For Chinese college students, Shakespeare’s works read difficult for at least the following three reasons. Firstly, Shakespeare commands a much larger vocabulary than Chinese college students could ever have mastered, let alone those desolate words and those words whose meaning has altered. Secondly, Shakespeare’s early modern English follows a grammar that differs from that of contemporary English. Thirdly, Shakespeare’s works contain Greek-Roman and Biblical allusions that are not familiar to Chinese students. Solutions to address these difficulties include acquainting students with professional dictionaries and annotated versions, with the differences between modern English grammar and Shakespeare's grammar, and with the canonized works that Shakespeare alluded to, like The Holy Scripture, the Greek myths, as well as European history and culture.

Ling Ji, Xiaobin Tang. The difficulties and solutions of teaching shakespeare in Chinese colleges. Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (2023) Vol. 6, Issue 1: 57-60. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJHSS.2023.060108.

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