
Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese Script
TEACH YOURSELF (Publisher)
Published on 30. April 2003
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-0-340-86017-5 (ISBN)
Description
The Chinese script is an amazing tool with which you will be able to go some way towards understanding Chinese, one of the world's most ancient languages, and its culture. "Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese Script" starts from scratch, explaining the origins of the language and how characters have evolved. It teaches you how to write characters correctly from the beginning and, through a series of carefully graded exercises, how to understand enough from signs, directions, instructions and even menus to be able to get by. You will surprise yourself with your ingenuity and your ability to guess correctly, based on the sound logic learnt from this book. The book is divided into to main parts. Units 1-4 introduce you to the origins of the Chinese script, explain how characters and words are formed and the basic rules in writing them. Unit 4 ends with a mini test to enable you to check your progress so far. Units 5-9 introduce you to real-life situations such as reading signs, maps, notices and even menus. You will be able to write numbers, dates, tell the time, and fill out simple forms. There is a comprehensive test at the end of Unit 9.
Unit 10 explains how to use a Chinese-English dictionary and Chinese word-processing packages with concrete examples. There is also a brief introduction to Chinese idioms. By the end of the book, you will understand how the Chinese script works and will have mastered the basics of reading and writing Chinese. This is the leader in self-learning with more than 300 titles, covering all subjects. Be where you want to be with Teach Yourself.
Unit 10 explains how to use a Chinese-English dictionary and Chinese word-processing packages with concrete examples. There is also a brief introduction to Chinese idioms. By the end of the book, you will understand how the Chinese script works and will have mastered the basics of reading and writing Chinese. This is the leader in self-learning with more than 300 titles, covering all subjects. Be where you want to be with Teach Yourself.
More details
Series
Language
Other
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Murray Press
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
approx. 30 black & white cartoons/photos
Dimensions
Height: 199 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
192 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-340-86017-5 (9780340860175)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition

Elizabeth Scurfield | Lianyi Song
Beginner's Chinese Script
Book
12/1999
TEACH YOURSELF
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Persons
Elizabeth Scurfield was until recently Chair of the Department of Modern Languages at the University of Westminster in London, where she was a founder member of the Chinese section. Song Lianyi grew up and was educated in Beijing. He has taught Chinese as a foreign language for more than 13 years. He is at present Lecturer in Chinese at SOAS. He completed his PhD in language teaching techniques at the Institute of Education, University of London.
Content
Origins of the script; how Chinese characters are formed; writing Chinese characters - basic rules, strokes and word order; how words are formed; signs I - at the hotel; signs II - directions; signs III - shopping; entertainment - going places; the weather; how to use a Chinese-English dictionary; key to the exercises; table of radicals; pronunciation guide; some useul public signs and notices; Chinese-English vocabulary; English-Chinese vocabulary.