Designed for the English speaking student who has little experience with the Chinese Language. An introduction to the Chinese culture and basic language skills including the Chinese phonetic system, characters, phrases, sentence structure and frequently used conversation. This course begins in the Fall semester and continues in the Spring semester. New beginner students should register in the Fall semester and continue in Spring.

本课程专为以英语为母语、几乎没有中文学习经验的成人学习者设计。课程从零基础开始，系统介绍中华文化和中文基础知识，包括汉语拼音、常用汉字、基础词汇、日常对话、句型结构等内容，帮助学生建立听、说、读、写的基本能力，并能够在日常生活中进行简单的中文交流。

本课程于秋季学期开始，并持续至春季学期。建议零基础新生于秋季学期报名，并连续完成秋、春两个学期的课程，以获得最佳学习效果。