Introduction to Classical Chinese
Code: 105878 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 2504012 Spanish and Chinese Studies: Language, Literature and Culture | OT | 4 |
Contact
- Name:
- Antonio Paoliello Palermo
- Email:
- antonio.paoliello@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
In order to take this class, students must have previous knowledge of modern Chinese, especially in the areas of syntax and grammar.
- Understanding written texts on themes concerning daily life. (MCRE-FTI A2.2.)
- Understanding short and simple oral texts (MCRE-FTI A1.2.)
- A good command of modern Chinese grammar
- A good command of Chinese characters
Objectives and Contextualisation
Objectives and Contextualisation
This course aims at providing students basic knowledge of the Classical Chinese language.
It is not a language used for oral communication; it is, in fact, a language used for written communication since the birth of the Chinese writing system up to the early twentieth century. One can still find many Classical Chinese expressions in the Chinese language spoken and written today. It is for this reason that this course aims at getting students acquainted with issues such as phonetics, morphology, semantics, gender and discourse in Classical Chinese.
Concurrently, this course is also intended as a means to provide students with the necessary tools to improve their active use and passive understanding of Modern Chinese. Therefore, this course will also approach social, historical and cultural issues that can be extremely useful to understand many East Asian civilizations.
Competences
- Developing self-learning strategies.
- Ensuring the quality of one's own work.
- Understand texts written in one of the languages of East Asia.
- Write texts in one of the languages of East Asia.
Competences
- Analyse the phonetic, phonological, morphological, syntactic, lexical and semantic properties of the Spanish language and the Mandarin Chinese language.
- Demonstrate the capacity to work autonomously, engaging in self-analysis and self. Criticism.
- Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
- Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
Learning Outcomes
- Apply lexical, morphosyntactic, textual and rhetorical knowledge and knowledge of linguistic variation.
- Ensure quality standards for your own work.
- Identify tools and instruments for autonomous learning of the Chinese language and to solve linguistic problems.
- Integrate cultural knowledge for solving communication problems.
- Interpret the communicative intention and meaning of written texts in different subject areas.
Content
- Basic Knowledge of the Chinese writing system and classical Chinese language.
- Writing conventions: lexical, morphosyntactic and textual differences.
- Cultural, social and historical knowledge, which is deemed necessary in order to learn classical Chinese language and to better understand East Asian civilizations.
- Knowledge of the main literary works written in pre-imperial and imperial China, especially those written in the classical period.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Analysis of texts in a FL | 17 | 0.68 | 3, 4, 5, 2 |
| Broadening of cultural knowledge | 16 | 0.64 | 4, 2 |
| Comprehensive and analytical reading of texts in foreign language | 19 | 0.76 | 5, 2 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Individual or group translation of texts in foreign language | 17.5 | 0.7 | 3, 4, 5, 2 |
| Problem solving and controlled exercises translation | 13 | 0.52 | 4, 2 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Documentation search | 16 | 0.64 | 3, 4, 2 |
| Text preparation and translation | 30 | 1.2 | 5, 2 |
| Vocabulary learning | 19 | 0.76 | 3, 2 |
We will work with original texts from the Chinese literary tradition: historical, philosophical and anecdotal texts of the pre-imperial period to the 3rd century AD.
Students will be given the text in advance and must prepare it on their own so that they are able to read aloud and can easily locate the part that is being referred to. This first step is essential in order to fruitfully follow the course.
The text will be analyzed sentence by sentence by the teacher, highlighting its most important features, illustrating them with more examples highlighting syntactic and grammatical aspects. Then, difficulties as well as different translation options will be discussed.
The student must take notes of all these issues addressed in class, as well as of the common characters that appear in the lessons, since they should be known in order to move forward to the following texts. The student will also engage in textual analysis together with the teacher and his fellow classmates.
Once the textual analysis is carried out, the student must translate the text on their own by the date indicated by the teacher. Moreover, the student must be able to justify their translation option choices.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grammar test | 40% | 1 | 0.04 | 1, 3, 2 |
| Knowledge test | 20% | 0.5 | 0.02 | 4, 2 |
| Translation | 40% | 1 | 0.04 | 3, 4, 5, 2 |
Assessment
The course evaluation consists of three tests:
1. Knowledge test (20% of the final grade): it aims at testing the student knowledge regarding philological, historical, linguistic and cultural aspects of Classical Chinese as well as of the authors/texts studied during the course.
2. Grammar text (40% of the final grade): this part aims at testing the students understanding of Classical Chinese grammar and knowledge of traditional characters.
3. Translation (40% of the final grade): Students will be asked to translate two short texts from classical Chinese into Spanish, Catalan or English.
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
This subject may be assessed under the single assessment system in accordance with the terms established in the academic regulations of the UAB and the assessment criteria of the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting.
Students must make an online request within the period established by the faculty and send a copy to the teacher responsible for the subject, for the record.
Single assessment will be carried out in person on one day during week 16 or 17 of the semester. The Academic Management Office will publish the exact date and time on the faculty website.
On the day of the single assessment, teaching staff will ask the student for identification, which should be presented as a valid identification document with a recent photograph (student card, DNI/NIE or passport).
Single assessment activities
The final grade for the subject will be calculated according to the following percentages:
1. Knowledge test (20% of the final grade): it aims at testing the student knowledge regarding philological, historical, linguistic and cultural aspects of Classical Chinese as well as of the authors/texts studied during the course.
2. Grammar text (40% of the final grade): this part aims at testing the students understanding of Classical Chinese grammar and knowledge of traditional characters.
3. Translation (40% of the final grade): Students will be asked to translate two short texts from classical Chinese into Spanish, Catalan or English.
Grade revision and resit procedures for the subject are the same as those for continual assessment. See the section above in this study guide.
Bibliography
Compulsory bibliography:
The texts on which the analysis and the translation will be performed will be available on Moodle. Moreover, in order to successfully pass the knowledge test, students must read the following articles/book chapters:
- Martínez Robles, David. La lengua china: historia, signo y contexto. Barcelona: Editorial UOC, 2007: 81-103; 121-132
- Rosemont Jr., Henry, "Translating and Interpreting Chinese Philosophy", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2019/entries/chinese-translate-interpret/>.
- Vogelsang, K. Introduction to Classical Chinese. Oxford: OUP, 2021: xvii-xxix; 3-16; 133-135; 188-190; 363-365.
Other resources (non-compulsory):
- Dawson, Raymond S. A New Introduction to Classical Chinese. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984.
- Pulleyblank, E. G. Outline of Classical Chinese Grammar. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1995.
- Scarpari, M. Avviamento allo studio del cinese classico. Venezia: Ca’Foscarina, 1999.
- Rouzer P.A New Practical Primer of Literary Chinese. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2007.
Software
Microsoft Word, aula Moodle, PowerPoint.
Language list
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |