Mandarin Chinese 1: Chinese for Beginners

A five-week beginner start

This course introduces Mandarin through lectures, short plays, interactive exercises and cultural notes. It is designed for absolute beginners with no prerequisite, and the goal is practical spoken Chinese for everyday situations.

What you finish with

• About 150 words of core vocabulary.
• Twenty language points covering basic sentence work.
• Five real-life situations you can handle in speech.

Approach

Short plays and interactive exercises let you hear the language in use before you practise it yourself. The cultural tips add context for how conversations work, which can make early speaking feel less mechanical.

Who it suits

Anyone starting Chinese from scratch who prefers a course built around short scenes over a grammar textbook.