Introduction

Course Introduction and Overview Video Introduction Chinese Basics is a course intended to help you prepare to learn Chinese. It includes four areas: pinyin; tones; characters; and language structure. While we do not expect you to become an expert in these areas before your formal study of Chinese begins, this course should give you a solid foundation in these areas, and thus a head start in your study.

Chinese is a challenging, though not difficult, language, to a large extent because it is so different from English. The course focuses on the following:

*Pinyin is the system of romanization used as a tool in the study of Chinese. Because written Chinese does not use an alphabet, pinyin allows us to read the sound of the characters just as we read English.


 * Chinese in a tonal language, which means that tones impact the meaning of words. "Ma" pronounced with one tone has a completely different meaning than "ma" pronounced with another. Because English is not a tonal language, it can be difficult to become accustomed to using tones, but they are essential for good Chinese.

* Characters are part of what makes Chinese so fascinating, but also present a challenge. Whereas English has just 26 letters, and every word is made up of some combination of them, Chinese characters number in the thousands. We need to understand how they work in order to master them.


 * Finally, the structure of the Chinese language, at its most basic level, is similar to English, but also includes many important differences. While we will not cover them all, we can start to get an idea about the structure.

There is a lot of information here. You should approach it one step at a time, do the readings, watch the videos, listen, do the exercises and finally attempt the assessments. As with your ongoing study of Chinese, we recommend you do a little every day, rather than trying to cram everything into one long session. We also encourage you to explore the optional links as there is a wealth of useful information online.

Please note the following steps/procedures: 1) Start at the beginning on the Course Menu and do one part of one module at a time. Do not skip around. 2) Upon completion of each part of each module, note your completion on the Activity Checklist. (You will be give access to the Activity Checklist once you email the instructor.) 3) Communicate any questions, problems, or other issues with the instructor as soon as they arise. 4) Work consistently at your own pace. Give yourself sufficient time to finish each part, and some time to think before moving on (but do keep moving). 5) When you are finished everything, contact the instructor for access to the final assessment and course feedback survey.

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