Chinese language subjects are organised in a progressive sequence of units from Chinese 1 through to Chinese 10. Entry and exit points are determined by your background in the language, placement testing and prerequisites.
Chinese language study at the University of Melbourne is also available in the Diploma in Languages.
Careers
- Communications
- Community development
- Diplomacy
- Government
- International relations
- Multinational business
- Teaching
- Translation and interpretation
Subjects you could take in this major
Students will develop their ability to communicate and understand in simple Chinese by engaging with the following key cultural situations in Chinese society such as situations relating to the use of names, family relationships, social exchanges which deploy different forms of address, and engaging with physical spaces and geography, and temporal systems. Student expertise in the employment of both linguistic and cultural resources is developed through reading short Chinese texts addressing each of these cultural situations, acquitting the literacies associated with these situations. The study of Chinese texts is supported by additional materials introducing the cultural topics. The texts’ study is also supplemented by students’ oral presentations, role plays and engaging in group discussions, as well as their conductions of written exercise. All this ensures that students’ acquisition of linguistic and cultural competence is facilitated with the image of situated language through an explicit focus on social and physical situations.
This is a subject for the background speakers of Chinese who have limited literacy in Chinese. Students will develop their ability to communicate in Chinese at an advanced level and conduct discussion on a range of topics by engaging with the various social and cultural situations in Chinese society.
Student expertise in the employment of both advanced linguistic and cultural resources is developed through reading relatively complex Chinese texts addressing each of these cultural situations, acquitting the literacies associated with these situations. The study of Chinese texts is supported by additional materials introducing the cultural topics. The texts’ study is also supplemented by students’ oral presentations and engaging in group discussions, as well as their conductions of written exercise.
Students will further develop their ability to communicate and understand in simple Chinese by engaging with the key cultural situations in Chinese society including the norms and customs affecting interactions everyday life. Student expertise in the employment of both linguistic and cultural resources is further developed through reading short Chinese texts addressing each of the cultural situations, acquitting the literacies associated with these situations. The study of Chinese texts is supported by additional materials introducing the cultural topics. The texts’ study is also supplemented by students’ oral presentations, role plays and engaging in group discussions, as well as their conductions of written exercise. All this ensures that students’ acquisition of linguistic and cultural competence is further facilitated with the image of situated language through an explicit focus on a wider range of social and physical situations.
This subject is for students who have completed a course of study in Chinese at secondary school level. In building on the knowledge students already have, particular attention will be paid to expanding vocabulary, ensuring a good grasp of the basic grammar of spoken Chinese, and developing reading, writing and oral/aural skills. By the end of this subject students should be able to master 750 Chinese characters and should have a good grasp of the linguistic knowledge and be able to transform them into active skills through practical activities.
In the course of building up their linguistic competence, students will further expend their cultural understanding of the linguistic knowledge in order to become more competent in cross-cultural communication. Chinese texts will be supported by brief English introduction, video, audio or additional reading materials dealing with the cultural topics.This is a post-elementary subject in Chinese. By the end of this subject students should know 650 Chinese characters and should have a good grasp of basic grammatical structures as well as furthering their knowledge of Chinese cultural practices.
This subject is a continuation of Chinese 3 Post VCE. It will further enhance students' knowledge of vocabulary, the basic grammar of spoken Chinese, and reading, writing and oral/aural skills. By the end of this subject students should be able to master 1000 Chinese characters and should have a good grasp of the linguistic knowledge and be able to transform them into active skills through practical activities. In the course of building up their linguistic competence, students will further expand their cultural understanding of the linguistic knowledge in order to become more competent in cross-cultural communication. Chinese texts will be supported by brief English introduction, video, audio or additional reading materials dealing with the cultural topics.
This is a post-elementary subject in Chinese. It covers basic grammatical structures and students should know up to 700 Chinese characters as well as furthering their knowledge of Chinese cultural practices by the end of the semster.
This subject is designed for students to develop their ability of communicating in Chinese at a beginning-advanced level and their analytical skills of the Chinese language through engaging with a range of topics concerning contemporary Chinese society and culture. Student’s linguistic competence will be enhanced through exposure to Chinese materials dealing with a variety of socio-cultural situations, writing and presenting opinion pieces on current issues in Chinese, and participating in group discussions. Study activities will be supported with linguistic and cultural resources, including background information in brief English passages, along with video, audio and additional reading materials introducing the cultural topics.
This subject will allow students to have a better understanding of Chinese cultural practices. They will be more competent in communicating in Chinese on a variety of topics in both spoken and written forms.
This subject is designed for students to develop their ability to communicate in Chinese at a beginning-advanced level and their analytical skills of the Chinese language through engaging with a range of topics concerning contemporary Chinese society and culture. Their linguistic competence will be further enhanced through exposure to Chinese materials dealing with a variety of socio-cultural situations, writing and presenting opinion pieces on current issues in Chinese, and participating in group discussions. Study activities will be supported with linguistic and cultural resources, including background information in brief English passages, as well as video, audio and additional reading materials introducing the cultural topics.
This subject will allow students to gain confidence and independence in handling written Chinese language materials so as to make the transition from textbook material to original Chinese texts.This subject is for students who have a Chinese-speaking background and minimal literacy skills. It aims to help students make the transition from beginning level textbook Chinese to a more advanced level where they can not only deal with original Chinese materials intended for native-speakers of the Chinese language, but also learn how to effectively analyse various socio-cultural issues related to present-day China.
Students will develop their ability to communicate in Chinese at an advanced level and their analytical skills of the Chinese language by engaging with a range of social-cultural topics associated with contemporary Chinese society and culture. Student expertise in the utilisation of both linguistic and cultural resources will be further developed through reading Chinese texts addressing each of socio-cultural situations, writing and presenting opinion pieces on current socio-cultural or socio-political issues in Chinese, conducting newspaper reading comprehension tasks, and participating group discussions. The study of Chinese texts will be supported by brief English passages, video, audio and additional reading materials introducing the cultural topics.
This subject is for students who have a Chinese-speaking background and minimal literacy skills. It aims to help students make the transition from beginning level textbook Chinese to a more advanced level where they can not only deal with original Chinese materials intended for native-speakers of the Chinese language, but also learn how to effectively analyse various socio-cultural issues related to present-day China.
Students will develop their ability to communicate in Chinese at an advanced level and their analytical skills of the Chinese language by engaging with a range of social-cultural topics associated with contemporary Chinese society and culture. Student expertise in the utilisation of both linguistic and cultural resources will be further developed through reading Chinese texts addressing each of socio-cultural situations, writing and presenting opinion pieces on current socio-cultural or socio-political issues in Chinese, conducting newspaper reading comprehension tasks, and participating group discussions. The study of Chinese texts will be supported by brief English passages, video, audio and additional reading materials introducing the cultural topics.
This is a subject for the background speakers of Chinese who have limited literacy in Chinese. Students will develop their ability to communicate in Chinese at an advanced level and conduct discussion on a range of topics by engaging with the various social and cultural situations in Chinese society.
Student expertise in the employment of both advanced linguistic and cultural resources is developed through reading relatively complex Chinese texts addressing each of these cultural situations, acquitting the literacies associated with these situations. The study of Chinese texts is supported by additional materials introducing the cultural topics. The texts’ study is also supplemented by students’ oral presentations and engaging in group discussions, as well as their conductions of written exercise.
This is a multimedia subject, which will examine contemporary Chinese literature and film, focusing on major developments in the post-1978 era. The subject introduces students to current uses of the Chinese language through the study of contemporary film and literature. Students should enhance their reading and listening skills through experiencing colloquial and regional language use and also widen their ability to read scholarly language by perusing samples of textual and cinematic criticism.
In this subject students will learn to translate from Chinese to English and English to Chinese. The selection of texts will be limited to modern literature and to documents and news items on politics and international affairs. In their translations students will learn to focus on accuracy as well as stylistic appropriateness and will be encouraged to submit both individual and group work.
This subject introduces systems of social division in contemporary China, and examines some of the ways in which Chinese society is classified and analysed. The subject is delivered in Chinese. Discussion will be based on original Chinese literary and scholarly sources in English translation, and academic sources produced inside and outside China.
This is an intermediate subject for students of non-Chinese background who are taking Chinese major starting from Chinese 1. The subject is designed to consolidate and extend students' oral and listening skills while building on and expanding the grammatical knowledge and vocabulary introduced in their previous courses.
Students will develop their ability to communicate in Chinese at an intermediate level and their skills of the Chinese language through engaging with a range of topics associated with contemporary Chinese society and culture. Students will enhance their linguistic competence through reading Chinese texts, writing and presenting short opinion pieces on selected current socio-cultural and socio-political issues in Chinese, and participating in group discussions.
By the conclusion of this subject students should have mastered the general grammatical structures of Modern Chinese and have a vocabulary of approximately 1200 characters. Students should have sufficient listening and speaking skills to cope with everyday situations in China, and have basic knowledge of Chinese cultural practices. They will be better reprepared to communicate in Chinese on a variety of topics in both spoken and written form.
This subject is a continuation of Chinese 3 (major). It is designed as an upper-intermediate subject in Chinese for students of non-Chinese background who are doing Chinese major starting from Chinese 1. It aims to consolidate and extend students' oral and listening skills while building on and expanding the grammatical knowledge and vocabulary introduced in their previous courses.
Students will develop their ability to communicate in Chinese at an upper-intermediate level and their skills of the Chinese language through engaging with a range of topics dealing with contemporary Chinese society and culture. Their linguistic competence will be enhanced through reading Chinese texts, writing and presenting short opinion pieces on selected current socio-cultural and socio-political issues in Chinese, and participating in group discussions.
By the conclusion of this subject students should have mastered the general grammatical structures of Modern Chinese and have a vocabulary of approximately 1400 characters. Students should have sufficient listening and speaking skills to cope with everyday situations in China. They should be better informed and aware of Chinese cultural practices. They will be more confident in communicating in Chinese on a variety of topics in both spoken and written forms.
This subject is a reading course on Chinese economic and business documents. Students will be given a guided introduction to a variety of economic documents, including official policy statements, statistical material, newspaper reports and comments, and information drawn from the world wide web. Special attention will be paid to foreign trade issues and the economic links between Australia and China. The terminology and style of these documents will be analyzed, as will the source and purpose of their publication.
This subject examines developments in modern Chinese literature from the Literary Revolution to the present with a focus on the contemporary period. Students will be encouraged to use digital technologies to facilitate reading comprehension in Chinese. By the end of the subject students should be able to demonstrate an understanding of the major developments in modern Chinese literature since the Literary Revolution and of popular literature in Contemporary China. They should significantly improve their skills in reading comprehension and cultural analysis of Chinese texts.
This subject is designed to enable students to engage with Chinese language specialised academic research on humanities topics. Disciplines covered may include linguistics, social sciences, literary studies or culture studies. Students will acquire skills in reading academic Chinese and in oral discussions in Chinese on scholarly topics, as well as academic essay writing abilities and skills of analysis and research based on Chinese language academic materials.
This subject is an advanced unit introducing the techniques of Chinese newspaper analysis for fields such as politics, international affairs, intellectual debates etc. Students will use current reading materials to study a range of social and political affairs in the People's Republic of China. On completion of the subject students should be able to read news articles in Chinese with the aid of a dictionary. demonstrate a knowledge of issues of current importance for Chinese society. have an understanding of the function of news media in Chinese society. and develop analytical skills in dealing with Chinese material.
In this subject students will be introduced to the distinctive characteristics of Chinese civilization from a comparative East-West framework. The focus will be on how the ancient Chinese found solutions to universal human problems, such as how to set up social and political organizations, the operations of kinship systems, and the impact of human settlement on the environment. The focus will be on Chinese ideas relating to government, religion, belief systems and law. Students will read and interpret key primary texts in English translation and assess the value of ancient Chinese material culture (including art, technology and architecture) in understanding the past. On completion of this subject students will have an overview of key notions in Chinese civilization and an appreciation of the relevance of these to contemporary beliefs and practices.
This subject offers an introduction to literary Chinese (wenyan) which was the formal written language of imperial China and the foundation of modern written Chinese. A knowledge of literary Chinese is thus indispensable in attaining higher level literacy in Chinese. Literary Chinese also includes texts written in classical Chinese in antiquity. In this subject students will read masterpieces of Chinese philosophy and literature from antiquity to the Tang period. Students will develop skills in reading texts written in full-form characters and acquire a basic knowledge of the particles and syntax of literary Chinese. They will also explore the origin and meaning of Chinese proverbs and the function of wenyan in contemporary usage.
This subject introduces students to migration and settlement as major processes in Chinese cultural history. It examines the expansion of Chinese culture beyond its traditional heartlands, taking Taiwan as a key example. Taiwan will be examined alongside other Chinese "settler cultures" for example Singapore, elsewhere in Southeast Asia, or Australasia.
This subject engages with the new form of language used in the modern media in China, including its written, audio and visual forms. It explores its roots and meanings and the factors which led to its emergence.
Entry requirements & Prerequisites
This major is available through more than one course, both of which have their own separate entry requirements.
You can read more on the the
Bachelor of Arts&Bachelor of Arts (Extended)