# Chinese Level 1 - review & insight | Gareth B. Davies Source: https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/chinese-level-1/ [← All courses](https://garethbdavies.com/course-insights/) Personal Development · Deep dive · Rated 5 /10 # Chinese Level 1 By Gareth B. Davies · Updated August 2026 Felix Lattman · Chinese Teacher Beginner · 683 min A founder's five-year self-taught method turns Chinese characters into memorable stories, but the delivery is so rambling it undercuts the material's own logic. [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fchinese-level-1%2F1810305429) New to Skillshare? Your first month is free, enough to take this course at no cost. ## What it actually teaches Chinese Level 1 is built around a single idea: Chinese characters are not arbitrary symbols but small pictorial stories, and once a learner sees the story, the character sticks. The course opens with 大 (big), drawn as a person with outstretched arms, then pairs it with 小 (small) to form 大小, meaning size. From there it builds outward: 你 becomes knife plus small, evolved from an older character for "you", and 多少 (how much) pairs many against few using near-identical strokes. This building-block approach, which the course brands its "domino" method, is the spine of the entire curriculum, and it resurfaces in nearly every lesson through the end, where 朋友 (friend) is broken into moons and hands, and 男 (man) into field plus strength. Grammar is folded in alongside vocabulary rather than taught as separate units. Tone sandhi gets a dedicated explanation covering how 不 and 一 shift tone before fourth-tone syllables, useful detail most beginner courses gloss over. Question formation is handled through repeated drilling of the answer-by-echo pattern, where a question like 可以吗 (can I?) is answered by repeating 可以 rather than a standalone yes. By the later lessons the course strings these pieces into a full dialogue, a dating-themed story used to demonstrate progressive tense, modal verbs, and negation in context. ## Where it succeeds and where it strains The character-decomposition technique is genuinely valuable and is the course's strongest asset. Turning 电脑 into "electric-brain" or 电话 into "electric-speech" gives learners a concrete image to anchor abstract symbols, and this pays off cumulatively since later characters reuse radicals taught earlier, like the "small knife" component reappearing across lessons. The delivery, however, works against the material. Instruction is loose and unscripted, with frequent self-corrections, false starts, and tangents about the instructor's personal history that add length without adding content. Explanations sometimes double back on themselves mid-sentence, and the pacing swings between rushed grammar points and long-winded asides. For a subject that depends on precision, particularly tone and pronunciation, the loose, off-the-cuff style makes it harder to isolate the exact sound being taught. The course also leans on frequent promotion of the instructor's other platforms and course tiers, which interrupts the instructional flow at several points, including the opening and closing lessons. This commercial framing sits oddly next to a genuinely useful teaching method and makes the course feel less polished than its content deserves. ## Bottom line The character-story method here is worth learning even outside this course, and a patient beginner willing to sit with the meandering delivery will come away with a real foundation in reading logic, basic grammar, and everyday phrases. But learners who want crisp, structured lessons with reliable pronunciation modeling will likely find the presentation more tiring than the material is complex. The standout Building characters as combinations of concrete pictograms (电+脑=computer, 电+梯=elevator) gives absolute beginners a genuine memory hook that most character-drilling courses skip entirely. ## What you will learn - · How to decompose common characters into radicals and mnemonic images (knife+small=you, field+force=man) - · Core beginner grammar: pronouns, measure words, more/less and big/small comparisons, question particles (吗, 呢) - · How to ask and answer yes/no questions by echoing the verb back instead of saying yes/no directly - · Basic transactional phrases for prices, quantities, and asking how much/how many (多少) - · Tone sandhi rules, including how 不 and 一 shift tone before a fourth-tone syllable - · Everyday verbs and modals (can/may, to open/close, to love/like) built through an extended dialogue Best for: Absolute beginners who like mnemonic, story-driven character learning and can tolerate an unpolished, conversational teaching style. Skip it if: Learners who want a tightly scripted, professionally paced course, or anyone who needs precise pronunciation modeling and clean audio. Helpful Examples Engaging Teacher Organization of Lessons Clarity of Instruction [Get a Free Month on Skillshare](https://skillshare.eqcm.net/c/3155494/298081/4650?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skillshare.com%2Fclasses%2Fchinese-level-1%2F1810305429)