Basic Written Chinese Practice Essentials: an Introduction to Reading and Writing Chinese for Beginners

This book focuses on the challenges faced by native English-speaking students in learning Chinese. It includes a specially focused range of drills and exercises that precisely hone your Chinese reading and writing skills. Character practice sheets with stroke-by-stroke build-up of each character for both simplified and traditional characters to help you learn how to handwrite all the 624 characters introduced in Basic Written Chinese. Flashcards for all the new characters and words.

About the Author :
Cornelius C. Kubler, Stanfield Professor of Asian Studies at Williams College, received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in linguistics from Cornell University. He earned a second M.A. in Chinese literature from National Taiwan University. From 1980-1991 he was employed at the Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State, where he served as Language Training Supervisor in Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and Mongolian; as Principal of the advanced Chinese field school in Taiwan; and as Chair of the Department of Asian and African Languages. Since joining Williams College in 1991, he has chaired the former Department of Chinese and Asian Studies Program as well as the Department of Asian Studies, which he was instrumental in founding. He has also served as visiting professor at Eisenhower College, Portland State University, Middlebury College, National Taiwan Normal University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages. Kubler, who is author or coauthor of 20 books and over 50 articles on Chinese language pedagogy and linguistics, frequently serves as reviewer or consultant for Chinese and Asian Studies programs in the U.S. and overseas. He has served as Chair of the Test Development Committee for the SAT Subject Test in Chinese and as member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages of the Modern Language Association. He is currently serving as American Co-Director of The Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, China. Jerling Guo Kubler is a graduate of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures of Soochow University, Taipei. Her experience in language education spans more than 35 years. She has taught all levels of Chinese as a Second/Foreign Language from pre-kindergarten to university level at institutions including Williams College, Eisenhower College and Taipei Language Institute.

Review :
"A breath of fresh air ... Its dual track for spoken and written language finally gives American students a chance to develop oral proficiency without being slowed down by the character writing ... An ideal textbook for any program that seeks to advance rapidly in spoken Chinese and to fully prepare the students for their encounter with China." --Dr. Jingqi Fu, Associate Professor of Chinese, St. Mary's College of Maryland "An ingenious introduction -- Basic Spoken Chinese is the finest textbook for learning Modern Standard Mandarin that I have ever encountered." --Dr. Victor H. Mair, Professor of Chinese Language and Literature, University of Pennsylvania "Contextualized so learners know not only what to say, but why, when, and with whom it is appropriate to use such language -- thorough and clear -- refreshing." --Dr. Matthew Christensen, Associate Professor of Chinese, Brigham Young University "Kubler's books distinguish themselves with natural, culturally-rooted dialogues, detailed notes (for both written and spoken language), generous practice activities and an amazing care for organization. These books will be valuable tools for both students and their teachers." --Prof. Eric Pelzl, Wisconsin Lutheran College "Outstanding for its carefully graduated presentation of material ... and perhaps most important of all, its separation of the task of learning to speak the language from the very different processes of learning to read and write Chinese characters ... The most exciting Chinese language textbook I have seen in many years." --Dr. James E. Dew, retired associate professor of Chinese, Univ. of Michigan; former Director of the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies in Taipei "Revolutionary in its approach ... The dream of having engaged and fully-prepared students in every class is an easily reachable reality for any program that adopts this series." --Professor Cecilia Chang, Chair, Department of Asian Studies, Williams College "This is one of the best elementary Chinese textbooks, I believe, ever produced in the history of teaching Chinese as a second language ... A great and unique work which will benefit students and teachers for many years to come." --Dr. Shengli Feng, Professor of Chinese Linguistics, Chinese University of Hong Kong "The ideal material for any committed learner embarking on the journey of learning the Chinese language." --Dr. Jun Yang, Senior Lecturer in Chinese, University of Chicago