UB Programs At-A-Glance

Chinese

Department of Linguistics

College of Arts and Sciences
609 Baldy Hall
North Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260-1030

Phone: 716.645.2177
Fax: 716.645.3825
Web: linguistics.buffalo.edu/chinese

Karin Michelson
Chair

Tsan Huang
Program Director
thuang3@buffalo.edu

About the Department

The Chinese curriculum provides a solid foundation for an understanding and appreciation of the rich and diverse culture of China.

The Department of Linguistics also offers minors in Japanese and Korean. The curricula for these languages provide a solid foundation for an understanding and appreciation of the rich and diverse culture of these areas. The language, culture, and linguistics courses offered are useful to students who aspire to an East Asia-related academic or professional career in education, government, communications, business, and other fields in the United States and abroad.

The University at Buffalo's Linguistics department offers a comprehensive program covering the major areas of linguistics: phonetics, phonology, morphology, semantics, syntax, and discourse/pragmatics. Our courses focus on the interface between language and cognition, language and society, empirically-grounded linguistic theory, and both cross-linguistic studies and in-depth studies of individual languages other than English. The department resources include a Computational Linguistics Research laboratory, a Phonetics Laboratory, and a Linguistics Library.

In aulition to the three East Asian languages, the Linguistics department also houses the programs in German, Polish, and Russian, as well as the World Language Program Institute. Through the latter, students may study a broad range of less frequently taught languages such as American Sign Language, Arabic, Danish, Modern Greek, Hindi, Irish, Thai, and Ukrainian.

Degrees Offered

Undergraduate: Minor

Special Major

For students who want to further their studies in East Asian languages, a special major in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean can be arranged in consultation with the Language Program director and the Special Major Services Office (275 Park Hall). For more information, see Special Majors.

About Our Degrees

The curriculum of the Chinese program includes:


  • Courses designed to develop or improve competence in written and spoken Chinese

  • Courses for the advanced study of Chinese language and culture

  • Courses that deal with Chinese business etiquette


Acceptance Information

Minimum GPA of 2.0 in prerequisite and required courses.
Application should be made when the student has completed the prerequisite courses or during the semester in which they will be completed.

Degree Requirements

See the Undergraduate Catalog.

About Our Courses

For course descriptions, please see the Undergraduate Catalog.

About Our Faculty

Dr. Tsan Huang's research focuses on phonetics, in particular the perception of tone languages.

Special Academic Opportunities

Study Abroad

Programs for study abroad are available for those who pursue studies in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. Study abroad is encouraged particularly for majors and minors in these languages. For more information, see Study Abroad.

Extracurricular Activities

See the UB Student Association.

Complementary Programs and Courses

Many students opt to combine a minor in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean with a major in the social sciences, engineering, the humanities, business administration, geography, international business and world trade, and the interdisciplinary social sciences programs in international studies and Asian studies.

Advising Information

Students with advanced Chinese language proficiency or whose mother tongue is Chinese should consult with the program advisor to arrange an appropriate program.

Career Information

The language and culture courses offered are useful to students who aspire to an East Asia–related academic or professional career in education, government, communication, business, and other fields in the United States and abroad.

Links to Further Information About This Program