| Compulsory subjects |
| Subject Code |
Subject Nature/Title |
| CBS370 |
Principles of Translation |
- introduction - what is translation;
- literal vs. free translation;
- translation equivalence;
- translation as a communicative act;
- translation shifts;
- translation techniques;
- text types;
- reader, text and context;
- cultural issues in translation
|
| CBS381 |
Written Communication & Culture |
- Language, ethnicity, communication and culture;
- Comparison of spoken language and written language. Language and writing, literacy;
- Language and writing systems of the world. Origin, change and transmission of scripts from one culture to another;
- Use of written language and their relationship with culture, e.g. poems, religious texts, internet messages;
- Minority language writings in China. The Chinese character cultural circle in the past and today. Chinese in Hong Kong;
- Chinese writing and culture, comparison with English and western societies.
- Evolution of Chinese character, differences between varieties of Chinese in Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
|
| CBS463 |
Analysis of English |
- Sentential Aspects;
- Lexical Aspects;
- Context-dependent Aspects
|
| CBS464 |
Analysis of Modern Chinese |
- Chinese and its dialects;
- Putonghua and Modern Standard Chinese;
- Cantonese and Hong Kong written Chinese;
- pedagogic vs. expert grammar;
- morphemes and words, prefix and suffix;
- structure of compounds;
- semantic relations between words;
- lexical changes;
- word classes;
- sentence structure analysis and methodology;
- word order and constituent structure;
- special sentence patterns in Standard Chinese;
- complex sentences and logical relation between clauses
|
| Level-4 elective subjects (at least 18 credits from this category) |
| Subject Code |
Subject Nature/Title |
| CBS462 |
Analysis of Cantonese |
- Preliminaries;
- Cantonese phonetics and Romanization;
- The grammatical structures
|
| CBS465 |
Applied Pronunciation Studies |
- Activation of phonetic awareness;
- The phonology of Cantonese;
- The International Phonetic Alphabet;
- The phonology of Putonghua;
- The phonology of English and Western approaches to phonology;
- Essentials of traditional Chinese phonology;
- Phonological comparison between Cantonese, Putonghua, and English with a view to better pronunciation;
- Phonetic transcription and its applications
|
| CBS466 |
Chinese Media in the Bilingual Context |
- Glocalization and the development of Chinese medi;
- The roles and functions of mass media in plural societies;
- Laws and codes of media practice in plural societies;
- Multilingual and multicultural mix in the Chinese media;
- Genres and subgenres in print and broadcasting media
|
| CBS467 |
Classical Chinese for Today |
- Selected Texts;
- Vocabulary;
- Grammatical features;
- Relevant Knowledge
|
| CBS468 |
Communications in Greater China |
- The emergence of the concept Greater China and its constituents;
- Governmental policies and practice of communications in Greater China;
- Public opinions and media relations management in Greater China;
- External corporate communication in Greater China: interpersonal dimension;
- External corporate communication in Greater China: media systems and practice;
- Multilingual and multicultural mix in persuasive communication in Greater China
|
| CBS469 |
Consecutive Interpreting |
Basic concepts of interpretation:
- Functions and features of different types of interpretation;
- Criteria for good interpretation;
- Professional ethics and practice
Skills for CI:
- Listening skills;
- Memory training;
- Note-taking skills;
- Improvisation skills;
- Public speaking skills;
- Topic research and preparation skills
|
| CBS470 |
Contrastive Analysis of Chinese and English |
- the place of contrastive analysis in linguistics; contrastive analysis and comparative grammar; language universals and typology; 'language' vs. 'dialect' in Chinese and English contexts;
- the representation of speech sounds of Cantonese, Putonghua, and English; romanization and transliteration;
- loanword phonology and Optimality Theory;
- word formation principles for Chinese and English; lexical semantic differences;
- phrase structure theory; basic word order in Cantonese, Standard Chinese, and English;
- syntactic analysis of predication;
- serial verb constructions and control sentences; null subject; topicalization;
- double object constructions; passives and causatives;
- 'incomplete' structures in Chinese and English;
- distribution of adverbials; discontinuous of function words;
- interrogatives and exclamatives;
- syntactic analysis of nominals; distribution of attributives and relative clauses; definiteness and specificity
- tense and aspect;
- analyticity vs. synthesis parameters.
|
| CBS471 |
Languages in Contemporary Societies |
- Speech community;
- Linguistic variation and change;
- Bilingualism and multilingualism;
- Linguistic varieties and linguistic items;
- Styles of speaking;
- Language differentiation and sex;
- Diglossia;
- Endangered languages;
- Minority languages;
- Lingua francas, pidgins, creoles;
- Code-mixing, code-switching, linguistic borrowing;
- Language planning in education
|
| CBS472 |
Simultaneous Interpreting |
- Introduction;
- Orientation;
- Fundamental skills for interpreting
|
| CBS473 |
Translation for Business and Commerce |
- Principles, criteria and techniques for business translation;
- Characteristic features (stylistic, linguistic and organizational features) of various text types;
- Translation of internal & external communication documents;
- Using different resources to solve translation problems
|
| CBS474 |
Translation for Legal Work |
- Classification of legal documents;
- Concept basics for civil and criminal procedures;
- Principles for legal translation;
- Identification of characteristics of legal language;
- Understanding and translation of archaic words in legal documents;
- Translation of ordinary words and terms in legal contexts;
- Translation of modal verbs in legal discourse: shall, may, must, etc.;
- Different expressions of prohibition in legal discourse;
- Translation of 10 typical English legal expressions;
- Approaches to demystifying complex legal documents
|
| CBS475 |
Translation for the Media |
- General principles for translation of print media;
- Media language and translation;
- News translation (title, lead, international and local news, and TV news);
- Magazine translation (features, travels, bilingual editing);
- Translation of advertisements and promotions: principles, strategies, criteria, rhetoric devices, etc.;
- Subtitling translation: constraints, principles, techniques and practice
|
| CBS483 |
Introduction to Language Learning and Development |
| The objective of this subject is to introduce to students how linguists and psycholinguists address questions in the area of language learning and development. The subject is also geared towardsthe local community -- Hong Kong context, covering topics such as: (i)learning Cantonese as a first language; (ii)learning Cantonese and English as two first languages; (iii) learning English and Mandarin as second languages; and (iv) children having specific language impairment in Cantonese. The subject is intended for those who would like to become language professionals in education. |
| CBS499 |
Bilingual Studies Project (6 credits) |
| The subject serves as an arena for the students to demonstrative their ability to integrate all they have learnt from the programme by carrying out a project and producing a report and/or other products as appropriate under the guidance of a teacher as supervisor. |
| Free elective subjects |
| Subject Code |
Subject Nature/Title |
| CBS291 |
Putonghua for Professional Communication |
- Phonology;
- Vocabulary;
- Grammar;
- Expression and communication
|
| CBS361 |
Academic Inquiry |
- Being academically inquisitive;
- Intake of ideas;
- Information handling in the bilingual context;
- Academic resources;
- Computer tools for language information processing
|
| CBS363 |
Applied Translation Studies |
- introduction- what translation studies does;
- science of translation-linguistic approach to translation;
- dynamic equivalence;
- type, reader, translator, strategy (functionalist approach);
- text analysis in translation;
- translation procedures;
- translation of metaphor;
- translation of terminology;
- cultural issues in translation;
- multilingualism in a monolingual text
|
| CBS364 |
Aspects of Civilization: East & West |
- Greek philosophy and analytical thinking;
- Christianity and the Western world-view;
- Renaissance and humanism;
- The French Revolution 1789 and the rise of nationalism and romanticism;
- Science & technology: for good and for evil;
- Orientalism;
- Buddhist thoughts: origin and transformation;
- Pre-Qin Chinese thoughts: rich and far-reaching;
- Appreciation of classical Chinese literature: the poetic tradition;
- Appreciation of classical Chinese art: the refined vs the popular
|
| CBS365 |
Bilingual Communication Workshop |
- Making & defending a case in both Cantonese, Putonghua & English;
- Parallel documentation of a case in both Chinese and English;
- Making factual and critical queries in Cantonese, Putonghua and English
|
| CBS366 |
Contemporary Chinese Society through Literature |
- Thread One: the Rural Perspective
Reassessing the Chinese spirit in the North
陳忠實：《白鹿原》; 高建群：《最後一個匈奴》; 姜戎：《狼圖騰》
- Thread Two: the Urban Perspective
Aspiring for Diversities
王安憶：《長恨歌》; 賈平凹：《廢都》; 方方：《在我的開始是我的結束》
- Thread Three: the Social Perspective
Deploring over Guanxi and Officialdom
王躍文：《國畫》; 劉振雲：《一地雞毛》
- Thread Four: the Language Perspective
海子詩; 余秋雨散文; 王朔、劉震雲小說的語言分析
|
| CBS368 |
Interpreting for the Professions |
- Orientation;
- Codes of ethics;
- Fundamental skills for interpreting;
- Drills of interpreting
|
| CBS369 |
Introduction to Bilingual Communication |
- Conduct & Content of bilingual communication;
- Code choice in business communication in multilingual metropolises;
- Cross-lingual variation in communicative norms;
- Bilingual mode of oral & written communications in the business sector
|
| CBS373 |
Translation and Chinese Culture |
| This subject addresses a challenge that affects all kinds of translation from Chinese: how to deal with terms limited to Chinese culture, which lack any equivalent in Western languages? Students learn an interpretive approach to translation, in which the translator explores and investigates the original cultural context of a term before attempting to translate it. They also examine a variety of translations and bilingual texts, and reflect on the potential and limitations of various translation strategies. |
| CBS390 |
Interface between Chinese and Information Technology |
- Historical development of Chinese and information technology;
- Chinese character attributes and their IT significance;
- Representing Chinese and English in a computer;
- Computer inputting of Chinese and English;
- Computer outputting of Chinese and English;
- Chinese character sets, glyphs and fonts;
- ISO10646, Unicode, Unihan, and HKSCS;
- The Chinese and multilingual user environments of MS Windows, MS Office and the WWW;
- Simplification and standardization of modern Chinese characters;
- Regional varieties and unification of modern Chinese characters;
- Chinese software development
|
| ELC3301 |
English in the Workplace for CBS students |
- Spoken communication in the workplace;
- Written communication in the workplace;
- Language appropriacy;
- 4. Language development
|
| ELC3310 |
University English for Students of BABS |
| This subject aims to develop students’ competence in written and spoken communication in academic contexts and enhance their ability to communicate effectively in an English-medium learning environment. In striving to achieve the two interrelated objectives, attention will be given to developing confidence in the use of grammar, vocabulary, and academic writing and speaking conventions. |
| ELC3311 |
Advanced Oral Communication for Students of CBS |
- Understanding features of presentations and discussions
- Planning presentations
- Delivering presentations and participating in discussions
- Language development
|
| Third-language elective subjects* (at most 6 credits from this category contribute to the final award) |
| Subject Code |
Subject Nature/Title |
| CBS206 |
Comprehensive Japanese for Business Interaction I |
- The characteristics of Japanese;
- Simple conversation in Japanese;
- About people, things, places and price;
- About time, day of the week and date;/li>
- About food, drink, sports, transportation and tools.
|
| CBS282 |
Introductory Korean I |
| Students with no prior knowledge of Korean will learn and practice basic pronunciation, become familiar with essential expressions in daily life, engage in listening comprehension and speaking by using the laboratory facilities, and participate role-play, games and multimedia activities. Students will also learn how to manage situations that could arise in Korean daily life. |
| CBS283 |
Introductory Korean II |
| Students with 42 hours of Korean language instruction, or those with a compatible level of Korean proficiency will acquire the conversational skills necessary for everyday life.
Students will accumulate a larger vocabulary and expressions for actual use, and learn practical communication skills through role-play, language games and multimedia activities. |
| CBS325 |
Comprehensive Japanese for Business Interaction II |
| This subject aims to enable students to further develop interactive skills - speaking, listening, reading and writing - and socio-cultural understanding which are required for successful interaction in relevant social contexts. Through various interaction practices, students will also develop an informed understanding of socio-cultural norms that are associated with interacting with the speakers of Japanese in (semi-) informal social context. |
