The dialect spoken in Beijing known as Mandarin (Pǔ Tōng Huà) is the official language of China. The majority of China’s population speak Mandarin, with 70 per cent speaking it as their first language, making it one of most important languages in the world, especially in the light of the phenomenal growth of the Chinese economy.

This year we are offering Chinese at the following levels:

Beginners

Course Level

This course is for you if you have little or no prior knowledge of Chinese.  You will learn basic skills to enable you to make yourself understood and to find out information in everyday situations.

Course Content

Term One: Chinese Pinyin, greetings and addressing people, visiting people, countries and nationalities, contact information (what’s your name, telephone number) talking about family (family members, marriage, etc);

Term Two: Time and date (shop opening times, train departure times), everyday activities (what do you want to do today), personal interests, asking the price, personal opinions, holidays etc.

Post-beginners

Course Level

This course is for those who can manage in everyday situations using the present tense.  You will probably have reached level AL in the European Language Portfolio or completed a beginners course.

Course Content

Term One: Home and furniture, at the office, animals and pets, order a meal, book a hotel room, buy a ticket;

Term Two: Ask directions, at the post office, talk about the weather, shopping, at the bank, making a complaint, being a guest, seeing a doctor.

Intermediate

Course Level

You will have some knowledge of past and future tenses. Your level in the European Language Portfolio will be around A2/B1 or the equivalent to a good grade GSCE.

Course Content

This course is aimed at those who have acquired the basic sentence patterns, characters and grammar of Chinese language, and have attended 50-60 hours of Chinese courses. Chinese Three continues with some important grammar topics: Complements, Perfective aspect “le” and Comparisons. At this level, the grammar will play an important role in the conversional exercises. Students are expected to understand 1000-1200 words and recognize the 500 most frequently used Chinese characters.

Please view our timetable for details of when classes take place.

How to enrol