Is Colloquial Chinese by Kan Qian better than Intensive Spoken Chinese by Zhang Peng

[IndhuRen]

Dear comrades,

I have the following learning material in my library

1) Pimsleur 1,2,3

2) Colloquial Chinese by Kan Qian

3)Most common Chinese Radicals by Zhang Pengpeng

4) Rapid Literacy in Chinese by Zhang Pengpeng

5) Comprehensive Chinese Grammar by Yip

Some one suggested to me that Intensive Spoken Chinese by Zhang Pengpeng was the best starting material for a beginner.

What I would like to know is that whether Colloquial Chinese by Kan Qian is a suitable substitute for Intensive Spoken Chinese.

My learning strategy was to go through Pimsleur 1,2,3 followed by Colloquial Chinese and Most Common Chinese Radicals. Finally I would immmerse into Rapid Literacy in Chinese.

Please help:help

[atitarev]

"Colloquial Chinese" is not a very thorough book but it's not hard to go through and you might enjoy it. The dialogues and vocabulary choice are not bad. I found this book easy, so if it keeps you motivated, it's OK to use, IMHO.

I would recommend more serious stuff like "New Practical Chinese Reader" or "Integrated Chinese" they have a few volumes each, so you can plan your studies and not get disoriented about what do next and have some understanding how much you already know.

Radicals, character and grammar books are only for reference, not for studying, don't use dictionaries for learning the language, it's not efficent but it's worth reading certain grammar topics in details, the one you are covering in your textbooks or coming across while reading something.

I am not familiar with "Intensive Spoken Chinese" but you can use a lot of different books as a beginner, as long as you continue and don't limit your studies on just one book. I haven't heard about "Rapid Literacy in Chinese" either but I don't believe in "Rapid Literacy". However, you'll find a lot of good feedback about the 2 textbooks I highlighted above.

[lau]

I have not used the book by Kan Qian, but i've seen it and have not been much impressed by it. Any book is good (in theory), but the less boring it is and the less effort it demands, the more likely you are to be studying chinese for longer than a few weeks/months. and the question is, really, how necessary is it to learn words like passport, visa, customs, and stuff on your first day? people speak english in airports anyway.

Me being the lazy type, i do not think that a grammar book is a good choice. Yes, you need one, but i have yet to meet a person who can spend evenings and evenings reading a GRAMMAR book. What i'd recommend, is getting some audiocourses and using them randomly not to get bored, and to get the same stuff repeated all over again in various ways. I generally prefer the ones that come with explanations/instructions in audio, not just in the book. Pimsleur is of that kind, FSI Chinese (get it at www.fsi-language-courses.com), i think Linguaphone might have one of those as well, and i've also seen "Chinese on The Move" and "Instant Immersion Chinese". as to the last two, if you are american, they have this lovely library thing, that you can just download the stuff if you have a valid library card. kansas.lib.overdrive.com is just one of those libraries using the overdrive software for those purposes. just check the foreign language section.

And try reading more. get some kind of easy (kids?) book (with pinyin?) in both chinese and english, have them both on the desk. read, chinese first, and then see the "translation". and then, with that, i guess the sentence structures and stuff will just become clear. cause chinese does not really have "grammar" in the normal sense. they just either say smth that way, or they say it some other way.

[IndhuRen]

Thankyou comrades fror your kind advice. But I am back to square one now. It took me a long time to assemble my library from the net. I would need more time before I can afford to buy the package for New Practical Chinese Reader or Integrated Chinese.

I would also be grateful to both Atitarev and Lau if you could direct me other sources which might be a suitable alternative for the above mentioned Material....

[wushijiao]

Finally I would immmerse into Rapid Literacy in Chinese.

I used that back when I was starting out, and I thought it was a great book, concise and effective.

[lau]

New Practical Chinese Reader has video lessons online: http://www.hanyu.com.cn/en/htm_newlesson/mulu.htm

And, if you can't get the NEW practical chinese reader, get the "old" PCR - i believe i saw the whole text, audios and additional stuff available online. There isn't one best book. There are more popular ones, there are some that this or that person liked more, there are some that have prettier pictures and layout. But actually, any text book is OK. Start learning, keep on hunting for books, and when you can compare for yourself, you'll find the one that fits you.

good luck

[flameproof]

4) Rapid Literacy in Chinese by Zhang Pengpeng

I just bought it last month for an affordable RMB 24.00 .

I really like the format. It's really useful in learning characters.

1 lesson = 30 character. And then some sentences using the learned characters. 25 lessons in total.

Unfortunately there is only one issue out and only 750 characters are taught.

That format would be a great project to be continued as an open source input project.

[IndhuRen]

4) Rapid Literacy in Chinese by Zhang Pengpeng

I just bought it last month for an affordable RMB 24.00 .

I really like the format. It's really useful in learning characters.

1 lesson = 30 character. And then some sentences using the learned characters. 25 lessons in total.

Unfortunately there is only one issue out and only 750 characters are taught.

That format would be a great project to be continued as an open source input project.

Hi Flame proof,

did they also give you 3 audio cassettes along with the book. I managed to download the book from the net but couildn't get the audio files. If the audio cassettes aren't really useful, I don't want to spend money on them....

[flameproof]

did they also give you 3 audio cassettes

Unfortunately I live in 2007 and don't have any cassette player anymore.

If you listen to ChinesePod or have other Audio stuff I don't see the point having audio just for that book. Will be Chinese published and dead boring anyway.