DLI Chinese Elementary Reader

The DLI Chinese Elementary Reader is an excellent resource for anyone looking to begin their journey with Mandarin Chinese. Developed by the Defense Language Institute, this course focuses on fundamental reading comprehension, essential vocabulary, and basic grammar suitable for absolute beginners. Through carefully structured lessons and authentic reading material, learners gradually build a strong foundation in reading and understanding modern Standard Chinese.

Whether you are studying Chinese for personal interest, travel, or future advanced study, this course provides comprehensive material to kickstart your learning at no cost. Take advantage of this totally free language resource to develop your skills, expand your vocabulary, and gain confidence in reading Chinese—all from the comfort of your home.

Course Materials

Elementary reader PDFs on the CDN are grouped by filename patterns such as reader Less, Reading and Writing, and Vol … Elementary. Modular drill audio uses ModN Lesson … and compiled Less … segments; those files are shared with the full course and are listed on the DLI Chinese (Mandarin) Course page.

PDFs

• Book 1 (17.9 MB)
• Book 2 (13.4 MB)
• Chinese Characters Vol 1 (2.0 MB)
• Chinese Dialogues (12.2 MB)
• Chinese Homework Exercises (895 KB)
• Dictionary Exercises (1.0 MB)
• Jianhuazi zongbiao jianzi (3.6 MB)
• reader Less 01-34 (13.0 MB)
• reader Less 35-48 (12.1 MB)
• Reading and Writing lessons 01-18 (6.1 MB)
• Reading and Writing lessons 19-30 (9.0 MB)
• Table of Chinese Characters (805 KB)
• Vol 01 (10.6 MB)
• Vol 01 Chinese Characters (17.5 MB)
• Vol 02 (12.7 MB)
• Vol 02 Elementary Chines (20.3 MB)