David on Formosa

A couple of months ago I wrote about the beginnings of my efforts to learn to read Chinese. It's time for an update.

Cover of Qibai Zi Gushi

So far most of my study has been based on reading stories from the book Qibai Zi Gushi (七百字故事 or 700 Character Stories). This book was written for Taiwanese children. It was not intended as a text book for foreigners studying Chinese. Still I have found it useful, although not perfect for my needs.

The book is made up of short stories. Most of the stories are traditional Chinese tales, although some are drawn from other cultures, too. That many of the stories are well known helps with reading as it makes it much easier to guess the meaning of new words and also to predict what is going to happen.

The way I approach reading the stories is to read through one time without the aid of a dictionary. I circle any words or phrases that I am not sure of. I will then check these words in the dictionary before reading the story a second time. If there are still some parts where I am unsure of the meaning I will read it again at a later time.

The number of words I don't know in each story varies from about two up to ten. I think there has been some improvement in my reading skills as I have worked through the book. I probably haven't learnt a huge number of new words or characters, but I have become more comfortable with reading something written in Chinese characters. Many of the stories contain some repetition of words or sentences. Also many grammatical structures and common connecting words are repeated from story to story.

Sample text of Qibai Zi Gushi

Although the book was written for children I still find the stories interesting to read. The best thing about this book has been to have some reading material that is both interesting and appropriate to my level. There is a sample page from the text above (click on the photo to see a larger resolution image).

The book is not designed as a text book though. If I were to redesign the book as a text for foreigners learning Chinese I would do the following. First, I would remove the Zhuyin Fuhao from the text. Although I learnt Zhuyin when I came to Taiwan, I have mostly relied upon Hanyu Pinyin. I can read characters (at least those I know) faster than I can read Zhuyin. For someone that knows Zhuyin well its placement next to the characters would make it too easy to avoid reading the characters. Second, I would list the more difficult words and phrases at the end of the text with Hanyu Pinyin and English translations. There could also be some explanations of the grammar or set phrases. A brief explanation in English of the history of the story might also add depth and understanding.

The book is not perfect as it lacks the structure of a textbook. I recommend it as a useful supplementary material for any student who is at an intermediate level.