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Language I: Modern Chinese

Code: 101575
Credits: 12
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
East Asian Studies OP 4

Contact lecturer

Name :
Xianghong Qu Lu
Email :
xianghong.qu@uab.cat

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

None. The languages used in class will be, in this order: Chinese, Catalan, and Spanish.

Objectives

The aim of this subject is to provide an introduction to the most basic elements of the Chinese language (CEFR level: A1.1) the and develop the four communication skills. It is important that students assimilate its content in order to keep on studying the language in the subsequent term and academic years.

On successfully completing this subject, students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of Standard Chinese phonological, morphological, lexical, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic structures.
  • Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the principles that govern language variation: traditional and simplified orthographies.
  • Apply linguistic, cultural and thematic knowledge to communicate both orally and in writing in Standard Chinese about topics related to areas of the most immediate relevance.
  • Apply strategies to solve comprehension problems related to areas of the most immediate relevance.
  • Develop autonomous learning strategies.

Learning outcomes

  1. Developing self-learning strategies.
  2. Solving problems of intercultural communication.
  3. Ensuring the quality of one's own work.
  4. Apply knowledge of lexis, morphosyntax, texts, rhetoric and linguistic variation.
  5. Apply strategies to understand written texts from various different contexts.
  6. Apply strategies to understand oral texts from various different contexts.
  7. Apply strategies to produce written texts for different contexts and for specific communicative purposes.
  8. Apply strategies to produce oral texts for different contexts and for specific communicative purposes.
  9. Understand the communicative intent and the meaning of written texts from various different contexts.
  10. Understand the communicative intent and the meaning of oral texts from various different contexts.
  11. Produce written texts that are appropriate to the context and linguistically correct.
  12. Produce written texts for different contexts and for specific communicative purposes.
  13. Produce oral texts that are appropriate to the context and linguistically correct.
  14. Produce oral texts for different contexts and for specific communicative purposes.
  15. Deal with interferences between the working languages.

Contents

The subject’s content can be divided into the following types:

Phonological and graphic:

  • pronunciation and distinction of Standard Chinese phonemes, syllables and tones
  • Pinyin transcription system
  • basic principles of writing: character structure identification; division into components (radicals, phonetic and semantic components); stroke order, number and type
  • handwriting and digital writing

Lexical and morphological:

  • identification of basic common radicals
  • identification and writing of a minimum of 250 basic Chinese characters
  • understanding and usage of basic common vocabulary related to everyday life

Grammar and vocabulary

  • Numbers
  • Word order in Chinese
  • Verbs
  • Different types of questions
  • Adverbs
  • Possessives
  • Interrogative pronouns
  • Adjectives
  • Sentences without verbs
  • Nationalities
  • Jobs / Occupations
  • Family
  • Dates

Communicative and sociocultural contents:

  • Greeting
  • Classroom communication
  • Introducing oneself
  • Introducing and asking about family
  • Asking and stating age and address
  • Describing a person
  • Inviting someone
  • Expressing dates
  • Talking about routines

Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Exercise correction 30 1.2 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15
Oral and written comprehension activities 20 0.8 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 13, 15
Oral and written expression activities 20 0.8 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15
Vocabulary, grammar, characters, pinyin, etc. exercises correction 70 2.8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15
Written comprehension activities realization 20 0.8 1, 2, 6, 8, 13, 15
Written expression activities preparation 6 0.24 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15
Master class 30 1.2 1, 8, 13, 15
New content preparation 20 0.8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15
Written expression activities realization 20 0.8 1, 4, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15
Oral and written comprehension activities preparation 15 0.6 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 13, 15
Learnt content revision 20 0.8 8, 15
Exercise correction 20 0.8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15

Learning activities are organised into three categories based on the degree of student autonomy involved:

  • Directed activities (90 h): each unit’s content will be explained and there will be exercises involving the four basic skills (reading, listening, writing and speaking), grammar points, vocabulary, translation, revision of previous content, etc. These activities will be carried out individually or in pairs or larger groups.
  • Supervised activities (51 h): listening and speaking exercises and correction of exercises.
  • Autonomous activities (150 h): calligraphy, study of characters and vocabulary, preparation and review of texts and new grammar points, correction of exercises, self-assessment.

To achieve the established objectives students must attend class regularly, study new content in advance, carry out exercises and review previous content.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Portfolio 30% 3 0.12 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15
Oral and written exams 70% (30% + 40%) 6 0.24 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Continuous Assessment

Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing tasks and tests. Task deadlines will be indicated in class.

Assessment activities consist of:

Portfolio (30%)

  • vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, writing tests
  • written and oral exercises

Exams (70%)

  • There will be two exams, a mid-term exam and a final exam at the end of the semester.

In the case of retaking an exam (or retaking or compensating for any other assessment activity), the highest mark that can be obtained is 5/10.

Related matters

All information on assessment, assessment activities and their weighting is merely a guide. The subject's lecturer will provide full information when teaching begins.

Review

When publishing final marks prior to recording them on students' transcripts, the lecturer will provide written notification of a date and time for reviewing assessment activities. Students must arrange reviews in agreement with the lecturer.

Missed/failed assessment activities

Students may retake assessment activities they have failed or compensate for any they have missed, provided that those they have actually performed account for a minimum of 66.6% (two thirds) of the subject's final mark and that they have a weighted average mark of at least 3.5.

The portfolio cannot be retaken or compensated for. Under no circumstances may an assessment activity worth 100% of the final mark be retaken or compensated for.

The lecturer will inform students of the procedure involved, in writing, when publishing final marks prior to recording them on transcripts. The lecturer

may set one assignment per failed or missed assessment activityor a single assignment to cover a number of such activities.

Classification as \"not assessable\"

In the event of the assessment activities a student has performed accounting for just 25% or less of the subject's final mark, their work will be classified as \"not assessable\" on their transcript.

Misconduct in assessment activities

Students who engage in misconduct (plagiarism, copying, personation, etc.) in an assessment activity will receive a mark of “0” for the activity in question. In the case of misconduct in more than one assessment activity, the students involved will be given a final mark of “0” for the subject.

Students may not retake assessment activities in which they are found to have engaged in misconduct. Plagiarism is considered to mean presenting all or part of an author's work, whether published in print or in digital format, as one's own, i.e. without citing it. Copying is considered to mean reproducing all or a substantial part of another student's work. In cases of copying in which it is impossible to determine which of two students has copied the work of the other, both will be penalised.

In this course, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies may or may not be permitted depending on the activity. The permitted and prohibited uses in each case will be detailed in the course introduction. Students must clearly identify which parts were generated using AI technologies, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how these tools influenced the process and the final result of the activity. A lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in graded assignments will be considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in a partial or total penalty on the assignment grade, or more severe sanctions in serious cases.

More information: http://www.uab.cat/web/study-abroad/undergraduate/academic-information/evaluation/what-is-it-about-1345670077352.html

Single assessment

This subject may be assessed under the single assessment system in accordance with the terms established in the academicregulations of the UAB and the assessment criteria of the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting.

Students must make an online request within the period established by the faculty and send a copy to the teacher responsible for the subject, for the record.

Single assessment will be carried out in person on one day during week 16 or 17 of the semester. The Academic Management Office will publish the exact date and time on the faculty website.

On the day of the single assessment, teaching staff will ask the student for identification, which should be presented as a valid identification document with a recent photograph (student card, DNI/NIE or passport).

Single assessment activities

The final grade for the subject will be calculated according to the following percentages:

  • Oral exam 20%
  • Written essay 40%
  • Exam about other skills 30%
  • Portfolio 10%

Grade revision and resit procedures for the subject are the same as those for continual assessment. See the section above in this study guide.

Bibliography

Textbook:

Ding Anqi, Chen Xin, Jin Lili (2010) Discover China: Student's book One + workbook. Oxford: Macmillan Education; Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Both the textbook and activity book are necessary. The rest of exercises, activities or information for the subject will be poted in the Moodle classroom at: https://cv2008.uab.cat/.

Online resources:

eChineseTools (https://dtieao.uab.cat/txicc/echinese/ca/) and eChinesePlus (https://dtieao.uab.cat/gelea2lt/echineseplus/)

Reference material:

Álvarez, José Ramón. 2000. La pronunciación del chino hablado (putonghua) para hispanohablantes. Taipei: Lanbridge Press cop.

Casas, Helena; Rovira, Sara; Suárez, Anne-Hélène. 2009. Lengua china para traductores: 学中文,做翻译 (Vols. I i II). Bellaterra: Servei de Publicacions de la UAB. (Materials, 188 i 198), 5a edició.

Casas-Tost, Helena; Rovira-Esteva, Sara (Eds.). 2015/2021. Guia d’estil per al tractament de mots xinesos en català. Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Cultura. Biblioteca tècnica de política lingüística, 2. ISBN: 978-84-393-9241-5. DOI: 10.2436/15.8040.02.1. URL: https://ddd.uab.cat/record/133473

Casas-Tost, Helena; Rovira-Esteva, Sara (Eds.). 2015. Guía de estilo para el uso de palabras de origen chino. Madrid: Adeli. URL: https://ddd.uab.cat/record/180644

López Calvo, F.; Zhao, Baoyan. 2013. Guía esencial de la lengua china. Madrid: Adeli Ediciones.

Ross, Claudia;Sheng, Jing-Heng; He, Baozhang; Yeh, Meng. 2024. Modern Mandarin Chinese grammar: a practical guide. New York: Routledge.

Yip, Po-ching; Rimmington, Don. 2014. Gramática básica del chino. Madrid:Adeli Ediciones.

Yip, Po-ching; Rimmington, Don. 2015. Gramática intermedia del chino. Madrid: Adeli Ediciones.

Other books:

Rovira-Esteva, Sara. 2010. Lengua y escritura chinas. Mitos y realidades. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra.

Vicente, Sergi. 2018. Xina Fast Forward. Barcelona: AraLlibres. (también en castellano)

Software

Online resources:


eChineseTools (https://dtieao.uab.cat/txicc/echinese/ca/) and eChinesePlus (https://dtieao.uab.cat/gelea2lt/echineseplus/)


Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE