Bachelor of Arts in Chinese

CUNY Queens College - Navitas USA

The program of instruction in Chinese has three parts. The first two years are intended to introduce the student to the basic sentence patterns of Mandarin and to Chinese characters: the first year emphasizes the spoken language, the second year emphasizes the written language as it is used to transcribe the spoken language. The third year is an introduction to the classical language through the study of classical grammar and classical texts. The fourth year provides the student with a selection of reading courses that reinforce the student’s experience with both the spoken and classical languages through the reading of dramas, essays, historical texts, and fiction. The reading selections from the second year on are intended to acquaint the student with the civilization of China through the study of secondary and primary materials. See the box on this page for the requirements for the major and minor in Chinese. Cultural knowledge and the ability to use a foreign language are essential components of a liberal arts education. In addition to language courses, the faculty offer a wide variety of literature and culture courses, both in English and in foreign languages. Students who already know the languages may take advanced courses to enrich their understanding of the humanities in these traditions sequences of such courses can become important components of interdisciplinary concentrations, minors, or double majors that complement a student’s primary field of study. The department’s ''in-translation'' courses give students an understanding of the ancient Western and Asian classics and of various modern Asian, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean cultures. These courses can serve as valuable supplements to work in such other departments as art, comparative literature, English, history, and philosophy. They can also complement coursework in fields where knowledge of Classical, Middle Eastern, and Asian cultures and languages can be an important component these include anthropology, economics, linguistics, political science, urban studies, and women’s studies.