Chinese is an internationally important language. Modern Standard Chinese (also known as Mandarin, Putonhua or Guoyu) is spoken in mainland China and Taiwan, and increasingly in the areas of Singapore and Hong Kong.

 

China is the oldest continuous civilisation, with a recorded history of more than 3000 years. Chinese culture is both rich and influential. Thus learning Chinese provides access to the newly industrialised economies in Asia, and to the literature of one of the world's great civilisations.

 

This major is available for the Bachelor of Arts (BA).

 

According to Duncan Campbell (president of the NZ Chinese Language Association): "A recent study, ... by David Graddol and published in the journal Science, suggests that ... by 2050 the percentage of native speakers of English will have fallen to around 5%, whilst Chinese and Arabic will have become the most studied languages by non-native speakers of these languages."

 

Asia is important to NZ's future, as links with Chinese-speaking countries and regions are rapidly growing.

 

Graduates work in NZ and overseas in teaching, translation and interpretation, libraries, print and electronic journalism, government departments, business and law.

 

Please visit our website:

 

For advice please contact a University Liaison Officer.

 

Email: languages@otago.ac.nz