Elementary Chinese Readers (Volume I) [Paperback]

Wu Buo (Author), Beijing Language Institute (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: Cypress Book Co Ltd Import; Revised edition (January 1997)
• ISBN-10: 7800521346
• ISBN-13: 978-7800521348
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,100,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Usefulness varies depending on student's circumstances, December 4, 2006

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Elementary Chinese Readers (Volume I) (Paperback)

The ELEMENTARY CHINESE READERS were originally published by Foreign Languages Press in 1980. In spite of the name, it is an introduction not only to the Chinese writing system, but also to Chinese grammar in general. The twenty-six chapters of the first volume will take the student from just saying "Hello, how are you?" to talking about his sightseeing activities as a tourist in China.

Technically the book has everything one needs for autodidactic learning. Each chapter presents new vocabulary and then gives a series of rigorous drills to ensure the information sinks into the student's head. There are also casettes available for the text, which mean that one is not depend on the abstract phonetic descriptions of Chinese sounds in the book. However, if you are planning to teach yourself Chinese from scratch, there are much friendlier books available, such as TEACH YOURSELF CHINESE or Routledge's COLLOQUIAL CHINESE. The ELEMENTARY CHINESE READERS are really meant for classroom use where instruction is given by a native speaker. Indeed, each grammatical point is accompanied by a Chinese explanation in Chinese characters, so that the instructor, who might not necessarily speak English, can make their alongside the students.

There is a class of students for which the grammar will be useful outside of the classroom. If you already know the basics of Chinese grammar and can read pinyin, this book can help you learn your first couple of hundred characters. All new vocabulary is given in pinyin and Chinese characters, and at the end of the chapter the stroke order of each character is given in a very clear manner. And though simplified forms are used, traditional characters are occasionally given too.

But I wouldn't recommend necessarily this book for learning to read Chinese. There's another book called PRACTICAL CHINESE READER, published by Commercial Press in 1986 that follows the very same format as the ELEMENTARY CHINESE READERS. It seems like a knockoff or imitation, but it is in my opinion rather more engaging, and its dialogues involve a story over several chapters that keep the reader's attention. It's also considerably larger, 551 pages as opposed to the 294 pages of the book I'm reviewing.

So, bottom line: if you just want to start learning characters and have some grounding in the Chinese language, the ELEMENTARY CHINESE READERS are useful. However, if you can find the PRACTICAL CHINESE READER instead, it might be a more economical and interesting purchase.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for vocabulary learning and practice, not as a stand-alone first book, November 9, 2009

By 

Ken Chicago "Ken" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elementary Chinese Readers (Volume I) (Paperback)

I picked this book up in a Seattle used book store in September, and as of November I have now arrived at the last chapter. I've also read several other Chinese books but have never gotten through them cover-to-cover, so this is a good thing. My background is that I have a girlfriend who I chat with constantly, practicing new and old stuff with so I am not a beginner. That said...

...I would say this is a great book for a person like me who knows the basics and would like to review them as well as learn new vocabulary. The chapters are broken up very well, I split them up over 2 days and do them leisurely. Previously introduced vocabulary is employed often in later chapters in different contexts. There are a variety of exercises to avoid stale-ination.

What I like about this book is that you can leave it to the book to repeat the vocabulary, as opposed to you writing it down and having to do it for yourself, a la spaced repetition. I also like that they give just enough new words to not overwhelm. It's a comfortable pace, as opposed to learn mandarin in 21 days kind of thing. The dialogue is mildly interesting as well.

If you are self-learning, without further resource, I would say this is not the book for you. If you are already familiar with Mandarin, I would definitely recommend for the basic mandarin student. (Advanced students will of course have no need for this book.)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great for beginers who want to know how to read and speak!, April 28, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Elementary Chinese Readers (Paperback)

I studied in China last summer and this is the book they started us on. It has stroke order examples, a pinyin chart, along with pronounciation diagrams for the first few chapters, and it has an alphabetical listing of all words learned. I own all the books in this series, they are great! A friend wrote a computer program to go with this book it displays characters for review in a dos enviroment, It is free if you want it.