Suggested Reading

pretzellogic
December 28, 2010, 11:42 AM posted in General Discussion

This is a list of some recommended readings in Chinese that might be helpful to Chinese learners.  I'm categorizing the few that I know into different areas, but some of these may be helpful.

 

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pretzellogic
December 28, 2010, 11:56 AM

If you only know around 100-250 characters:

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pretzellogic
December 28, 2010, 11:56 AM

If you only know around 251-500 characters

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pretzellogic

公共汽车的故事 (Bus Adventures)Beijing Language and Culture University Press (ISBN 978-7-5619-1897-5) Stories about 4 buses in Beijing (bei3bei, nan2nan, xi1xi and dong1dong) that travel around taking workers and tourists. English, pinyin and simplified characters

大雁和鸭子 (the Crane and the Duck) (ISBN 978-7-5318-1884-7)

Crane and duck stories in English, pinyin and simplified characters

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trevorb

Chinese Breeze readers:

I Have

300 level

Two Children seeking the joy bridge (两个想上天的孩子)

Can I dance with you? (我可以请你跳舞吗 )

500 Level

Secrets of a computer company (电脑公司的秘密)

The others that you can get are all around this level but can be a little difficult to source. They come with a cd that has the text of the book to listen to. It is record in both slow and normal modes.

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pretzellogic
December 28, 2010, 12:07 PM

If you only know around 501-1000 characters.

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xiao_liang

Recommendation from my girlfriend:

小灵通漫游未来 - by 叶永烈

Available here:

http://alturl.com/s83r2

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trevorb

This is the one I'm reading at the moment

Item: Reading Classics Series - Monkey King

ISBN: 9787303093908

Short chapters each of which has a list of new words and some exercises. The book in general tells the 西游记 story (or so I am lead to believe)

(Would have put a picture in but I cannot see how it can be done!)

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pretzellogic
December 28, 2010, 12:08 PM

If you know 1001 characters and up.

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pretzellogic
December 28, 2010, 12:08 PM

IT related:

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pretzellogic
December 28, 2010, 12:25 PM

Content in Simplified characters, pinyin and English

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pretzellogic

公共汽车的故事 (Bus Adventures)Beijing Language and Culture University Press (ISBN 978-7-5619-1897-5) Stories about 4 buses in Beijing (bei3bei, nan2nan, xi1xi and dong1dong) that travel around taking workers and tourists. English, pinyin and simplified characters

大雁和鸭子 (the Crane and the Duck) (ISBN 978-7-5318-1884-7)

Crane and duck stories in English, pinyin and simplified characters

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pretzellogic
December 28, 2010, 12:26 PM

Content in simplified characters and pinyin:

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pretzellogic

喜羊羊与灰太狼:拔牙攻略 (Happy Sheep and the Big Grey Wolf: pull tooth and attack plan) (ISBN: 978-7-115-18121-3) The Happy Sheep cartoons are very popular with kids in China, so there's tons of content on them, as well as multiple products with their pictures on them.

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trevorb

Graded Chinese Reader 1

Selected Abridged Chinese Contemporary Short Stories

汉语分级阅读1

ISBN:978-7-80200-374-3

This book has pinyin and simplified on alternate lines and a little template thing that can hide every alternate line so you can only see one of the other if you wish. In addition it has a DVD. Haven't read much yet as i bought it at the same time as The Monkey King and Am focusing on that one first.

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pretzellogic
December 28, 2010, 12:39 PM

Grammar focused reference materials:

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pretzellogic

Structures of Mandarin Chinese for Speakers of English (He, Jiao, Livaccari, Peking University Press) (ISBN 978-7-301-17971-0)

From the rear cover: This book targets speakers of English learning Chinese. It can also be used as a reference book for teachers who teach Chinese as a foreign language. This grammar book introduces the most useful and important Chinese sentence structures, offersn comparisons and points of continuty with English and supplements these with simple and easy to understand examples (with pinyin) and commentary.

Personal notes: I've just purchased it about a week ago, and it looks pretty helpful as a reference text, practice book. I believe it has around 66 sentence patterns in it. Certainly much of that content is going to already reviewed in a number of Cpod Qing Wens but this should be helpful additional practice.

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pretzellogic
December 28, 2010, 02:05 PM

Simplified characters and English:

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pretzellogic

Chinese Folk Tales (Edited by Wang Tao, Dolphin Books) ISBN 978-7-80138-539-0