我们学汉语
Wǒmen xué hànyǔ (We study Chinese)
The Chinese economy is the fastest growing economy in the world and so in the work environment even speaking a little Chinese will give you a competitive edge. An official language of the United Nations, Chinese is the most widely spoken first language in the world, extending beyond the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan to Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, to the Philippines, and to Mongolia. There are about 915 million speakers of Mandarin, so if you can speak English, Spanish and Chinese you will be able to communicate with a large percentage of the world’s population.
Studying this language is also a way to get closer to China`s millenary traditions and customs and to open your mind even more to different ways of thinking.
Using the appropriate method, learning Chinese is not as hard as we all think. Due to the simplicity of Chinese grammar, you will be able to communicate in Chinese since the first day.
Chinese is not that difficult as you think!
Chinese grammar is quite easy:
Chinese people talk like this (Chinese grammar):
Yo ser español/a. Yo llamar Juan.
Yo ser estudiante. Yo estudiar chino. Yo antes no estudiar chino, porque pensar que ser muy difícil. Pero gramática muy fácil, escritura muy interesante y pronunciación muy bonita. Yo gustar chino.
All words have only one grammatical form. The language lacks conjugation, or any other inflection. Functions such as number in nouns or tenses in verbs are expressed through word order or particles. For this reason you will be able to increase your communicative abilities in spoken Chinese in a fast way.
Learning to read and write Chinese must not be that hard:
Beginning with the most simple characters, adding stroke by stroke we will write new characters. ¡Just as a game!
Learning to talk can be fascinating:
This really sounds Chinese:
Mā ma mà mă ma?
妈 妈 骂 马 吗? Does mum curses the horse?
Chinese is a tonal language (It has four tones and a neutral one).
The tones in Chinese are very important, because they convey differences in meaning.
It`s fascinating how the Chinese can communicate with so small a variety of sounds! In this course you will learn to understand and experience the essence of this beautiful language.
Courses taught at Saint Louis University – Madrid Campus:
CHIN 110 – Communicating in Chinese I – 3 credits (Fall semester): Emphasis on pronunciation and on the grammatical structure of spoken Chinese. You will have a vocabulary of 400 lexical items and be able to comprehend spoken Chinese to survive in simple daily conversations. Introduction to Chinese writing and reading.
CHIN 115 – Communicating in Chinese II – 3 credits (Spring semester): We will concentrate in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Students will increase their vocabulary and be able to talk Chinese comfortably in everyday life situations. Students will be able to read and write a big variety of simple Chinese texts.
CHIN 210 – Intermediate Chinese, Language and Culture I (Spring semester)- 3 credits: For students who have successfully completed 110 and 115 or the equivalent from another institution. This course will enable the students to master a vocabulary of 800 lexical items and be able to proficiently communicate, read and write Chinese.
Campus events:
Chinese club and other activities:
At the Chinese club you can practice what you learned in class with Chinese native speakers and get more in touch with Chinese culture and traditions.
There are also meetings with native speakers (dinners in Chinese restaurant) and other activities (attending Chinese New Year festival, exhibitions related to Chinese culture etc.)
To find out more, contact Iris González Schiller: igonzal2@slu.edu
