Appropriate textbooks/courses? - NPCR??

[drmel]

Hi guys,

I want to get back into studying Mandarin after a few years off but I am not sure what level I should consider myself and therefore what textbooks or courses would be appropriate.

At my best (in mid 2004) I reached HSK level 7. I was studying in Beijing and using the second of the "Bridge" textbooks published by BLCU.

I'm now back in Australia and haven't really used my Chinese since 2005. Any ideas about what textbooks might be appropriate? There is a local evening college that has Mandarin classes, but the highest textbook level they have is the New Practical Chinese Reader 3. I have never used the series before; would book 3 be a good level to start back at given the long absence or am I likely to be bored within ten minutes?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

[topple]

NPCR 3 is somewhere between the Elementary and Intermediate level. If you reached HSK level 7 then this is probably going to be more of a easy refresher for you. As always, you could take a look at the textbook yourself at the college bookstore and see if its appropriate for you.

[kdavid]

At my best (in mid 2004) I reached HSK level 7.

There is a local evening college that has Mandarin classes, but the highest textbook level they have is the New Practical Chinese Reader 3.

Level 7 is pretty good, so unless you've lost all of the Mandarin you knew, NPCR will be way too low.

Can you drop into the book store and look through the different course books available?

[stelingo]

Why not take a 'look inside' the book at amazon?

http://www.amazon.com/New-Practical-Chinese-Reader-Textbook/dp/756191251X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261005792&sr=1-1

[wrbt]

Princeton has a lot of advanced level books:

http://press.princeton.edu/catalogs/series/plpmc.html

[drmel]

Thanks guys.

I've found a school that has classes at the NPCR 5 and 6 level. I think I might try that out.

[PaulPimenta]

I lived in China last year and have looked at a variety of books by Beijing Language and Culture University and Press, I've found that NPCR is definitely one of the best series' available for studying Mandarin, although I've heard that Book 5 doesn't focus as much on spoken Chinese.

[rohityankee]

anyone of you have NPCR 5 and 6

[renzhe]

I have NPCR5, I didn't wait for the sixth volume, and didn't get it once it came out.

NPCR5 is heavily based on essays and short stories, there is no dialogue, and the focus is on written language.

[Meng Lelan]

I have NPCR 6 which I got in Shanghai last summer. Like NPCR 5, it is also heavily based on stories, essays, poems, articles, etc.

[p0mmes_frites]

What should be our level if we are studying NPCR 5? I am in the beginning chapters of NPCR 5 and have completed all other NPCR levels up to 5. I wonder what is the level considered to be. I guess it is something upper-inter or beginning of advanced, but is it really so in reality? How were your skills when u finished book 5?