Chinese

This class requires an absurd amount of work. You are supposed to learn 5-10 new characters a day, and never slack off. Don't be like me learning hundreds of new characters the night before the test. But you are learning Chinese out of all languages, it's supposed to be hard. You will gain such a high knowledge of this language compared to the amount of time you spent studying it that it won't feel real. J-term is required, keep that in mind if you intend to continue learning Chinese. What this class really teaches you is not Chinese however, it's discipline and performance under pressure. Skip on reviewing material for a few days? It will catch up to you. But even if you learn your lesson and stay on track, no exam will ever feel easy. You will genuinely not know how to answer 80% of the test. That's expected and supposed to happen. Use what you know, improvise, write what feels right, and you'll be fine. Definitly take this class. You WILL regret it for a while, but at some point you'll start to love it.

This class requires an absurd amount of work. You are supposed to learn 5-10 new characters a day, and never slack off. Don't be like me learning hundreds of new characters the night before the test. But you are learning Chinese out of all languages, it's supposed to be hard. You will gain such a high knowledge of this language compa …Read more

Wang laoshi is an enthusiastic and understanding instructor. She is so clearly passionate about the course's content and is dedicated to making sure students can get as much as they can out of the class without it being too stressful. Most homeworks are based on completion, with one weekly tingxie and a weekly short typed essay. Grading is extremely fair and sometimes maybe too easy. The stories and films for the course teach students a lot about Chinese and Taiwanese culture and history and are clearly very carefully curated by wang laoshi. Class discussion is highly dependent on other students in the class and how motivated they are, but wang laoshi is enthusiastic either way. This has been by far my favorite Chinese class in the department and wang laoshi is maybe my favorite professor on campus. 11/10 would take again.

Wang laoshi is an enthusiastic and understanding instructor. She is so clearly passionate about the course's content and is dedicated to making sure students can get as much as they can out of the class without it being too stressful. Most homeworks are based on completion, with one weekly tingxie and a weekly short typed essay. Grad …Read more

I took this course because, as a freshman, I wanted to take advantage of Middlebury's language learning tracks and I had heard great things about our Chinese department. My high expectations were met and exceeded by Du Laoshi and He Laoshi, who co-taught Chinese 0101 in Fall 2025. Du Laoshi is clearly amazingly knowledgeable about learning Chinese as a second language and conducted class in a way that forced participation but encouraged mistakes. I grew to enjoy being cold-called on and found myself becoming more confident in my Chinese speaking despite my mistakes thanks to Du Laoshi's teaching style.

I took this course because, as a freshman, I wanted to take advantage of Middlebury's language learning tracks and I had heard great things about our Chinese department. My high expectations were met and exceeded by Du Laoshi and He Laoshi, who co-taught Chinese 0101 in Fall 2025. Du Laoshi is clearly amazingly knowledgeable about le …Read more