Book review: Graded Chinese Reader 1 (汉语分级阅读1)

[atitarev]

This is part of the free Chinese textbooks project (which is now over!)

I received Graded Chinese Reader 1 - Selected Abridged Chinese Contemporary Stories+MP3(汉语分级阅读1(附MP3) ).

http://www.studychineseculture.com/book.asp?id=4237

I am very happy with my choice of the book. I only have read and listened to the 2 first stories (learning Japanese in parallel, that's why progress is not fast): 人们的鱼 (People's fish)　and 公园里发生了什么 (What happened in the park). Both are quite interesting. The recordings are very clear. The 1st story is read in a consistently slow speed (female voice), so I could follow a lot even before reading the story. The 2nd story is read a bit faster (male voice) but still very clearly.

All the 6 stories in the book are supplied with a phonetic guide in pinyin, have some vocabulary comments in English with examples in Chinese and are voice recorded.

This particular book is exactly for my level, so I didn't have trouble understanding most of the grammar points and expressions, although there are still some I need to clarify.

I highly recommend this book, which could be used, perhaps after mastering volume 2 "New Practical Chinese Reader". It's not heavy on new vocabulary, it is more useful for people wanting to improve their listening skills and pronunciation without having to work too hard.

Let me know if you consider purchasing this book and if you have any questions about the book or the recordings or if you are not sure about my review.

[HerrPetersen]

That sounds pretty neat; I have never heard of the project. How much total minutes of mp3 are there? For this price you surely cannot complain either. (even though I just checked amazon.de (Germany) and the price there is 12.5€ which is roughly 18$ around 3 times the price you pay on your linked website.

[imron]

See here for more background on the free textbooks project, which was run in conjunction with Chinese-forums, and the website linked above. The first round is now completed however. Studychineseculture.com is based in China, hence the cheaper price, but when you factor in shipping then the price difference isn't nearly so large.

[atitarev]

The stories are different in length but all are pretty long.

The 1st story (人民的鱼) is about 42 minutes, the 2nd (公园里发生了什么？) is 25 minutes long. The 3 out of remaining 4 are even longer and the last one is shorter. I need 3 or 4 CD's to make musical discs out of these MP3 files.

[HerrPetersen]

Thanks a lot for the review and info, I would say that I am around the NPCR2 level (probably less grammar and more vocabulary under my belt though). I decided to buy the book, so the advertisement strategy really paid of in my case.

[atitarev]

Good luck, HerrPetersen.

I made vocab list for myself for the first 2 stories, which include more words than I need because includes characters I wish to revise.

If anyone needs those lists, let me know.

[Jikolp]

Atitarev, what format is your vocab list? Because I´ve just bought GCR 1 and I would be really grateful if you could send it to me.

Edited September 9, 2008 at 03:06 PM by Jikolp

[atitarev]

Hmm, I get exceeded quota error fro my previous attachments. These files are tiny.

PM me with your email address. I will reply with the files.

[atitarev]

I have emailed my vocab lists for the first 2 stories to Jikolp. Can't post here at the moment, as I have exceeded my quota.

[chaxiu]

Just wondering, is there a version in traditional characters?

Thanks for the review

Chaxiu

[atitarev]

Here are the vocab lists for the first 2 stories. Some people might find them useful. It includes some question marks. I included more words than I need for reviewing the characters used.

Thanks, Roddy, for fixing the problem!

1 Renmen_de_yu-vocab.txt

2 Gongyuan_li_fasheng_le_shenme-vocab.txt

[elina]

Just wondering, is there a version in traditional characters?

As far as we know, there’s no such a version.

[mirgcire]

This is a review of a book from the Free Chinese Textbooks! No catch! program. I still haven't completed the book, but I thought I better submit the review in an attempt to salvage my reputation.

Graded Chinese Reader 1 was compiled/edited by Shi Ji and published by Sinolingua in 2007. It contains 6 short stories. The original versions of the stories were written by different authors but the editor has rewritten the stories to be more easily understood by beginning students. The vocabulary is limited to 2000 words and is targeted at HSK Basic Level A students.

When I first flipped through the book I was disappointed to see that all the hanzi had pinyin directly above it. My level is not that high, but I was hoping to use a book like this to improve my character comprehension. Eventually I got used to alternating between the hanzi and pinyin, using which ever aided my comprehension the most. I found that having the pinyin on the page meant I could focus more of my energies on comprehending the Chinese. The physical page lay out is nice, because there are wide margins with ample room for jotting notes.

My HSK level is not quite at “A” level, so I found the book both challenging and engaging. As a point of reference, I had just finished NPCR level 2 when I started this book. While reading the book, I found between 5 and 10 new words on each page. Each page defines a couple new words, so I had to use the dictionary a lot. Having the pinyin right in front of me made the look up much easier

I thoroughly enjoyed the stories so far. They are interesting and engaging enough to keep me motivated in spite of the fact that I constantly need to use the dictionary. The stories were originally written by well known authors. Each story deals with completely different subject matter, but a common thread runs through them. All the stories seem to deal with the transitions in Chinese society as it emerges from its predominantly rural, traditional roots into the modern, urban society that we know today.

[atitarev]

I have finished the first and the largest story of the 2nd volume, here's my review of the 1st volume. It's very nice. I haven't finished volume 2 only because of my style of using different books interchangeably. I am definitely going to finish the 2nd one and will be looking for the continuation.

I have read and translated it and listened to the first story of volume 2 but will have a couple of reviews. Mind you, it's 2h 10 min of listening!

Edited April 8, 2009 at 05:40 AM by atitarev

[roddy]

Merged the two topics - good to see these still coming in.

[atitarev]

Thanks, Roddy, if there will be volume 3, I'll definitely get it. In a PodCast thread somebody made the conclusion that Chinese podcasts are not so popular. Podcasts and audio-books are similar in my opinion and I prefer to have a book on me and be able to listen to it. If there were no audio-books I would use more podcasts.

[octagonal]

I read GCR1 and was great, this is a perfect tool to learn CHinese.

Now I know there is a GCR2 , I will definitely read it.

[HedgePig]

Graded Chinese Reader Volume 3 is now out. (ISBN 978-7-80200-415-3) However it is pitched at a somewhat easier level than volume 1 as it assumes a knowledge of about 1000 words vs the 2000 of volume 1.

The overall layout is similar but has some helpful improvements.

(1) It comes with a grid that you can place over the text, which hides the pinyin but allows you to read the characters. Unfortunately the grid could be a bit better designed as it is a little narrow meaning you have to line it up accurately with the edge of columns of text and it also doesn't cope too well with the spine of the book. However, it's still much better than cover the pinyin with a pen or ruler or used chopstick.

(2) The book has vocabulary list at the back covering most of the assumed vocabulary. I found this quite helpful as I didn't have to look up words I don't know in a separate dictionary.

As with the other books, it comes with a CD containing readings of the texts in MP3 format.

Edited July 30, 2009 at 03:54 PM by HedgePig

[atitarev]

Thanks for this. I will get book 3 when I finish book 2. I stopped for some time as I am trying to read other stuff like online articles.

[HedgePig]

Hello atitarev - just to point out that book 3 should be a lot easier than book 2, since it's pitched at a lower level than even book 1. So you may not find it that worthwhile if you are already comfortable with the first 2 readers.

I've only read one story each from GCR 1 and GCR 3. I though that since GCR 3 was supposedly at a lower level than GCR 1 and since my Chinese should have improved a little since I read the first story in GCR 1, the GCR 3 story would be noticeably easier for me but I didn't find this the case. Perhaps it is partly because I enjoyed the GCR story much more.

Regards

HedgePig