Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating book..., June 15, 2005
This review is from: Speaking of Chinese: A Cultural History of the Chinese Language (Paperback)
OK, first and foremost, this is not a language learning book. What it is is a "learning aid" book that motivates your interest and curiosity of the structure and origins of the Chinese written language. What do I mean? If you are learning Chinese, it describes many relationships between characters that enhance your ability to remember them, as well as recognize insights to meanings of characters you do not even know. In some ways it is a narrative version of another excellent book, the more dictionary-like "Reading and Writing Chinese: A Guide to the Chinese Writing System" by William McNaughton and Li Ying. Both excellently address the origins and relationships between characters, but with very different styles.
Chang and Chang colorfully, interestingly, and amusingly describes contrasts, contradictions, and anomalies in character formation. It is a charming book that I would highly recommend to the language student.
Even if you are not learning the language, the book still offers interesting discussions about characters. Western languages, and many others, are truly different from the "phonetic" languages so many of us know. Chinese construction is old, yet novel, so meaning-rich, that it presents an interesting discussion and perspective. And the writing itself remains unchanged over a much longer period than western languages.
Read a few of its pages and see if you don't agree.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't be afraid..., September 30, 2002
This review is from: Speaking of Chinese: A Cultural History of the Chinese Language (Paperback)
The subtitle sounds daunting, doesn't it? But this clever little book is so well written, in a friendly, colloquial voice, that you'll turn the pages as quickly as you might while reading a frothy novel. At the same time, the book is jammed with information--about the basics of the Chinese language and how it has managed to survive without an alphabet; about various dynasties; about Chinese folklore and everyday life. If you're thinking of visiting China, if you're interested in languages, or if you've adopted a child from China, this book is a wonderful introduction to a land and culture that we Westerners tend to dismiss.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for learning about Chinese language and writing., May 25, 2006
This review is from: Speaking of Chinese: A Cultural History of the Chinese Language (Paperback)
This book is great for learning about Chinese language construction and writing. And its relationship to Chinese culture and history. But not for learning specifiaclly how to speak or write Chinese.
With that said, this is a very entertaing book and hard to put down.
Among the subjects it covers are:
* Langage construction. For exaample how questions are asked
in Chinese. And general sentence structure.
* How pictographs came about and how archologists traced their
orgins.
* How Chinese pictographs are taught to children in China.
(They have to memorize them--each one.)
* Chinese tongue twisters.
* How Chinese writing styles differ from the spoken word,
classical and contemporary. How this related to testing
for government officials, and how the Communist revolution
changed this.
* How Chinese language construction differs from English
language.
And much more.
I have been working at teaching myself Chinese, and it is so different that there is a lot of the concepts that I was not able to grasp until reading this book.
If you are going to study Chinese, I would highly recommend reading this book first.
If you are interested in Chinese culture, I highly recommend reading this book. Culture and language are intimately tied togeather.
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