Chinese Step by Step

[Calif]

Has anyone bought this book? I have been using Urban Chinese and it's great, but I really wanna learn more about writing. I am afraid to plunk down my (dwindling) $$$ on a book without asking any questions. I downloaded their PDF and it looks cool so far, but still...

http://www.mushroompress.com/bookview.html

Also, what about Learning Chinese Characters from Mrs. Zhang? Anyone tried that? It looks cool too, and I am kinda leaning towards it cuz it was written by a Chinese, probably they understand better how to teach us.

http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Chinese-Characters-Ms-Zhang/dp/7561912943/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240525178&sr=8-5

Argh! Decisions!

[putonghua73]

Also, what about Learning Chinese Characters from Mrs. Zhang? Anyone tried that? It looks cool too, and I am kinda leaning towards it cuz it was written by a Chinese, probably they understand better how to teach us.

You'll be surprised at the sheer amount of bad material out there, as well as bad teaching methods. Don't fall into the trap of thinking because the book was written by a Chinese author, it automatically acquires a sense of legitimacy as a useful teaching aid.

Note: I have not read 'Learning Chinese Characters' so cannot comment if it is useful or one to pass over - I was commenting more on your comment that because it was written by a Chinese author, that automatically qualified the book as a good teaching aid. Not so. Read through this forum and you'll quickly get a feel for what books people recommend.

I was recommended William McNaughton's 'Reading & Writing Chinese' (Simplified Character Edition) by a fellow classmate back when I studied at SOAS on Saturday's. He in turn, was recommended the book by someone who was studying [Chinese] full-time. I've also seen recommendations in posts on ChinesePod.

It's extremely well organised, provides a very good guide to the writing system (describes all the types of Chinese characters and components), and the most useful characters are introduced first (as determined by Hanyu Shuiping Cihui Yu Hanzi Dengjii Dagang). I also use the book as a basic 词典 (cidian - dictionary).

ISBN 0-8048-3509-8 if you wish to read reviews on Amazon.

John DeFrancis is an extremely venerated author, and his books on Chinese are still immensely popular. In fact, I have 4 of his weighty tomes that I need to eBay because they're all in traditional script, and I do not intend to study Chinese in Taiwan.

Check out this thread (cheers Roddy!) for suggestions.

[Calif]

Thanks for that good advice. May I ask what "SOAS" school is?

I ordered the book from Mushroom Press, and I bout a used copy of McNaughton's book - after looking through it online. You are right, it does look good. When I have both books i will compare them.

[imron]

SOAS - School of Oriental and African Studies, in London.

[flameproof]

I am kinda leaning towards it cuz it was written by a Chinese, probably they understand better how to teach us.

Most don't. Somebody who knows CFL is better suited, at least in theory.

I have no idea about hand writing as it doesn't interest me at all. But for just reading I suggest to have a look at the Chinese Breeze books. I still like them a lot.