Want to learn about an ancient Chinese language that has trilled Rs and a bunch of consecutive consonants like Russian, throaty sounds like Arabic, and *no* tones unlike modern Chinese? Wondering how such a non-Chinese-sounding language became what the modern Chinese dialects sound like today? Then this is the right class for you! You’ll be learning some basic Old Chinese (spoken in the 1st millenium BC), including both vocabulary and phrases; a brief history on how it evolved into the modern varieties of Chinese; and finally some Old Chinese poems! Beware—we will be making many funny noises together! Here’s one of the poems we’ll all be learning together: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZSIvf-YCtA (0:00-0:48)