Chinese III (Regular)
Chinese III picks up MIT's Mandarin sequence at the intermediate level, the third of a four-term foundation that runs through Chinese IV. The course pushes students toward everyday conversational fluency, building toward a target of about 700 characters and roughly 2000 common words rendered in both traditional and simplified forms. Class work moves between speaking, reading, and writing: students read simple standard Chinese texts and produce short spoken and written compositions on daily-life topics such as routines, plans, and social situations. Alongside the language mechanics, the course weaves in discussion of how cultural context shapes and is shaped by Chinese linguistic practice, so grammar drills sit next to conversations about custom and habit. Materials come from MIT OpenCourseWare and include the syllabus, assignments, and readings used in MIT's own classroom, offered free and without a certificate. It suits learners who have finished two prior terms of Mandarin and want to keep building toward real fluency rather than starting from scratch.