Advice for intermediate self-study (reading, vocabulary building)

[thomasdf]

Hello everybody,

I'm new to this forum and I would appreciate if you could give me some advice regarding intermediate-level books for self study...

I don't know my exact level according to HSK levels, but if it can help, I finished studying NPCR4 (which I enjoyed) a few months ago, I frequently use Chinesepod (slowly starting my transition to "Upper-intermediate" and I'm studying with a tutor "A course in Chinese colloquial idioms". With a lot of patience (and a dictionary), I also started reading simple newspaper articles..

I'd like to improve my overall level, but as I'm practicing a lot of speaking with the tutor, I thought I could focus my self-study on reading & vocabulary building.

I liked the format of NPCR, but i heard NPCR5 was very literary. I was considering a switch to the Boya series, but I'm not quite sure which level would suit me, and that that there were maybe better alternatives available on the market.

I also found "Chinese Language and culture: An intermediate level" which seemed interesting to practicing reading about more serious contents (http://www.amazon.ca...d=ICF65V2S8ZZRT) Is anybody familiar with this book or this series?

Thank you all for your help

[jasoninchina]

It sounds like you're already at a decent level. I'd suggest focusing on Chinesepod and speaking with your tutor. I just started using Chinesepod and I think it's great. Take the time to cut out the dialogues and study those. You've got real-life dialogues, tons of new words, the pdf's to read, and the recordings to go with it. I've known several people to do nothing more than listen to chinesepod and talk to Chinese people in order to reach fluency. I just wish I had more time to do it.

[Singe]

There probably is a bit of an overlap between the three levels but I've always thought of intermediate level starting at around 800-1000 characters with advanced level perhaps somewhere around the 2000 mark. Having said that, I'm sure others will have differing opinions. That only takes into consideration the written/reading side of things so it depends on how you are measuring things. I guess it's possible to have a good working vocabulary and have poor listening and speaking skills so the comments above recommending listening to recordings would certainly be beneficial. It sounds like you may be getting enough listening/ speaking with your tutor in any case.

I have also used NPCR and do like it though I'm not aware of the series you link to on Amazon and I note there are no reviews about this series on the Amazon page.

Hope this helps

[Singe]

Whoops, sorry thomasdf, my reply managed to combine a reply to another post I was reading at around the same time on a different thread! Not a good start for a first post eh?

[LearneЯ]

Ha, looks like we are pretty much in the same situation other than you being passionate enough to take actual lessons, I also posted a similar thread a couple of days ago in General Study Advice section.

At your current level, you will not find much reading material in pure conversational or casual Mandarin. You will have to transition into somewhat literary phases sooner or later if you want to elevate from being merely functional to fully fluent.

Although some lessons Boya intermediate books also have dialogues, there are quite a few lessons just composed of short stories of running text in short stories format with 成语 and gradual introduction of formal (书面语) vocabulary. Their extensive exercises are quite good though. Of course, this increases even more at advance level book(s). I can post scans of a few pages to give you the rough idea.

If you would rather continue with solely casual Mandarin, I guess podcasts are the way to go! Have a look at popupchinese.com as well, the basic podcasts are free as are different HSK and vocabulary tests.

[PBolchover]

I'd recommend the "Road To Success" series of the textbooks. The "Upper Elementary" sub-series (of 3 books) takes you from around 800 characters to 2000 characters. It is structured with a main text (about 2 pages long, with about 40 new words per text) followed by grammer points - usually a usage guide to 5 or 6 of the new ways, plus explanations of 4 "phrase grammar" points, with good examples. There are then a good selection of exercises.

The texts are interesting. While the first few are about the obligatory life of foreign students in China, the following ones cover stuff like Chinese legends, modern stories, etc. From book 2 onwards, quite a few texts are taken from Chinese magazines (possibly simplified slightly, but still a good read.)

You can find links to the books, along with sample chapters here:

Vol1: http://blcup.com/en/list_1.asp?id=2206

Vol2: http://blcup.com/en/list_1.asp?id=2340

Vol3: http://blcup.com/en/list_1.asp?id=2756

With your previous study, you're probably at around the vol2/vol3 boundary, so I suggest that you try the sample chapter from vol3 first (the samples are always the first chapter in the book).

I found that the book "Common Chinese Patterns 330" was a good accompaniment to the series - it has extra information about the "phrase grammar" points.

Alternatively, if these are too easy, then the next level up is called "Lower Intermediate". I can't comment on those books yet.

A second series of books, called "Jump High" might also be a possibility - in each level, they've got separate books for reading, conversation, etc. I've head good things about the conversation books, but haven't tried them myself.