Learn Chinese from Native Speakers

Learn Basic Chinese Volume I

The Chinese Basic Volume I contains Units 1-15 and comes with 15 CD's and a 408 page textbook. This Cantonese Basic Course is a course in spoken Cantonese. It uses all the basic grammatical structures of the language and a vocabulary of approximately 950 words. The subject matter of the course deals with daily life in Hong Kong. Each lesson contains five sections:

1. A Basic conversation to be memorized
2. Notes
3. Patter Drills
4. Conversations for Listening
5. Say it in Cantonese, English to Cantonese practice

The objective of the course are to teach students so speak Standard Cantonese fluently and grammatically, with acceptable pronunciation within the scope of topics of daily life. The course was not designed to lay the groundwork for learning the written language. At the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Buy things
• Talk on the telephone
• Ask and give directions
• Handle money
• Discuss events past, present, and future
• Make comparisons
• Talk about themselves and their families
• Tell time
• Order simple meals
• Talk with the landlord, doctor, servant, bellboy, cabdriver, waiter, sales-clerk
• Discuss what, when, where, why, who, how, how much.
• Discuss politics, jobs or other topics of a specialized nature.

Unit 1 - At the beginning of class in the morning, classroom phrases

Unit 2 - What is your name?

Unit 3 - What language are you speaking?

Unit 4 - What time is it?

Unit 5 - Stopping in to see a friend

Unit 6 - Customer and clerk in a department store

Unit 7 - Customer and clerk in a grocery store

Unit 8 - Buying socks at a department store

Unit 9 - Ordering on the phone

Unit 10 - Directions to the Mandarin hotel

Unit 11 - Brother and sister sharing a taxi to work

Unit 12 - Two friends meet at a bus stop

Unit 13 - Directions to the taxi driver

Unit 14 - Having lunch in a Chinese restaurant

Unit 15 - Getting directions on the street