Chinese FAQ

You can listen to what our students say about the Pitt Chinese Program first:

 

How hard is Chinese?

There are some “myths” about the difficulty of learning Chinese, mostly because it is such a “distant” language. But although Chinese has a writing system that is rather different from English, Chinese has many features that make it easy to learn. Here are some linguistic facts about Chinese:

- Chinese has no tense; nor does it have gender or other morphological inflections.

- Chinese has the same basic word order as English: subject-verb-object.

- There are only 22 consonants and 5 simple vowels in standard Chinese, and the majority of the syllable combinations are familiar to English native speakers.

- At least 80% of the Chinese characters are sound-meaning compounds (Feldman & Siok, 1999), with one part indicating sound and the other indicating meaning, and knowing 20 common components helps you recognize 400 characters, enough for first-year (two semesters) Chinese!

- Chinese uses romanizations (pinyin) and we use pinyin typing for most written output in class and real life.

How popular is Chinese?

Chinese is the most spoken non-English language in the world and the second most non-English spoken language in the U.S. (following Spanish). Being able to speak Chinese gives you a unique competitive edge in job prospects.

Why take Chinese at Pitt?

- Outstanding learning outcome: At Pitt, you can learn Chinese four times faster than the proclaimed national standard. (Our eight-year record of national benchmark proficiency results proves it.)

- Dedicated faculty: All Pitt Chinese language courses are taught by full-time Chinese instructors and professors.

- Small class size: Our recitation classes are capped at 12 students per class and lecture classes have 20 to 36 students, forming a close-knit and highly interactive community.

- Innovative pedagogy: We forgo “finals” and implement many project-based and technology-based learning.

- Lots of cultural immersion: We use language in real life: play board games and Chinese sports, learn Chinese calligraphy, and learn to make Chinese dishes and serve boba tea in Chinese. We can do all these in First-Year Chinese classes!

- Scholarships & internship opportunities: Chinese-specific scholarships at Pitt include FLAS scholarships (through ASC and UCIS) and Nationality Room scholarships. Many Pitt Chinese students received Critical Languages Scholarships, Boren Scholarships, Fulbright fellowships, NSA internships, etc.

- Study abroad connections: Aside from a rich list of study abroad sites that you can go to through Pitt Study Abroad Office’s recommendation, our faculty and students have close connections to many study abroad programs and sites, including CET (where Pitt Chinese alumna Colleen O’Connor works), IUP (Inter-University Program), Tung’hai University, etc. and students take advantage of these opportunities every year.

How do I start? 

Come take CHIN0001 (no prior background is needed!). If you have a prior background in learning or using Chinese, take a placement test. Contact Professor Xu.

Finally…Where can I go to find more information about the Chinese Program?

We are on the 27th floor of the Cathedral of Learning. For questions about Chinese language classes, contact the Program Coordinator Professor Xu (xuyi@pitt.edu). For inquiries regarding Chinese major/minor requirements, contact Dr. Stephen Luft.