The freeCodeCamp community just published the introductory chapters of our new A1 Professional Chinese Curriculum. You can now get started learning Chinese with what’s already available.
Each chapter includes hundreds of interactive tasks designed to help you take your first steps in learning Chinese with confidence.
How Does the New A1 Professional Chinese Curriculum Work?
In this A1 Professional Chinese Curriculum, you'll learn the building blocks of the Chinese language. This will follow the A1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). And we've focused on vocabulary that is particularly useful for professional settings.
The curriculum is broken down into several modules that include warm-up, learning, practice, review pages, and quizzes to make sure that you truly understand the material before moving onto the next module.
The Warm-up serves as preparation and provides context for the main content of the module.
The tasks in the warm-up will either introduce you to new vocabulary for the first time, or review content you have already learned that will be used in the current module.
Below is an example of what you will find in the lessons.
Each task will have an accompanying question that will help you practice the content. If you don’t know how to answer a question or need more details, you can check the explanation section.
After the Warm-up, you'll head over to Learn. This is where you'll see the new words you've learned in action! You'll listen to short sections of monologues or dialogues and answer questions about them to make sure you understand their meaning and how they're used in real conversations. This is also where you’ll learn some theory when needed.
The curriculum also has fill-in-the-blank questions that will help you practice writing using Pinyin and Hanzi.
After Learn, you'll move on to Practice where you'll complete more open-ended tasks that test your comprehension and your ability to write using Pinyin and Hanzi.
At the end of each module, there is a Review section with grammar highlights and a glossary of the main points and concepts covered. You can use these review pages to help you study for the quizzes.
The last portion of the module is the Quiz. Quizzes are designed to test your understanding from the material covered in the module.
Throughout the certification, each chapter will have these quizzes. You’ll need to complete them in order to qualify for the exam at the end of the certification.
The certification exam will be the final item released for this certification. We are currently publishing the first three chapters, and future chapters will be released progressively as they are developed by our instructional design team. Once all the chapters are available, we will release the certification exam.
Contributors recognition
We'd like to shout out to the following contributors for their help in developing the curriculum:
We'd like to extend a special thanks to S1ng S1ng, who has recorded the monologues and dialogues audios, and has also recorded instructional videos that vividly demonstrate Pinyin pronunciation. These Pinyin videos will be gradually added to the curriculum throughout the coming year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is all of this really free?
Yes. freeCodeCamp has always been free, and we've now offered free verified certifications for more than a decade.
Can I study the Chinese curriculum in languages other than English?
We aim to make every course available in all supported languages on freeCodeCamp. Check your account settings to see if the course you are studying is already offered in your preferred language.
What language skills does the Chinese curriculum cover?
The languages courses currently cover listening, reading and writing. We have plans of adding speaking later on.
Are the audio in the language courses and exams recorded by native language speakers?
Yes. All the audios present in the language courses were recorded by native speakers of that language.
I am Deaf or hard of hearing. Can I still study the language courses?
Yes! All audio lesson have closed captions and transcripts available for reading.
I am blind or have limited vision, and use a screen reader. Can I still study the language courses?
Yes! freeCodeCamp courses are designed to be accessible, and you can study the language courses using a screen reader. If you run into any accessibility issues, you can report them on our GitHub repository so the community can address them.
What are the letters and numbers beside the curriculum names? (For example: A1, A2, B1)
These labels refer to the CEFR levels, which is an international framework used to describe language proficiency. A1 and A2 represent beginner levels, B1 and B2 represent intermediate levels, and C1 and C2 represent advanced levels. Each level indicates the skills and knowledge you are expected to have at that stage of your language learning journey.
Anything else?
Good luck working through freeCodeCamp’s languages coursework.
Happy learning!