The purpose of the FSI Chinese Post Office and Telephone Module(PST/TEL) is to provide you with the Linguistic skills you need to mail things, make phone calls and sending telegrams (or emails).
Before starting this Post office and Telephone Module you should have at least completed the Directions Module in the main course. You can use this module at any point after that.
Specifics you will cover in this course
When you have finished this
FSI Chinese Post Office and Telephone Module you should be able to:
1. Locate a mailbox. Locate the nearest post office.
2. Buy postage for an air mail letter, a registered letter, aerogram, regular letter or postcard.
3. Buy letter paper, envelopes, aerograms and postcards.
4. Ship packages by sea or by air.
5. Insure packages or letters you send.
6. Locate a telegraph office.
7. Send a telegram or email.
8. Find the nearest public telephone.
9. Ask for help in using a phone directory.
10. Make a phone call, ask to speak with someone. Understand simple replies such as "that line is busy", "he is not here now" or "he will call you back".
11. Answer the phone and understand who the caller wishes to speak with. Tell the caller you viii look for that person. Tell him whether the person he wishes to speak with is there, is busy, or not there.
12. Ask someone to speak louder or tell him you cannot hear him clearly.
You can find the other volumes of the FSI optional modules here:
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FSI Chinese - Optional Module - Part 1
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FSI Chinese - Optional Module - Part 2
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FSI Chinese - Optional Module - Part 3
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FSI Chinese - Optional Module - Part 5
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FSI Chinese - Optional Module - Part 6
Chinese is a group of related but in many cases mutually unintelligible language varieties, forming a branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the Han majority and many other ethnic groups in China. Nearly 1.2 billion people (around 16% of the world's population) speak some form of Chinese as their first language.
The varieties of Chinese are usually described by native speakers as dialects of a single Chinese language, but linguists note that they are as diverse as a language family. The internal diversity of Chinese has been likened to that of the Romance languages, but may be even more varied. There are between 7 and 13 main regional groups of Chinese (depending on classification scheme), of which the most spoken, by far, is Mandarin (about 960 million), followed by Wu (80 million), Yue (70 million) and Min (70 million). Most of these groups are mutually unintelligible, although some, like Xiang and the Southwest Mandarin dialects, may share common terms and some degree of intelligibility. All varieties of Chinese are tonal and analytic.
Chinese Mandarin is spoken in: China
Chinese Mandarin is also called: Beifang Fangyan, Guanhua, Guoyu, Hanyu, Hoton, Huayu, Hui, Hui-Zu, Hytad, Kuoyu, Mandarin, Northern Chinese, Putonghua, Qotong, Standard Chinese, Xui
