Mandarin Chinese 1: Chinese for Beginners

Mandarin Chinese 1: Chinese for Beginners is an introductory online Mandarin course offered by Shanghai Jiao Tong University on Coursera. The course comprises 10 modules and uses lectures, short plays, interactive exercises and cultural notes to help learners build basic oral Chinese for real-life situations.

The page lists outcomes such as learning ~150 words, 20 language points and handling five common situations. Content includes videos, readings, assignments and discussion prompts and is taught in English; no prior experience is required.

The course is self-paced with an estimated workload of 2 weeks at 10 hours/week (the page also describes a 5-week structure). Assessments include multiple assignments (the page references ~20 assignments) and some AI-graded tasks.

You can audit the course for free, purchase the Certificate experience to receive a shareable credential, or access it via Coursera Plus. Financial aid is available for learners who cannot afford enrollment fees.

The course is part of the "Learn Mandarin Chinese" Specialization.