BA Vietnamese and...
Duration: 3 years or 4 years (including year abroad). Students can also take Vietnamese throughout their degree and spend a year in Vietnam by taking the programme BA South East Asian Studies (including year abroad).
Overview
Entry Requirements
- A Levels: ABB
- A Level Language preferred
- IB: 34 (5/5/5)
- BTEC: DDM
- Scottish Highers: AABBB
- Scottish Advanced Highers: ABB
- Irish LC: 320 points from 5 Higher level subjects at grade C1 or above
- Advanced Placement: 4 4 4 (Two semesters - UCAS Group A) plus US HSGD with GPA 3.0
- Euro Bacc: 80%
- French Bacc: 14/20
- German Abitur: 2.0
- Italy DES: 80/100
- Austria Mat: 2.0
- Polish Mat: 75%
Minimum Entry Requirements: Languages at SOAS are taught ab initio, and no prior knowledge is required. A foreign language at A-level or equivalent is preferred but not essential.
Subjects Preferred: None
Interview Policy: Candidates with ‘non-standard’ qualifications usually invited
Start of programme: September
Mode of Attendance: Full Time
Vietnam claims an unbroken history of at least 4000 years, though an earlier part is recorded in myth, legend and archaeological evidence rather than in, and has maintained intact its own linguistic and cultural identity as a nation to the present day despite a millennium of Chinese rule, although there is no written record of the language prior to the 11th century AD. With the ending of Chinese rule in the early part of the 10th century AD, Vietnamese culture developed independently. While literary forms based on Chinese models survived, and continued to be much practised and admired, indigenous forms were added, making the literature of Vietnam one of the richest in the region.
In the 17th century, Christian missionaries devised a romanised script which eventually displaced the older character-based writing completely. With the arrival of French colonial rule in the 19th century, the Vietnamese encountered Western civilisation for the 1st time; an encounter which added yet another dimension to Vietnamese civilisation and literature. The wars which ravaged Vietnam after 1940 produced an immense wealth of prose, poetry and song, as yet undiscovered by the outside world.
The breadth of expertise in the field of Asian Studies is reflected in the score of 5 achieved by the department in the 2001 government assessment of research in all British universities. SOAS has the highest percentage of research-active academics in the field of Asian Studies of any British university. The range of research interests, expertise and resources in SOAS, not only in Vietnamese and South East Asian Studies, but also with regard to the languages and literatures of other regions, religious studies, anthropology, history, art and archaeology is unique in UK institutions and this gives you an unparalleled choice in choosing a second subject of study.
Combinations
May be combined with
Development Studies TLJ9 BA/DVSSEAEconomics TLJC BA/ECSEA
Geography** TLJR BA/GESEA
History VTCJ BA/HSEA
History of Art/Archaeology VTJ3 BA/HAASEAS
Law TMJC BA/LWSEA
Linguistics TQJD BA/LGSEA
Management*** TNJG BA/MGSEA
Music WTHH BA/MSSEA
Politics TLH2 BA/POLSEA
Social Anthropology TLHP BA/SASEA
Study of Religions VTPJ BA/SEASR
** Taught at King's College, London
*** Taught at Birkbeck College, London
Structure
The course may be studied as a three or four year degree programme, with the option of a year abroad in Vietnam. Vietnamese can be combined with African Studies, Development Studies, Economics, Geography, History, History of Art/Archaeology, Law, Linguistics, Management Studies (with Birkbeck College London), Music, Politics, Social Anthropology, Study of Religions
Combined Honours
Year 1
- Vietnamese 1 (Core)
- Introduction to South East Asia (half unit) (Core)
- South East Asia on Film (half unit) (Core)
- 1-2 units in other subject
Year 2
- Vietnamese 2 (Core)
- Sex and the City in South East Asian Film (half unit)
- War, Revolution and Independence in South East Asian literatures in translation (half unit)
- 1-3 units in second subject
Year 3
- 4 year degrees
- Year abroad in Vietnam
- 3-year degrees
- Vietnamese Language and Texts
- Independent Study Project in South East Asian Studies
- 0-4 units in second subject
Year 4
- Vietnamese Literature
- Independent Study Project in South East Asian Studies (Year Abroad)
- 2-4 units in second subject
Programme Specification
Teaching & Learning
Year abroad
Teaching & Learning
Language teaching is mostly in small tutorial groups; tapes and language laboratory facilities are available for formal teaching and self-study. Non-language units are taught by lecture and seminar. Students are assessed by a combination of written examination (and oral for language units) and coursework, including essays and translations.Pre Entry Reading
- D. Healy Studies on Vietnamese language and literature in South East Asian languages and literatures, edited by E. Ulrich Kratz. London:Tauris, 1996
- Nguyen Du The tale of Kieu (translated and annotated by Huynh Sanh Thong) Yale UP, 1983
- N. Jamieson Understanding Vietnam Berkeley 1993
- Huynh Sanh Thong The heritage of Vietnamese Poetry Yale UP, 1979
