Chevron Left
Back to Chinese for Beginners

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Chinese for Beginners by Peking University

4.8
stars
19,039 ratings

About the Course

Immerse yourself in the captivating world of Chinese culture and language with our ABC Chinese course for beginners. This comprehensive course provides an introduction to Mandarin phonetics and essential daily expressions, enabling learners to achieve a fundamental understanding and confidently engage in basic conversations. Our carefully crafted curriculum covers practical topics and real-life situations, ranging from exchanging personal information and discussing daily schedules to conversing about food, prices, city life, weather, and hobbies. The diverse selection of reading materials and interactive activities ensures a rich and stimulating learning experience, piquing learners' interests throughout the course. No need to worry about learning Chinese characters – this course focuses on speaking skills, making it accessible and enjoyable. Elevate your learning with a thrilling bonus feature: virtually travel to China and hone your speaking skills with our immersive game, playable on a VR headset or desktop. Embark on a scavenger hunt, talk to vendors, encounter fellow travelers, and explore a traditional market, all while applying your Chinese skills in a real-world environment....

Top reviews

PP

Apr 24, 2020

She teaching very well! Easy to understand, her accent is very clear to understand, lesson is very useful to and might can use it for real. Thank you for lovely teaching and lovely lesson

Thank you

SA

Jun 16, 2020

Awesome experience it was a comprehensive and informative course. I learnt alot. Thank you coursera for providing us such a nice and global platform to enhance skills and knowlegde by sitting at home.

Filter by:

5151 - 5175 of 5,321 Reviews for Chinese for Beginners

By Loveran7586

May 17, 2019

好的!

By Fayrouz A L

Dec 6, 2015

I j

By HADIANA C

Jun 16, 2021

g

By JJ A

Nov 7, 2017

ok

By Lucia w

Apr 13, 2017

II

By Suda L

Jul 22, 2022

g

By Phạm T

Jul 7, 2021

g

By Eloise G

Sep 27, 2020

.

By DONGCHUL L

Jul 31, 2018

T

By V M

Jan 26, 2016

n

By eileen r

Sep 24, 2016

I could not finish this course, although I admire the teacher for preparing this difficult material for English speakers. I have studied several Romance and one Semitic language but I was unable to understand the lectures here. I did pass the first few quizzes but I did not feel that I knew what I was doing. I really am motivated to learn some Chinese because it is like a 2nd or at least 3rd language in my city and very much a 1st or 2nd language in my neighborhood. But I needed something a little more tangible with which to get started . I am sure this says more about my inability than the teacher's ability. I know I am not explaining myself well; I simply mean that to learn a language in which the alphabet is different and the meanings are based on emphasis rather than actual words, requires, I think, perhaps a bit more anchoring for the complete novice. For example, i wish we could have learned some simple conversational phrases, early on, just to get started, without worrying right away about all the sounds. Then once we can do that, we could get a bit more technical. Also, it would be helpful to be referred to a relevant text book. However, thank you for the effort. I hope Coursera will offer more languages since I could not find any other languages in the list.

By Monica

Oct 23, 2020

This course is confusing for learners with zero knowledge of the language. With some knowledge, it is easy to follow through. The examples of mistaken pronunciation also make no sense and I cannot imagine that those are real mistakes non speakers make. The very last page of vocabulary words twice used the word and pinyin 无 Wú instead of 五Wǔ, for the number 5. It makes me wonder what other inaccuracies there are. The English translation for many parts of the lessons were also inaccurate or awkward in grammar and many words had better fitting explanations than what was given by the instructor. All in all a mediocre introduction to Mandarin, but the history of Pinyin was interesting and the introduction to it was extremely useful and made the other programmes I'm enrolled in much easier to comprehend.

By Troy S

Oct 5, 2020

I enjoyed the course and found most of the methods of teaching and content to be easy to take in and covering a wide range of topics. I do wish the course focused on the grammatical structure of the language more as relates to how sentences are structured and why, subject and verb agreement and the like but I say this understanding that this is a course for beginners. I look forward to reviewing my notes and using what I have learned here toward my fist official certification in the language.

NB - Certain tests need to made less ambiguous so the person being tested can understand what is being asked of them CLEARLY.

In summary if you know nothing about the language and plant o travel or want to be certified, start here.

By Woochul C

Sep 16, 2015

It is quite good course for beginners those are Latin-Language-speaking people. You don't need to learn a chinese characters. So, it is very simple.

But, I think that these lectures lacks logiccal explanation. Even in beginning, the logical sturucte is undoubtedly important for further learning.

And, Quiz are really easy. So, you can finish this course even in a day if you have a sufficient time. I do not think that this course will make someone really spaek Chinee in China. But, this should be recommended for only those are interested in Chinese and do not have a plan to go to china.

By LeapingFrog E

Nov 13, 2018

I learned a lot of vocabulary but felt that there wasn't enough repetitive exercises. Also, no characters were used to learn. I understand it was meant for beginners. I did learn something but I felt the format could have been enhanced with more challenging exercises. Even the parts we were to read didn't have translations on them. I think this course needs more revision. I did enjoy the teacher. She seemed patient and spoke slowly. Thank you.

By Mannie

Sep 26, 2020

This course is best for someone looking to travel to China and use the spoken language only, not necessarily looking to become conversational or even be able to read. It does not break down the grammar very well. While it is good for learning tones and Pinyin, it lacks the characters for vocabulary needed to be able to read the language throughout the course. It does offer relevant vocabulary, however, and the quizzes are helpful.

By Lê T Á D

Sep 20, 2021

Chỉ mới chỉ cách phát âm nhưng không kèm thêm mặt chữ của mỗi từ, nên việc học không được hiệu quả. Mong là sẽ chỉ thêm về mặt chữ cũng như cách viết chi tiết hơn , hay bài tập thì nêu rõ ra , có nhiều câu hỏi hay yêu cầu khi dịch ra sẽ khác với yêu cầu gốc của đề bài

Mong muốn đó là sẽ chỉ cách viết hay bấm chữ trên máy( điện thoại ) cũng như cách viết sao cho đúng.

Em xin cảm ơn

By JongMin C

Dec 7, 2020

this course was pretty good. The idea made by professor was interesting. learning chinese without teaching letters. However, i think this is useless. i am sure that if anyone who never learned chinese travel to china only watched this course for preparing, he or she would be in total trouble. But i saw prof was eager to teach chinese. that made it worth three stars

By Edward B M

Dec 29, 2015

A good introduction, but it would be nice to learn a little more about written Chinese and some basic grammar. Also, like all on-line courses, this one tests how good the student is at listening, but not how good they are at speaking. You can get high marks but still be unable to utter a single word or read any Kanji characters.

By Nattanicha T

May 11, 2020

The video looks quite old and sometimes feel boring.

But the vocabulary is in daily life, should have the conclude sheet in every chapter, with the Chinese character, pinyin and meaning

The last page that concludes everything, can have Chinese characters with the pinyin. Not just Chinese characters and the meaning.

By Ivan F A T

Jul 21, 2019

It gives good vocabulary, but i don't think it is made on a right order for learning.

When you don't know anything about a lenguage, it is good to start learning verbs, nouns, pronouns, to be verb, vocabulary, etc... This course starts straight away with expressions that are hard to remember.

By Karla C

Sep 1, 2015

It's a great course! The only thing I did not fully like was the we could not learn any of the characters. I guess this course helped to develop the tones and the recognition of them, but, I think that a little shape in the characters and how each sound could improve this course a lot.

By Rhianna L

Jun 3, 2020

OK introduction to Mandarin Chinese. The question prompts in the quiz could be made easier to understand (e.g. a couple of the multiple-choice photos weren't clear); and subtitles for the Mandarin speaking parts would be helpful. Otherwise, it's an OK course for absolute beginners.

By Khetsophon P

May 8, 2020

They don't teach Chinese characters in the lesson which makes the charm of this language kinda lost but they teach useful phrases with pinyin. There's also list of Chinese characters in last week Reading section it's a list of vocab with Chinese characters and translation.