Identify the following components of Mandarin language:

• 23 initials;
• 24 finals; and,
• formation of syllables with four basic tones and one neutral tone in hanyu pinyin (see Appendix A).

Recognize the eight fundamental radicals/strokes in Standard Chinese:

• horizontal stroke横héng;
• vertical stroke竖shù;
• upper right-to-bottom left stroke撇piě;
• upper left-to-bottom right stroke捺n à;
• dot点diǎn;
• bottom left-to-upper right stroke提t í;
• vertical/diagonal hook勾gōu; and,
• horizontal fold折zhé.

Comprehend the two types of radicals in Standard Chinese:

• basic radicals部首; and,
• side radicals偏旁.

Note: A side radical can be a stand-alone Standard Chinese word by itself (e.g., 木m ù means wood when it is used as a stand-alone word; it can also be a radical/part of a word when it is attached to another character: bed 床chuáng, tree 树shù).

Identify different types of directions in Standard Chinese writing, such as:

• modern (i.e., left to right and horizontal); and
• classical (i.e., right to left and vertical).

Investigate Mandarin and Standard Chinese linguistic conventions, including:

• pronouns first/second/third person forms (e.g., “们men” in plural forms, same pronunciation yet different writing and different meaning to indicate female/male/object in Standard Chinese [e.g., “她t ā”，“他t ā”, “它t ā”]);
• pronouns “的d e” to indicate possessive adjectives/pronouns in Standard Chinese in familiar situations;
• interrogative words (e.g., who “谁shuí”, what “什shén么me”, when “什shén么me时shí候hòu”, where “哪n ǎ里l i”, which “哪n ǎ一个”, why “为wèi什shén么me” and how “怎zěn样yàng”,"如r ú何h é”) with proper sentence structures;
• “吗m a” in an interrogative sentence;
• “了l e” and “在zài” in various situations;
• “也y ě” (means “also”, “too”) in response sentences;
• negation words in proper sentences/questions (e.g., “不b ù”, “没méi”, “没méi有yǒu”);
• “对”, “是的”, “可以” to give an affirmative response; and,
• measure words 量liàng词c í to describe the shape/size of an object (e.g., 个g è, 只zhī, 条tiáo, 粒l ì, 本běn, 支zhī, 间jiān).