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Chinese Studies

Hey everyone, was stalking the Sheffield forums and noticed the massive japanese studies thread, and the lacking Chinese studies one?!

There must be some of you out there taking Chinese studies! :smile:
I just finished AS but am applying to Sheffield for 2012 entry, the Uni is so amazing, loved the open day I went to!

Let's start up the discussion of Chinese and it's applicants for 2012!

A few questions to people who have studied, or are studying the course now. :smile:

1) Did you go into the course knowing any Chinese? Or was it all new to you?
2) Is it true you take the A level Chinese exam at Christmas because that's how fast you are supposed to learn?
3) What was your year abroad like?!?!
4) Did you take Chinese studies, or with management, music, history? I was thinking Management and was wondering what that's like too.
5) What are the lecturers (Did I spell that right?) like?

and finally, do you have any stories you can tell me? I'm excited already and it's a year away still :frown:

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Hey, I'm going to Sheffield to study Chinese studies with French this year, and I'm pretty excited for it.
I don't know any Chinese at all, which is what I'm worried about now a bit, cause I feel like everyone else will know it except me, but apparently they don't have experienced people start the course too often.
I heard that we'll get to A level standard fairly quickly at the East Asian studies open day in May, so that might be true, but honestly I'm not sure, as I haven't started yet.
Is anyone else applying for this year? Cause I don't know how easy it's gonna be to find other people doing Chinese studies - I don't think it 's too common, hahaha
Mappin Building
University of Sheffield
Sheffield
Reply 2
I'm the same, i just finished AS and i'm thinking of doing Chinese with Management/Economics. I've done a GCSE in Japanese, do you think (to anyone who knows) that will help make the Chinese easier, because to be at A level level so fast seems like :O woah
Reply 3
Original post by Roxas
Hey everyone, was stalking the Sheffield forums and noticed the massive japanese studies thread, and the lacking Chinese studies one?!

There must be some of you out there taking Chinese studies! :smile:
I just finished AS but am applying to Sheffield for 2012 entry, the Uni is so amazing, loved the open day I went to!

Let's start up the discussion of Chinese and it's applicants for 2012!

A few questions to people who have studied, or are studying the course now. :smile:

1) Did you go into the course knowing any Chinese? Or was it all new to you?
2) Is it true you take the A level Chinese exam at Christmas because that's how fast you are supposed to learn?
3) What was your year abroad like?!?!
4) Did you take Chinese studies, or with management, music, history? I was thinking Management and was wondering what that's like too.
5) What are the lecturers (Did I spell that right?) like?

and finally, do you have any stories you can tell me? I'm excited already and it's a year away still :frown:


Hey hey guys, I'm currently studying Chinese Studies at Sheffield (just finished 1st yr!)

1) I knew some beforehand since I took after school classes and it did kinda help that I knew Cantonese lol. But it was completely new to the majority of my class so don't worry about not knowing any Chinese beforehand because almost everyone starts at the same level :smile:
2) I'm not too sure about that since I have no idea what A Level Chinese is like :/ I think by Christmas we learnt about 500 characters or so.
3) I'm going next week!
4) I'm only doing single honours but there are quite a number of people who take it with management. From what I've heard you have the same amount of language classes as single honour students and the rest of your credits will be used for your management modules (whereas for single honour students we have unrestricted credits where we can choose our own modules)
5) Super nice as long as you keep up the work lol

Ahaha what kind of stories do you wanna hear? Well we had a drunken night out with one of our lecturers once lol but he left around the beginning of semester 2 which sucks :frown:

If you guys have any questions feel free to post here or PM me :smile:
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 4
Original post by lollipop1
Hey hey guys, I'm currently studying Chinese Studies at Sheffield (just finished 1st yr!)

1) I knew some beforehand since I took after school classes and it did kinda help that I knew Cantonese lol. But it was completely new to the majority of my class so don't worry about not knowing any Chinese beforehand because almost everyone starts at the same level :smile:
2) I'm not too sure about that since I have no idea what A Level Chinese is like :/ I think by Christmas we learnt about 500 characters or so.
3) I'm going next week!
4) I'm only doing single honours but there are quite a number of people who take it with management. From what I've heard you have the same amount of language classes as single honour students and the rest of your credits will be used for your management modules (whereas for single honour students we have unrestricted credits where we can choose our own modules)
5) Super nice as long as you keep up the work lol

Ahaha what kind of stories do you wanna hear? Well we had a drunken night out with one of our lecturers once lol but he left around the beginning of semester 2 which sucks :frown:

If you guys have any questions feel free to post here or PM me :smile:


Wheee, it's nice to meet you! I am very jealous of your university and university course :biggrin: Hopefully I can join you next year o.o

I need to kick my butt into gear and get the grades first though.

I haven't studied a language since GCSE, and that was French and i dislike French. Is learning a language at uni much like learning one in secondary school? How many hours of lectures did you have a week?

Thanks for sharing! Have an awesome time on your year abroad!
Reply 5
Original post by Roxas
Is learning a language at uni much like learning one in secondary school?


Not doing Chinese but Japanese -- same department, so we'll run into each other at one point, I'm sure :smile: -- I just want to respond to this one point though, since I've done a beginner-level language course at uni before.

It's similar to what you'd get in secondary school, but you really absolutely positively must invest a suitable amount of your own time to go beyond the lectures. Do not expect to be spoon-fed the language or to learn by osmosis.

In secondary school you can still kind of get by just doing the work in class and your homework. At uni, that will no longer work. Keep on top of your work and try to get into a routine of doing a little each day. It really makes a huge difference. :]
Reply 6
Original post by Roxas
Wheee, it's nice to meet you! I am very jealous of your university and university course :biggrin: Hopefully I can join you next year o.o

I need to kick my butt into gear and get the grades first though.

I haven't studied a language since GCSE, and that was French and i dislike French. Is learning a language at uni much like learning one in secondary school? How many hours of lectures did you have a week?

Thanks for sharing! Have an awesome time on your year abroad!



Good luck with your exams next year and I hope you get the grades!! I'll be back from my year abroad when you guys are freshers so will hopefully meet you guys next year! (my goodness I feel so old lol).

Haha no worries. I studied French at AS and I disliked it as well but I'm absolutely loving my course atm :biggrin: Hmm I guess in a way it is but a bit more tougher and a lot more work involved. You have to put in the work out of class as well. We study 1 chapter per week (about 30 characters in one chapter) so it will definitely help by learning the characters before your classes and the lecturers will expect you to have studied them beforehand anyway.
I had about 12hrs of lectures a week in semester 2 (I think I had a bit less in semester 1) which included speaking, listening, writing and grammar classes and classes for the other modules I was taking (If you're gonna be taking it with management these would be your management modules).

Hope this helps!! Feel free to ask me more questions about the course/Sheffield in general (I'm sure TSR isn't blocked in China lol).
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by lollipop1
Good luck with your exams next year and I hope you get the grades!! I'll be back from my year abroad when you guys are freshers so will hopefully meet you guys next year! (my goodness I feel so old lol).

Haha no worries. I studied French at AS and I disliked it as well but I'm absolutely loving my course atm :biggrin: Hmm I guess in a way it is but a bit more tougher and a lot more work involved. You have to put in the work out of class as well. We study 1 chapter per week (about 30 characters in one chapter) so it will definitely help by learning the characters before your classes and the lecturers will expect you to have studied them beforehand.
I had about 12hrs of lectures a week in semester 2 (I think I had a bit less in semester 1) which included speaking, listening, writing and grammar classes and classes for the other modules I was taking (If you're gonna be taking it with management these would be your management modules).

Hope this helps!! Feel free to ask me more questions about the course/Sheffield in general (I'm sure TSR isn't blocked in China lol).




Is it possible to take your unrestricted modules in another ab inito (European) language at all? :smile: And would you recommend it?

Also! any recommended reading/activities before arriving and starting? :smile:
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 8
anyone doing japanese studies this year?
Reply 9
Original post by MandarinStudent
Is it possible to take your unrestricted modules in another ab inito (European) language at all? :smile: And would you recommend it?

Also! any recommended reading/activities before arriving and starting? :smile:



Yes it should be possible but it needs to be approved by both departments first. Hmm well it really depends on whether or not you can cope with the workload. It is quite an intense course especially if you have never learnt Chinese before. But having said that, I'd say go for it, especially if you have a great interest in the other language :smile: However, if you do end up struggling with learning both languages, it is possible to change modules within the first couple of weeks of uni.

The department should send you a letter beforehand with a list of recommended books but to be honest the majority of the books aren't really necessary for the course.
This is the main book that we used which you should be able to order from the department: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Character-text-Colloquial-Chinese-Ping-Cheng/dp/0950857211/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314105141&sr=1-4

I'd recommend to at least learn the characters in the first chapter of the book before you start actual classes. Mind you there's no English in this book so if you're struggling, I'd recommend getting another book called Colloquial Chinese by the same author. It's basically the same book but it's all in pinyin and there are translations of the text :smile:

If you're thinking about using your unrestricted credits for Chinese-related modules such as Chinese History, Economics, etc. I'd recommend buying Modern China: A Very Short Introduction by Rana Mitter just to give yourself some background knowledge.
Original post by lollipop1
Yes it should be possible but it needs to be approved by both departments first. Hmm well it really depends on whether or not you can cope with the workload. It is quite an intense course especially if you have never learnt Chinese before. But having said that, I'd say go for it, especially if you have a great interest in the other language :smile: However, if you do end up struggling with learning both languages, it is possible to change modules within the first couple of weeks of uni.

The department should send you a letter beforehand with a list of recommended books but to be honest the majority of the books aren't really necessary for the course.
This is the main book that we used which you should be able to order from the department: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Character-text-Colloquial-Chinese-Ping-Cheng/dp/0950857211/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1314105141&sr=1-4

I'd recommend to at least learn the characters in the first chapter of the book before you start actual classes. Mind you there's no English in this book so if you're struggling, I'd recommend getting another book called Colloquial Chinese by the same author. It's basically the same book but it's all in pinyin and there are translations of the text :smile:

If you're thinking about using your unrestricted credits for Chinese-related modules such as Chinese History, Economics, etc. I'd recommend buying Modern China: A Very Short Introduction by Rana Mitter just to give yourself some background knowledge.


Okie Dokie! Is the approval process something difficult/likely to get rejected?

I really have my heart set up Picking up Spanish as well :redface: Also how many unrestricted credits/modules do you get? :smile:

I'll definitely pick up those books then and get to learning! Any tips on memorising the characters/pronunciations other than just repetition? :smile:

Is this the other book you were talking about? :smile: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colloquial-Chinese-David-Pollard/dp/0415018609/ref=pd_cp_b_1
(edited 12 years ago)
Original post by Narutofan88
anyone doing japanese studies this year?


There is quite a popular Japanese Studies thread on the University of Sheffield Sub forum here. It might be a couple of pages down if you can't see it.
Reply 12
Original post by MandarinStudent
Okie Dokie! Is the approval process something difficult/likely to get rejected?

I really have my heart set up Picking up Spanish as well :redface: Also how many unrestricted credits/modules do you get? :smile:

I'll definitely pick up those books then and get to learning! Any tips on memorising the characters/pronunciations other than just repetition? :smile:

Is this the other book you were talking about? :smile: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colloquial-Chinese-David-Pollard/dp/0415018609/ref=pd_cp_b_1


Yep that's the book I'm talking about :smile:

Not really. All you have to do is ask the Head of Chinese Studies and the head of (I'm assuming) the Modern Languages Department, get a signature on you module form and that's it I think! It's also very unlikely that you'll get rejected.

You have to take 120 credits in a year and 80 of that is for Chinese (40 credits for each semester). You should try and split your remaining credits up evenly (so 20 credits in Semester 1 and 20 in Semester 2) just to make things easier.

Hmm I pretty much just wrote the characters out loads and loads until I remembered them. Try to speak as much as possible during speaking classes, it'll defo help you in the long run. Watching Chinese movies and listening to Chinese music also helps. I also suggest getting a tandem partner, just look at the notice board in the SEAS building or you could also find one at Chinese Society :smile:

Oh and if they say to you during your intro meeting that you'll never have any free time because of how much work you'll have to do, it's a lie! I went out loads during first yr lol
Original post by lollipop1
Yep that's the book I'm talking about :smile:

Not really. All you have to do is ask the Head of Chinese Studies and the head of (I'm assuming) the Modern Languages Department, get a signature on you module form and that's it I think! It's also very unlikely that you'll get rejected.

You have to take 120 credits in a year and 80 of that is for Chinese (40 credits for each semester). You should try and split your remaining credits up evenly (so 20 credits in Semester 1 and 20 in Semester 2) just to make things easier.

Hmm I pretty much just wrote the characters out loads and loads until I remembered them. Try to speak as much as possible during speaking classes, it'll defo help you in the long run. Watching Chinese movies and listening to Chinese music also helps. I also suggest getting a tandem partner, just look at the notice board in the SEAS building or you could also find one at Chinese Society :smile:

Oh and if they say to you during your intro meeting that you'll never have any free time because of how much work you'll have to do, it's a lie! I went out loads during first yr lol


oh cool! I'm looking forward to it.

I believe the Spanish module is 10 in the autumn and 10 in the spring. Any recommendations for the other spare modules ? ^_^

And I'm hoping that the library has a selection of Chinese films and Music. Could you recommend some good ones of these too? :colondollar: and where to find them!
I've also seen some korean/japanese students talking about watching TV Shows, are there any interesting Mandarin equivalents?

And I'll definitely try and find a tandem partner (I assume this is like a language exchange between two individuals?). Best way to remember is to speak!

Sorry about all the requests for recommendations! :redface:
Reply 14
Original post by MandarinStudent
oh cool! I'm looking forward to it.

I believe the Spanish module is 10 in the autumn and 10 in the spring. Any recommendations for the other spare modules ? ^_^

And I'm hoping that the library has a selection of Chinese films and Music. Could you recommend some good ones of these too? :colondollar: and where to find them!
I've also seen some korean/japanese students talking about watching TV Shows, are there any interesting Mandarin equivalents?

And I'll definitely try and find a tandem partner (I assume this is like a language exchange between two individuals?). Best way to remember is to speak!

Sorry about all the requests for recommendations! :redface:


Haha don't worry about it~ are you coming this September btw?

I ended up doing all the Chinese related modules (mainly because I didn't know what to pick lol) which were Chinese History, Economics, Politics and Culture and Society. Culture and Society was probably the most interesting one out of the lot, Economics was quite good as well but I think the lecturer has left so it might not be as good now :/ History and Politics were probably the worst for me, mainly because the lecturers were really boring.

Near the SEAS building there's a Confucius Institute and there's loads of books and movies which you can borrow from there :smile: In one of the libraries there's a whole floor dedicated to East Asian Studies but I only went there to do research for my essays. If you want to find Chinese music, youtube is probably your best option haha.
Not too sure about TV programs though. I use to watch loads of Taiwanese dramas but I ended up getting scolded by my tandem partner because the accents are totally different and I should be watching Mainland Chinese dramas instead lol :/
Reply 15
So, on a lovely Wednesday afternoon instead of preparing for my A2's by doing work and stuff, I found a cool mandarin app on the istore! Woohoo, I've done the first lesson so far learning about tones! God it's really confusing!
-Chinese person speaking- Ma, is this... horse, mother,scold, or a question marker?
-me- errrrrrrr.... a question marker?
CORRECT! woohoo!

I'm not sure how difficult it is to learn the four tones and then distinguish between them every time and remembering the definition for each pronounciation of the syllable..

I enjoyed writing the characters though! they all have the same bit with just some more stuff around them! The one that looks like two trees in a box is my favourite :biggrin: I think that one was second tone, "to scold"?

Learning is fun!!

Also, what is a tandem partner?
Original post by lollipop1
Haha don't worry about it~ are you coming this September btw?

I ended up doing all the Chinese related modules (mainly because I didn't know what to pick lol) which were Chinese History, Economics, Politics and Culture and Society. Culture and Society was probably the most interesting one out of the lot, Economics was quite good as well but I think the lecturer has left so it might not be as good now :/ History and Politics were probably the worst for me, mainly because the lecturers were really boring.

Near the SEAS building there's a Confucius Institute and there's loads of books and movies which you can borrow from there :smile: In one of the libraries there's a whole floor dedicated to East Asian Studies but I only went there to do research for my essays. If you want to find Chinese music, youtube is probably your best option haha.
Not too sure about TV programs though. I use to watch loads of Taiwanese dramas but I ended up getting scolded by my tandem partner because the accents are totally different and I should be watching Mainland Chinese dramas instead lol :/


Indeed I am starting this september! Eager to get started.

Oh I'll definitely look to fill up on the culture and and society module then. I'm not sure what I'll be doing, hopefully something slightly insightful. P.S. have you got any idea where you are going career wise afterwards, any companies or things like that specifically targeting the department/Language students? :smile:

Oh and the Confucius institute sounds brilliant!! Is it expensive?
And I've got a few Chinese Folk albums from iTunes haha, youtube endless source of wisdom! :P
Do they take into account your GCSE language results?
I'm applying for 2012 Entry later this year and plan to apply for both Japanese and Korean Studies (I'm yet to fully make a decision on which I'd rather do, but lately I've been leaning more and more towards Korean), but my GCSE German was a D because I didn't care at all for the subject and as such didn't put in any effort. However, I've been teaching myself Japanese since last Summer and just started teaching myself Korean, and I highlight these facts in my Personal Statement... so if they do take GCSEs into account, hopefully they'll take this into account as well.

I'll try and keep track of this thread because I haven't really heard too much concerning Chinese Studies and it could perhaps help me make a last minute decision on it...
Reply 18
Original post by ZombieYoshi
Do they take into account your GCSE language results?
I'm applying for 2012 Entry later this year and plan to apply for both Japanese and Korean Studies (I'm yet to fully make a decision on which I'd rather do, but lately I've been leaning more and more towards Korean), but my GCSE German was a D because I didn't care at all for the subject and as such didn't put in any effort. However, I've been teaching myself Japanese since last Summer and just started teaching myself Korean, and I highlight these facts in my Personal Statement... so if they do take GCSEs into account, hopefully they'll take this into account as well.

I'll try and keep track of this thread because I haven't really heard too much concerning Chinese Studies and it could perhaps help me make a last minute decision on it...


Luckily Sheffield doesn't have it as a requirement for Chinese studies, some other uni's I checked out required an A at GCSE French/German/Spanish.

I'm in the same boat as you and got a C in French cause I disliked the subject, showing the initiative in the personal statement is what they are looking for I think!

You should do Chinese studies! It's gonna be super great! Japanese studies would be neat also, but I think knowing Chinese will be more beneficial career wise.

It's weird, it feels so far away right now, but with resits and exams in january, and then again in may, I have a feeling next summers gonna come round reallll quickly. Good luck!
Original post by Roxas
Luckily Sheffield doesn't have it as a requirement for Chinese studies, some other uni's I checked out required an A at GCSE French/German/Spanish.

I'm in the same boat as you and got a C in French cause I disliked the subject, showing the initiative in the personal statement is what they are looking for I think!

You should do Chinese studies! It's gonna be super great! Japanese studies would be neat also, but I think knowing Chinese will be more beneficial career wise.

It's weird, it feels so far away right now, but with resits and exams in january, and then again in may, I have a feeling next summers gonna come round reallll quickly. Good luck!


My main concern with Chinese Studies is the whole censorship stuff in China. Considering most of the websites I spend my time on will probably be blocked, I don't know how I'd cope haha, although when we did China Under Mao in AS History I loved it. It is true that it'd probably be more beneficial because of how quickly they're rising in the world... but a language based solely on Chinese characters is pretty intimidating to me, especially as I find Kanji in Japanese hard enough. Not many people do Korean Studies either (especially compared to how many people do Japanese Studies), so maybe knowing the language would make me more unique to employers...
Oh I don't know, I just need to learn more about the course and country, because I've talked to a guy doing Korean Studies and read a few blogs of people who did Japanese Studies, and I also consume a number of Japanese and Korean media so I'm familiar with the countries and languages.

I know what you mean about things going fast, I swear AS went by ridiculously fast, and I'm sure A2 will be the same.

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