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Read and Write Chinese: A Simplified Guide to the Chinese Characters (Paperback)



Read and Write Chinese: A Simplified Guide to the Chinese Characters (Paperback)
Author/Publisher: Rita Mei-Wah Choy
Format: paperback
Emphasis: Chinese Characters
Level: Beginning - Intermediate
Note: In Traditional Chinese Characters
List Price: $15

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Detailed information
     
Editorial Reviews
 
Language Notes
Text: English, Chinese

Product Details
 
  • Paperback: 349 pages
  • Publisher: China West Books; 5th&Expnd edition (June 1990)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN: 0941340112
  • Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 5.5 x 8.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces.
  • Average Customer Review: based on 20 reviews.

Spotlight Reviews

 
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

Traditional vs. Simplified Characters?, June 11, 1999
 

Reviewer: Zakarius (Columbus, OH USA)

This book is an excellent source of learning material, but to clarify the misunderstanding observed by the reader from Atlanta, perhaps a future edition should be retitled "Understanding Traditional Chinese".

In any case, despite the fact that simplified characters are used throughout mainland China, they are useless in that they are not much faster to write (which was their original intended purpose) and make the language more difficult by forcing students to learn BOTH the traditional AND simplified characters. Furthermore, the many students I've met over the past few years from mainland China, who don't always know the traditional character equivalent of their simplified ones, are losing touch with their culture which has been embedded in the intricacies of how the traditional characters developed from pictographs.

Zakarius
 

 


Customer Reviews

 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

A must!, January 23, 2003
 

Reviewer: "jeffgwy" (Taipei, Taiwan)

This book is a must for learning Chinese. The cross reference dictionaries are a life saver. The book is well thought out and very easy to use. You can learn from the book and also use it for reference!


 

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

One of the best books if you are studying asian calligraphy, February 27, 2002
Reviewer: A reader
This is great book if you are studying the art form of chinese characters. It is one of the only books available with an index of the characters in English which makes it invaluable. I highly recommend it.


 

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

useful guide, January 23, 2002
Reviewer: A reader
It's a nicely laid-out book. Wish there was an audio accompaniment to these series that is packaged with the book. This book and also Understanding Chinese by the same author is, however, not for beginners. It serves as a good supplement.


 

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

Excellent book WITHOUT a flaw, December 31, 2001
 

Reviewer: S Holland (Taipei, Taiwan)

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. Also, it provides pronunciation in "bopomofo" the phonetic system used in Taiwan by foreigners and natives alike, far superioir to Wades-Giles or Pinyin.


 

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

Need to have simplified characters, October 4, 2000
 

Reviewer: Steve A. Corning (Gurnee, IL USA)

To support some of the other comments, this would be a 5 star plus book if "simplified guide" meant using the simplified characters. Having a character guide which I am able to read without a magnifying glass is a major plus. If the next revision switches to simplified characters, it will be the "best" in class.





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