Introduction

This course, Beginners' Chinese, is introductory material and was chosen to be easily accessible for those with some basic knowledge of Chinese. This course concentrates on Mandarin Chinese as a tool for communication, but also provides some insights into Chinese society and culture. It contains a brief introduction to the Chinese language, its scripts and sounds, and how words are formed. The language activities and audio extracts presented here are not meant for a complete course (i.e. not designed to move progressively from one to another) but are samples to give you a taste of what it is like to learn Chinese. You will hear short conversations where people greet each other, introduce themselves, describe where they come from and what they do for a living. You’ll hear them talk about their daily activities and order food and drinks in a restaurant. Before you continue with this course, make sure you have enabled the Chinese font on your computer. The document linked below gives step-by-step instructions for both PC and Mac users. Right-click on the link to open the document in a new tab or window. How to enable Chinese font and type characters

Course learning outcomes

After studying this course, you should be able to:

• Understand varieties of the Chinese language
• Understand the sound system of Mandarin Chinese (pinyin and tones)
• Understand simplified and traditional forms of Chinese characters and how they are combined together to form new meanings
• Demonstrate an improved vocabulary and pronunciation related to names, nationalities, professions, age, daily activities, languages and ordering food and drinks
• Demonstrate a cultural understanding of how professional titles are used to address people
• Understand how characters are combined together to form new meanings.