This course is designed for beginners, with no prior study of Chinese. It introduces students to the sounds, basic sentence structures, and the writing system of Mandarin Chinese. Pinyin, the Romanization (phonetic transliteration) of Mandarin Chinese, is taught and required throughout the course. Students also learn to read and write Chinese characters. Emphasis is on developing listening and speaking skills, as well as building a vocabulary based on the ideographic Chinese characters. Chinese culture is also introduced through the course. Students must take a placement exam if this is their first RIT class in Chinese and they have some prior knowledge of Mandarin Chinese.

This course continues the beginning level of Chinese study. The focus is on developing listening and speaking skills, with an increasing emphasis on reading and writing skills. Students will learn more expressions, sentence structures as well as other parts of the Chinese grammar. Further aspects of Chinese culture are also introduced, in parallel to Chinese language study.

This course begins the advanced level of Chinese study. It is designed to further develop competence in the four language skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Following Intermediate Chinese II, this course continues the grammar acquisition, expansion of vocabulary with more lengthy reading and writing. Classroom discussion and writing practice are important parts of the course. By the end of the course work, students should be able to express views on serious, topical issues in increased detail.

The course gives students an opportunity to study professional Chinese language and culture as well as to practice presentation and negotiation skills, especially in professional and formal contexts. Students will improve speaking, listening, reading and writing skills developed in the elementary/intermediate sequence to master formal interactions in Chinese. They will learn professional vocabulary, expressions, and grammatical structures through readings, conversation, and discussion. They will cultivate expressive skills through discussion, writing assignments, and a video tutorial project. This course will be useful for students who are planning to seek employment in Chinese companies or in companies doing business in Chinese speaking areas, and also for students who want to learn more about business in Chinese culture. This is a language class; proficiency equivalent to Intermediate Chinese II is required.