Chinese Language Program

Big congrats to Rowan Shih, who won first place (Second Year Group) in the 2024 Midwest Chinese Speech Contest.

Below is the link of Rowan's talent show:

https://drive.google.com/....../1CkaefXMKV8BzYDFo....../view

 

Big congrats to Hugh Sheperd (谢华) for winning the third place in the 21st CHINESE BRIDGE Chinese Proficiency Competition for Foreign College Students (final round):

 

恭喜谢华获得第二十一届“汉语桥”世界大学生中文比赛三等奖。

 

http://bridge.chinese.cn/c21//440/440_16184_1.html

http://bridge.chinese.cn/c21//440/440_16274_1.html

Chinese New Year 2023!

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Students and faculty of the UChicago Chinese Language Program celebrate the New Year!
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Students and faculty of the UChicago Chinese Language Program celebrate the New Year!
Chinese Language students and faculty wish you a Happy New Year!

2023 Midwest Speech Contest

Congratulations to the UChicago students who received awards in the 2023 Midwest Speech Contest!!

狂贺芝加哥大学中文项目的学生在2023年中西部演讲比赛勇夺佳绩！

 

Award list 得奖名单：

 

1st Year Chinese non-heritage（一年级非华组）：

Gold（金奖）：Jose Sulca Flores 苏时雨

 

3rd Year Chinese non-heritage（三年级非华组）：

Silver（银奖）：Robert Ukrainsky 吴瑞博

 

4th and 5th Year Chinese non-heritage（四五年级非华组）：

Gold（金奖）：Caleb Feltis 康智豪

Silver（银奖）：Tate Robinson 罗乐成

 

2022 Midwest Speech Contest

Congratulations to the UChicago students who received awards in 2022 Midwest Speech Contest!!

狂贺芝加哥大学中文项目的学生在2022年中西部演讲比赛勇夺佳绩！

 

Award list 得奖名单：

 

1st Year Chinese non-heritage（一年级非华组）：

Gold（金奖）：Asher Hansen 阿舍

Silver（银奖）：Doreen Xiao 肖毅立、Briana Tran 陈慧敏、Elisabella Forest 林李婕、Ethan Dintzner 杜恩途

Bronze（铜奖）：Cole Washburn 吴戈、Hugo Smith 许弘柯、Skylar Liu 刘心怡

 

2nd Year Chinese non-heritage（二年级非华组）：

Gold（金奖）：Huyen Anh Giang 江玄英

Bronze（铜奖）：Robert Ukrainsky 吴瑞博、Samuel Goidel 东山明

 

3rd Year Chinese non-heritage（三年级非华组）：

Silver（银奖）：Tate Robinson 罗乐成

 

4th and 5th Year Chinese non-heritage（四五年级非华组）：

Gold（金奖）：Hugh Shepard 谢华

 

Spring 2021 CHIN 11300 Awards

Congratulations to the following recipients of the Spring 2021 CHIN 113 award for reading project videos:

First Place: Jo Zeng

Second Place: Jason Yu

Third Place: Tony Zeng

Mission Statement

Founded in 1936, UChicago Chinese language program now offers training in modern Chinese language for non-heritage students as well as for Chinese heritage students. The curriculum in non-heritage Chinese track includes courses from first year to fifth year Chinese, plus content-based courses. The curriculum for Chinese heritage learners includes courses from first to third year Chinese. In addition to courses during the regular academic year, we also provide intensive summer programs at the University’s Beijing Center and on our Hyde Park campus.

The curriculum and instruction of Chinese program aligns with American Council of Teaching Foreign Languages (ACTFL) guidelines and principles. The courses offered in our program not only aim to develop learners’ language proficiency, but also seek to expand their understanding of Chinese society and culture.

Events

Chinese Table: every Wednesday 12:00-1:00pm in the Wieboldt 301 lounge

Resources

For a full list of resources with links, please go to the Chinese Language page on the EALC wiki!

PINYIN LEARNING 

  1. Pinyin with sounds
  2. Pinyin Practice
  3. Pinyin learning with Yoyo (female voice) 
  4. Quick Mandarin (male voice) 
     

CHARACTER LEARNING

  1. MDBG: Chinese-English Dictionary  
  2. HanziCraft: the Information about Chinese characters  
  3. Hacking Chinese: the 100 Most Common Radicals  
  4. Chinese Etymology
  5. Skritter mobile app 
  6. Stroke order 汉字屋
  7. 悟空识字 mobile app (beginning to intermediate) 
     

VOCABULARY LEARNING 

  1. Memrise
  2. Quizlet
  3. Yes! Chinese! 朗朗中文 
     

ONLINE DICTIONARY

  1. Pleco mobile app 
  2. MDBG Chinese-English dictionary  
  3. Yellow Bridge dictionary 
  4. 海词词典 
  5. 汉典：Chinese-Chinese dictionary for advanced learners 
     

CHINESE VIDEOS, AUDIOS AND WEBSITES

  1. YouTube Channels (CCTV, BBC News, etc.)
  2. Youku: the YouTube in China  
  3. Popup Chinese: Chinese podcasts  
  4. FluentU 
  5. ChinesePod  
  6. 脉脉早报
  7. 十点读书
  8. 慢速中文
     

READING RESOURCES

  1. BBC中文网  
  2. 纽约时报中文网  
  3. 中华语文网：学习中国传统文化知识 
  4. Du Chinese mobile app 
     

Study Abroad

Placement & Proficiency Tests

Tests and Assessments 

Placement Test: Please contact Wang Youqian Laoshi (ywang7@uchicago.edu) to schedule the placement test if you are a heritage student and Xiang Shan Laoshi (sxiang@uchicago.edu) if you're a non-heritage student.

Academic Reading Comprehension Assessment (ARCA)

College Language Competency Assessment (CLCA) 

Advanced Language Proficiency Assessment

 

Alumni

Elizabeth Coble has taken Chinese courses for four years at UChicago. She shares her journey in this video.

Hannah Rausch (AB '16)

English: 

From my perspective, the strength of the University of Chicago Chinese language department lies in the dedication and passion of its instructors. I entered my first Chinese class at UChicago with the unearned confidence of a first-year who had scraped through to second-year Chinese, only to quickly realize that memorizing a decent number of characters did not make me nearly as “fluent” as I thought it did. Slowly rebuilding my foundational Chinese knowledge, and shifting my approach to learning from one of rapid mastery (and rapid forgetting) to gradual understanding and creative application of vocabulary was, and remains, a daunting task. 

Thankfully, my professors at UChicago were some of the most thoughtful educators I’ve interacted with, and their patience and passion for teaching made the process worth pursuing. My professors never made me feel like it was too late to ask questions about topics that I ought to have learned earlier. When it became clear that I did not have a strong foundational knowledge of character structure, Yang laoshi devoted time outside of class explaining basic radical meanings and provided me with additional resource material to catch up on my own. At UChicago, each class struck the careful balance of applied language use and detailed explanation that one needs to truly understand and use the language. I’m hardly a model student of Chinese language, but the desire to continually learn and understanding of the humility needed to continually improve that was instilled in me during my time at UChicago has served me well in my post-graduation efforts.

Chinese (not exact translation): 

在我看来（窃以为），芝加哥大学中文系的特点和优势在于任课教师的专注与激情。我上大一的时候，以为自己的汉语水平很不错，但当我勉强升入二年级中文班时, 我很快便意识到，仅靠识记汉字并不能让我达到流利的汉语水平。于是，我开始巩固汉语基础知识并调整学习方式，从记得快忘得也快，转变为逐渐加深对词语和文本理解。不过对我来说，创造性地运用所学词汇仍然比较困难。

幸运的是，我所遇到的芝大汉语老师都特别耐心、充满激情且善解人意，让我感到了这个学习过程的意义。我的老师有问必答，耐心解答我提出的所有问题，包括那些我早就应该掌握的问题。例如，我在大二的时候发现自己对汉字构造的掌握并不扎实，杨老师便课后抽出时间为我讲解偏旁部首的含义，并给我提供补充材料，让我自学。芝加哥大学的汉语教学十分强调语言的实际应用，同时也相当重视对语言的透彻讲解，以保证学生真正理解并掌握这门语言，这让我受益匪浅。虽然我算不上汉语学习的模范生，但是在芝加哥大学的教育经历激发了我继续学习的渴望，并让我认识到持续进步离不开一颗谦逊的心。

Contacts

Yi-Lu Kuo

Meng Li

Xiarong Wang

Youqin Wang

Shan Xiang

Jun Yang (coordinator)

Yujia Ye