Advice:A pre-intermediate or intermediate text to self study outside of class

[ChTTay]

Hey there,

At the moment i am using Boya pre-intermediate 1 in my classes but find that i am at least familier with a lot of stuff in it. The class is still worthwhile as i dont necessarily know all the grammar points that well and there is new vocab. I find i am not that good at being creative with some of the stuff yet either.

At the same time, i'd like to try and study another textbook outside of class that overlap a bit but is slightly more advanced/challenging.

I had a look at Boya pre-int level 2 and also at New Practical Chinese Reader 5 or 4. I am struggling to make a decision with which one to use. I hear a lot of good things about NPCR and it did look good. Then again, surely the level 2 Boya leads on from level 1 that we do in class?! I also read on this forum that NPCR tends to have more useful vocab and content... I am all for studying useful things.

If anyone has been at this level before could give me some advice that would be good. I feel like i am on the border between pre-int and intermediate. At least in terms of our class levels.

[hackinger]

Hi,

I recently read Boya pre-intermediate Vol 2 and then NPCR Vol 5.

I enjoyed both books. I used them as graded readers skipping much of the exercises and grammar parts. (I use a grammar book instead.)

The texts, i.e. reading sections, in NPCR Vol 5 are a bit more interesting and a bit more like "real Chinese", while the texts in Boya pre-intermediate Vol 2 are a bit more textbook like. However the difference is small. Perhaps the texts in NPCR Vol 5 are slightly more interesting because the book may be a bit more advanced. Going from Boya pre-intermediate Vol 2 to NPCR Vol 5 was a good continuation with no perceived jump in difficulty. The "usefulness" of the vocabulary is about the same IMHO.

NPCR Vol 4 is more easy than Boya pre-intermediate Vol 2 and the texts are shorter and even more textbook like. NPCR is pretty much done with elementary grammar after Vol 4 and in Vol 5 the grammar parts are mainly usage examples. Boya pre-intermediate Volume 2 has more grammar. I do not know Boya pre-intermediate Vol 1.

These books are not that expensive. I recommend both. :-)

Cheers

hackinger

[abcdefg]

Then again, surely the level 2 Boya leads on from level 1 that we do in class?

I've used those two Boya books not long ago (准中级 I and II.) Seemed to me the main difference was that book 2 had more 书面 language (less 口语） than book 1. Don't know about NPCR.