Enroll Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/hanyu-yufa
Embarking on the journey to learn Mandarin Chinese can be both exhilarating and challenging. While vocabulary and pronunciation are crucial, a solid understanding of grammar forms the bedrock of fluency. For foreign learners, navigating the intricacies of Chinese grammar can be a significant hurdle. This is where Coursera’s course, ‘现代汉语核心语法’ (Core Grammar of Modern Chinese), shines as an invaluable resource.
This course is meticulously designed with the foreign student in mind. It systematically breaks down the core grammatical structures of modern Chinese, covering essential elements like parts of speech, sentence constituents, single and complex sentences, discourse, and various expression methods. What truly sets this course apart is its focus on the specific difficulties and key points that international learners often encounter. Through a wealth of targeted exercises, the course aims to equip students with the skills to not only understand but also confidently apply Chinese grammar, ultimately elevating their overall proficiency.
The syllabus is thoughtfully structured, beginning with fundamental word classes in the first few lectures. It delves into nouns, verbs, and adjectives, exploring their categories, functions, and common patterns like reduplication. Pronouns, numerals, and measure words follow, highlighting special usages and applications. The course then progresses to adverbs, prepositions, and conjunctions, clarifying their roles and placement within sentences. Auxiliary words, interjections, and onomatopoeia are also covered, providing a comprehensive overview of Chinese word types.
Moving beyond individual words, the course tackles sentence structure head-on. Lectures are dedicated to understanding the roles of subjects, predicates, and objects, as well as the functions and ordering of attributives and adverbials. A significant portion of the course is devoted to complements, detailing various types such as resultative, directional, potential, degree, state, and quantitative complements, as well as prepositional phrase complements. The course also categorizes sentence types, including declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences. Special sentence patterns like ‘把’ sentences, ‘被’ sentences, and others are explained with clarity.
Finally, the course culminates in an in-depth exploration of complex sentences (复句), categorizing them into coordinated and subordinate types with various sub-classifications. It also touches upon discourse structure and methods of expression, including numerical expressions, comparisons, and emphasis. The practical exercises accompanying each lecture are instrumental in reinforcing learning and building confidence.
**Recommendation:**
For anyone serious about mastering Chinese grammar, ‘现代汉语核心语法’ is a highly recommended course. Its systematic approach, focus on learner difficulties, and ample practice opportunities make it an effective tool for building a strong grammatical foundation. Whether you are a beginner or an intermediate learner struggling with grammatical nuances, this course offers the clarity and guidance you need to progress.
Enroll Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/hanyu-yufa