DeFrancis readers - outdated?

[ChristopherB]

I'm currently working my way through and greatly enjoying Mr. DeFrancis' Beginning Chinese Reader, but I have read a number of comments here that the series is "horribly outdated". I was wondering whether anyone who has used this series, preferably all 3 volumes can elaborate on this statement? I've only really started the first book and I'm not sure if I'd pick out things that are particularly old-fashioned, since my knowledge of China generally speaking is not that great. I just really love the structure of the course and plan to go through the entire series. Is it still good to use do you think?

Edited March 23, 2010 at 09:14 AM by ChristopherB

[chalimac]

I think it is not outdated at all. It teaches the full range of Chinese from colloquial dialogues to written expressions. The series are awesome, the organization is is so well thought-out, it nurses you all the way from 0 to +1000 characters and tons of words. It includes concepts that were very innovative at the time like spaced repetition embedded in the texts. In my opinion, still the best reader.

The only problem is that the bulk of the text is in traditional characters, although one could use the appendixes for an speed course in simplified. I love traditional, so no problem for me.

Two advices:

-Buy all the volumes, they might run out of stock. I read some rumors about a new edition being in the works, but the old editions are perfectly

fine.

- You might be interested in getting the audio. I didn't and I regret it:

http://www.shu.edu/academics/artsci/language-resource-center/chinese-audio-materials.cfm

[ChristopherB]

Thanks, I have the audio for the first reader already and it's a great help. There are some occasional discrepancies between the audio and text, but in the main it's just fine. I'll be looking into the Intermediate and Advanced readers very soon; there are quite a few copies floating around second-hand, so it shouldn't be much of a problem to track down. The only real problem is the hefty price-tag that accompanies virtually every copy I've seen for sale.

I'm learning traditional personally, so that is definitely an added benefit to the series. I really think it's far and away the best place to get started learning to read Chinese.

[Lu]

I haven't used the readers, but learned Chinese from the DeFrancis textbooks at first. They are not entirely up-to-date, but they are very good for learning the language. Once you get a grasp of the language, you can talk to native speakers or use some additional material to learn some current usage.

[chalimac]

The only real problem is the hefty price-tag

The font size gets smaller as the series progresses. The font in the advanced volume is much smaller and it crams the contents of two volumes in one. That volume alone has 200.000 characters of text, so the price per character is much less than readers full of pictures and white space.

I remember www.bookdepository.co.uk had the advanced for a little less than amazon.

Edited March 23, 2010 at 02:17 PM by chalimac

[renzhe]

I think that the "horribly outdated" statement doesn't refer to the linguistic content (most of it is still very much valid), but that the texts which were written back then feel outdated today, compared to all the shiny new textbooks writing about the Olympics and the Jinmao tower and whatnot.

[querido]

My first Chinese textbook was originally published in 1958. I see the bits that are considered outdated; you know, you'll have to work-around common usage and slang regardless, right?

I'm one of those who had trouble letting go of Nixon... and I love this little book. Under the the tape hiss added by the Dover republication in 1971 lie the original phonograph record artifacts. Only the static of a real shortwave radio transmission could be more romantic than that!

I have all the books I need, but I think someone should review the above linked DeFrancis Reader audio here. Is there tape hiss? That isn't so bad, but, how's the delivery? Are they native speakers? Any regionalism? I don't think I've seen it reviewed anywhere.

[ChristopherB]

The quality of the CDs, which were digitized from cassettes, is not crystal clear quality that one would expect nowadays. There is the hiss that is expected from older reel-to-reel tapes, and voices aren't as clear as they would be if recorded today, but it is still definitely good enough for one to get all the use out of them that one needs. The speakers are definitely natives, and as far as I can tell they are standard accents. The speed is not slowed down for didactic purposes, but read at a normal rate for comprehension. All the illustrative sentences, narratives and dialogues are recorded. As you can probably imagine, there is a LOT of audio. If you're using the readers, I highly recommend you order the audio from Seton Hall University.

[shivasprogeny]

At my school we went through the intermediate book, but it was not the only series we used.

As far as it being outdated, there were occasional words that our 20-something, native Chinese teacher told us were incorrect or no longer used. Those words, however, are an exception and the content of the books are still largely relevant for your basic daily vocabulary and interactions.