Foreigners' Practical Chinese (Part 1)

Author: Wu De'an
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not available
Features: Practical Chinese for Foreigners (Volumes 1 & 2) is a Chinese language textbook designed specifically for foreigners who are primarily English-speaking. There are many English speakers in the world, not only in English-speaking countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, but also in many European countries where people speak English. English-speaking students represent a large market for teaching Chinese as a foreign language. These students differ from Japanese and Korean students, who have received some level of Chinese character education. In contrast, European students' native writing systems are phonetic scripts, where reading and writing are synchronized: once they learn the alphabet and spelling, they can read a word by its spelling and simultaneously understand its meaning based on its pronunciation. Chinese characters are not phonetic scripts, and without learning them, one cannot read. English-speaking students quickly realize this when they begin learning. For them, Chinese characters are just a series of unreadable shapes at the beginning. Although some Chinese characters are phono-semantic compounds, their phonetic components are inconsistent and irregular, serving only as a reference for pronunciation and not as a substitute for phonetic symbols. They can only recognize the meaning of Chinese characters through pinyin. Exaggeratedly, Chinese seems to them like two languages: one for listening and speaking, and another for reading and writing. To address this issue, the best solution is to make full use of pinyin. This book is a beginner-level Chinese textbook written for short-term study abroad students who speak English, divided into two volumes, each with 10 lessons. Each lesson is divided into the following sections: Key Words: Text; Vocabulary List; English Translation of the Text; Phonetic and Grammatical Notes with Chinese Translation; Sentence Pattern Substitution Exercises; Sentence Structure Substitution Exercises; Exercises; Cultural Insights; Stroke and Radical Practice and Character Practice. The features of this book are:
1. It concisely and systematically teaches the basics of Chinese pronunciation and characters.
2. It is highly practical. The selected texts are directly related to real-life situations, with the most urgently needed topics and phrases arranged at the beginning; topics include recognizing Chinese numbers, exchanging money, going to restaurants, shopping, making phone calls, getting haircuts, and taking transportation.
3. The exercises in the textbook are diverse and cover listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation in all directions: the sentence pattern substitution exercises include 5 ways; the exercise section includes listening exercises, simulation exercises, translation exercises, and situational dialogue exercises. The stroke and radical practice and character practice help students strengthen vocabulary memory by practicing character writing. It can be used for 40–50 hours of study for zero-level learners. Each volume includes a vocabulary list for each lesson, a total vocabulary list, and some answers to the exercises.