edX MOOC on Chinese Cultural Communication 汉语与文化交际

[Luxi]

I just found this MOOC (online course) offered by Beijing University. It started on 7 October but registration is still open and the material will remain available on line for 1 year.

 

PekingX: 20000003x

 Chinese Culture and Communication 汉语和文化交际

 

There isn't a lot on the site other than the 10 video lectures, lecture handouts and a few (very few) timid posts in the Discussions (most complaining about the lectures being in Chinese! The syllabus includes some very interesting and useful to know topics, like 'forms of address'. 'taboos and conventions', 'self-modesty'. I get the impression that the organisers weren't quite ready to launch the course but went ahead an launched it anyway , don't expect much in the way of attention from staff or communications, but it seems a useful set of lectures, and content and vocabulary are definitely very useful.

 

The lectures are in Chinese with Chinese (simplified) subtitles. No English. I've just sat through the 1st lecture. It is reasonably clear, though dry. The professor speaks a bit fast and it'd be nice if the videos had short pauses to separate subtopics (and the lecturer smiled once or twice), but with the captions it is possible to understand most of it. I will have to listen to it a couple more times after reading the transcript to get all the content clear. I'd say the level is HSK5 and up.

 

My usual tip: get the captions to display on the side of the screen, copy, and paste the text on a text or doc file or whatever, instant transcript!