**Course Cancelled**
CHIN 131(S) Basic Cantonese*
An introduction to Standard Cantonese, a major regional language of southern China which is spoken by over 50 million people in Hong Kong, Macao, Guangdong, and Guangxi as well as by many overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, Hawaii, and North America. Due to the pervasive influence of Hong Kong as well as the economic transformation of Guangdong Province, the prestige of Cantonese within China has been rising steadily over the past two decades. Our focus in this course will be on developing basic listening and speaking skills, though we will also study some of the special characters which have been used for centuries to write colloquial Cantonese. Since students will ordinarily possess prior proficiency in Mandarin, a closely related language, we should be able to cover in one semester about as much as is covered in the first two to three semesters of Mandarin. Evaluation will be based on classroom performance, quizzes, tests, and a final exam. Prerequisites: Chinese 202 or permission of instructor. Enrollment limit: 12 (expected: 8).