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Integrated Chinese, Level 1, Part 2: Textbook (Simplified Character Edition) (C&T Asian Languages Series.)
Books: CookBooks: Asian: Item 6
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Integrated Chinese, Level 1, Part 2: Textbook (Simplified Character Edition) (C&T Asian Languages Series.)by Yuehua Liu, Tao-Chung Yao, and Daozhong Yao
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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful: Why Are You Learning Chinese?, March 31, 2006 Reviewer:Etienne ROLLAND-PIEGUE (Washington, DC) - I completed the first volume of this textbook series and am halfway through the Part two volume of Level one. I also use the Workbook as a support for homework assignments, but didn't purchase the Character Workbook. For students who already have had an exposure to spoken Chinese, I also recommend the textbook Making Connections: Enhance Your Listening Comprehension in Chinese, also published by Cheng & Tsui. It is loosely based on Level one of Integrated Chinese and will expose you to real-life conversations. First-time users can also use the multimedia tutorial put online by the Language Center of the University of California at Berkeley. My experience is that every language textbook has its flaws but that it is very important to stick to a given textbook until you have fully mastered it. How often have I seen learners jump from one method to the next without any coherence or plan in their studies! Above all, the key to a successful language acquisition is motivation. Without a strong focus and discipline, you won't get anywhere. You have to keep a clear picture of where you are heading, and provide for milestones along the way. So why are you learning Chinese? people ask me. They know that I already speak Japanese and at least for some people it seems that the two languages are mutually exclusive, as if you had to choose between the Middle Kingdom and the Land of the Rising Sun. I tell them that the roots of the Japanese civilization are to be found in ancient China and that in order to know Japan well, you have to know China as well. Most Japanese would agree on this. What I don't tell them is that China, not Japan, was my first love. When I was a kid I found in a closet at my grandmother's place a trove of novels by Pearl Buck that had ended up there for some reason (I don't think my grandmother ever went abroad, and she didn't know much about foreign places, but she certainly enjoyed reading, and Pearl Buck novels were quite popular in the fifties). I became fascinated by their depiction of complex family relationships, courage in the face of adversity, and palace politics, and read them all in a row. Later, at age ten or so, I discovered the detective stories of the Dutch diplomat and Chinese scholar Robert Van Gulik, and became a big fan of Judge Dee. At about the same time, my father purchased as a birthday present to my mother the two hefty volumes of Outlaws of the Marsh that had just been published in a Pleiade edition. I don't think that my mother ever read them in full but I certainly made my honey out of it. Re-reading this wonderful but lengthy Chinese classic once every year became a kind of rite. I still come back to it from time to time. - But the green Paradise of my childhood love, / Mais le vert paradis des amours enfantines, That sinless Paradise, full of furtive pleasures, / L'innocent paradis, plein de plaisirs furtifs, Is it farther off now than India and China? / Est-il deja plus loin que l'Inde et que la Chine ? When I started studying at the university in Paris, I was determined to return to "the green paradise of my childhood love", to quote Baudelaire, and to complement my major in economics with extracurricular activities such as learning Chinese. Unfortunately the timing of the Chinese lessons didn't fit with my already packed weekly schedule. Japanese classes were compatible with it. Besides, the Japanese economy was booming (that was just before the bubble burst) and I thought knowing the language would certainly be an asset when entering the job market. So I took Japanese. But I kept my longing for China and the Chinese language in a corner of my mind, as something you save for the future. And now, fifteen years later, I am back at it. And you, why are you learning Chinese?
Book Description
Integrated Chinese Level 1 Part 2 is an advanced beginner-level textbook for students who have completed one semester of study at the high school or college level, or for anyone seeking to communicate effectively in Chinese wherever it is spoken. This acclaimed, best-selling series is successful because it "integrates" all four language skills--listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Integrated Chinese helps you understand how the Chinese language works grammatically, and how to use Chinese in real life—how to understand it on the street, speak it on the telephone, read it in the newspaper, or write it in a report. The materials within Integrated Chinese’s set of textbooks, workbooks, character workbooks, and audio CDs are divided into sections of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Two types of exercises are used: traditional exercises (fill-in-the-blank, sentence completion, translation) to help learners build a solid grammatical foundation, and communication-oriented exercises (speaking drills, discussion topics, etc.) to prepare them to function in a Chinese language environment. Frequently, authentic materials written for native Chinese speakers and realia (newspaper clippings, signs, tickets, etc.) are used. Notes on language use and Chinese culture are found throughout the textbooks. Textbooks and workbooks are available in simplified or traditional characters.
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