Asian Civilizations and Humanities

Readings in translation and discussion of texts of Middle Eastern and Indian origin. Readings may include the Quran, Islamic philosophy, Sufi poetry, the Upanishads, Buddhist sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, Indian epics and drama, and Gandhis Autobiography.

This seminar is an exploration of some "great books" from the Middle East and South Asia. We will read books, plays, stories, and poems in English translation that were originally written in Arabic, Persian, Bangla, Sanskrit. From the Thousand and One Nights to an Arabic epic about a warrior princess to the Bhagavad Gita, we will examine themes of storytelling, gender, politics, and the nature of divinity. With the exception of one Sudanese novel, we will be focusing on texts from the premodern period, and our focus will be on how to interpret texts, develop arguments about those texts, and learning about cultures of reading and writing in the past.

This seminar is an exploration of some "great books" from the Middle East and South Asia. We will read books, plays, stories, and poems in English translation that were originally written in Arabic, Persian, Bangla, Sanskrit. From the Thousand and One Nights to an Arabic epic about a warrior princess to the Bhagavad Gita, we will examine themes of storytelling, gender, politics, and the nature of divinity. With the exception of one Sudanese novel, we will be focusing on texts from the premodern period, and our focus will be on how to interpret texts, develop arguments about those texts, and learning about cultures of reading and writing in the past.

This course explores the core classical literature in Chinese, Japanese and Korean Humanities. The main objective of the course is to discover the meanings that these literature offer, not just for the original audience or for the respective cultures, but for us. As such, it is not a survey or a lecture-based course. Rather than being taught what meanings are to be derived from the texts, we explore meanings together, informed by in-depth reading and thorough ongoing discussion.

This course explores the core classical literature in Chinese, Japanese and Korean Humanities. The main objective of the course is to discover the meanings that these literature offer, not just for the original audience or for the respective cultures, but for us. As such, it is not a survey or a lecture-based course. Rather than being taught what meanings are to be derived from the texts, we explore meanings together, informed by in-depth reading and thorough ongoing discussion.

This course explores the core classical literature in Chinese, Japanese and Korean Humanities. The main objective of the course is to discover the meanings that these literature offer, not just for the original audience or for the respective cultures, but for us. As such, it is not a survey or a lecture-based course. Rather than being taught what meanings are to be derived from the texts, we explore meanings together, informed by in-depth reading and thorough ongoing discussion.

This course explores the core classical literature in Chinese, Japanese and Korean Humanities. The main objective of the course is to discover the meanings that these literature offer, not just for the original audience or for the respective cultures, but for us. As such, it is not a survey or a lecture-based course. Rather than being taught what meanings are to be derived from the texts, we explore meanings together, informed by in-depth reading and thorough ongoing discussion.

This lecture course offers a comprehensive and chronological overview of the major masterpieces of art and architecture of the Muslim world between circa 700-1000 AD. Topics concerning the rise of Arabic as the official language of the new Muslim Empire and the aesthetic transformation it went from script to calligraphy, the shaping of sacred spaces and liturgical objects, rulers’ iconographies and urban designs, as well as daily-life objects, will be discussed. Mecca, Madina, Jerusalem, Damascus, Fustat (old Cairo), Qayrawan, Cordoba, Baghdad, Samarra, Balkh, Bukhara and early Fatimid Cairo are the major playgrounds to illustrate particular moments of shifting powers and aesthetic paradigms in the early days of the Muslim empire, suggesting a more differentiate picture of the arts of Islam in the age of imagining a world-wide empire. The past narratives for these regions will be critically presented by both looking at the medieval sources and the modern historiographies for these regions and by highlighting the varied ideologies at play. Taking this critical vein of studying the arts of the early Muslim age, past narratives will be reconsidered, while enhancing our awareness to the complicated, if not sometimes manipulated, processes of giving works of arts meanings and values.

Prerequisites: NOTE: Students must register for a discussion section ASCE UN1371 A survey of important events and individuals, prominent literary and artistic works, and recurring themes in the history of Japan, from prehistory to the 20th century.

This course seeks to introduce the sweep of Tibetan civilization and its history from its earliest recorded origins to the present. The course examines what civilizational forces shaped Tibet, especially the contributions of Indian Buddhism, sciences and literature, but also Chinese statecraft and sciences. Alongside the chronological history of Tibet, we will explore aspects of social life and culture.

Corequisites: ASCE UN1377 This course provides a survey of Vietnamese civilization from prehistoric origins to the French colonization in the 19th century, with special emphasis on the rise and development of independent kingship over the 2nd millennium CE. We begin by exploring ethnolinguistic diversity of the Red River plain over the first millenium BCE, culminating in the material bronze culture known as the Dong Son. We then turn towards the introduction of high sinitic culture, and the region's long membership within successive Chinese empires. We pay special attention to the rise of an independent state out of the crumbling Tang Dynasty, and the specific nation-building effects of war with the Mongols and the Ming Dynasty, in the 14th and 15th centuries respectively. Our class ends with the French colonization of the region, and the dramatic cultural and intellectual transformations that were triggered as a result. Our course will interrogate Vietnamese culture as a protean object, one that is defined and redefined at virtually every level, throughout a history marked by foreign interest, influence, and invasion.

This course is the first part of the First-Year Chinese sequence, designed for true beginners with
no prior experience in Mandarin Chinese. Upon successful completion of First-Year Chinese I
and II, students are expected to reach Novice High to Intermediate Low proficiency. At this
level, you will be able to understand, interpret, speak, and write about everyday topics such as
greetings, dining, and exchanging personal information. In addition to language skills, you will
gain an understanding of the cultural products, practices, and perspectives of the Chinese-
speaking world and be able to relate them to your own cultural experiences. As a language
course, it emphasizes immersion: Chinese will be the primary language spoken and heard in the
classroom.
The two-semester sequence of First Year Chinese I and II yearlong sequence (First-Year
Chinese I and II) fulfills the General Education Requirements (GERs) for the language
requirement.

Prerequisites: CHNS UN1010 Introductory Chinese A or the equivalent. The program is designed to develop basic skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing colloquial Chinese. This course is divided into two parts: Introductory Chinese A and Introductory Chinese B. The two parts combined cover the same materials as CHNS 1101 FIRST YEAR CHINESE I and fulfill the requirement for admission to CHNS 1102 FIRST YEAR CHINESE II.  

Prerequisites: CHNS UN1010 Introductory Chinese A or the equivalent. The program is designed to develop basic skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing colloquial Chinese. This course is divided into two parts: Introductory Chinese A and Introductory Chinese B. The two parts combined cover the same materials as CHNS 1101 FIRST YEAR CHINESE I and fulfill the requirement for admission to CHNS 1102 FIRST YEAR CHINESE II.  

This course is designed for beginners of the Chinese language. The goal of the course is to develop basic communication skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing modern colloquial Chinese. Students who can already speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. 

This course is designed for beginners of the Chinese language. The goal of the course is to develop basic communication skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing modern colloquial Chinese. Students who can already speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. 

This course is designed for beginners of the Chinese language. The goal of the course is to develop basic communication skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing modern colloquial Chinese. Students who can already speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. 

This course is designed for beginners of the Chinese language. The goal of the course is to develop basic communication skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing modern colloquial Chinese. Students who can already speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. 

This course is designed for beginners of the Chinese language. The goal of the course is to develop basic communication skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing modern colloquial Chinese. Students who can already speak Mandarin will not be accepted into this course. 

This first-semester of the Second Year Chinese course is designed for students who have
completed a rigorous first-year college-level Mandarin course or its equivalent. It aims to
advance proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing to the Intermediate Mid to
Advanced Low levels (ACTFL). Students will engage with real-world scenarios relevant to
studying abroad, such as selecting phone plans, handling bank transactions, and mailing
packages. Emphasis is placed on detailed narration (e.g., emails, journals) and intercultural
competence through comparative cultural analysis. Course materials include dialogues and
narratives to support vocabulary, grammar, communication, and cultural learning.

Prerequisites: One (1) year of college-level Chinese or the equivalent

Texts: Experiencing China 

As the first half of a one-year program for intermediate Chinese learners, this course helps students consolidate and develop language skills used in everyday communication.Texts are presented in the form of dialogues and narratives that provide language situations, sentence patterns, word usage, and cultural information.This course will enable students to conduct everyday tasks such as shopping for cell phone plans, opening a bank account, seeing a doctor, or renting a place to live. At the end of the course, students will be ready to move on to the second half of the program, which focuses on aspects of Chinese culture such as the social norms of politeness and gift-giving. Semi-formal and literary styles will also be introduced as students transition to more advanced levels of Chinese language study. While providing practical training, Second Year Chinese aims to improve the student's linguistic competence in preparation for advanced studies in Mandarin.

Prerequisites: One (1) year of college-level Chinese or the equivalent

Texts: Experiencing China 

As the first half of a one-year program for intermediate Chinese learners, this course helps students consolidate and develop language skills used in everyday communication.Texts are presented in the form of dialogues and narratives that provide language situations, sentence patterns, word usage, and cultural information.This course will enable students to conduct everyday tasks such as shopping for cell phone plans, opening a bank account, seeing a doctor, or renting a place to live. At the end of the course, students will be ready to move on to the second half of the program, which focuses on aspects of Chinese culture such as the social norms of politeness and gift-giving. Semi-formal and literary styles will also be introduced as students transition to more advanced levels of Chinese language study. While providing practical training, Second Year Chinese aims to improve the student's linguistic competence in preparation for advanced studies in Mandarin.

Prerequisites: One (1) year of college-level Chinese or the equivalent

Texts: Experiencing China 

As the first half of a one-year program for intermediate Chinese learners, this course helps students consolidate and develop language skills used in everyday communication.Texts are presented in the form of dialogues and narratives that provide language situations, sentence patterns, word usage, and cultural information.This course will enable students to conduct everyday tasks such as shopping for cell phone plans, opening a bank account, seeing a doctor, or renting a place to live. At the end of the course, students will be ready to move on to the second half of the program, which focuses on aspects of Chinese culture such as the social norms of politeness and gift-giving. Semi-formal and literary styles will also be introduced as students transition to more advanced levels of Chinese language study. While providing practical training, Second Year Chinese aims to improve the student's linguistic competence in preparation for advanced studies in Mandarin.

Prerequisites: One (1) year of college-level Chinese or the equivalent

Texts: Experiencing China 

As the first half of a one-year program for intermediate Chinese learners, this course helps students consolidate and develop language skills used in everyday communication.Texts are presented in the form of dialogues and narratives that provide language situations, sentence patterns, word usage, and cultural information.This course will enable students to conduct everyday tasks such as shopping for cell phone plans, opening a bank account, seeing a doctor, or renting a place to live. At the end of the course, students will be ready to move on to the second half of the program, which focuses on aspects of Chinese culture such as the social norms of politeness and gift-giving. Semi-formal and literary styles will also be introduced as students transition to more advanced levels of Chinese language study. While providing practical training, Second Year Chinese aims to improve the student's linguistic competence in preparation for advanced studies in Mandarin.

Prerequisites: One (1) year of college-level Chinese or the equivalent

Texts: Experiencing China 

As the first half of a one-year program for intermediate Chinese learners, this course helps students consolidate and develop language skills used in everyday communication.Texts are presented in the form of dialogues and narratives that provide language situations, sentence patterns, word usage, and cultural information.This course will enable students to conduct everyday tasks such as shopping for cell phone plans, opening a bank account, seeing a doctor, or renting a place to live. At the end of the course, students will be ready to move on to the second half of the program, which focuses on aspects of Chinese culture such as the social norms of politeness and gift-giving. Semi-formal and literary styles will also be introduced as students transition to more advanced levels of Chinese language study. While providing practical training, Second Year Chinese aims to improve the student's linguistic competence in preparation for advanced studies in Mandarin.

Second-Year Chinese W (I & II) : This course is designed for heritage learners with conversational abilities and foundational literacy skills in Mandarin Chinese. Through interactive lessons, targeted linguistic exercises, cultural exploration and comparison, and real-world applications, students will deepen their understanding of their cultural heritage while expanding their vocabulary and enhancing their language skills. By the end of the course, students will be better equipped to engage confidently with family members and other Chinese-speaking communities.

This course offers an expansive journey into the Chinese language and culture. It focuses on essential semi-formal and formal writing skills while refining discourse-level competency. Students will enhance their linguistic abilities and communication skills in Chinese through reading and writing assignments, oral presentations, and discussions. This approach fosters adept communication and a deeper connection with the complexities of Chinese culture, preparing students to engage thoughtfully with contemporary issues and traditions.

This course offers an expansive journey into the Chinese language and culture. It focuses on essential semi-formal and formal writing skills while refining discourse-level competency. Students will enhance their linguistic abilities and communication skills in Chinese through reading and writing assignments, oral presentations, and discussions. This approach fosters adept communication and a deeper connection with the complexities of Chinese culture, preparing students to engage thoughtfully with contemporary issues and traditions.

This course offers an expansive journey into the Chinese language and culture. It focuses on essential semi-formal and formal writing skills while refining discourse-level competency. Students will enhance their linguistic abilities and communication skills in Chinese through reading and writing assignments, oral presentations, and discussions. This approach fosters adept communication and a deeper connection with the complexities of Chinese culture, preparing students to engage thoughtfully with contemporary issues and traditions.

Prerequisites: CHNS C1222 or F1222, or the equivalent. Admission after Chinese placement exam and an oral proficiency interview with the instructor. Especially designed for students who possess good speaking ability and who wish to acquire practical writing skills as well as business-related vocabulary and speech patterns. Introduction to semiformal and formal Chinese used in everyday writing and social or business-related occasions. Simplified characters are introduced.

This course is designed for students with at least two years of college-level Chinese who wish to improve their conversational skills. It focuses on practical speaking and listening in real- world contexts, emphasizing fluency, vocabulary expansion, and cultural competence. Students will develop confidence in expressing opinions, narrating experiences, and engaging in spontaneous conversations on everyday and contemporary topics.

Note: This Course CANNOT be used to fulfill the language requirement.

This course is designed for students with at least two years of college-level Chinese who wish to improve their conversational skills. It focuses on practical speaking and listening in real- world contexts, emphasizing fluency, vocabulary expansion, and cultural competence. Students will develop confidence in expressing opinions, narrating experiences, and engaging in spontaneous conversations on everyday and contemporary topics.

Note: This Course CANNOT be used to fulfill the language requirement.

The Business Chinese I course is designed to prepare students to use Chinese in a present or future work situation. Students will develop skills in the practical principles of grammar, vocabulary, and cross-cultural understanding needed in today’s business world.

Prerequisites: Third Year Chinese or the equivalent The course is designed to help students master formal Chinese for professional or academic purposes. It includes reading materials and discussions of selections from Chinese media on contemporary topics, Chinese literature, and modern Chinese intellectual history. The course aims to enhance students' strategies for comprehension, as well as their written and oral communication skills in formal modern Chinese.

Prerequisites: CHNS W4006 or the equivalent. This is a non-consecutive reading course designed for those whose proficiency is above 4th level. See Admission to Language Courses. Selections from contemporary Chinese authors in both traditional and simplified characters with attention to expository, journalistic, and literary styles.

Advanced Business Chinese is designed to help students who have studied at least three years of Chinese (or the equivalent) to achieve greater proficiency in the oral and written use of the language and gain knowledge in depth about China’s business environment and proven strategies. Student will critically examine the successes and failures of firms within the Chinese business arena. 

The Fifth Year Chinese course is designed for advanced learners who have a proficient command of the Chinese language in all four aspects: listening, speaking, reading, and writing, regardless of whether they have Chinese heritage. The course provides a wide variety of literary genres, ranging from short stories to aesthetic essays to academic articles, to enhance students' mastery of formal written Chinese. While the primary objectives of this course lie in reading, students also have opportunities to develop their speaking competence through a variety of in-class discussions, debates, and presentations.

This course clocks the prehistory and history of the “modern girl,” a physiologically and biologically understood, anatomically correct, commodity-defined, human rights bearing person that revolutionized how we define women.  Beginning with the early modern global trade networks that created the material conditions for women’s political action, the course moves through imperialism and colonialism, Cold War gender formations, and the contemporary consumer cultures of Asia and their global entanglements.  Our focus this semester is Asia and beyond and our central questions are (1) how did gendered commodities –machine fabricated, internationally circulated– lay material conditions for women’s political action and liberation struggles; (2) how is commodification of the girl figure a blessing and a curse; (3) is the modern girl one subject of feminism and how does socialist feminist theory and political movements historically connect to the modern girl phenomenon? In this class we figure out how to analyze 20th century new media e.g., silent films, phonograph records, lithography, commercial brand images, lantern slides, and, of course, the fashion and advertising industries. We will develop historical tools to help us understand how cultural forms deliver material political impacts and results.  This is a lecture course with time set aside for your visual presentations and your analysis of the readings, images, and ideas. This course has no prerequisites, and is open to all students, including those in their first year.

What does a photograph do when it enters a religiously sacred or geopolitically contested space? Using the Tibetan Plateau as a primary case study and situating image-making practices within Tibetan Buddhist visual traditions, transcultural Himalayan networks, and Chinese media cultures, this interdisciplinary course examines photography, media, and visual culture from the twentieth century to the present, exploring how modernity and mediation functioned as active forces in the region's visual history. Through case studies ranging from studio portraiture and vernacular photography to pictorial magazines and film, students engage in close visual analysis of photographs, archival materials, and multimedia to explore how images were made, circulated, and engaged across religious, political, and technological contexts from the Tibetan Plateau through the Himalayas and East Asia.

This course places film in relation to a variety of other media forms, including architecture, art, music/sound technology, and printed texts. While not losing sight of the ways in which media (and ideas about media) circulate regionally and globally, this class will pay particular attention to the history of media in Korea from the colonial period (1910-1945) forward. 

Focusing on short stories from the 7th-21st centuries, we ask what fiction can tell us about the real concerns that shaped the lives of Chinese writers. How do literary depictions of love/desire relate to social issues surrounding gender, power, and family? What do supernatural characters—hungry ghosts, lofty gods, unruly demons, seductive snakes and fox spirits—reveal about how humans made sense of unusual occurrences? What do motifs of cannibalism and related themes tell us about the socio-political changes China witnessed on its path toward becoming a nation-state? 

This course examines historical narratives and record-keeping in premodern Korea, focusing on the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910). It explores writing as a medium of power that shaped politics, social order, gender relations, and cultural identity. Through diverse texts, including official chronicles, didactic texts, memoirs, and (auto)biographies, students will analyze how individuals and institutions used writing to assert authority, express dissent, and document their lives.

Premodern Chinese literati have long been regarded as active historical agents who shaped “This Culture of Ours”—a metonym for civilization in the premodern Sinitic context—while they also fed from, partook in, and influenced popular and foreign cultures. Besides “literary writings” like poetry and prose, literati also engaged in calligraphy, painting, and antiquarianism under the umbrella term of “literary or cultural arts.” In turn, the creation and appreciation of artwork were intrinsic to the aesthetic life of literati community and further established their self-identity. At the same time, social exclusivity, (self-)doubt and identity crises, along with the looming threat of cultural decline, have continually haunted this literati community throughout the ages.

Covering the long trajectory of imperial China, this course reveals the birth and development of literati culture. In particular, we take an interdisciplinary approach, introducing intellectual and poetic discourses, socio-historical contexts, literary criticism, visual and material culture, to envision a “common ground” for their civil world. Textual, visual sources plus material objects are meant to have conversations with each other in this course. Important issues include historical transformations of the elite class, cultural geography in different eras, materiality and visuality of elite calligraphy and painting, literati self-expression through aesthetic practice, the roles of the court and literati in producing and preserving art, as well as other relevant issues such as gender studies, vernacular literature, and commodity society.

This course is cross-listed in AMEC and CPLT. For undergraduates, no background in Chinese language is required in this course, and all reading materials—either translation of primary sources or secondary scholarship—are accessible in English.

Covering a period from the late 19th century to the present, this class explores how ideas and practices in science and technology have historically entered popular imagination, social organization and political contestation, as they become mediated by various media forms and technologies such as photography, cinema, novels, television, video, internet platforms and data algorithms. In particular, we focus on how science and technology have shaped our understandings of the human body, and impacted on the various bodily experiences, from perception, cognition, to emotion and connection with others in the environment. This class helps students read media artefacts in a historically grounded and conceptually generative way, understanding media artefacts as historically conditioned, yet offering us resources for envisioning the future.

A recent American newspaper headline announced that China has become “the most materialistic country the world.” Globally circulating narratives often interpret Chinese consumers’ demand for commodities as an attempt to fill a void left by the absence of the Maoist state, traditional religious life, and Western-style democracy. But things aren’t as simple as they appear. This course explores the intertwined questions of “Chinese” desire and the desire for China. Avoiding reductionist understandings of desire as either a universal natural human attribute or a particular Chinese cultural trait, we will track the production and management of desire within a complex global field. Drawing on ethnographies, films, short stories, and psychoanalytic and postcolonial theory, this course will explore the shifting figure of desire across the Maoist and post-Maoist eras by examining how academics, government officials, intellectuals, and artists have represented Chinese needs, wants and fantasies. From state leaders’ attempts to improve the “quality” of the country’s population to citizens’ dreams of home ownership, from sexualized desire to hunger for food, drugs and other commodities, we will attend to the continuities and disjunctures of recent Chinese history by tracking how desire in China has been conceptualized and refracted through local and global encounters.

What is media and mediation? How do aesthetics, techniques and technologies of media shape perception, experience, and politics in our societies? And how have various forms of media and mediation been conceptualized and practiced in the Chinese-language environment? This graduate seminar examines critical issues in historical and contemporary Chinese media cultures, and guides students in a broad survey of primary texts, theoretical readings, and research methods that place Chinese media cultures in historical, comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives. We discuss a variety of media forms, including paintings and graphic arts, photography and cinema, soundscapes and the built environment, and television and digital media. The class covers a time span from mid-19 th  century to the present, and makes use of the rich holdings at the Starr East Asian Library for historical research and media archaeology.   

Open to MA and PhD students. Advanced undergraduates need to have instructor's approval.
Language prerequisites: intermediate or advanced Chinese; rare exceptions upon instructor’s approval.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean. Introductory Korean B is the equivalent to the second half of First Year Korean I.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean. Introductory Korean B is the equivalent to the second half of First Year Korean I.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean.

This course is designed to develop basic skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing in Korean.

This introductory course is designed to equip beginners with a solid foundation in modern Korean
language and culture through the integrated development of the four core language skills: speaking,
listening, reading, and writing. Students will begin by mastering the Korean writing system (Hangul)
within the first two weeks, followed by seven structured lessons focusing on essential grammatical
structures, vocabulary, and basic conversational skills.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
§ Understand and use basic grammatical structures and vocabulary in everyday conversations.
§ Comprehend spoken and written Korean in structured contexts, such as classroom dialogues and
short passages.
§ Deliver short, structured presentations in Korean on familiar topics using appropriate vocabulary,
grammar, and pronunciation.

§ Engage in simple interpersonal communication on familiar topics, such as greetings, self-
introduction, daily routines, and preferences.

§ Demonstrate cultural understanding of modern Korean society through exposure to authentic
media and participation in cultural activities.

The first half of a one-year sequence in intermediate Korean for students who have completed First-Year Chinese I and II or the equivalent.  

This course is the first half of Accelerated Korean for Heritage Speakers. This course is designed specifically for heritage students who have some previous knowledge of Hangul and basic sentence patterns of everyday Korean. Upon completion of this course, students may advance to Accelerated Korean for Heritage Speakers II to complete the college's two-year foreign language requirement in one year.

This course is designed to provide both M.A. and Ph.D. students in Korean studies with the necessary skills for reading and understanding Korean mixed script and to provide them with reading materials focusing on period from the late-19th century to the mid-20th century. Readings from this period feature a strong mixture of Chinese and Korean characters, so a wide choice of materials is available which represents all subject areas. This course will be part of the graduate program in Korean studies.

This course is designed to meet the needs of both first-time learners of Tibetan, as well as students with one year or less of modern colloquial Tibetan. It is intended to lay the foundation for reading classical Tibetan writings, including religious, historical, and literary texts. By focusing on basic grammatical constructions and frequently used vocabulary, this class offers an introduction to the classical Tibetan language.

n/a

This course focuses on helping students gain greater proficiency in reading Tibetan Buddhist philosophical and religious historical texts.  Readings are selected primarily from Tibetan Buddhist philosophical texts (sutras) such as shes rab snying po,  thu’u bkan grub mtha’ and other Tibetan canonical texts.  

This course is designed for students who have completed two semesters in First Year Vietnamese Course or have equivalent background of Intermediate Low Vietnamese. The course aims to enhance students’ competence in reading and listening comprehension and the ability to present or show their knowledge of the language and various aspects of Vietnamese with the use of higher Vietnamese. 

This course is designed for students who have completed fourth semester Vietnamese or have equivalent background of intermediate Vietnamese. The course is aimed at enhancing students' competence in reading and listening comprehension as well as the ability to present or show their knowledge of the language and various aspects of Vietnamese with the use of more advanced Vietnamese.