Understanding Chinese

by Rita M. Choy

This straightforward guide explains how Chinese characters are used and expressed in combinations; how sentences are formed; and how to say the same phrase in Mandarin or Cantonese. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0941340104
• ISBN13: 9780941340106
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: China West Books
• Length: 463 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent, but not a book for the absolute beginner

Learning written Chinese is NOT straightforward, and let me be brutal: there is no easy way out. To quote the old proverb, every time you reach a summit, there's a higher one to climb. And here's my ten cents for the traditional / simplified debate: if you are at all serious about Chinese and intend to deal with anywhere outside contemporary China, you've essentially got to learn both. This is a great buy and journeyfriend, but definitely a book for the second stage in the process. Stage One is learning grammar and individual characters - what the Chinese call "zi". When learning to read and write Chinese, start with anything from the Beijing Languages Institute (their Essential and Practical Chinese Reader series are what got me started) because a) they use Putonghua aka Peking/Beijing Mandarin, on which the modern written language is based, and b) they teach you the traditional form of the written character as well as the simplified one. Use these books in conjunction with Choy's stage one book - Read and Write Chinese: A Simplified Guide to the Chinese Characters - to broaden your knowledge of characters, and to introduce you to Cantonese pronunciation, which is what we come across most in our Chinatowns in the West. There's no problem with the simplified / traditional character form if you follow this method, since you'll pick up the simplified stuff from the Beijing material. Stage Two is about broadening your vocabulary further through learning character compounds ("ci"), and this is where this work really comes into its own. If you've been down my route, you've got a wodge of grammar and a fair number of characters under your belt by now, and it's time to consolidate and grow your knowledge. This book is excellent for that. Hope this helps you in your choice!

Excellent for beginners and advanced learners!

Rita Choy is one of the best writers for Chinese helpers. She has put together several books that I find most useful. I have lived in Taiwan for quite sometime and her books have been very useful in finding meanings. Her cross listed index is a life saver I use it almost everyday. I cannot imagine anyone who is studying Chinese not buying her books. Regardless of the simplifed vs. traditional characters. If you learn simplied first you will have much trouble learning and reading traditional.

Excellent book WITHOUT a flaw!

This book is wonderful and I do not consider that having only unsimplified forms of the characters is a flaw. While simplifid characters are more useful in Mainland China, they are not used at all in Taiwan, Hong Kong or Singapore and are only used rarely in Chinese communities in the U.S. and Canada. This book is most useful when visiting one of these places or studying there, since it is well nigh impossible to find an unsimplified guide or dictionary in most book stores.