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| Revolutionary Period (1775-1800) |
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HomeShop at BookSurgeHistoryUnited StatesRevolutionary Period (1775-1800)Adventures in Mandarin Chinese: The Fox and The Goat (English and Mandarin Chinese Edition) |
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| Customer Reviews: | | Average Customer Review: ( 9 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Great way to build a foundation... Sep 20, 2009
By M. Williams
"Stillwaters"
I've tried quite a few of the ### Chinese characters books and while I did everything I was supposed to, they didn't really stick. I'm studying on my own, so opportunities to use the written language are hard to come by. This book really makes up for that.
I got through this book after about three weeks and I learned not only the characters, but now have a much better feel for sentence structure and phrasing. It may not be 100% useful in conversation, but it's a huge help.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
More Than A Language Study Course May 09, 2009
By Grady Harp
For those who have enjoyed Sam Song's previous books introducing his manner of instructing Western readers on the discovery of ADVENTURES IN MANDARIN CHINESE Volume 1 (The Fox and the Goat) may be no surprise. Sam Song has polished his skills for communicating the visual development of Chinese characters so that not only may the serious reader begin to learn to read Mandarin Chinese be the end of this book, but will also have enjoyed the journey through which Song take us. His asides are clever, smart, amusing and maintain the readers attention throughout.
What makes Song's technique enjoyable in addition to being instructive is the choices he makes in explaining the development of each Chinese character. Each stroke of the brush that creates these little 'art works' has a developmental history drawn out by Song in a way that is informative while making remembering that character a surety.
Song's final guidance through the story gives the reader a sense of achievement, and while this may not serve to prepare the reader for a comprehensive course in Chinese, it is a healthy beginning! Grady Harp, May 09
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Highly Effective Technique to Successfully Learn to Read Chinese Apr 07, 2009
By Erika Borsos
"pepper flower"
This book will enable the motivated reader to master about 125 Chinese characters. With this knowledge, the person will be able to read the tale about the Fox and the Goat written entirely in Chinese characters at the end of the book. This book is an excellent beginning text for anyone who desires to learn and read Chinese and will improve their overall knowledge of Chinese culture. Essentially, the cultural ideas related to Chinese life and experience serve as the basis for the Chinese characters themselves. The following example from the book will illustrate this point. The word "escape" is pictured as a runner with a trail of dust following behind him. Through progression the author literally provides a visual picture of how the main idea of a word is converted into a Chinese character. This technique reinforces the meaning of the character and provides the idea which the character represents.
Another theme in this book is that practice is the key to learning and retaining the meaning of each character. As someone who has benefited from reading this book and who has mastered the ability to read the story about the Fox and Goat in Chinese I can attest that this learning technique is effective and will lead to a successful outcome. Each time I learned a new character, I also repeated the previous lessons and reinforced learning and recalling the meaning of the characters. Rereading the passages provides new insights with each reading. Keep in mind, this is not a book to be read like a novel. It is a resource and reference book, a book of lessons, which needs to be read more than once to achieve maximum benefits. Book reviewed by T.J. Borsos and Erika Borsos [pepper flower]
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Chinese can be easy Nov 04, 2010
By Sandra Brody
Sam Song's three books Learning Chinese the Easy Way, Adventures in Mandarin Chinese, and Learning Chinese through Song are a great way to start writing in Chinese characters. The author tells short stories showing bit by bit how the Chinese characters were developed. He shows how each character evolved from its origin to its present representation. This helps the reader make sense of the characters and memorize them. The book even offers practice sheets to figure out the correct way to write some of the more difficult characters. I found myself absolutely absorbed in these books and I couldn't wait to actually read and write the stories all by myself. These books are great for all ages. My mom enjoyed them too. I would most definitely recommend it to a friend eager to learn Chinese.
-Isabella Brody
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Great Book for Learning Mandarin Chinese Aug 03, 2010
By Bonnie Brody
"Book Lover and Knitter"
Mr. Song, author of Adventures in Mandarin Chinese: The Fox and The Goat (Volume 1) has written a book that will be helpful for any student of the Chinese language. The author explains how Chinese characters are considered words in themselves. "A Chinese character represents a complete concept just like English words do." There is a chart included so that readers can practice the writing of Chinese characters. He recommends that the reader write each character three times to help with memory. There are also audio files for download at the author's site to help with practicing enunciation and pronunciation. I recommend this book.
See all 9 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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