BA English Language and Chinese

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Business Chinese

Course unit fact file
Unit code CHIN38682
Credit rating 20
Unit level Level 3
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

This is an advanced Chinese language module designed for students who are interested in doing business in China or with Chinese people, or who are interested in professional Chinese. Different from other lower level Chinese language modules, this module focuses on real communication in professional or business environment. Students will learn specialized business and professional vocabulary, along with business or professional interaction and correspondence. Pair work, group discussion, and class presentation will be organized to build up students’ comprehensive abilities and practical skills as a preparation to participate in various business or professional activities. The module provides higher language competence for understanding and communicating on wider cultural and social issues that underline many aspects of business or professional practice in contemporary China. This unit is not open to native speakers of Mandarin Chinese.

Pre/co-requisites

Unit title Unit code Requirement type Description
Chinese Language 4 CHIN51042 Pre-Requisite Compulsory
CHIN38682 Prerequisite- Chinese Language 4 or above

 Chinese 4 or higher; Native Speakers of Mandarin Chinese are not permitted to enrol on this unit.

Aims

This course aims to:

  • Enable students to learn business knowledge in Chinese
  • Enhance students' ability to communicate in business terms
  • Guide students to apply the business knowledge to run their own business 

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course students will be able to: 

  • Set up and run their own companies (virtual or real) 
  • Know how to manage commercial deals with Chinese people in Chinese 
  • Be familiar with terms of contract, insurance, sales and service, intellectual property rights etc. 
  • Produce business cards, advertisements, annual reports and sustainable development plans 

Syllabus

W1: Signing a contract  

W2: Business dispute

W3: Marketing and advertisement  

W4: Sales and service  

W5: Enterprise management and culture

W6: Market survey  

W7: Environmental protection and construction  

W8: Intellectual property rights

W9: CV, Cover letter, Interview

W10: Sustainable development

W11: Revision: individual presentations  

W12: Oral exam

Teaching and learning methods

 A combination of weekly three-hour lectures, seminars and tutorials. 

Knowledge and understanding

By the end of this course students will be able to: 

  • Analyse authentic business texts by using the reading comprehension skills 
  • Explore various business issues in China 
  • Write business documents using standard formats 
  • Present their own companies clearly and logically 

Intellectual skills

By the end of this course students will be able to: 

  • Anticipate business trends 
  • Understand business terms and conditions in Chinese 
  • Make good use of contract laws for business dispute 
  • Communicate comfortably in Chinese with business people  

Practical skills

By the end of this course students will be able to: 
  • Expand their customer circles 
  • Disseminate their product/service 
  • Use media, including social media to advertise their product/service 
  • Competent in negotiating with Chinese people in China’s context 

Transferable skills and personal qualities

By the end of this course students will be able to: 

  • oral presentations 
  • pair work, group work, team work 
  • problem solving 
  • information retrieval and textual re-organisation           
  • cultural awareness 

Employability skills

Other
Verbal communication skills: be able to express ideas clearly and confidently in presentation and speech; Written communication skills: be able to express oneself clearly in writing; Motivation: be able to act on initiative, identify opportunities; Drive: determination to get things done, make things happen and look for better ways to do things.

Assessment methods

Assessment TaskFormative or SummativeWeighting
PresentationsSummative20%
Weekly CourseworkSummative20%
Oral examSummative20%
Written examSummative40%

 

Re-sit Assessment:

Essay

Feedback methods

  • Comments made during class discussion regarding the relevance and coherence of student participation in discussion
  • Comments made during oral presentation regarding the relevance and coherence of the presentation, including word choice, sentence structure and content
  • One-to-one feedback before oral presentation

 

Recommended reading

Li, X. (2012). New Silk Road Business Chinese. Beijing University Press. 中级高级 

Zhang, X. (2009). Chinese for Managers: Business Chinese Vol. 2, (3th), Beijing Language  

Teaching and Research Press House. 

Guenier, A. (2018). The Little Book of Health: Chinese Secrets to Happy Living. Manutius Press. 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 33
Independent study hours
Independent study 167

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Minjie Xing Unit coordinator

Additional notes

Exceptions to word-processed assignments: Assessed coursework and the essay should be hand-written. 

Students may take a one-volume Chinese-English-Chinese dictionary provided on the examination date. 

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