Chin 106B

Chinese Business and Culture

(Advanced Business Chinese)
Spring 2015
This course is designed for students who are interested in Chinese
business/economy and have completed at least the first half of
Advanced Chinese (Chinese 105a) or the equivalent.

Objectives:
The course is an experimental course and it will create a simulated
business environment in China to help students to get acquaintance
with the most important Chinese business vocabulary, phrases,
sentence patterns, and rules for business writing so that learners can
have a very good command of the Chinese language needed for doing
business or economic research in Chinese speaking regions. At the end
of this term, students are expected to be able to take part in business
talks fluently, to read business documents of various kinds effectively,
and to write properly styled business letters. Beyond the language,
students will also get cultural and social knowledge crucial to business
success in these regions. During the process of learning, some real
business tasks may be included.

Textbook
Close the Deal: Advanced Chinese for Creative and Productive
Business by Yu Feng et al. Cheng & Tsui Company, 2005
The textbook consists of 16 units, each being a business task with a simulated business
setting: the Shanghai branch of an American business consulting company is helping
several American and international companies to do business in China. The tasks cover a
great range of business activities such as market survey, accounting, advertising, stock
market, insurance, human resources, business law and business-government relations. For
each unit, there are both business conversations (formal and informal) and documents in
written style.

Meetings and Format

Lecture classes will meet at 11:00-11:50pm Mondays and Wednesdays.
It will be essential to prepare for each class in advance, to assure the
most beneficial and rewarding use of contact time with your teacher
and classmates, and to establish proper habits for effective language
learning. Hence, preview of new lessons before coming to the lecture is
required. Listening to the recordings on the course website is highly
recommended.
The class will be entirely conducted in Chinese. Students are required
to read and write Chinese with computer.

Workload
This course requires substantial time commitment. Students should
plan to spend an average of seven to ten hours per week outside of the
class for preparation and review. The basic format of homework is role
play: to creatively complete simulated business tasks. Students are
encouraged to do homework electronically.

Teamwork
A very unique feature of this course is that students are organized in teams of three
people. All the homework and tests (including final project) will be assigned to teams
except for Oral Translation Practice and Tests (Including final oral exam) that will be
individual.

Evaluation
The final course grade will consist of the following components:

attendance and class performance 14%

homework 26%
review tests 30%
final oral exam 10%
final written project 20%

Homework turned in late will be marked down one point (i.e. from 10 to

9, from 9 to 8, etc.) for every day of lateness; homework more than

one week overdue will not be accepted, except in cases of
demonstrated medical condition.

Teaching Staff
Course Head:
Yu Feng
The Mandel Center for the Humanities 119
6-2961
yfeng@brandeis.edu
Office Hours: 1-2pm M. W.