Learning Chinese may seem like an overwhelming task due to the completely unique alphabet that is far from the common Latin alphabet. However, it's not actually as hard as it seems to tackle the Chinese language! Chinese is the most spoken language in the world, with billions of speakers concentrated especially in China, Taiwan, and other Asian countries. Learning Chinese opens up your abilities to connect with a huge part of the world's population and explore the interesting aspects of Asian culture. A part of the Sino-Tibetan language family, this course will focus on Mandarin or Standard Chinese. The goal of Level 1 is to leave you with a wide basis of vocabulary, an ability to converse freely in Chinese, and a beginner's knowledge of Chinese grammar, sentence structure, and syntax. Upon completion of this course, you will be able to have conversations in Chinese and will have a strong foundation to continue learning the language and new vocabulary.