Comments on: A new Chinese book http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/a-new-chinese-book/ commentary on all things Taiwanese — Taiwan Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:43:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: David Reid http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/a-new-chinese-book/comment-page-1/#comment-689 David Reid Mon, 06 Nov 2006 01:15:39 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/a-new-chinese-book/#comment-689 Thanks for the recommendation Bryan. I will look for a copy of this book. Thanks for the recommendation Bryan. I will look for a copy of this book.

]]> By: Bryan http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/a-new-chinese-book/comment-page-1/#comment-674 Bryan Sun, 05 Nov 2006 17:24:36 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/a-new-chinese-book/#comment-674 Have you taken a look at the 中國民間故事 [Chinese Folk Tales] series (two volume)? I think you might like it, as it teachers intermediate Chinese through folk tales rather than contemporary issues and social context. I have tried many types of Chinese books but I never felt like I was learning any vocab until I picked up this series in Taipei when I visited in 2005. I remember as a high school student studying Latin that I very much enjoyed reading the short stories in the Cambridge Latin text and translating them for homework. I never grew tired of it and I really came to love languages through Latin. Each chapter of Cambridge Latin would introduce new grammar and new vocab as well as special phrases and what not. That is exactly what "Chinese Folk Tales" does, and I really enjoy working with the texts. I guess the grammar points are more contextual compared to what traditional grammar and reading texts aim for, but the folk stories are interesting and keep my attention much better than essays about modern problems in the PRC. The only downside is that the book uses Taiwanese pinyin and zhuyin for pronunciation. This doesn't bother me since I had to learn Zhuyin in my first Chinese class, but I know it is a big turn-away for many Chinese learners. The series is only available in Traditional characters, so any students who only read simplified will probably be turned off by the book as well. Have you taken a look at the 中國民間故事 [Chinese Folk Tales] series (two volume)? I think you might like it, as it teachers intermediate Chinese through folk tales rather than contemporary issues and social context. I have tried many types of Chinese books but I never felt like I was learning any vocab until I picked up this series in Taipei when I visited in 2005.

I remember as a high school student studying Latin that I very much enjoyed reading the short stories in the Cambridge Latin text and translating them for homework. I never grew tired of it and I really came to love languages through Latin. Each chapter of Cambridge Latin would introduce new grammar and new vocab as well as special phrases and what not.

That is exactly what “Chinese Folk Tales” does, and I really enjoy working with the texts. I guess the grammar points are more contextual compared to what traditional grammar and reading texts aim for, but the folk stories are interesting and keep my attention much better than essays about modern problems in the PRC.

The only downside is that the book uses Taiwanese pinyin and zhuyin for pronunciation. This doesn’t bother me since I had to learn Zhuyin in my first Chinese class, but I know it is a big turn-away for many Chinese learners. The series is only available in Traditional characters, so any students who only read simplified will probably be turned off by the book as well.

]]> By: Charlie http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/a-new-chinese-book/comment-page-1/#comment-462 Charlie Thu, 26 Oct 2006 13:35:49 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2006/10/a-new-chinese-book/#comment-462 Huang Di (黃帝) is not really the first emperor, but one of the legendary 5 great emperors... Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) is the first emperor of a united China, from 221BCE. Qin is a really interesting emperor, specially for: the great wall (萬里長城), Buring books and scholars (焚書坑儒), unified the measurements (度量衡) and many other things. I recommend to watch Hero by Jey Li, it portrays Qin in a interesting way and it's based in some idioms (成語) for example: 圖窮匕見 天下為公 :) See Ya Huang Di (黃帝) is not really the first emperor, but one of the legendary 5 great emperors…

Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) is the first emperor of a united China, from 221BCE. Qin is a really interesting emperor, specially for: the great wall (萬里長城), Buring books and scholars (焚書坑儒), unified the measurements (度量衡) and many other things.

I recommend to watch Hero by Jey Li, it portrays Qin in a interesting way and it’s based in some idioms (成語) for example:

圖窮匕見
天下為公 :)

See Ya

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