LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims at providing students with a language competence which equals level B1- of the CEFR, which allows them to interact effectively in the most common communicative contexts, to understand and produce written texts about familiar topics and to develop an oral competence allowing them to fulfil practical needs and to identify already known terms and concepts within a speech. At the end of the course, students will know some 700 characters and 600 words and will be able to approach texts of medium complexity with the help of a dictionary.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The module will address advanced topics of Chinese grammar (more specifically, verbal complements), in order to allow students to build relatively complex sentences, extend the existing lexicon, employ linguistic knowledge acquired through reading, translation and conversation activities of intermediate difficulty. The Lettorato and Modulo teorico aims at preparing the students to reach HSK3 (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi) linguistic competence. The module will teach the students how to understand texts of medium difficulty on already known topics; improve oral skills (comprehension and production); develop translation skills (from Chinese to Italian and viceversa); interact with others on common daily conversations and communication exchanges.

PREREQUISITES

Students have to pass the exam Chinese Language 1 in order to attend this module and take the exam.

TEACHING METHODS

The module has two components:

- Language module (on the first and second semester), consisting of 100 hours of face-to-face teaching, during which the lexicon required for HSK3 will be introduced and explained; students will be trained to understand and produce sentences of intermediate difficulty in order to be confident in daily conversations of medium difficulty.

- Theoretical module (second semester), consisting of 30 of face-to-face teaching, during which the students will be taught the contents and syntax of Chinese language (intermediate level), with particular attention to verbal complements, also through the translation of sentences of medium difficulty (from Chinese to Italian and viceversa).

Attendance to both Language Module and Theoretical Module is strongly recommended.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The Language Module will proceed with the teaching of the lexicon and with the improvement of students' oral skills, by addressing the study of more complex parts of the discourse.

The Theoretical Module will concentrate on verbal complements (including the complement of degree, result complement, direction complement, etc.), as well as the ba/bei constructions, ways of placing emphasis, subordinate clauses, etc.  On completion of the module, the students will demonstrate to have gained the knowledge of morphology, syntax and lexicon required for HSK3. Students will be able to apply concepts learnt through reading and understanding of Chinese-language texts, and will be able to speak in coherence with the requirements of HSK3. The students will also demonstrate to have carried out independent reading and study and will be able to contextualise what he/she learnt in a critical and informed way.

The module contents are the same for both attending and non attending students.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Mandatory manuals:

Abbiati, Magda, Grammatica di cinese moderno, Venezia, Cafoscarina, 1998.

Abbiati, Magda, Zhang Ruoying, Dialogare in cinese (Voll 1 e 2), Venezia, Cafoscarina, 2010.

- Mandatory books:

Hodge, Bob and Kam Louie, The Politics of Chinese Language and Culture: The Art of Reading Dragons, London, Routledge, 2012.

Plus one selected from the titles below:

Stafutti, Stefania and Gianmaria Ajani, Colpirne uno per educarne cento. Slogan e parole d'ordine per capire la Cina, Torino, Einaudi, 2008.

Yan Lianke, Servire il popolo, Einaudi, Torino, 2007.    

Yu Hua, La Cina in dieci parole, Feltrinelli, Milano, 2015.

 - Additional manuals:

Romagnoli, Chiara, Wang Jing, Grammatica d’uso della lingua cinese, Milano, Hoepli 2016.

Ross, Claudia e Jing-heng Sheng Ma, Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide/Workbook, London, Routledge, 2014 (2° ed).

- Dictionaries:      

Zhao Xiuying, Gatti, Franco, Cinese. Dizionario compatto cinese-italiano, italiano-cinese e conversazioni, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2017.

Oxford Advanced Learner’s English-Chinese Dictionary, Beijing, The Commercial Press/Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2014 (8th edition).

Casacchia, Giorgio, Bai Yunkun, Dizionario cinese-italiano, Venezia, Cafoscarina,  2013.

Students who are not attending lectures in person should agree on the program with Prof. Puppin.