Synopses & Reviews
andlt;bandgt;Use this one-of-a-kind practice guide and Chinese workbook together with any Chinese book or language program, and dramatically enhance your speaking.andlt;/bandgt;andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;No matter what book or course you're using to learn Chinese, it takes a lot of practice. Here is a wealth of effective practice activities to help polish your written Chinese. This book corresponds to andlt;iandgt;Basic Written Chineseandlt;/iandgt; and allows you to move from complete beginner level to basic proficiency. An included disc contains extensive audio material, as well as (printable) flash cards.andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;andlt;iandgt;Practice Essentialsandlt;/iandgt; includes carefully designed activities to help solidify every aspect of your spoken Chinese skills, including: andlt;ulandgt;andlt;liandgt; Chinese character practice sheets.andlt;/liandgt;andlt;liandgt; Dictation, filland#8211;inand#8211;theand#8211;blank, dialog completion.andlt;/liandgt;andlt;liandgt; Answering questions, map reading, converting written style to spoken style.andlt;/liandgt;andlt;liandgt; Identify radicals and phonetics; punctuating sentences.andlt;/liandgt;andlt;liandgt; Written tasks based on realia like schedule, photographs, and name cards.andlt;/liandgt;andlt;liandgt; Translation exercises.andlt;/liandgt;andlt;/ulandgt;The corresponding andlt;bandgt;CD-ROMandlt;/bandgt; includes:andlt;ulandgt;andlt;liandgt; 64 minutes of nativeand#8211;speaker audio.andlt;/liandgt;andlt;liandgt; 288 printable flash cards.andlt;/liandgt;andlt;/ulandgt;Together with or after this book, you can use andlt;iandgt;Basic Spoken Chineseandlt;/iandgt; if you want to learn fluent spoken Mandarin.andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;andlt;bandgt;About the Series:andlt;/bandgt; Respected Chinese language expert Dr. Cornelius Kubler, who has taught diplomats, business people and students, presents a learning system that uses separate but integrated "tracks" to help you efficiently master the basics of spoken and written Chinese. The materials in andlt;iandgt;Basic Spoken Chineseandlt;/iandgt; allow you to move from complete beginner level to basic fluency.
Review
"Outstanding for its carefully graduated presentation of material … and perhaps most important of all, its separation of the task of learning to speak the language from the very different processes of learning to read and write Chinese characters … The most exciting Chinese language textbook I have seen in many years."—Dr. James E. Dew, retired associate professor of Chinese, Univ. of Michigan; former Director of the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipei
"A breath of fresh air … Its dual track for spoken and written language finally gives American students a chance to develop oral proficiency without being slowed down by the character writing … An ideal textbook for any program that seeks to advance rapidly in spoken Chinese and to fully prepare the students for their encounter with China."—Dr. Jingqi Fu, Associate Professor of Chinese, St. Mary's College of Maryland
"Contextualized so learners know not only what to say, but why, when, and with whom it is appropriate to use such language — thorough and clear — refreshing."—Dr. Matthew Christensen, Associate Professor of Chinese, Brigham Young University
Review
"Kubler's books distinguish themselves with natural, culturally-rooted dialogues, detailed notes (for both written and spoken language), generous practice activities and an amazing care for organization. These books will be valuable tools for both students and their teachers."—Prof. Eric Pelzl, Wisconsin Lutheran College
"An ingenious introduction — Basic Spoken Chinese is the finest textbook for learning Modern Standard Mandarin that I have ever encountered."—Dr. Victor H. Mair, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature, University of Pennsylvania
"The ideal material for any committed learner embarking on the journey of learning the Chinese language."—Dr. Jun Yang, Senior Lecturer in Chinese, University of Chicago
"Revolutionary in its approach … The dream of having engaged and fully-prepared students in every class is an easily reachable reality for any program that adopts this series."—Professor Cecilia Chang, Chair, Department of Asian Studies, Williams College
"This is one of the best elementary Chinese textbooks, I believe, ever produced in the history of teaching Chinese as a second language … A great and unique work which will benefit students and teachers for many years to come."—Dr. Shengli Feng, Professor of Chinese Linguistics, Chinese University of Hong Kong
Review
"Outstanding for its carefully graduated presentation of material andhellip; and perhaps most important of all, its separation of the task of learning to speak the language from the very different processes of learning to read and write Chinese characters andhellip; The most exciting Chinese language textbook I have seen in many years." and#8212;andlt;bandgt;Dr. James E. Dew, retired associate professor of Chinese, Univ. of Michigan; former Director of the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipeiandlt;/bandgt;
Review
"A breath of fresh air andhellip; Its dual track for spoken and written language finally gives American students a chance to develop oral proficiency without being slowed down by the character writing andhellip; An ideal textbook for any program that seeks to advance rapidly in spoken Chinese and to fully prepare the students for their encounter with China." and#8212;andlt;bandgt;Dr. Jingqi Fu, Associate Professor of Chinese, St. Mary's College of Marylandandlt;/bandgt;
Review
"Contextualized so learners know not only what to say, but why, when, and with whom it is appropriate to use such language and#8212; thorough and clear and#8212; refreshing." and#8212;andlt;bandgt;Dr. Matthew Christensen, Associate Professor of Chinese, Brigham Young Universityandlt;/bandgt;
Review
"Kubler's books distinguish themselves with natural, culturally-rooted dialogues, detailed notes (for both written and spoken language), generous practice activities and an amazing care for organization. These books will be valuable tools for both students and their teachers." and#8212;andlt;bandgt;Prof. Eric Pelzl, Wisconsin Lutheran Collegeandlt;/bandgt;
Review
"An ingenious introduction and#8212; andlt;iandgt;Basic Spoken Chineseandlt;/iandgt; is the finest textbook for learning Modern Standard Mandarin that I have ever encountered." and#8212;andlt;bandgt;Dr. Victor H. Mair, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature, University of Pennsylvaniaandlt;/bandgt;
Review
"The ideal material for any committed learner embarking on the journey of learning the Chinese language." and#8212;andlt;bandgt;Dr. Jun Yang, Senior Lecturer in Chinese, University of Chicagoandlt;/bandgt;
Review
"Revolutionary in its approach andhellip; The dream of having engaged and fully-prepared students in every class is an easily reachable reality for any program that adopts this series." and#8212;andlt;bandgt;Professor Cecilia Chang, Chair, Department of Asian Studies, Williams Collegeandlt;/bandgt;
Review
"This is one of the best elementary Chinese textbooks, I believe, ever produced in the history of teaching Chinese as a second language andhellip; A great and unique work which will benefit students and teachers for many years to come." and#8212;andlt;bandgt;Dr. Shengli Feng, Professor of Chinese Linguistics, Chinese University of Hong Kongandlt;/bandgt;
Synopsis
Anyone learning to read and write Chinese knows that it takes lots of practice! This practical guide includes a broad range of drills and exercises designed to dramatically enhance your proficiency in reading and writing Chinese. It can be used together with any Chinese textbook or teaching program to hone your Chinese reading and writing language skills.
Hundreds of exercises in this book help teach beginning learners the basic components of the characters, including radicals and phonetic elements. Special exercises help you distinguish confusing "look-alikes" and teach you how to transcribe Pinyin romanized forms into characters and vice versa, how to add tone marks to the characters, how to identify characters with the same or similar pronunciation, or characters with closely-related meanings, and how to punctuate Chinese sentences. Character practice sheets give stroke-by-stroke instructions for writing each character in both simplified and traditional forms and teach you how to write the 600 basic characters.
Writing exercises provided in this book include the following:
- Rearranging words into meaningful sentences
- Dialog completion and fill-in-the-blank exercises
- Answering simple questions based on reading passages
- Completing tasks based on reading schedules, maps, and road signs
- Translation of individual English terms and phrases into Chinese
- Transformation exercises (changing statements into questions, negatives, etc.)
- Guided composition for simple essays, letters, notes, and filling out forms
- Correcting passages with mistakes and converting conversations into narratives
- Changing informal spoken statements into a more formal written style
Synopsis
Use this one-of-a-kind practice guide and Chinese workbook together with any Chinese book or language program, and dramatically enhance your speaking. No matter what book or course you're using to learn Chinese, it takes a lot of practice. Here is a wealth of effective practice activities to help polish your written Chinese. This book corresponds to
Basic Written Chinese and allows you to move from complete beginner level to basic proficiency. An included disc contains extensive audio material, as well as (printable) flash cards.
Practice Essentials includes carefully designed activities to help solidify every aspect of your spoken Chinese skills, including:
- Chinese character practice sheets.
- Dictation, fill-in-the-blank, dialog completion.
- Answering questions, map reading, converting written style to spoken style.
- Identify radicals and phonetics; punctuating sentences.
- Written tasks based on realia like schedule, photographs, and name cards.
- Translation exercises.
The corresponding MP3 audio CD includes:
- 64 minutes of native-speaker audio.
- 288 printable flash cards.
Together with this book, you can use the
Basic Spoken Chinese series if you want to learn fluent spoken Mandarin.
About the Series: Respected Chinese language expert Dr. Cornelius Kubler, who has taught diplomats, business people and students, presents a learning system that uses separate but integrated "tracks" to help you efficiently master the basics of spoken and written Chinese. The materials in
Basic Spoken Chinese allow you to move from complete beginner level to basic fluency.
Synopsis
A wealth of carefully-designed activities to power and polish your written Chinese
Synopsis
Anyone learning to read and write Chinese knows that it takes lots of practice This practical guide includes a broad range of drills and exercises designed to dramatically enhance your proficiency in reading and writing Chinese. While designed for use with the companion text book, Basic Written Chinese, it can be used together with any Chinese textbook or teaching program to hone your Chinese reading and writing language skills.
Synopsis
andlt;iandgt;Basic Written Chineseandlt;/iandgt; is a beginning-level course in written Chinese that employs a revolutionary new method designed to have you quickly reading and writing simple, connected Chinese sentences. It teaches you to recognize the 600 most basic characters and 1,000 words used every day by millions of Chinese speakers. It explains the history and development of the writing system over many centuries, teaches you how Chinese characters are built up from more basic elements, and how to use those elements to write them, read them and remember them. All the characters presented in the lessons correspond to those in andlt;iandgt;Basic Spoken Chineseandlt;/iandgt;and#8212;the companion volume which helps you acquire rapid proficiency in speaking the language.andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;andlt;iandgt;Basic Written Chinese Practice Essentialsandlt;/iandgt; is the companion workbook for andlt;iandgt;Basic Written Chineseandlt;/iandgt;. This practical guide includes a broad range of drills and exercises designed to dramatically enhance your proficiency in reading and writing Chinese. While designed for use with the companion textbook, it can be used together with any Chinese textbook or teaching program to hone your Chinese reading and writing language skills.
Synopsis
About the Series: Introducing the
Basic Chinese series, a revolutionary new approach to learning Chinese used by top State Department officials, business negotiators, diplomats, adult learners, and students from Americas top colleges. Unlike other language learning programs,
Basic Chinese separates learning to speak” and listen” (easier for English speakers to learn) from learning to read” and write” (more challenging because of the unfamiliarity of the Chinese characters that take time to commit to memory.) Designed and classroom-tested by renowned international language educator Cornelius C. Kubler, this one-of-a-kind series includes an extraordinary wealth of audio and video materials included for free. Start learning Chinese today with the most innovative and effective Chinese series available and youll make faster progress than you ever thought possible!
Basic Written Chinese helps beginners quickly read and write simple, connected Chinese sentences. It teaches you to recognize the 600 most basic characters and 1,000 words used every day by millions of Chinese speakers. Learn how Chinese characters are built up from more basic elements, and how to use those elements to write them, read them and remember them. All the characters presented in the lessons correspond to those in Basic Spoken Chinese—the companion volume which helps you acquire rapid proficiency in speaking the language. Includes 6 hours of audio by numerous native Mandarin speakers.
Basic Written Chinese Practice Essentials is the companion workbook for Basic Written Chinese. This practical guide includes a broad range of drills and exercises designed to dramatically enhance your proficiency in reading and writing Chinese. While designed for use with the companion textbook, it can be used together with any Chinese textbook or teaching program to hone your Chinese reading and writing language skills.
Synopsis
Basic Written Chinese is a beginning-level course in written Chinese that employs a revolutionary new method designed to have you quickly reading and writing simple, connected Chinese sentences. It teaches you to recognize the 600 most basic characters and 1,000 words used every day by millions of Chinese speakers. It explains the history and development of the writing system over many centuries, teaches you how Chinese characters are built up from more basic elements, and how to use those elements to write them, read them and remember them. All the characters presented in the lessons correspond to those in
Basic Spoken Chinese—the companion volume which helps you acquire rapid proficiency in speaking the language.
Basic Written Chinese Practice Essentials is the companion workbook for Basic Written Chinese. This practical guide includes a broad range of drills and exercises designed to dramatically enhance your proficiency in reading and writing Chinese. While designed for use with the companion textbook, it can be used together with any Chinese textbook or teaching program to hone your Chinese reading and writing language skills.
About the Author
andlt;bandgt;Cornelius C. Kublerandlt;/bandgt;, Stanfield Professor of Asian Studies at Williams College, received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in linguistics from Cornell University. He earned a second M.A. in Chinese literature from National Taiwan University.andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;From 1980-1991 he was employed at the Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State, where he served as Language Training Supervisor in Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and Mongolian; as Principal of the advanced Chinese field school in Taiwan; and as Chair of the Department of Asian and African Languages.andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Since joining Williams College in 1991, he has chaired the former Department of Chinese and Asian Studies Program as well as the Department of Asian Studies, which he was instrumental in founding. He has also served as visiting professor at Eisenhower College, Portland State University, Middlebury College, National Taiwan Normal University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages.andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Kubler, who is author or coauthor of 20 books and over 50 articles on Chinese language pedagogy and linguistics, frequently serves as reviewer or consultant for Chinese and Asian Studies programs in the U.S. and overseas. He has served as Chair of the Test Development Committee for the SAT Subject Test in Chinese and as member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages of the Modern Language Association. He is currently serving as American Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, China.andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;andlt;Bandgt;Jerling Guo Kublerandlt;/bandgt; is a graduate of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures of Soochow University, Taipei. Her experience in language education spans more than 35 years. She has taught all levels of Chinese as a Second/Foreign Language from pre-kindergarten to university level at institutions including Williams College, Eisenhower College and Taipei Language Institute.
Table of Contents
The CD contains:andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;* A set of printable flash cards for all characters and words covered in this book.andlt;BRandgt;* Audio recordings with dictation practice and related activities recorded by native Chinese speakers.andlt;BRandgt;* Hundreds of additional pages of exercises and activities in the form of printable PDF files.