The Lessons
This course is designed to give you a practical command of spoken Standard Chinese. You will learn both to understand and to speak it. Although Standard Chinese is one language, there are differences between the particular form it takes in Beijing and the form it takes in the rest of the country. There are also, of course, significant differences between regions of the country. Reflecting these regional differences, the settings for most conversations are Beijing and Taipei.
This course represents a new approach to the teaching of foreign languages. In many ways it redefines the roles of teacher and student, of classwork and homework, and of text and tape. Here is what you should expect:
The focus is on communicating in Chinese in practical situations the obvious ones you will encounter upon arriving in China. You will be communicating in Chinese most of the time you are in class. You will not always be talking about real situations, but you will almost always be purposefully exchanging information in Chinese.
This focus on communicating means that the teacher is first of all your conversational partner. Anything that forces him* back into the traditional roles of lecturer and drillmaster limits your opportunity to interact with a. speaker of the Chinese language and to experience the language in its full spontaneity, flexibility, and responsiveness.
*As used in this course, the words "he," "him," and "his" are intended to
include both masculine and feminine genders. (Translations of foreign language material not included.)
Vocabulary