This course teaches Mandarin, also known as Standard Chinese. Mandarin is the official spoken language in Mainland China and Taiwan. It is also widely spoken in Singapore and Malaysia, and it is one of the five official languages of the UN. Mandarin is used in Chinese schools, colleges, universities, and in the media. Learn Mandarin Chinese today with Pimsleur. The Pimsleur® Method is scientifically proven to be your fastest route to nearnative fluency. Speak and understand Mandarin Chinese in just thirty minutes a day. Mandarin Chinese III includes another 15 hours of spoken language practice and one additional hour of culture notes, and is designed is designed to be used after completion of Levels II and III. The beginning  offers you the chance to further expand your vocabulary and increase your fluency to an even higher level. In these lessons, you'll gain experience participating in many informal and some formal discussions on practical, social, and semiprofessional topics. You'll skillfully form longer, more complex sentences, and most importantly, you'll find yourself being understood, even by native speakers unused to dealing with foreigners. Understanding a large amount of the conversations you hear, you'll be able to join in effortlessly, confident of being understood. In the next 10 lessons  your skills will show everincreasing mastery of the language. Speaking with grace and complete naturalness, you'll enjoy fluid conversations on many new subjects. Delving deeper into cultural norms and situations, you'll find yourself responding without thinking, and able to choose from a wide accumulation of vocabulary and structures. In the final 10 lessons, you are nearing fluency with agile responses, and a natural-sounding, nearnative accent. You're able to utilize the language in more subtle ways, and speak consistently using past, present, and future tenses appropriately. Self-confidence soars as you experience the language and culture; no longer as a foreigner, but with a deepening insight into an expanding new world. One hour of recorded Culture Notes are included at the end of Unit 30. These Notes are designed to provide you with some insight into Chinese culture. A Notes Booklet is also included in PDF format.