L0600L - CHINESE LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS I

courses

ID:

L0600L

Duration (hours):

54

CFU:

SSD:

LINGUE E LETTERATURE DELLA CINA E DELL'ASIA SUD-ORIENTALE

Located in:

PESCARA

Url:

Course Details:

FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES/CORSO GENERICO Year: 1

Year:

2025

Course Catalogue:

https://unich.coursecatalogue.cineca.it/af/2025?co...

Date/time interval

Annuale (03/10/2025 - 31/05/2026)

Course Objectives

The course contributes to achieving the educational objectives of the Degree Programme in Foreign Languages and Literatures by providing students with knowledge of Chinese vocabulary and grammar corresponding to level A1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The aim of the course is therefore to enable students to learn the basic phonetic and phonological, morpho-syntactic, and lexical structures of Mandarin Chinese, as well as to acquire a foundational understanding of its writing system.

Expected results

a) Knowledge and understanding
By the end of the course students should be able to:
- understand written texts of elementary level;
- translate sentences and short texts from Chinese into Italian and vice versa, and analyse them from a morpho-syntactic perspective;
- master the rules of Chinese characters stroke-order;
- read and write approximatively 400 words;
- understand elementary instructions and requests;
- understand and use numbers and expressions of quantity.

b) Making judgements
By the end of the course students:
- on the basis of the four linguistic abilities, should be able to describe and analyze texts regarding familiar and usual life.

c) Communication
By the end of the course students should be able to:
- simply introduce themselves and their daily activities;
- have an elementary conversation about topics related to familiar and usual contexts;
- simply introduce other people.

Course Prerequisites

None

Teaching Methods

Lectures for a total of 54 hours (9 ECTS credits), along with practical sessions (dictations in pinyin and characters, translation and analysis of sentences and passages from Italian into Chinese and vice versa). Assignments (sentence translations and grammar exercises) will be given, corrected, and discussed in class.

Assessment Methods

- Midterm assessments (translation of sentences and short texts from Chinese to Italian and vice versa; grammar exercises).
- Final written and oral examination. The written exam, lasting two hours, includes a dictation, the translation of sentences from Italian into Chinese and a short passage from Chinese into Italian, as well as other grammar and character writing exercises. The use of dictionaries is not allowed. The oral exam consists of reading, translating, and performing a morpho-syntactic analysis of short passages from the textbook that have already been covered in class. To be admitted to the oral exam, students must pass the written exam. The written and oral components carry equal weight in determining the final grade. The final mark (awarded during the oral exam) is expressed on a 30-point scale (from a minimum of 18 to a maximum of 30 cum laude).

Texts

- Masini F., Zhang T., Bai H., Di Toro A., Liang D., Il Cinese per gli italiani – Corso base, Hoepli, Milano, 2012 (Seconda edizione);
- Abbiati M., La lingua cinese, Cafoscarina, Venezia, 1992.

For further study of Chinese grammar and phonetics, the following are also recommended:
- Sepe A., Tian H., Impariamo a pronunciare il cinese. Manuale pratico di pronuncia cinese per studenti e docenti italiani, Libreria Editrice Orientalia, Roma, 2020;
- M.L. Paternicò, V. Varriano, Tian Huiting, Grammatica della lingua cinese, UTET, Torino, 2021.

Further bibliographical material might be provided in class.

The course offers an introduction to the typological features of the Chinese language and its historical evolution, and provides basic knowledge of modern Mandarin Chinese (Putonghua), both written and spoken, with a focus on phonology, grammar, and vocabulary.

Course Language

Italian

More information

Attendance of the lectures by students is strongly recommended. In addition to the lectures, the instructor will hold weekly office hours for students who require clarification or assistance.