Language Programs offering a Bachelor's Degree

[Steingletscher]

What language programs offer a bachelor's degree? The only one I know that does is Sichuan University, and it is optional . But maybe I shouldn't be looking into the language programs if I want a degree in the Chinese language. I can't seem to find much information on the internet.

[roddy]

A lot of places do a 'Chinese Language for Foreigners' degree. I don't know if there's a list of all the places that offer one (there should be, as these matters are regulated by the Ministry of Education) but offhand I know Dongcai in Dalian does one, and I think members joshuawbb in Xiamen and . . . oh, what's her name. Scandanavian girl in Guangzhou . . are both on similar courses. Could be wrong.

Bear in mind you may be able to skip a year or two on the basis of an HSK score - check with the uni. Personally I don't rate the courses particularly highly - last time I looked you don't even read a single actual Chinese book, it's all BLCU textbooks and the like.

[buffedub]

Dear friends...I am also seeking a Chinese language training program that culminates in a significant pedigree, such as a degree. The University of Wisconsin at Madison charges insane prices for Chinese language courses that lead merely to a certificate. I just applied for BLCU's online program to learn (by experience) that it's an illegitimate front! Don't fall for it. After applying (and sending money), they asked for "additional personal information" that included a clearly legible scan of my passport, and my transcripts (which includes my social). CONFESSION: I'm the fool who complied....they seemed to be reasonable requests. BLCU (who is a reputable university) then asked me to click a link to take my "entrance placement examination". When I clicked the link....their computer started to install a bunch of malicious files on my computer. When my virus scan eventually detected Trojan Horses, and keystroke trackers, I quickly pulled my ethernet plug. It took a while to clean my computer (and I eventually used System Restore....I hope I got rid of all their net-war tools). Needless to say, I'm not going back to BLCU online. Does anyone know of a (responsibly priced) alternative?

[roddy]

What actual website was this?

[buffedub]

The "offending link" was AFTER their normal login page (http://www.eblcu.com/component/loggedin.jspr?jmethod=toLoginPage). After logging in, the school instructed me to click "Online Class" taking me to a link that the school set up for my supposed-entrance placement exam. After clicking "Online Class", the malicious code installation began. I sent the school a nasty email to complain, and I cc'd the administration addresses for the department, the school, and the admissions office. I can only hope that many folks don't get duped like I did. Back to my question...I still want to take online Chinese courses sufficiently rigorous to warrant a degree. Does anyone know of a reasonably priced (legitimate) Chinese language degree offered online?

[roddy]

My money is that your security software has overreacted to the idiosyncrasies of a Chinese website, and you've followed suit. Suggest you have a search or start a new topic, we're not discussing online degrees here.

[Steingletscher]

Are there any books where you do read books in Chinese (and specifically learn to read unpunctuated Chinese and calligraphy). At the same time, I don't want the exact opposite (only read source material) because I did that with Ancient Greek and it was too much.

[buffedub]

I wonder who's confused, Roddy in your assertion "we're not discussing online degrees here." The topic of this posting is "Language Programs offering a Bachelor's Degree". This thread seems immensely appropriate for this blog. I consulted McAfee which lists the the threat files as Trojan Horses.

[T-revor]

You are looking for degree programs in China only?

I know my alma mater has a bachelor's degree in Chinese and I think at one point they had a Master's degree:

http://www.universit...University.html

BYU is not expensive as universities go -- I think tuition is now $4k a semester.

I also have a friend who is studying Chinese at the University of Houston. I'm not exactly sure if it's Chinese "lite" or if it's a real rigorous program but I was under the impression that it's a proper BA in Chinese. As a state school (for Texans) it may be on the reasonable end of pricing.

Edit: also BYU has foreign language housing you can apply for where you live with five other students in a house and you all agree to speak that language while you are in the home. At least one of the people in every house is a native speaker. You can be studying whatever - you dont have to be getting a degree in the language of the house you live in.

[yialanliu]

There's no point in getting a bachelors in Chinese in China if you are not near fluent already.

It's much better to do it abroad where peers are all learning from the same starting point. Those that goto China tend to have a much higher variance. For instance, the Koreans and Japanese tend to be fluent in reading and writing whereas they cannot speak. Then you have the american born chinese who might be fluent in speaking and listening but cannot write. This atmosphere makes it not conducive for learning.

Staying in America will eliminate at least the koreans and japanese. This allows for a better environment. At the same time, people with lower starting skills rarely go abroad to study so your environment becomes much friendlier.

On the other hand, if your HSK 5+ preferably 6+ you can just enroll and take it as a Chinese student... That is actually worth your time as now your going to be placed in classes with locals and that will lead to a dramatic increase in Chinese.

[xuefang]

I'm the girl in Guangzhou Roddy referred to. I study undergraduate degree in Chinese as a foreign language in the Sun Yat-Sen University. Like Roddy said you can skip a year or two if you have studied Chinese before. And old HSK 5 got me to 本二下 (second half of the second year) and with a new HSK5 with a good scores you can start from 本三上 (first half of the year three). Two years is the maximum you can skip. On the third year you can choose Business Chinese or Teaching Chinese, but in the end your major is Chinese Language.

If you want to know more about the degree I'm doing, I'm happy to answer your questions.

[roddy]

Xuefang! That's the one!

I don't see that the presence of Korean or Japanese students is a reason to choose to study overseas rather than in China. Given the massive differences in the courses, the environment and how your degree will be regarded, the makeup of the class is at best quite far down the list of reasons to consider.

[yialanliu]

^{I don't see that the presence of Korean or Japanese students is a reason to choose to study overseas rather than in China. Given the massive differences in the courses, the environment and how your degree will be regarded, the makeup of the class is at best quite far down the list of reasons to consider.}

^{I strongly discourage this idea. This is something that I don't like about China where the piece of paper is the most important. In my oinion, it doesn't really matter where you get a degree. I think people should take into consideration whether they will be able to learn and is this the best usage of your time from a learning perspective.}

^{For instance, for a novice to intermediate level, I think it's so much better to goto a university in America and major in chinese.}

^{Koreans are the number 1 foreign students by numbers into China and Japanese are close behind. This environment is VERY important. Picture this, your speaking is the same level as theirs. However, they know thousands of characters. This disadvantage is very discouraging especially when the teacher teaches for them because they are the majority. So now you are going to be in a class where your supposed to know all the vocab that you really don't. It's not fun. Then you drop to a lower class. Where here's the deal, the listening and speaking might be too easy for you, but your still screwed with the vocab.}

^{There's obviously success stories to studying in China, but this is something I really want to stress. I only succeeded because my speaking and listening was fluent already. This meant that my fellow Koreans were studying one thing, I was doing the opposite. By the final, my studying was only for reading and writing whiles there's is only for speakign and listening. However, for you, your going to have to study reading/listening like normal and then your going to have to bend over backwards to study Chinese vocab.}

^{Why this is different is because very few Westerners come to china to learn Chinese as an undergrad. Most come for a semester or a year at most. Your not going to be placed in those classes but rather in classes where your not surrounded by these Westerners.}

[panpan86]

^{Your not going to be placed in those classes but rather in classes where your not surrounded by these Westerners.}

I don't agree that this is a bad thing ... In terms of an immersive language learning experience, surely studying in-country in a classroom full of people who can't speak English (I don't mean to cause offence but Koreans and Japanese are not known for their English talent... ) is far better than studying in America in an environment where you revert to English as soon as you leave the classroom.

Apart from that, I firmly believe that the older you get, the more difficult it begins to absorb a new language.. and from my experience of studying Chinese in Australia and then living and working in China, the real language learning only happens when you actually arrive in the country. To be perfectly honest, I regret studying my Bachelor of Asian Studies (Chinese) in Australia. All it really meant that I was 4 years older before I really started to learn!

As to the poster's question about which universities offer Bachelor's degree programs in Chinese language studies, there are a huge number of them! Please check this link for a list of schools and courses: http://www.cucas.edu...-0-0-0-0-0.html Please just note the 'HSK requirement' on the right hand side of the page. The courses with an HSK of 0-4 are targeted towards foreigners, whereas the courses with an HSK of 6 are targeted towards native speakers or foreigners with native-level Chinese.

Any other questions, please let me know!

(to roddy: I'm providing this link in the spirit of sharing some useful information, rather than as advertising or spam. I hope it doesn't breech the forum's guidelines.)

[icebear]

Out of curiosity, what is the motivation for majoring in Chinese? What advantage does it confer over majoring in a more standard major (business, liberal arts, science, engineering) while minoring in Chinese and then investing 1-2 years full time in an immersive language program? I'm just wondering what the motivation is for pursuing this kind of education.

The obvious answer is to be eventually become a foreigner than teaches Chinese to other foreigners, but I can't imagine this group is that large...

[roddy]

(to roddy: I'm providing this link in the spirit of sharing some useful information, rather than as advertising or spam. I hope it doesn't breech the forum's guidelines.)

Brilliant, another CUCAS employee. We'll see how long you last . . .

[icebear]

Brilliant, another CUCAS employee. We'll see how long you last . . .

I don't know the history with CUCAS on this forum, but I thought this particular post addressed the OP (and others) well enough, as did the link, even if it is a page produced by his company.

[roddy]

Oh yes. If they'd managed to do that from the start, I wouldn't be so skeptical. But this, even without checking very hard, is the 16th CUCAS account I've seen on here.

[Steingletscher]

Out of curiosity' date=' what is the motivation for majoring in Chinese? What advantage does it confer over majoring in a more standard major (business, liberal arts, science, engineering) while minoring in Chinese and then investing 1-2 years full time in an immersive language program? I'm just wondering what the motivation is for pursuing this kind of education.

The obvious answer is to be eventually become a foreigner than teaches Chinese to other foreigners, but I can't imagine this group is [i']that [/i]large...

A number of reasons, though most are merely personal. On a practical level, I want to eventually enter into linguistics and having a solid (near fluent) understanding and control of Chinese will help form a different perspective then most people. I know I probably won't be going into as much theory as I would in the US, but I also wouldn't gain the level of usage (and whatever knowledge comes with that). I have a bunch of more theoretical linguistic books that I plan to read on the side.

As to the personal reasons, I find Mandarin, both spoken and written, to be very beautiful and that alone is a strong enough reason to learn the language. I want to be able to read Chinese literature and poetry with no problem at all.

[jkhsu]

I want to be able to read Chinese literature and poetry with no problem at all.

And you can do all of this outside of China as well. I think a Chinese language major from a reputable US University is a better bet for what you are looking for. If however, you want to speak at a near-native level (including correct accents), then you will have to spend some time in China. But you still don't really need to get a "Chinese language" degree from China though.