Basic Mandarin Chinese

A complete beginning-level course for written Mandarin Chinese designed to teach you to read and write Mandarin quickly and efficiently!

The Basic Mandarin Chinese series offers a complete introductory course superior to any other language product for Chinese. These books teach spoken and written Chinese separately, allowing you to focus on the area most important to you, and to learn the spoken and written forms of Chinese at different speeds depending on your available time and interest.

The free audio recordings included with this book reinforce the content and make the learning process easy. Whether you're learning Mandarin for work, travel or other reasons—the Basic Mandarin Chinese approach of having two separate but integrated "tracks" helps you to learn the language more efficiently and more successfully.

Key features of this Chinese textbook and discs include:

• Learn to read and write the 288 highest-frequency characters and over 700 words
• Designed to have you reading and writing simple, connected Chinese sentences quickly
• Both simplified and traditional characters are taught; you may choose to learn either or both
• Features a variety of fonts and styles—typeset and handwritten—preparing you to use Chinese characters in different contexts, from reading signs to texting on your phone

The free disc included with this book includes over 6 hours of audio recordings by various native speakers, including recordings of all the reading selections, new characters, and vocabulary.

This textbook is designed to be used in conjunction with the Basic Mandarin Chinese—Reading & Writing Practice Book which provides a range of drills and exercises designed to enhance your proficiency in reading and writing Mandarin Chinese quickly. This book is a new edition of Basic Written Chinese.

Cornelius C. Kubler received his Ph.D. in linguistics from Cornell and is currently the Stanfield Professor of Asian Studies at Williams College. Since joining Williams, he has chaired the Department of Chinese and held visiting professor posts at Middlebury, National Taiwan Normal University, Chinese University of Hong Kong and other universities. He has authored many books and articles on Chinese pedagogy and linguistics, and he served as a consultant for many Chinese language programs in the U.S. and abroad, including orientation programs for Chinese language teachers arriving in the U.S. He has chaired the SAT Chinese exam Test Development Committee and recently completed a two-year stint as Co-Director of the Johns Hopkins Nanjing University Center for Chinese & American Studies in Nanjing, China.