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 begins the intermediate level of Chinese study. Knowledge of Pinyin, Chinese characters, and sentence structures covered by the beginning level of Chinese study is required before taking this course. The focus continues to be on developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Further aspects of Chinese culture are also introduced, in parallel to Chinese language study.

This course continues the intermediate level of Chinese study. Knowledge of Pinyin, Chinese characters, and sentence structures covered by the first three semesters of Chinese learning is required before taking this course. The focus continues to be on developing listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Further aspects of Chinese culture are also introduced, in parallel to Chinese language study.