Boya Chinese textbook - looking for answers

[klortho]

I'm studying at Shanghai Jiaotong Daxue, and we're using the Boya Chinese textbooks (博雅汉语), which are great, but very hard, and the class pace is killing me. One problem I have is that the teacher goes over the answers to the exercises very fast, and doesn't give us enough time to write them down. Now, studying for exams, I'd like to know what the answers are, so that I have a good set of examples, etc. Does anyone know where I might be able to find the answers online?

[gato]

Aren't you allowed to ask the teacher to slow down when reading the answers?

[klortho]

Well, of course I could ask, but .... Actually, the class pace is set by the school, so she really doesn't have any option. There's just not enough class time for her to go over all the answers in detail.

[gato]

Maybe you can ask her for a hardcopy of the answers.

[elina]

Could you ask to make a copy of the teacher’s 教案 / teaching plan, if there is such a material.

[dreamon]

So, was the answer key found online, or offline? Is it a wise idea to try Boya without a teacher from the beginner level? I heard that Boya's vocabulary is full of rare words - how bad is this issue at the elementary and semi-intermediate levels, in comparison with NPCR 1-4? How about grammar explanations and translations into English, are they an issue? I see that even in the beginner's books there is very little English, but maybe that's OK or even good? (Sorry for asking dumb questions, but I am confused trying to choose between Boya and NPCR.)

[woliveri]

I always carried a digital voice recorder to class. Bought it before coming to Shanghai. Works perfectly for what you want to do.

I archived every class and had all the lessons until my hard drive crashed and I lost it all..

[SiMaKe]

@dreamon

How about grammar explanations and translations into English, are they an issue?

If English translations are important to you, then you may want to consider Integrated Chinese rather NPCR. IC translates the dialogs and all example sentences in the grammar sections. NPCR does neither.

[dreamon]

woliveri> I always carried a digital voice recorder to class. Bought it before coming to Shanghai.

Lucky you! I am in the U.S. and not attending a class. At least not yet. Maybe when I attain an "intermediate" level and qualify for the second-year class, then yes.

SiMaKe> If English translations are important to you, then you may want to consider Integrated Chinese rather NPCR. IC translates the dialogs and all example sentences in the grammar sections. NPCR does neither.

I saw too many negative comments towards Integrated Chinese, and also, they are quite expensive. Boya is the cheapest of all, here in the U.S. at least, by a factor of 2 or more, while also providing what appears as more "study goodness" than NPCR. My only concern is that Boya may be too hard for a beginner' self-study. I decided to buy Boya and try the Starter and Pre-Intermediate volumes. Boya seems to be more slanted towards reading than NPCR, which is good given that I finished Pimsleur and bought Assimil "Chinese with Ease" Vol.2, which is all dialogues.

Anyway, I would like to have the answer key for Boya, but if not, that's fine too. Are you aware of any Boya workbooks, similar to NPCR workbooks, or other materials that are used together with Boya? Thanks for the comments!

[Matty]

I'm not sure about Boya, but most books also have a teachers guide. Often with answers or guides and other cool bits.

It may be worth looking into.

[putonghua73]

So' date=' was the answer key found online, or offline? Is it a wise idea to try Boya without a teacher from the beginner level? I heard that Boya's vocabulary is full of rare words - how bad is this issue at the elementary and semi-intermediate levels, in comparison with NPCR 1-4? How about grammar explanations and translations into English, are they an issue? I see that even in the beginner's books there is very little English, but maybe that's OK or even good? (Sorry for asking dumb questions, but I am confused trying to choose between Boya and NPCR.)[/quote']

I'd recommend perusing this thread that compares NPCR and BOYA.

I was previously using Chinese In Steps (official SOAS textbook), and switched to the Blue BOYA textbooks (准高级）once I finished Chinese in Steps Vol 3. CIS is very similar stylistically to NPCR with notable exceptions: uses 汉字 from the get-go for all dialogues and exercises (although the grammatical explanations are in English) and each chapter is episodic, as opposed to a sustained narrative with characters.

I've been studying in China [Kunming] 1-2-1, and have used BOYA for the last 12 weeks. My impressions are as follows:

Good points

1. BOYA (准高及 and above) is entirely in Chinese and does not use pinyin. I think that the Green BOYA textbooks (基础及）may use pinyin.

2. Articles and stories focus more on Chinese culture and history.

3. Vocabularly is more literary and helps build up your passive vocabularly - more idioms and use of 成语 and less 口语）.

4. Vocabularly by and large has examples to reinforce usage (in Chinese)

5. Large range of exercises to reinforce grammatical and vocab usage.

6. BOYA textbooks starts from Beginners right up to Advanced, and contains audio disc at no extra cost

Bad points

1. BOYA is entirely in Chinese - including grammatical explanations

2. BOYA does not contain answers to exercises at the back

3. Audio is poor e.g. contains new words and articles at fast speed. Sound quality is average at best, and does not contain exercises or enough pauses.

4. I've heard that translation can be quite sketchy in the Advanced books

I enjoy reading and am interested in Chinese history and culture - especially because such articles are generally more complex and help reinforce grammatical points and vocab usage. Also the articles are fairly lengthy e.g. a page to 2 pages. After CIS I was bored stiff of the format, but especially the dialogues. That said, CIS and NPCR format and production quality are streets ahead of BOYA. As much as I've enjoyed - and continue to enjoy - BOYA, I would not recommed using BOYA as one's sole form of structured learning for self-study straight off the bat. If you have used BOYA in conjunction with a teacher and are used to the format, and have a good grammar book for grammatical explantions (like a good dictionary, essential components for learning IMO), and providing you can live with the limitations then BOYA may be a suitable alternative.

When I first started to use BOYA, the format and everything in Chinese was something akin to culture shock - especially since I had to look-up every 3rd word in a dictionary! It's now down to every 10th word or so.

In summary, I feel BOYA focuses and provides for improving a different range of skills (reading comprehension and an expansive vocabularly); however, there are a number of negative points that canot be ignored that are big enough to potentially disuade someone wishing to use BOYA for self-study. I'd would recommend a different set of textbooks for structured learning for beginning - elementary levels (if self-study), and switch to BOYA once your Chinese is at a sufficient level where you feel comfortable with no English at all.

The jump between Green BOYA (基础及) textbooks and Blue BOYA (准高及) textbooks is huge. Unfortunately, I believe that the gap between beginners and elementary is too big. Whilst I believe that the Green BOYA beginners textbooks provide stroke orders, dialogues in English (at the back) and grammatical explanations in English, the Blue BOYA textbook dispenses with such hand-holding. Fine for Intermediate level, but switching from Green to Blue is a chasm.

Also, I don't believe that BOYA provides any teacher guides whatsoever.

Cheers!

[dreamon]

Thank you very much, putonghua73, your comments are amazing and very helpful! I'd like to answer in kind, but no time yet... Probably there is just no such thing as an easy textbook of Chinese. There are going to be gaps, chasms, "bad" translations, inadequate grammar explanations, poor sound recordings (for my ear) etc. For example, even after 90 Pimsleur's with great sound quality I still cannot recognize the difference between "-n" and "-ng" ending, for example "min" (民) vs. "ming" (明). It seems that something happens to the vowel that comes before "-n"/"-ng", but I cannot yet figure out a rule. The truly best sound, though, is the one I overheard today in a conference room where several beautiful Chinese girls were chatting and laughing, and I just wanted to listen and listen forever... Protected from shame by a wall, I would open my mouth and eehhh, eehhh - nothing comes out... Anyway, I received the BOYAs, but I'd like to learn some characters first to make it easier. Do you think that the main problem with BOYA is the characters? Then Heisig & Richardson should probably bridge the chasm, as well as learning the written vocabulary from Pimsleur. For NPCR, I'd like to get the Second Edition since it's just about to come out; also cheaper that way. For the grammar book to supplement BOYA, I bought "A Practical Chinese Grammar" by Cheung et al., its explanations seem quite clear and detailed, and it's a textbook as opposed to a reference book.

[ChTTay]

Just came across this thread when searching for an answer key to Boya II. There is one here;

http://www.nihaointernational.com/blog/?page_id=109

Just incase anyone else is searching!

[onlyone]

Thank you ChTTay, the above link contains answers for beginers levels not include 中级 偶然高级。Any suggestions for other levels

[ChTTay]

It has pre-intermediate levels as well but nothing higher.

Probably just have to do an extensive google search for them! Hopefully a University Chinese course somewhere in the world uses the books has put an answer key online!

[hoshinoumi]

I was just looking for Boya 2 answers, thanks to those who posted it!

[joonie]

Hi, I am trying to find answers for Boya 2 and the above links are not really working. Did you guys manage to find the answer? If yes, then it would be of great help if you guys could share it! Thanks!

[edelweis]

@joonie

the link posted by ChTTay is still available here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160929122555/http://www.nihaointernational.com/blog/?page_id=109

 

[joonie]

@edelweis Thank youu!

[mrtt]

Hello everyone,

 

Does anyone know where to find the answers for Boya Chinese Quasi-Intermediate (I and II)?

I have been looking for them for ages but still nothing.

 

Thanks in advance.