAB. (Materials, 188 i 198), fifth edition.

  • Webpage: http://sad.uab.es/xuezhongwen, with audiovisual material.
  • The rest of materials will be available at campus virtual or aula moodle: https://cv2008.uab.cat/.
  • Mobile app: OMandarin.

Reference books:

¤ Álvarez, José Ramón. 2000. La pronunciación del chino hablado (putonghua) para hispanohablantes. Taipei: Lanbridge Press cop.

¤ Casas-Tost, Helena; Rovira-Esteva, Sara (Eds.). 2015. Guia d’estil per al tractament de mots xinesos en català. Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Cultura. Biblioteca tècnica de política lingüística, 2. ISBN: 978-84-393-9241-5. DOI: 10.2436/15.8040.02.1. En línia:http://www.gencat.cat/llengua/BTPL/xines.

Spanish version: https://ddd.uab.cat/record/180644

¤ López Calvo, F.; Zhao, Baoyan. 2013. Guía esencial de la lengua china. Madrid: Adeli Ediciones.

¤ Ramírez, Laureano. 1999. Del carácter al contexto: Teoría y prácticade la traducción del chino moderno. Bellaterra: Servei de publicacions de la UAB. (Materials, 74)

¤ Ross, Claudia;Sheng, Jing-Heng. 2006. ModernChinese grammar: a practical guide. New York: Routledge.

¤ Yip, Po-ching; Rimmington, Don. 2014. Gramática básica del chino. Madrid: Adeli Ediciones. 

¤ Yip, Po-ching; Rimmington, Don. 2015. Gramática intermedia del chino. Madrid: Adeli Ediciones. 

Others:

¤ Rovira-Esteva, Sara. 2010. Lengua y escritura chinas. Mitos y realidades. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra.

¤ Vicente, Sergi. 2018. Xina Fast Forward. Barcelona: AraLlibres.

Online resources:

1. On phonetics and Pinyin:

2. Pronunciation practice (tones, phonemes, etc.):

3. To practise writing characters (simplified and traditional):

4. Online dictionaries:

  • https://www.pleco.com/
  • http://www.nciku.com/ 
  • http://www.iciba.com/