So which study materials to take back???

[Shadowdh]

Hi there all... I am looking for suggestions as to which study materials to take back to the UK with me... books that further language skills and cds for listening etc, I am at the intermediate level now, and am using 桥梁 (the BLCU Choice Chinese textbooks for Learners overseas) which I find challenging but a good level for me, so I was thinking of getting books and materials (for listening etc) to take me further... especially as books and stuff here are cheaper (by far) than the UK... thanks for any suggestions... I know its a bit of a broad questions to ask but I look through the so many books in the shops and its a bit of a nightmare choosing... Suggestions for HSK books much appreciated too... cheers

[imron]

How about something like 席殊3SFM实用硬笔字60小时训练, which will help immensely with learning to read and recognise Chinese handwriting.

[Shadowdh]

Thanks for the suggestion Imron... looks good... will look that one up at the shop when I go...

[renzhe]

If you are at an intermediate level, I would concentrate on real books and genuine material rather than study books.

I got a bag full of wuxia novels, comics, regular books, etc. You could also get some cheap DVDs with movies, TV-shows, and similar listening material.

[Shadowdh]

Renzhe, that is a good suggestion and I have been buying up a swag bag of those sorts of goodies... was just wondering if there is anything specific that I should have on the list... its going to cost me more to get them home than to buy I think... lol

[renzhe]

Pack it all as hand luggage, they don't weigh that (sh)

[Shadowdh]

LOL yeah I know, did that last time and I took a laptop bag and my day pack filled with books... they each weighed more than my check in... I will probably do that as well as send some stuff back... I am looking at getting quite a bit... its just so cheap here compared to the UK...

[here2learn]

Like renzhe said, real books, but in particular (for me), how about some chinese classics? Things we'd read translated all over the place but never the original versions (this is if you're interested in chinese culture too), like the Yi Jing, books by Kongzi, Sunzi, Mengzi, Laozi, etc.... maybe some books of chinese proverbs or 'jokes', or chinese-authored novels.

I recently bought "Teahouse", a play by Lao She(?). I saw the play in the US, in chinese, and barely followed it... haha, now 3 years later I can read the original and finally know what I saw!

(ok,ok, I can't really read it yet either, but I will someday!)

Maybe some books in chinese about a topic you like - music, art, science, sports, etc...

Don't forget some cheapo dvd's of some random chinese TV shows.

[imron]

Don't forget some cheapo dvd's of some random chinese TV shows.

Random? Whaddya mean random? There's a good selection right here.

[Shadowdh]

Here2learn, thanks for the tips... I just bought the classics as it happened, they are in dual language format (one side English and one Chinese) but if I saw a full Chinese copy I would probably buy it too... Cool re the books I like thing, got that covered mostly too... I understand completely what you mean about "cant really read it"... lol... happens to me all the time

Imron, good point... thats something that will have to be done when back as I will have more time then... I say now.

[foodtarget]

I know what you mean about taking back books. I'm thinking about throwing out all my clothes to make more room for books, haha. As far as HSK materials, the ones I'm planning to take back are:

~Brushing up Your Vocabulary for HSK (HSK单词速记速练)

This is a set of workbooks that comes in three levels (初，中，高级) and each level has three books. 初级上册 covers the HSK甲级 vocab, 初级中&下册 cover 乙级 vocab. The 中级 books cover 丙级 vocab and I assume 高级 covers 丁级 vocab (I haven't bought it yet). The vocab is in alphabetical order, and each page of vocab/definitions is followed by a full page of practice exercises. I believe all the words in the official HSK vocab lists are included (there are about 2000 in my 乙级 workbooks, that sounds right, right?)

~An Intensive Course of HSK (HSK速成强化教程)

This is what the HSK review classes at my uni are using. It's light and comes with CDs. There are 初中 and 高等 versions.

~ Essentials of HSK (HSK 8级精解)

There is a separate book for each of the 4 HSK sections, and they each come with some cassette tapes (no CD according to the bookstore). I've only got the 听力 one so far, but it has 8 practice 模拟听力 sections, followed by the answers, transcripts of the recordings, and explanations for each question. Then there are two full-length 模拟考试s, again followed by answers, transcripts, and explanations.

Some people recommended buying real novels. I personally find real Chinese novels a little too difficult (or at least too time-consuming). In the Chinese children's section, I found some novels designed for elementary school students that use a restricted list of characters. They start at 100 characters and go up to 600 I think. I find these to be easier, more beneficial (since it's mostly understandable, but there are still things I don't know), and less time-consuming (since I'm not constantly looking up characters). I also bought all the Harry Potter book in Chinese, as something to work towards....

[Shadowdh]

Foodtarget you are awesome... thats a great list... I was humming and hahing over all those hsk books and with just the littlest of pushes I will now get them... many thanks...