Chinese offered as a foreign language for the first time at Stevens next semester

Spoken by over 1 billion people in the world, is over 3,000 years old, one of six official languages of the United Nations, and one of the fastest growing languages in terms of number of speakers in the world — All of these fun facts describe the newest language offered within the Foreign Language Program here at Stevens: Chinese.

Next semester (Spring 2019), Beginner Chinese I (LCH-101) will be offered for the first time at Stevens. The course is a first semester introduction course in Chinese and has one section which will be offered on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 p.m. to 4:45p.m. and currently does not have a professor. Chinese is the third language offered at Stevens, following Spanish and French.

“Chinese 101 is truly a new launch and our third official language offered at Stevens. We are excited to see the program grow and hope this new course will be a great success,” said Zachary Balog, Foreign Languages Coordinator. Adding Chinese as a Foreign Language is a part of the initiative to expand the Foreign Languages program here at Stevens. Additionally, this initiative includes out-of-class events such as language salons and films. “As far as expanding the program, we also host one larger event every fall as part of International Education Month. This year, the Foreign Languages Program will be hosting a Paella Night on November 7th at 7 p.m. in McClean 119. All are welcome,” said Balog.

In the future, Balog hopes to expand course selections in the Foreign Languages program. “We hope to add an advanced level Spanish course, maybe a French one as well. These courses would target literature and culture, paving the way for deeper analysis of some of the classics. We hope to offer more challenging language classes for students with advanced levels in Spanish and French,” said Balog. Currently, there is “nothing to report” on a fourth language being offered.