Study Mandarin Chinese at Foothill College

Increasing numbers of people around the world are now interested in studying Chinese. The growing interest is no doubt due to China’s explosive economic growth. China recently became a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and more and more businesses are seeking professionals with a good command of Chinese as they establish ties with China. China will also be hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, spurring more interest in traveling to China. Approximately one billion people speak Chinese as their mother tongue, more than any other language in the world, and nearly 1.3 billion people world-wide speak Chinese. Chinese has now become the third most used language after English, Spanish and French being first and second.

The study of Mandarin Chinese is an excellent choice for students wishing to enter such professions as international business and technology, international relations, travel advising, airline careers, court reporting, or translating. There are also positions available for those who continue into graduate work in teaching and civil service and with companies which have branches in or trade with Taiwan, China, and other Chinese speaking areas. Chinese is also an excellent tool for those planning to travel extensively.

Foothill offers first year (CHIN 1, 2, 3) and second year (CHIN 4, 5, 6) Chinese as well as Conversational Chinese. In these courses, students develop listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills, as well as knowledge of the Chinese culture. We have a daytime program on our main campus and an evening program at our Middlefield Campus. We also offer Chinese during the summer in an intensive format with two weeks of full-day instruction for each of the first three quarters of Chinese. A student can thus complete an entire year of college Chinese in six weeks during the summer. Foothill offers an AA degree as well as certificates in Chinese.

Credit by Exam
Students with some prior knowledge of Chinese can get credit by exam for one quarter of Chinese. Learn more.

Each year the Chinese Language Teachers' Association of California sponsors a Mandarin Speech Contest, which Foothill students participate in. Over the years, many Foothill students have won or placed in this contest in recognition of their spoken Chinese.

The following resources might be useful:

Learning Chinese On-Line
http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/online.htm

Chinese Pronunciation Guide
http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~pinyin/

China the Beautiful
http://www.chinapage.com/china.html

Chinese Characters and Culture
http://zhongwen.com/

Practical Chinese Reader Links
http://ktmatu.com/chinese/practical-chinese-reader/links.html

Get ahead. Expand your horizons. Study Chinese.

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