I Can Read That: A Traveler's Introduction to Chinese Characters [Paperback]

Julie Sussman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Chinese

Product Details

• Paperback: 161 pages
• Publisher: China Books & Periodicals (November 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0835125335
• ISBN-13: 978-0835125338
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #5 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > Chinese
  • #18 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > Phrasebooks - General
  • #45 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Foreign Languages > Instruction > General

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

46 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun book to learn a few Chinese characters, December 12, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: I Can Read That: A Traveler's Introduction to Chinese Characters (Paperback)

For the most part, Chinese is really two languages - a written one and a spoken one. One really cannot "sound out" written Chinese Characters, like they can with English. Most books for travelers to China dwell on the spoken language. This is actually a very good idea, because it helps you communicate and get around. But this book is different and fun, because it concentrates on Chinese characters which are beautiful and interesting.

I lived in the city of Shenyang, China for almost a year and a half. I dealt with a lot of Chinese people and Westerners that had been there for varying lengths of time. The Westerners had varying levels of oral Chinese language skills, but it was very rare for me to find a Westerner who knew how to read Chinese. The Westerners that I knew who could read Chinese were for the most part long time scholors on the topic or they learned it from their Chinese relatives.

I read this book, and learned most of the characters in it. I could not even come close to reading a magazine or newspaper, even those for children. But, I knew more Chinese characters than 95% of the Westerners that I knew in China. Most of these foreigners would be impressed when I could read the little I did. For most of the Chinese people I met, I was the only Westerner that they ever met who could read even a few characters. I'd figure a sign out, and they could not believe it. This skill was a great conversation topic, and I soon learned several other characters in the conversations that I had with the locals.

For the most part, this book is not required reading for someone who travels to China. In places where a lot of Westerners travel, many signs are in English, or pin-yin, or "Chinglish" (poor translations from Chinese to English.) But when I went to places less traveled, I can tell you that it was nice to be able to read the sign on the restroom door so I did not get into an embarrassing situation. (I had plenty of other embarrassing experiences without going into the wrong public toilet.)

I highly recommend the book. Have fun!

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to characters, February 18, 2000

By 

Leo Dirac (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: I Can Read That: A Traveler's Introduction to Chinese Characters (Paperback)

This easy book does exactly what it claims to be able to: teaches you a small vocabulary of chinese characters. You won't be able to read much with it, but you will be able to pick out enough characters to get the jist of what some things are getting at.

Well written. Very accessible. Excellent compliment to chinese language tapes for anybody trying to learn basic language skills before a trip.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An incredibly good book for a traveller, April 9, 2004

By 

mkt "mkt" (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Can Read That: A Traveler's Introduction to Chinese Characters (Paperback)

This is a remarkably good book for a non-Chinese speaking tourist to have. The reviews which say that this book is not for the student of Chinese are correct. It's not a very "deep" book, and it doesn't teach you very many characters. But that's not who the book is meant for.

I travelled to China last year, not knowing a word of Chinese and certainly not having any ability to make out the characters. Prior to that trip, I might occasionally read an article or website which would show me the characters for, say, "China", but they'd so to speak go in one eyeball and out the other -- I simply couldn't retain or learn or even really *see* the characters.

A travel article recommended _I Can Read That_ so I bought it, and it was a miracle. Literally on the first page, in the first few minutes of reading it, I at last started to realize "oh, there's a system behind all these characters". I could now look at Chinese characters, and though I couldn't truly read them (since I don't even know Chinese), I could start to truly see them, recognize them, and learn them.

After 5 minutes of reading, I'd learned 5 characters. After another 5 minutes, 5 more. After that, well there's a limit to how much information my brain can take in at once, but I kept reading the book and learning characters.

It was as exciting an experience as learning to read must have been (I actually don't remember).

And, to return to the first theme, this could all be done without "studying" per se, or taking a class. It can be done on the run, while travelling in China (or on the plane to China).

So, the book is no substitute for actually taking a Chinese class or learning from an in-depth book. But for the traveller who doesn't have time to actually take a Chinese class, but who is willing to spend a few hours poring over a small but useful book, this book is ideal.

I never would have believed that I could start reading Chinese in 3 minutes, but this book makes it possible. And the characters presented in the book are the ones that are especially useful for tourists (characters which are common in place names, such as "jing" for "capital", directions such as "bei" for "north" -- and if you put those together and say "Aha! Beijing!", you can now see how this book makes the Chinese language suddenly start to come together for the tourist).

So this book gave me a gift of (partial) literacy that no phrase book or guidebook did. I only learned a few dozen characters and I still do not know Chinese. But I could use that literacy skill to read some signs, to pick out bus stops (assuming that I knew the characters for the destination), etc.

A marvelous, marvelous book.

P.S. The book is most useful for mainland China, because it teaches the "simplified" characters, not the "traditional" characters, which are used most other places in the world.