Chinese Language & Culture

Chinese Language & Culture Degree
Bachelor of Arts, Minor
Program Type:
Major, Minor
Career Path:
Humanities
Program Site:
College or School:
Why study Chinese Language & Culture?
Chinese Language & Culture students graduate with proficiency in the language and knowledge of history, religion, politics, literature, film and other cultural touchstones.
- China is home to nearly one of every five people on the planet and more than 3,500 years of recorded history.
The Chinese Language & Culture degree is offered as a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and a minor.
What classes would I take?
Our model and curriculum educate the whole person and often help students discover interests they had never previously discovered. Students generally take 100-200 level courses during their first year of college, while registering for higher level courses as upperclassmen.
Sample courses that you may take as a Chinese Language & Culture student include:
100-200 level*
- Global Topics in Chinese
- Business Chinese
- Art and Culture of China
- Modern China since 1850
- Fiction and Film from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Beyond
300+ level*
- Early Modernity in China
- China and the World in the Age of Discover
- Ten Years of Madness: The Chinese Cultural Revolution, 1966 to 1976
- Asian Medicine, Health, and Healing Traditions
* Courses listed above are offered during the current academic year. Course availability and offerings can change at any time. Refer to the Academic Bulletin to view all major requirements.
What kind of experience will I gain?
Majoring in a foreign language provides you with many of the skills in which employers are interested, although securing a job that uses your foreign language skills can be challenging. With the exception of positions in translating, interpreting or teaching, in most cases at the entry level your language fluency is seen as a secondary skill, an asset.
One option many foreign language students pursue is taking a semester to study abroad in a foreign speaking country. This will give you not only a better handle of the language, but if you are intentional with your time abroad a number of future job connections. Other possibilities to get your feet wet are available with international volunteer organizations that require translators in the field. On the local level, Wake Forest has connections with volunteer clinics and community centers in need of interpreters.
Students in this program will develop the following skills:
- Translating ideas/languages
- Strong written and oral communication skills
- Perception of word patterns and structures
- Analyzing content
- Gathering information
- Summarizing
- Comparing ideas/translations
- Memorizing
- Project development and follow through
- Attention to detail
- Understanding other cultures
- Sensitivity to diversity
Are there extracurricular activities?
Joining a club or organization is a great way to get involved and do more with your major. Our Chinese Language & Culture students participate in the following programs:
- BiMoo Chinese Theatre Club
- Asian Student Interest Association
- Chinese Culture Club
- Chinese Students and Scholars Association
What kind of job can I get?
Careers that often interest Chinese Language & Culture majors, and fields our graduates work in, include:
- Editor/Proofreader
- Educator
- Foreign Service Officer
- Interpreter
- Journalist
- Language Engineer
- Lexicographer
- Librarian
- Linguist
- Missionary
- Social worker
- Technical writer
- Translator
Recent graduates have become financial planners; physicians; journalists; and administrators of the Apple TV app.
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