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Chinese Languages: Textbooks - Practical Chinese Reader

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Practical Chinese Reader

Practical Chinese Reader, textbook volume I, II, III, IV, and 10 accompanying aural cassettes buy

The new textbook prepared by the Beijing Languages Institute for use by non-Chinese speakers in a course of modern Chinese at universities or secondary schools.

The beginning level consists Books I and II (4 Audio cassettes provided) with 50 lessons and a vocabulary of 1,000 basic words. The situations provided in the Reader centre around two students who study Chinese first in their own country (Book I) and ten in China (Book II). Priority is given to everyday expressions concerning clothing, food, housing, communication, entertainment, social intercourse, etc. And the learners may also get some useful background information regarding China's culture, history, local customs and present-day conditions. Basic Chinese phonetics and grammar are dealt with in a way that best solves the specific difficulties of non-Chinese speakers. Each lesson is supplemented with a wide and varied selection of exercises.

Books III and IV (with 6 Audio cassettes) consist of 30 lessons with a vocabulary of some 2,000 words and expressions and are intended for the learners of modern Chinese at an intermediate stage. In order to enable the learners to gain a deep understanding of Chinese and to improve the ability to communicate in the language, the text of each lesson focuses on a subject of interest to the learners. The topics include history, education, economy, medicine, sports, literature and art, newspapers and broadcasting, marriage and family life, scenic spots and historical sites etc. In addition to the text and dialogue, each lesson has explanatory notes of words and phrases and also includes various types of exercises.

Practical Chinese Reader User Reviews

I have found it very useful, October 22, 2004
Reviewer: Laura De Giorgio (Canada)

I have purchased this book together with an accompanying set of cassettes and have found both to be very helpful and easy to follow. I should point out that I am studying Chinese on my own (without an instructor) and have purchased just about every book and program I could find and particularly value those which have cassettes and CDs available with the program. I don't think that anyone will master a language by reading just one book and each program has its strengths and weaknesses. And yes, errors do sometimes occur with printed material, but if you are using many different sources to study, that should not be a problem. Few words in this book may not be in use any more, and as another reviewer pointed out if you can find the New Chinese Reader, it may be your better option - nevertheless, you can make wonderful progress even with this book. And if are studying on your own, I highly recommend you also get the audio material to accompany your study. It will make your studying even more enjoyable experience and much easier. The audio tapes that accompany this book have very good sound quality.

Best Product for Learning Chinese Currently Available, October 29, 2004
Reviewer: Benjamin Joseph Shelak (MD United States)

I started using the Chinese Reader books by John DeFrancis roughly twenty years ago. These are some of the finest works for studying the language available but I found that they placed language learning (ie. spoken) in one book and character study (written) in a parallel book. This may work for some but I found it somewhat confusing although the presentation of grammar is excellent! I used DeFrancis as a supplement to the Practical Chinese Reader series.

In college my teacher used the Practical Chinese Reader books. The entire series is six volumes in length with a companion tape set. The grammar/vocabulary is presented alongside the characters. Interesting and pertinent stories (throughout all six volumes) guide the student through different situations such as life in school, a party or a dinner at a friend's house, a trip to the hospital, a train ride, cultural notes, selected works of well known Chinese drama, fiction, etc. This is just a sampler of the tremendous amount of material provided in the entire series.

Those who wish to learn the spoken language and then the written characters may do better with the De Francis series. Students looking to learn grammar, new vocabulary and characters simultaneously should turn to the Practical Chinese Readers. Other Chinese study programs teach all of these elements, spoken and written, at once but none do so with the depth and relative ease of PCR. For these reasons, the PRC books are highly recommended!

The best starter, September 3, 2003
Reviewer, MISSION VIEJO, CA United States
I used this book for 2 Chinese college courses and it's really great. The way you learn new vocabulary by immediately seeing how they are used in sentences is fantastic. Also, they don't have any sentences that are translated word for word. You just learn to use the words and grammar correctly by seeing them used over and over again, which I think is the best way to learn a language. DO NOT GET THIS BOOK WITHOUT GETTING THE AUDIO TAPES WITH IT!!!!!!!!!!! If this is your first Chinese learning program, then there is NO way that you can pronounce the words correctly without hearing them on the tapes first! The tapes' pronunciation are crystal clear, pronouncing the "x, q, j, and zh" perfectly (the best Mandarin pronunciation I've ever heard). It is true that the book does contain SOME errors and I had a teacher who gave some commentary on some of the things (really not that serious), but I think this book with the tapes, is an excellent starter for conversational Chinese Mandarin.

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