Chinese

With over 730 million speakers, Mandarin Chinese is the most-used language in the world. And in today’s globalized economy, China has risen to rival the United States for superpower status.

The Department of Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures offers you a Chinese major and minor that intensively explore all aspects of the Mandarin dialect, the Simplified Chinese Character System of writing, and Pinyin—all while exposing you to the rich literatures, cultures, and business climates of China and Chinese American communities.

Led by native speakers, our Chinese program supports interdisciplinary study with many other Butler departments, programs, and colleges, including Business; International Studies; History, Anthropology, and Classics; Global and Historical Studies (GHS); Communication; Pharmacy; and the fine arts.

Join us and take advantage of:

Browse our course offerings.

Financial Support

Please read through these lists of numerous Prestigious Scholarship Opportunities (scroll down to “language study”), as well as study abroad scholarships (CIEE and IFSA-Butler) and travel grants.

Check out the annual Liberal Arts and Sciences $1,000 essay contest (typically due by January), the annual John Weidner Endowed Scholarship for Altruism (typically due by March), and the annual Corrine Welling Scholarship (typically due by April).

For international students, here’s some advice and information on Scholarships and Grants set aside specifically for you.

If you encounter a short-term, unforeseen financial hardship or immediate expense that’s impacting your academic success, please read about the Butler Emergency Assistance Fund.

What Bulldogs Dream, We Do

Eshan Pua

Chinese Major Alumna Eshan Pua

Eshan Pua grew up in a Chinese-speaking household and lived in the Philippines and Malaysia before coming to the United States at age 8. “But, I did not know how to read or write Chinese,” she said.

At Butler, Pua studied Communication Sciences and Disorders, as preparation for a graduate degree in speech language pathology. She also took several Chinese courses, leading to her to declare an Individualized Major in Chinese Language and Culture.

In 2013, Pua received a national Fulbright-Hays scholarship that she used for eight months of study in China, including an internship with Xi’an High Technology Industries there.

Also, Chinese program coordinator Xiaoqing Liu, PhD helped Pua arrange a summer study abroad trip to China through the Confucius Institute at Butler’s Consortium partner IUPUI. She interacted with students at Sun-Yat Sen University in Guangzhou, studied at historical sites, and served as an aide at an orphanage.

Many of the orphans Pau met had disabilities that affected their communication. She envisioned assisting them as a speech language pathologist (SLP). According to Pua, SLP training in the different Chinese dialects is challenging.

“A clear understanding and knowledge of the Chinese language and culture, merged with professional training, has equipped me to practice speech language pathology successfully in China.” —Eshan Pua