These courses are an access anytime e-learning resource provided free of charge with Open Learn which anyone can join.
Have you always wanted to learn how to speak Mandarin Chinese? Are you fascinated by the sound, the script and its ancient civilisation? If so, this introduction will get you started on the essentials of reading, writing, speaking and listening in Chinese through a variety of online activities. A perfect introduction for absolute beginners!
Course Learning Outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
Part 1:
- say hello and goodbye and thank people in Mandarin Chinese
- respond to greeting and thanks
- use personal pronouns including the politeness pronoun nín
- count from 0 to 99
- recognise some Pinyin spelling conventions.
Part 2:
- refer to different languages and use different terms such as China, Chinese books, Chinese people and Chinese language
- talk about activities, such as watching TV and learning Chinese
- recognise where time expressions should be placed in sentences
- ask questions with shénme什么 ('what'), nǎr哪儿 ('where') and understand the different usages of dōu都 ('all, both')
- ask a choice question with háishì还是 ('or').
Part 3:
- describe objects and people, including one's appearance and state and be able to indicate a change of state
- recognise the Chinese concept of beauty
- form comparisons freely using bǐ 比 and the adjectives studied
- recognise some character head components as well as four-character idioms
- understand register in the Chinese language.
Part 1 course duration : 8 hours
Part 2 course duration : 8 hours
Part 3 course duration : 8 hours
You can start this course straight away. Please follow the link in your confirmation email to take you directly to the course.
This is an access anytime e-learning resource provided free of charge in association Open Learn
(If you do not receive a confirmation email please check your spam/junk email boxes or sign into the ‘Your Account’ section of the Learning Hub website to retrieve all of your booking and course information)
All Open Learn courses and have been shared by permission of The Open University copyright © and have been licensed for use under the ‘Creative Commons ‘Attributions; Non-Commercial; Share Alike’ License.
For full information about the Open University visit Home | OpenLearn – Open University.
For any further questions or clarification around usage, visit Frequently asked questions | OpenLearn – Open University
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Whether you want to visit, work or live in a French-speaking environment, you will get more out of the experience if you can communicate effectively with people. In this short course you will begin to develop your reading and listening skills in French and learn to speak and write the language to communicate in everyday situations. You will acquire a knowledge of the basic structures of French along with key vocabulary to meet and greet people and to talk about yourself and others.
Course Learning Outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
Part 1:
- say hello, goodbye and some of the first phrases to use when meeting a French speaker
- give one's name and nationality
- use greetings and partings in different settings
- recognise 'u' and 'ou' sounds and the basic rules of French pronunciation
- distinguish between masculine and feminine forms, spot the differences between them when reading and listening, and pronounce each form correctly.
Part 2:
- discuss food, likes and dislikes, and be able to shop for or order food
- understand more sophisticated conversations and complex language in a variety of different scenarios
- recognise facts about France and French habits
- express likes using j'aime, j'adore, je préfère with the articles le, la, l', les
- express dislikes.
Part 3:
- ask for directions to key places in French-speaking towns
- use the main prepositions of location
- understand and give directions using a variety of phrases including devoir and il faut
- pronounce un, une and the letters 'h' and 'r'
- use vocabulary to indicate the sequence of events.
Part 1 course duration : 6 hours
Part 2 course duration : 6 hours
Part 3 course duration : 6 hours
You can start this course straight away. Please follow the link in your confirmation email to take you directly to the course.
This is an access anytime e-learning resource provided free of charge in association Open Learn
(If you do not receive a confirmation email please check your spam/junk email boxes or sign into the ‘Your Account’ section of the Learning Hub website to retrieve all of your booking and course information)
All Open Learn courses and have been shared by permission of The Open University copyright © and have been licensed for use under the ‘Creative Commons ‘Attributions; Non-Commercial; Share Alike’ License.
For full information about the Open University visit Home | OpenLearn – Open University.
For any further questions or clarification around usage, visit Frequently asked questions | OpenLearn – Open University
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Almost 100 million people speak German as their main language. Most of them live in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, making German one of the most widely used languages in Europe. Now associated with economic success, science and technology, German also has a long-standing reputation as language of poets and thinkers.
This course will introduce you to Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and the linguistic skills you need to start understanding and using German. This introduction offers the perfect opportunity to develop the skills needed to communicate effectively in German in everyday contexts!
Course learning outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
Part 1:
- say hello, goodbye and some of the first phrases to use when meeting a German speaker
- count from one to ten
- understand the basic rules of German pronunciation
- pronounce different German-speaking countries and places
- introduce oneself and say where one is from.
Part 2:
- understand how to use regular and irregular verbs in the present tense
- use the adverb gern or gerne in a sentence
- discuss food and drink likes and dislikes and talk about a typical breakfast table in German-speaking countries
- appreciate the different strategies for learning vocabulary and using a dictionary to help with verb forms
- understand word order in sentences.
Part 3:
- understand German vocabulary for items of clothing and colours
- express preferences, ask for and give permission, and apologise
- talk about television programmes
- use separable verbs in the present tense.
Part 1 course duration : 6 hours
Part 2 course duration : 6 hours
Part 3 course duration : 8 hours
You can start this course straight away. Please follow the link in your confirmation email to take you directly to the course.
This is an access anytime e-learning resource provided free of charge in association Open Learn
(If you do not receive a confirmation email please check your spam/junk email boxes or sign into the ‘Your Account’ section of the Learning Hub website to retrieve all of your booking and course information)
All Open Learn courses and have been shared by permission of The Open University copyright © and have been licensed for use under the ‘Creative Commons ‘Attributions; Non-Commercial; Share Alike’ License.
For full information about the Open University visit Home | OpenLearn – Open University.
For any further questions or clarification around usage, visit Frequently asked questions | OpenLearn – Open University
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Are you fascinated by the Italian culture and lifestyle, cuisine, historic cities, art and beautiful landscapes? Have you always loved the sound and musicality of the Italian language? Perhaps you’ve visited an Italian city and wished you could chat with local people. Or maybe you would like to be able to read a menu, talk about yourself, your job and find out about other people’s.
Whether you have no previous experience of Italian or you have already picked up some words and phrases from travelling across Italy, this introduction gives you a chance to start an exciting new learning experience, with a range of activities.
This introduction offers the perfect opportunity to develop the skills needed to communicate effectively in Italian in everyday contexts!
Course Learning Outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
Part 1:
- order food and drink using key phrases and recognise the words for drinks and snacks in an Italian bar
- understand the different ways of serving coffee in Italy
- say please and thank you
- recognise different nouns and their gender
- appreciate some of the most famous Italian bars and the specialities available when visiting them.
Part 2:
- ask and say the time
- talk about time using 'ten past' and 'ten to'
- talk about different times of the day
- feel more confident in the pronunciation of numbers.
Part 3:
- make enquiries about train travel, journey time and distances
- understand the ferry and train networks in Italy
- use vocabulary for talking about different types of train
- use c'è ('there is') and ci sono ('there are').
Part 1 course duration : 8 hours
Part 2 course duration : 8 hours
Part 3 course duration : 8 hours
You can start this course straight away. Please follow the link in your confirmation email to take you directly to the course.
This is an access anytime e-learning resource provided free of charge in association Open Learn
(If you do not receive a confirmation email please check your spam/junk email boxes or sign into the ‘Your Account’ section of the Learning Hub website to retrieve all of your booking and course information)
All Open Learn courses and have been shared by permission of The Open University copyright © and have been licensed for use under the ‘Creative Commons ‘Attributions; Non-Commercial; Share Alike’ License.
For full information about the Open University visit Home | OpenLearn – Open University.
For any further questions or clarification around usage, visit Frequently asked questions | OpenLearn – Open University
PRESS HERE to book now
If you want to learn a new language for work or for leisure, this free course will introduce you to one of the most widely spoken languages in the world – Spanish. Whether this is the first time that you are learning Spanish, or you have already picked up some words and phrases from travelling across the Spanish-speaking world, this course is for you.
This introduction offers the perfect opportunity to develop the skills needed to communicate effectively in Spanish in everyday contexts.
Course Learning Outcomes
After studying this course, you should be able to:
Part 1:
- pronounce vowel sounds and the letter 'h' in Spanish
- understand how to type the special characters á é ñ ¿
- make introductions using both formal and informal expressions
- greet people at different times of the day
- recognise the value of keeping a language notebook.
Part 2:
- ask the time, and tell the time to others
- develop pronunciation, fluency and intonation through practice
- conjugate verbs in the present tense
- report on daily routines and favoured activities
- appreciate the different 'r' sounds in the Spanish language.
Part 3:
- greet people in different contexts
- invite friends to go out with you, and accept or decline their invitations
- find preferred ways of recording and organising new vocabulary
- interpret information from tone and intonation
- hold formal conversation over the phone, and leave messages.
Part 1 course duration : 8 hours
Part 2 course duration : 6 hours
Part 3 course duration : 8 hours
You can start this course straight away. Please follow the link in your confirmation email to take you directly to the course.
This is an access anytime e-learning resource provided free of charge in association Open Learn
(If you do not receive a confirmation email please check your spam/junk email boxes or sign into the ‘Your Account’ section of the Learning Hub website to retrieve all of your booking and course information)
All Open Learn courses and have been shared by permission of The Open University copyright © and have been licensed for use under the ‘Creative Commons ‘Attributions; Non-Commercial; Share Alike’ License.
For full information about the Open University visit Home | OpenLearn – Open University.
For any further questions or clarification around usage, visit Frequently asked questions | OpenLearn – Open University
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