Question 1: Is Chinese
difficult to learn?
Question 2: What can be
difficult in learning Chinese?
Question 3: Why should
I study Chinese?
Question 4: What Chinese
courses are offered at UVM?
Question 5: Who are the
Chinese instructors?
Question 6: Can I major
in Chinese at UVM?
Q1: Is Chinese difficult to learn?
A1: Here are some facts about
Chinese to help you judge whether it is difficult to learn:
Chinese never
changes its word endings. Chinese words do not change to account for different gender, number,
case, and tense. Instead, Chinese uses adverbs, adjectives, and numerals to
indicate those notions.
Chinese also uses
Roman letters for writing. Chinese has two writing systems: one is logographic (Chinese
characters), and the other is alphabetic (Romanized Chinese). All students in
Chinese has only
four sounds that English does not have. There are 21 initials (i.e., consonants), which
always appear at the beginning of syllables in Chinese. Only three initials
("j, q, and x") need to be learned by English speakers. Except the
sound "ü," all the 38 finals (i.e., vowels and the combinations of vowels
and nasals), which always appear at the end of syllables in Chinese are not new
to English speakers.
A2: Chinese tones and
Chinese characters usually present challenges to English speaking
learners.
Each syllable in a
Chinese word has a tone. When the tone is changed, the meaning of the word is
also changed. Learning to speak Chinese is somewhat like learning to sing.
Singers usually learn to speak Chinese quite well. Those who are "tone
deaf" may have a hard time mastering the four Chinese tones in speaking.
However, the Chinese in the way they speak can still be understood from the
context by native Chinese speakers.
Chinese, a
non-alphabetical language, has about 60,000 Chinese characters that are words
or are used to form words. One can hardly remember a character without seeing
it and using it frequently. The good news is that only 3,500 characters are
commonly used nowadays. For students learning Chinese as a foreign language,
mastering 1,000 to 1,500 characters would enable them to socialize, work, and
study without much difficulty in
Q3: Why should I study Chinese?
A3: Here are some of the good
reasons:
1. Chinese is a melodious and
artistic language, pleasant to listen to and nice to look at.
2. Chinese sounds and grammar, in comparison with those of other languages, are
easy to learn.
3. Writing Chinese characters help to develop better coordination of the right
and left hemispheres of one’s brains.
4.
5.
Q4: What Chinese courses are offered at UVM?
A4: Here is a list of the Chinese
courses offered at UVM:
CHN 001/002 Elementary Chinese (1st-Year
Chinese)
CHN 051/052 Intermediate Chinese (2nd-Year
Chinese)
CHN 101/102 Advanced Chinese (3rd-Year
Chinese)
CHN 201/202 Advanced Conversation &
Composition (4th-Year Chinese)
CHN 095/096 Conversational Chinese for
Beginners
WLIT 110/111 Chinese Literature in
Translation (English)
Q5: Who are the Chinese instructors?
|
|
John Jing-hua Yin (印京华), Associate Professor of Chinese. He got his Ph.D. in Foreign
Language Education from the To get contact with him, write to jyin@uvm.edu |
|
|
|
|
|
Diana
Yiqing Sun (孙怡清), Senior Lecturer of Chinese. She got her
Master Degree in Education from To get contact with her, write to dsun@uvm.edu |
Q6: Can I major in Chinese at UVM?
A6: Right now the Chinese
Language Program does not offer a major in Chinese. You may choose to
have a minor in Chinese. To get a minor in Chinese, you are required to
take at least 15 credit hours of Chinese with at least 9 of those at or above
100-level, including CHIN 102. 3 credit hours at or above 100-level in
Chinese literature may be substituted for three credits of language study
beyond CHIN 102.
Comments
and suggestions are welcome.
Copyright © 1997 Chinese Language Program. All rights reserved.
Created: November 14, 1997
Last revised: September 3, 2007