"Among languages other than English in the U.S., Chinese - including Mandarin - is second only to Spanish, and rising more quickly." Wall Street Journal, June 20, 2024. This is a beginning class in Conversational Chinese Mandarin, the national standard language in China, required in government, education, military, tourism, and business. There are 142 dialects in China, and your instructor, experienced through fieldwork and government agency reporting, will teach you not only the conversational basics of Mandarin, but also introduce you to some example written characters, both numbers and vocabulary, that are common to all dialects. Upon completion of the class, you will have learned how to properly pronounce many hundreds of words, and to converse about health, family, time, country names, weather, food, and money, count to 10,000+, and read and write numbers 1 through 9,999.
*Important Textbook Information: Students can conveniently purchase the textbook ('Conversational Mandarin Chinese Online, Simplified Character Version' by Tien-Wei Xie) from the instructor at the first class session for $20 total (includes shipping and tax). The textbook can also be purchased from various online sources, but students should wait until the week before the first class date, in case the class is canceled due to insufficient registrations. Avoid risk by purchasing at the first class session.
Adult Programs