An American In Taiwan

Over the past couple years, I’ve collected a number of Chinese language learning tools. This includes books, flashcards, even software. Though my collection is far from extensive, I thought it might be useful for me to lay them out for others who are interested in learning Chinese, along with my thoughts about them. Whenever I update this page, I’ll write a post on the main blog site to make it known.

Chinese in a Flash

This is a collection of flash cards that have come in very handy, mostly for studying when given a few minutes of downtime, be it on the bus or doctor’s office or even just a break at work. Repetition is absolutely key for learning a new language, especially one as wholly different as Chinese. The cards are printed on good stock, about the size of business cards, which means you can take a select few you really need to work on, say 20 or so, and they’ll fit in your pocket. I would normally rubber band about that many together and take them with me wherever I went. The cards have simplified and traditional Chinese, stroke-order for the simplified characters, definitions, radicals, context samples, even compound words that use the character. You get about 400 in each volume, and there are four volumes. This is volume one.

The New Practical Chinese Reader

I used this as a textbook in a class, and was unimpressed by it. That’s not to say that it’s a bad textbook, I just wasn’t impressed by it. The light red color of all the text and pictures is visually unappealing, an aspect of learning a new language that is essential. It comes with a workbook and audio CDs. I think they could take a hint from the Yokosoo! Japanese textbook, asthetically speaking. The workbook is good, however. When I was doing the exercises, I felt like it was really making a difference. They could have converted the audio files on the CDs into MP3s and placed them all on one disc, or just made a DVD, instead.

Keys to Chinese Character Writing

Unless you’re an absolute beginning learner of Chinese or extremely interested in the minute details of the written language, this book will be somewhat of a disappointment. I learned Japanese for a year before moving on to Traditional Chinese, which most likely boots me right out of the intended demographic of this manual. It goes into great detail regarding the essentials, the pieces-parts, the make-up of Chinese characters but doesn’t do much else. There are some drills, some write-what-you’ve-learned but nothing else. I was hoping for some really interesting etymological tidbits but I was sadly let down. If you’re just starting, go ahead and get it, but it will become obsolete quickly as your thought-processes change and you begin to naturally and effortlessly write even the most “complicated” Chinese characters.

A Practical Chinese Grammar

While this looks rather bland and snore-inducing, it turns out to be a great text on the finer points of Chinese grammar. Even an elementary learner will benefit from this text, as it really breaks down Chinese into a way in which an English speaker can grasp it. It is Simplified Chinese with Hanyu Pinyin with diacritics, though after a Chinese character is introduced, subsequent displays omit the Pinyin. But that’s okay, right? You’re supposed to be learning! I actually read this book in bed before sleeping sometimes. If anything, it will allow you to differentiate between some of the aspects of Chinese English speakers often have trouble with. A sample example sentence: 我知道这个人，但是我不认识她。她的地址，我也不知道。 （I know of this person but I don’t know her personally. I don’t know her address, either.) It looks to be a great desk reference.