BASIC
MANDARIN CHINESE
READING & WRITING
CORNELIUS C. KUBLER
Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd.
www.tuttlepublishing.com
Copyright © 2017 Cornelius C. Kubler
All photos © Cornelius C. Kubler except for:
Front cover: © Stuart Jenner/Shutterstock.com; © Hung Chung Chih/Shutterstock.com; © Mauvries/Shutterstock.com; © hxdbzxy/Shutterstock.com
Assistance received from the following in the filming of conversations is gratefully acknowledged:
Unit 2, Part 1: The Mandarin Training Center, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei; Part 3: Shangrila Hotel, Beijing; Part 4: Hilton Hotel, Taipei. Unit 3, Part 4: Beijing West Railway Station, Beijing. Unit 4, Part 1: The Mandarin Training Center, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei; Part 2: Jianquan Clinic, Taipei; Part 3: Swisshotel, Beijing. Unit 5, Part 3: Yuelong Restaurant, Beijing. Unit 7, Part 4: Fortune Garden Restaurant, North Adams, Massachusetts.
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ISBN 978-0-8048-4724-7; ISBN 978-1-4629-1929-1 (ebook)
(previously published under ISBN 978-0-8048-4016-3; 978-1-4629-1646-7 ebook)
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A Note to the Learner
Welcome to this course in written Chinese!
As a native English speaker, your working hard to learn Chinese is not enough; you have to work smart in order to learn this very different language efficiently. No matter why you’ve chosen to learn Chinese—for business, travel, cultural studies, or another goal—the Basic Mandarin Chinese approach of two separate but integrated tracks in spoken and written Chinese will help you learn this language most efficiently and successfully.
Basic Mandarin Chinese Reading & Writing is designed so it can be used in a class with an instructor or by independent learners working on their own.
• Basic Mandarin Chinese Reading & Writing systematically introduces 288 of the highest-frequency characters (in both their simplified and traditional forms) and over 700 common words written with them in context in sentences and a variety of reading passages, so as to help you master basic Chinese reading and writing.
• The structure of each new character is explained in detail to make the learning of characters easier, and “look-alike” characters are compared and contrasted.
• Many lessons include character differentiation drills and some lessons include realia such as name cards, street signs, or e-mail messages.
• Each lesson introduces 6 new characters and a number of words that are written using them. By dividing the learning into small tasks, you maintain a sense of accomplishment rather than getting bogged down.
• You’ll experience both printed and handwritten forms of characters, as well as several different printed fonts.
Basic Mandarin Chinese Reading & Writing should be used in conjunction with the accompanying Basic Mandarin Chinese Reading & Writing Practice Book.
• Either before or at the same time that you study a lesson in Basic Mandarin Chinese Reading & Writing, you should study the same lesson in Basic Mandarin Chinese Speaking & Listening and Basic Mandarin Chinese Speaking & Listening Practice Book, so that you have access to all the relevant information and practice regarding Chinese pronunciation, grammar, and culture.
• The characters in each lesson are chosen, based on frequency of occurrence, from those used to write the Basic Conversation of the corresponding lesson in Basic Mandarin Chinese Speaking & Listening. Thus, when you begin a new lesson of Basic Mandarin Chinese Reading & Writing, you already know the pronunciations, meanings and usages of the new characters and words, so you need only learn their written representations. This considerably lightens your learning load!
• Both