{"title":"Chinese as a Foreign Language in Slovene Upper Secondary Education and Outline of Curriculum Renewal","authors":"Mateja Petrovčič","doi":"10.4312/ALA.8.1.27-37","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/ALA.8.1.27-37","url":null,"abstract":"This paper presents the position of Chinese in Slovene educational system. In most European countries, including Slovenia, the first foreign language is introduced in the lower grades of primary education, and the second foreign language as a compulsory subject is added a few years later, when students enter upper secondary education (ISCED 3). At the same time, the third foreign language may be added to the regular courses. Schools choose languages from a set list, and Chinese is one of the languages that can be taught at the ISCED 3 level. It is not available as second foreign language yet, but Chinese can be selected as a third foreign language. Recently, new initiatives have emerged to endorse Chinese as a second foreign language. The last part of the paper briefly highlights language curricula within the gimnazija programs and proposes the renewal of Chinese curriculum with four modules that provide horizontal and vertical continuity from ISCED 2 to ISCED 6.","PeriodicalId":37373,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Asiatica","volume":"8 1","pages":"27-37"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49447496","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Learner Motivation and Teaching Aims of Japanese Language Instruction in Slovenia","authors":"Nagisa Moritoki Škof","doi":"10.4312/ALA.8.1.39-50","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/ALA.8.1.39-50","url":null,"abstract":"The purpose of this paper is to describe Japanese language teaching and the role of language teachers in Slovenia. Firstly, this paper shows the development and current situation of Japanese language teaching in Slovenia and Central Eastern Europe based on the statistics by the Japan Foundation survey from 2015 and preceding years. Next, the paper discusses the background and tendencies of the internal perspective with regards to the motivation for language learning, sustained by autonomous learning, and pluralism of languages and cultures in CE Europe Lastly, the importance of pre-service and in-service teacher training programs is emphasized, with the conclusion that the role of Japanese language teaching in Slovenia is not only to support the development of learners’ linguistic proficiency, but also to offer learners and the educational institutions opportunities to act as social citizens, and organizations with a perspective that is wider than the European horizon of thought.","PeriodicalId":37373,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Asiatica","volume":"8 1","pages":"39-50"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41682893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Teaching of the Japanese and Chinese Language in Extracurricular Courses for Children, Adolescents and Adults in Slovenia","authors":"Karmen Feher Malačič","doi":"10.4312/ala.8.1.113-118","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/ala.8.1.113-118","url":null,"abstract":"The presentation includes a brief history of Japanese and Chinese teaching and learning at Pionirski dom and the current trends. On the one hand, it explores the reasons why so many youngsters decide to learn Japanese or Chinese, what is their main interest and what is they want to achieve. On the other hand, it tackles the points of view of teachers of the Japanese and Chinese language towards language teaching and the issues raised while teaching. Pionirski dom is probably the only institution in Slovenia with so many young learners and teenagers enrolled in Japanese courses and with a decade of experience in the area. Much attention is, therefore, put on quality programmes and the choice of suitable teachers.","PeriodicalId":37373,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Asiatica","volume":"8 1","pages":"113-118"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47688865","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Teaching Chinese at the University Level in Serbia: Examples of Good Practices and Possibilities for Further Developments","authors":"A. Jovanovic","doi":"10.4312/ALA.8.1.65-75","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/ALA.8.1.65-75","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this paper is to give a short overview of the current situation in the field of Chinese language teaching in Serbian formal education with a special emphasis on teaching Chinese at the university level. The Faculty of Philology of the University of Belgrade is one of the institutions with the longest tradition of teaching Chinese language as a major in the whole Balkan region, and in Serbia it is the only one where students can study Chinese at both the undergraduate and the graduate level. An elaborate curriculum, which includes courses on language, literature and culture, enables their students to gain a thorough insight in many aspects of ancient and modern China. Accordingly a large section of this paper is dedicated to presenting the teaching practices used at that institution, together with examples of some practical in-class methods. The paper also offers a short introduction to one private university in Serbia where Chinese language teaching has been carried out successfully. Finally it offers some ideas how teaching Chinese as a foreign language can be improved at all levels of study worldwide.","PeriodicalId":37373,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Asiatica","volume":"8 1","pages":"65-75"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42579299","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Teaching Japanese Language in Tertiary and Secondary Education: State and Private Institutions in Romania","authors":"A. Drăgan","doi":"10.4312/ala.8.1.91-99","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/ala.8.1.91-99","url":null,"abstract":"In Romania, Japanese language, literature and culture are taught at university level in two private universities and two state universities. Japanese departments are part of either a Faculty of Letters or a Faculty of Languages and Literatures. Students have to choose another language to study, in addition to Japanese. This gives them a dual major / dual specialization. A large number of graduates decide on pursuing a teaching career in one of their specializations. My paper looks at the way in which university provides an educational background for teachers at lower and upper education. It also looks into the way it shapes secondary education through its curriculum. This refers to compulsory education in an integrated national system of education. But, in the last ten years, this perspective has broadened. Language schools, which are not part of this integrated system, have appeared. Some of them teach exclusively Japanese language and Japanese culture classes. In the beginning, the students were mainly adults, age 18+ but in the last several years, more children have started to be interested in attending classes in these language schools. My paper also discusses this new perspective. A questionnaire and its results will also be presented on this topic. It will show not only the increasing number of young learners but also, their very young age, which goes as far as primary school. This tendency, in studying Japanese as a foreign language, could provide a preview into its development at the secondary level.","PeriodicalId":37373,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Asiatica","volume":"8 1","pages":"91-99"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42786559","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Poučevanje tujih jezikov v slovenskem šolskem sistemu: prostor tudi za japonščino?","authors":"Bronka Straus","doi":"10.4312/ALA.8.1.9-25","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/ALA.8.1.9-25","url":null,"abstract":"The article opens with a brief insight into the language policies of some international multilateral organisations of importance to Slovenia, and then continues to describe the place and roles of foreign languages in Slovene elementary and upper secondary schools. Chinese was the last foreign language to be integrated into the Slovene school system. The article introduces the process of its integration from the professional and organisational point of view as well as the one from the Slovenian school system. The whole integration process of Chinese into the Slovene curriculum was very complex and time consuming, but can as such serve as the bases for reflection on the way to integrate the Japanese language as well.","PeriodicalId":37373,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Asiatica","volume":"8 1","pages":"9-25"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46328602","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Repressed Sexual Modernity: A Case Study of Herbert Giles’ (1845 - 1935) Rendition of Pu Songling’s Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (1880) in the late Qing","authors":"W. Tso","doi":"10.4312/ALA.7.2.9-18","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/ALA.7.2.9-18","url":null,"abstract":"Translation studies in English and Chinese has long been of great interest to academics. Yet, Chinese scholars who have translation training and linguistic expertise are often found to “give excessive attention to listing facts and probing linguistic matters, to the neglect of the cultural and contextual considerations that have given rise to translation in China in the first place” (Lin, 2002, p. 170). Much emphasis has been placed on translation strategies, while translation “in connection with power and patronage” (Lefereve, 1992, p. 10) is overlooked, leaving “existing ideology” or “existing poetics” ( Lefereve, 1992, p. 10 ), such as gender unexplored. In light of this, this paper attempts to take the literary and cultural approach and focus on examining the gender ideologies in Pu Songling’s Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio (1740) and Herbert Giles’ English rendition (1880). By comparing the source and target texts, the paper reveals that in many of Pu Songling’s stories, spirit-free love and sexual pleasure are celebrated. A witty parody of the imitative structures of gender can be found in Pu Songling’s “Painted Skin” too. Unfortunately, to a large extent, such transgressive gender views are repressed in Giles’ English rendition.","PeriodicalId":37373,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Asiatica","volume":"7 1","pages":"9-18"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45099382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Metaphor in Translation: Cognitive Perspectives on Omar Khayyam’s Poetry as Rendered into English and Kurdish","authors":"Rahman Veisi Hasar, Ehsan Panahbar","doi":"10.4312/ALA.7.2.19-36","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/ALA.7.2.19-36","url":null,"abstract":"As cognitive linguistics puts it, metaphor as a cognitive phenomenon can not be relegated to linguistic expression. Therefore, in order to analyze metaphor in translation, cognitive translation hypothesis investigates its translatability and metaphorical equivalence at the conceptual level. However, in such case, the conceptual metaphor is dealt with without considering its significant relationship to the cultural models. Based on Cienki’s theory (1999) postulating that the relation of the conceptual metaphor to the cultural model is similar to that of a profile to a base, and that the possibility of the interpretation and production of the conceptual metaphor depends on the cultural model, the present research reinvestigates the cognitive translation hypothesis from this perspective. The research findings reveal that translators have mostly been successful in translating metaphors dependent on shared cultural models, however, have failed to recreate metaphors dependent on non-shared cultural models. Accordingly, same mapping condition and different mapping condition are strongly dependent on the relationship between metaphors and cultural models. Thus SMC and DMC should be redefined in relation to cultural model.","PeriodicalId":37373,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Asiatica","volume":"7 1","pages":"19-36"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43665938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Investigation of Early Vocabulary Development of a Persian Speaking Child at Age 2 Years Old in Iran","authors":"H. Shahhoseini","doi":"10.4312/ALA.7.2.113-126","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/ALA.7.2.113-126","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates the development of early Persian vocabulary in the process of first language acquisition in case of an Iranian child at age 2. The child was named Melica in this paper and her speech was observed for the period of 6 months. The outcomes show that Melica could produce about 150 words and understand many more when she was 2 years old. Also she understood such meanings as “on”, “under”, and “in”. At that age, she mostly produced nouns, which represented more than half of her vocabulary. Observed for a period of six months, Melica showed a gradual development in word as well as in sentence production, though some discrepancies in the use of certain words, such as developmental errors and overextensions, were also reported.","PeriodicalId":37373,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Asiatica","volume":"7 1","pages":"113-126"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43841259","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Revisit adjective distribution in Chinese","authors":"Wenchao Li","doi":"10.4312/ALA.7.2.85-109","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4312/ALA.7.2.85-109","url":null,"abstract":"This study re-classifies Chinese monosyllabic adjectives and verbs in light of ‘scale structure’. It examines how various adjectives are associated with different scalar layers of verbs. The investigation focuses upon direct perception expressions and resultatives. The finding reveals that the closed-scale perceptual verb jian ‘see’ does not tolerate open-scale APs. This is because, (a) syntactically, Chinese perception verb complements do not represent a result state as the AP-complement is encoded into the perception verb root; (b) semantically, jian ‘see’ not only represent an accomplishment predication but contributes to a potential indirect perception, describing the observer’s evaluation of the perceived event. kan ‘look’ is open-scale and is likely to render a direct perception report. The degree of kan ’s associations with different APs runs from ‘Totally open-scale AP’, down to ‘Upper closed-scale AP’, ‘ Lower closed-scale AP’, ‘ Totally closed-scale AP’. Resultatives seem to welcome all layers of adjectives. V arious APs may match with a transitive verb, an unergative verb, a light verb or an unaccusative verb. This is down to the fact that, resultative complements are framed outside the verb roots and thus, do not receive restriction from the verb.","PeriodicalId":37373,"journal":{"name":"Acta Linguistica Asiatica","volume":"7 1","pages":"85-109"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2017-12-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42978957","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}