Graded readers, by the numbers (characters/words, page count)

[kikosun]

Hey Thanks for the suggestions, character. 

 

I'm at an intermediate level, at least vocabulary wise, although I haven't had a lot of dedicated reading practice yet. I've been on a vocabulary binge, but now I think I've hit a wall where its no longer fun for me to do flashcards only, and I'd like to start a good reading series. I think I will take a look at the Graded Chinese Readers, and the DeFrancis readers, too bad only some of the DeFrancis ones are listed as simplified. 

 

I'd like to start a reading habit, but it seems its difficult for me to carve out large chunks of time to read, since I'm a slow reader. It's so much easier to have pleco on my phone and just do flashcards while I'm waiting for stuff. I guess I just need to re-prioritize my study schedule. Thanks

[roddy]

Have made this a sticky and added a link to Hofmann's recent review to the first post. Thanks again, Character!

[querido]

ZoxGuo has provided a convenient link to a single .7z file containing P.E.P. Yuwen grades 1-9 (which is free) and a lot of other coordinated reading stretching through 9th grade. ("The numbers"? They're posted somewhere, at least through the 6th grade, but I can't find them right now.) Here: http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/45397-eh-resources-of-how-to-learn-chinese-with-textbooks-of-primary-school-and-middle-school-eh-in-order/

 

I can tell you from experience that if you stop at 2nd grade your vocabulary would not be ideal for navigating the streets, but if you have the strength to push through 9th grade then, opines ZoxGuo: "Your Chinese'll be better than most of Chinese if you finish these books." The education would be more bookish than pop, but I remembered how much was taught to me about the world through 9th grade; it's a lot. I thought of my language skills when I was a 9th grader too: already "better than most". How about you?

 

I don't know how long the link will work.

[ZoxGuo]

The link will last for a long time, but the website always delete some files automatically after a few years that files was putted.

Uh, I mean, even though it had been delete by the official workers of this website, I'll still put it again.

[mjXueHanYu]

Any good graded-readers with around 150 Chinese Characters?

[grawrt]

@martinjanson

 

Recently discovered Learning Chinese Through Stories 1&2 (although 1's stories are much better and cuter) 讲故事 学汉语1 by Linda Ho/ Peking University Press. They say if you know the 100 characters they list in the front of the book that you can read the stories inside. There's about 34 short stories in the first one and 35 in the second. It comes with a disk too. I think it might be a good start for you.

[xiaokaka]

Any suggestion for what to read after Chinese Breeze level 3? I would prefer if there was no pinyin at all (except for in the glossaries).

[character]

Updated the initial post to include the latest Chinese Breeze book and the Yale "Written Standard Chinese" four-volume series (300-1300 characters).

If you know of readers not covered, please post.

[Lou]

Hello!

I'm searching for a book to read to improve my reading speed and grammar. I would like I a book in traditional characters with no Pinyin on the pages (obviously, Pinyin in the glossary is fine). I finished the NPCR 1 plus three lessons of the second volume, so I am a beginner. I know around 500 characters, but I'd say that I'm not yet at HSK 2 level. MP3/a CD that comes with the book would be awesome. I heard about the Yale Graded Readers, they Seen to be Perfect for me-has anyone any experience with them?

[character]

Hi Lou,

 

When you say "Yale Graded Readers," do you mean the DeFrancis Graded Readers or the Written Standard Chinese series?

 

As you're just starting out, I would first recommend The Lady in the Painting. It's available in Traditional and comes with a CD-ROM (for PC only, IIRC).

Of the two series mentioned above, while both have their merits, I would suggest trying the DeFrancis one first. There is audio available online last I checked. There are also textbooks available for DeFrancis if you want some help with the grammatical structures used in the readers (and a lot more reading material as well).

ETA: Or did you mean Read Chinese? I would say start with something else, as they use an older romanization system, making it hard to look up vocabulary.

[ZhuFei]

Thanks, character.

[Geiko]

I've just discovered a new series of Chinese graded readers called Friends (BLCUP). They have six levels, which correspond to the levels of the new HSK. The good news is that, unlike many other series, they didn't start with only level one books first, then level two, etc. They've already printed books from levels 1 to 5, being level 5 the one with more books published.

 

The strange thing is that they're written by non-native Chinese speakers...  

[Mr John]

@Geiko

 

Thanks for pointing out another possible resource.

 

I had a look at some of the samples and they seemed a bit lower than the given HSK level.

 

I'm still tempted to buy them but I'm hoping someone else will review them first, so I have a better idea of whether they are worth the money.

[character]

Seeing this post prompted me to add them to the original post and update the original post a bit.

Please let me know of any new graded readers, graded reader-related forum posts, errors or omissions, etc. you know of that I've missed.

[Pokarface]

Not a graded reader, but good to know:

 

Assimil Chinese with Ease Volume I & II = 800 characters used to form the 1,500 words and expressions throughout both volumes.

These two books can make you pass HSK 3 and take you more than half-way through HSK 4 level =-D

 

HSK 4 is considered A2 in CEFR =-p

[xiaokaka]

Please let me know of any new graded readers, graded reader-related forum posts, errors or omissions, etc. you know of that I've missed.

The Sinolingua Graded Chinese Reader series new prints have changed names so that the first three books are also named after the number of words instead of 1, 2 and 3.

[character]

 

The Sinolingua Graded Chinese Reader series new prints have changed names so that the first three books are also named after the number of words instead of 1, 2 and 3.

 

Thanks, I agree that's probably what happened, but can't find the specifics online and the number of words don't exactly line up.  I'll put a note in the section so people don't buy them all and end up with duplicates. 

 

If anyone can point me to something from Sinolingua with specifics, I'll update the section again.

[xiaokaka]

This is the flap from the 2500 word book:

which shows the current names of the books.

 

These are pictures of the covers of Chinese Graded Reader 3

and Chinese Graded Reader 2

As you can see the covers of the books named ~1000 words and ~3 are the same, as are ~3000 Words and ~ 2.

 

Edit: Can someone help me rotate the images?

[character]

@xiaokaka, I really appreciate you taking the time to take/upload the pictures.  Given they use a description of the 500 word book for the 1500 and 2500 word books on their site http://en.sinolingua.com.cn/list.php?catid=131 I'm hesitant to assume they were careful to use the correct photo each time.  Maybe by the time the 1000 word book is released, everything will be clear.  I rearranged the Sinolingua listing so people will consider the newer books first.

 

Thanks again!

[character]

A post about Rainbow Bridge Graded Readers here.