Advanced Chinese language 1 and translation
A2/B1
Students will take regular quizzes designed to strengthen their skills in listening and reading comprehension, presentational and interpersonal communication, and mastery of vocabulary and grammar. A mid-year oral assessment and a final exam will be administered. For attending students: • Quizzes and homework contribute 10% to the final grade. • The mid-year oral test contributes 5% (as part of the first module of the course). For non-attending students, the final grade will be based solely on the final exam. Final Exam Structure The final exam includes both a written and an oral component: • Written component: o Listening and reading comprehension o Vocabulary and grammar usage o Paragraph or short essay writing o Italian-to-Chinese translation based on materials covered in workshops • Oral component: o Presentations and conversations with the instructor on topics covered in class
The main objective of the Advanced Chinese and Translation I course is to further consolidate and enhance the language skills acquired by students who have already studied Chinese for several years. In addition to improving the students' communicative competence and awareness of the cultural and social norms of Chinese society, and expanding their working vocabulary and understanding of complex syntactic structures, this course sets students on the right path to passing the HSK Level V exam, certifying a B1+/B2 level of proficiency according to the Common European Framework. By the end of the course, students are expected to communicate fluently in both spoken and written Chinese on topics covered. They will develop the ability to comprehend extended discourse and express themselves in coherent paragraphs. In addition, students are expected to acquire strong translation skills, with specific regard to expressions and sentence patterns typically used in
1. Cultural themes from Encounters: Chinese Language and Culture 2. Contemporary issues related to the topics explored in Encounters 3. Business Chinese
By watching multimedia materials, reading and discussing texts of an increasing degree of complexity, conducting authentic communicative tasks and writing about issues discussed, students will improve their sophistication level in language use and acquire specialized lexicon and sentence patterns that will enable them to construct complex discourses in speech and in writing on a wide variety of topics regarding everyday China. In addition to their Advanced Chinese textbook, the students will also study Business Chinese, and texts and multi-media materials drawn from contemporary publications on topics related to politics, law, business, tourism, and culturally or socially relevant issues. Along with the course lessons, there are two parallel translation workshops of 60 class hours throughout the entire academic year; each will enable students to hone their translation skills in the two interdisciplinary curricula offered within the Master’s course in Modern Languages for International Communication and Cooperation, i.e.: juridical and economic translation; and linguistic, cultural and juridical mediation. During the workshops, the teacher will offer a set of study materials, selected from real documents in actual use in a variety of relevant contexts.
Mandatory texts: Ning, Cynthia Y., Stephen L. Tschudi, and John S. Montanaro. 2016. Encounters: Chinese Language and Culture. Student Book 3. Yale University Press: New Haven and London. Leonesi, Barbara. 2011. Cinese & Affari. Hoepli: Milano. Additional materials will be uploaded on the course e-learning website. Primarily conventional lectures, with occasional workshops on specific topics. - Attendance to class is highly recommended. - Non attending students should contact the course teachers. - Day, place, and hours of teacher-student counselling will be agreed upon with the students.