Mandarin Companion Graded Reader: "The Secret Garden" 300 char level

[Noziar]

Hi guys, this is my first post on this forum - I just wanted to say that I just discovered the Mandarin Companion series and I'm really enjoying it so far! The stories are actually quite enjoyable given the limited amount of vocabulary. I read two books already and I'm feeling pretty confident at this level now, so I really hope more advanced material will be published soon!

[Yorin]

Can you give us any news on when the printed versions should be available? I'm trying to come up with a plan on what to read in the next few months.

[Rufus]

Hi Yorin,

 

We are in the process of some revisions. We're trying to make them even better. Once that is complete then we have the layout and design process which then goes to the printers. If all goes well, I expect in April of 2014. Sorry for the delay!

[Yorin]

没关系, I just wasn't sure whether I should start with something else, in case they might come out tomorrow.

Thanks for revealing a bit more of your plans. 加油！

[ChTTay]

What about higher level books? Print or e-versions.

Thanks!

[Rufus]

All in the works! Just currently working with the limits of time, resources, and money. If all goes well, in a few years we'll have quite a library of books. 

 

I would love to hear any ideas for new titles. Might need to start a new thread for that. 

[新墨西哥人]

Sylvester and the Magic Pebble would be fun, but I don't know if it's in the public domain. It might be a bit too short as well. Good story. And for some reason Island of the Blue Dolphins comes to mind even though I haven't read it since I was a kid. And the Metamorphosis.

[PBolchover]

One comment - on my Kindle Edition of Secret Garden, the book seems to be registered as an "English Language" book, which means that when I try to define a word, it tries to use the English => Chinese dictionary.  

 

It would be good if the publishers set them up as "Chinese Language" so that I can use the free Chinese => English dictionary that comes with the Kindle.

[新墨西哥人]

Hmm, my Kindle (for iPad) uses the Chinese->English dictionary. When I first used the dictionary with the book it had to download it. Very odd. What Kindle do you have?

[PBolchover]

I have a Kindle Touch, so it uses the Amazon built-in dictionary.

 

I guess that the Kindle for iPad uses the Apple technology.

[Rufus]

Good to know PB. For some odd reason, Amazon doesn't allow publishers to list a book as "Chinese" despite the support in the language. Among uncommon languages, I can list a book as Gaelic, Alsatian, Frisian, Manx, and Welsh, but not Chinese. Go figure!

[imron]

Is there some other designation (Simplified Chinese, Mandarin, etc)?  It seems strange they'd have those other languages but not anything Chinese related.

[ChTTay]

As for titles...

You could release higher level versions of the same title. I mean, I read 'Secret Garden' and liked it but it was below my level so, for me, a bit simplistic in places. I would be happy to read the same story again, only with higher level Chinese, more descriptions etc. An example that sticks out was when the girl in the story is exploring the house, she goes into a room and thinks "This is very interesting" and that's it. You could add more layers to the story to make it into a higher level book.

Yeah, It would get a bit monotonous if you did that for all books and all levels but you could do it with your most popular level 1 books. Release them again at, say, level 3 or above.

Just a thought. As it is, I am pretty much waiting for you to release higher levels!

[mfgillia]

Read the Secret Garden from Amazon and enjoyed it. However, I would much prefer reading it in traditional characters. Currently there aren't many (any?) real ebook readers in traditional Chinese on Amazon.

 

Also, would like a link to an audio version to listen to native speakers reading the story. Its about twice the price of comparable readers but having access to the audio combined with the grammar already available at the Chinese wiki would make it more of a value.

[新墨西哥人]

I second mfgillia's suggestion about providing audio files. i bought Secret Garden and a Chinese Breeze reader about the same time. I prefer Secret Garden so far, as I know more of the vocab (it seems to mostly be from HSK 1 & 2). But I do like how C.B. includes a CD with audio ( I bought a paper book).

 

I have no idea if Amazon lets you buy a bundled ebook/mp3. but if so, that would be perfect.

[Yorin]

Couldn't resist buying the Kindle edition for at least one of the books, and now this

is what I get to see... (Kindle App on my Google Nexus 10)

I feel so stupid, these kind of problems are exactly what turned me off e-readers in the first place. I really should have waited for the printed edition like I said I would.

Anyone with a similar problem and some way to solve it?

[新墨西哥人]

My kindle (2g) and my husbands newer DX also do that. I'm using kindle for ipad and iPhone

[Ania]

Hmmm, that's weird! I have a 2011 Kindle Classic and the new Paperwhite and neither has any problems reading Chinese characters. 

[gato]

My kindle (2g) and my husbands newer DX also do that. I'm using kindle for ipad and iPhone

I have 3 Kindles (including the DX).

Kindle DX hasn't been updated by Amazon since 2010. Its operating system does not support Chinese. But if you install Duokan on your DX, then you will be able to read Chinese.

See here: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=105847

Duokan FAQ

For your Kindle (2g?), try this below. It'll allow you to display Chinese. It works for Kindle vintage 2010 (that was called "Kindle 3" and my first Kindle). Newer Kindles since 2012 support Chinese out of the box.

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/23617-getting-an-ereader/?p=230972

1. Press Home

2. Type ;debugOn , press Enter key

3. Type ~changeLocale zh-CN , press Enter key

4. Type ;debugOff, press Enter key

5. Restart Kindle in Settings (Press Menu, Select Settings, Then Press Menu to select "Restart")

[新墨西哥人]

Hmm. It's a second generation kindle, I think yours was the next gen. Anyway I don't have ; or ~ on the keyboard! But maybe I'll google a bit more on how to change the locale for my ancient kindle.