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.

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Did You Know?

• China is home to nearly one of every five people on the planet and more than 3,500 years of recorded history.

Courses

Sample courses for students studying Chinese Language & Culture include:

• Business Chinese
• Ten Years of Madness
• The Chinese Cultural Revolution, 1966-76
• Intermediate Chinese Spoken
• Intermediate Chinese Written

View official major requirements »

Practical Experience & Skills

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

Clubs & Organizations

Chinese Language & Culture students participate in the following clubs and organizations:

• BiMoo Chinese Theatre Club
• Asian Student Interest Association
• Chinese Culture Club
• Chinese Students and Scholars Association

Career Outcomes

Careers that often interest Chinese Language & Culture majors 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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