Learning objectives
The main goal of the course is to let students consolidate language and communicative competences at an elementary level (comparable with the HSK2 level) in standard Chinese, both in writing and in oral interaction. As regards writing, students are expected to be able to totally write about 500 Chinese words and to read 600 Chinese words at the end of the course. The communicative functions that students are expected to develop concern everyday interaction in formal and in informal contexts.
Prerequisites
Basic Chinese language knowledge (comparable with HSK1 level)
Course unit content
According to the teaching and learning goals of Chinese as a foreign language elaborated both by the office for the promotion of Chinese Hanban and within the European context, this course aims at consolidating Chinese language knowledge at an elementary level, with a specific focus on writing, grammar and communicative functions related to everyday interaction in formal and in informal contexts.
Techniques for characters writing and for transcription through the use of pinyin will be reinforced, and students will be guided in the use of bilingual dictionaries (Chinese-Italian).
Basic grammar notions will be introduced, including verbal aspects, the modal particle "le", parataxis and hypotaxis, connectives, the degree complement, resultative verbs.
As regards the domain of interpersonal communication, important communicative functions related to daily interaction in informal and in formal contexts will be analyzed.
Moreover, relevant information will be provided about the Chinese history and literature from the founding of the Qin dynasty to the end of the Yuan dynasty.
Bibliography
Chinese language:
Mandatory manual:
Federico Masini, Zhang Tongbing, Bai Hua et al., Il cinese per gli italiani – Corso base, Milano: Hoepli, 2010
Non mandatory reading:
Chiara Romagnoli e Wang Jing, Grammatica d’uso della lingua cinese, Milano: Hoepli, 2016
Chinese literature:
Mandatory readings:
A. Cheng, Storia del pensiero cinese, Einaudi, Torino, 2000, vol. I, Chap. IX-XIII
M. Sabattini, P. Santangelo, Storia della Cina, Laterza, Bari, pp. 116-417
One of the two readings below:
G. Bertuccioli, La letteratura cinese, L’Asino d’oro, Roma, 2013, fino ai "Ming" (esclusi)
W. Idema, L. Haft, Letteratura cinese, Cafoscarina, Venezia, 2000, pp. 85-207
Non mandatory readings:
E. Bianchi, "Taoismo. Ediz. illustrata", Electa, Milano, 2009.
F. Jullien, "Essere o vivere. Il pensiero occidentale e il pensiero cinese in venti contrasti", Feltrinelli, Milano, 2016.
F. Jullien, "Pensare l'efficacia in Cina e in Occidente", Laterza, Bari, 2008.
E. Said, "Orientalismo", Feltrinelli, Milano, 2019.
K. Vogelsang, "Cina, una storia millenaria", Einaudi, Torino, 2014 (fino all’epoca Ming esclusa)
E. Zürcher, “Il Buddismo in Cina”, G. Filoramo, Storia delle Religioni, Vol. 4, Religioni dell'India e dell'Estremo Oriente, Laterza, Bari, 1996, pp. 369-410.
Teaching methods
Lectures; individual and group exercises on the different abilities related to language-communicative competence in Chinese, with a specific focus on writing, reading and oral interaction.
Assessment methods and criteria
Evaluation through final written and oral exam. Written exam: it aims at verifying grammar and writing knowledge. Oral exam: it aims at verifying language-communicative competences (reading and interaction). The oral exam also includes a section dedicated to Chinese ancient literature and history of thought. The final mark will be calculated taking into account the mark of the writing exam and that of the oral exam.
