NPCR2 and 越剧

[murrayjames]

Having just finished NPCR2, I can't help but comment on the endless fixation with Shaoxing Opera. From the moment the word is introduced in Lesson 22, it's this....

林娜要学会唱越剧, or

宋华买好了两张越剧票, etc...

...once per dialogue, twice per page of grammatical exercises.

Last week my Chinese girlfriend (who I rely on for speaking practice), blurted out "越剧，越剧！No Chinese person cares about stupid 越剧！"

[xiaocai]

I don't get it. Does it mean that he hates 越剧 or she is disappointed because very few people knows how to appreciate 越剧 now?

[murrayjames]

xiaocai, I don't think she cares one way or another. She was just joking about the word appearing so often in the text.

It's a weird series. I still remember NPCR1... It mentions 北京烤鸭 every three pages or so.

[gato]

Obviously the latter. For all you 越剧 lovers out there:

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNDgzMTY5ODA=.html

越剧牡丹亭

[xiaocai]

Hey, this reminds me of watching 苏州评书《水浒传》 and 越剧《红楼梦》many years ago on CCTV. Of course they were subtitled, but my parents were still shocked by the fact that a junior high student will watch 评书 and 戏剧, in languages we don't understand!

[xiaocai]

@murrayjames: I see. But I just thought to most of people grew up in chinese education system, textbooks are supposed to be boring and monotonous.

Edited September 19, 2009 at 06:50 AM by xiaocai

[elliott50]

I think the reason NPCR2 keeps using the relatively uncommon word 越剧, is simply that it happens to be formed by two very common characters (377th and 805th most common according to Wenlin) that can be reused by the authors of NPCR2 to form other words and thus reduce the burden of character learning on the student.

Of course it could always be that the authors are actually great fans of that particular art form and have used the textbook to bring it to the attention of the world... in which case this discussion thread is evidence of their success!

[Meng Lelan]

murrayjames, your Chinese girlfriend will flee if you force her to read more of NPCR. Actually NPCR is a very useful, very popular series in the US even I use it for teaching class, but yes, it is a very quirky series. There's a thread in here about how quirky the original PCR was, idiotic story line and all, etc. I agree the story line tends to be idiotic in NPCR as well, but this is a lot better than what we had about 20 years ago.

[renzhe]

I think the reason NPCR2 keeps using the relatively uncommon word 越剧, is simply that it happens to be formed by two very common characters (377th and 805th most common according to Wenlin) that can be reused by the authors of NPCR2 to form other words and thus reduce the burden of character learning on the student.

I think that this is the case. We had a thread about the word 孔雀 (peacock) being used in the NPCR series, which is not really a terrible useful word for a beginner, but both 孔 (孔子) and 雀 (麻雀) are very common characters. It was probably easier to incorporate 孔雀 into an early lesson for the writers.

I think that one should look at a textbook series as a whole, and once you've finished NPCR, I don't think that you've learned too many useless characters or words or other things.

[elliott50]

I think that one should look at a textbook series as a whole...

I agree renzhe, I'm currently working through NPCR book 5, having read through the previous four in sequence. The texts in book 5, whist quite challenging, are very interesting and adult - mostly adaptations of short stories or articles. I'm really enjoying the material as it feels "real" rather than concocted for language learning purposes. Overall I think NPCR is one of the better texts out there, especially as the supporting CDs (and DVDs) are very clear. However, as I've only been using it for reading practice, I've not done all of the exercises, so I cannot pass comment on that aspect of the material.

[murrayjames]

Thanks everyone for your replies.

Good to hear that the series works a whole. I just started NPCR3, and I like it already. NPCR2 began to feel same-y toward the end. But already in the first lesson of NPCR3, there are new sentence structures and grammatical forms. Onward!

[renzhe]

I don't think that there's a perfect textbook. NPCR is a decent one, and if you've started it, it would make sense to finish it (I finished it myself). This will cover the most important vocabulary and grammar and give you exercises and context, and beyond that, you'll need to expand and look for supplementary material.

Once you reach the intermediate level (finish NPCR), you should have most of the grammar you need, and you'll likely be missing listening, vocabulary and reading. No textbook alone can possibly provide enough of those three

In fact, I recommend TV series, short stories, comics and flashcard programs in parallel with a textbook. There is something about Chinese that makes is extremely hard to get good at without a lot of exposure. If you're not in China, you'll need to get that exposure through other means. You'll find that, if your basics are set (and they should be after finishing the 5 books of NPCR), your language level will be in direct proportion to how much listening, reading and speaking practice you do, and how often.

[wrbt]

You know what's a pretty good textbook series that's probably right around your level?

http://www.chinasprout.com/shop/BLA077

Someone in here had recommended them to me so I picked up all three of the intermediate, worked thru them in about two months. It focuses a lot more on spoken as opposed to the literature tilt that a lot of material takes, which for many people's goals (being able to speak Chinese) is good.

Some info:

- Follows the usual dialog/vocab/exercises pattern

- Dialogs about 5-6 minutes long

- Approx 30 vocab items per dialog

- Grammar, idiom explanations in Chinese

- MP3 CD included, very clear quality recordings just like NPCR

- Material is okay, not very current even/news based but relatively modern

I've got the first one from the advanced which I'm just about to start, will probably order the other two advanced ones if I like it.

[murrayjames]

hey wrbt, thanks for the suggestion. Looks good, I'll check it out