CHIN 131(F) Basic Cantonese*
An introduction to Standard Cantonese, a major language of southern China which is spoken by over 60 million people in Hong Kong, Macao, Guangdong, and Guangxi as well as by large numbers of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, Hawaii, and North America. Our focus 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 in the course 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, homework, quizzes, tests, and a final exam. Prerequisite: Chinese 202 or permission of the instructor.