corrected and returned to the learner, they may conveniently be filed in a three-hole binder for future reference.
Character Practice Sheets
The first section of Basic Written Chinese Practice Essentials consists of character practice sheets for all the new characters in units A, B, and 1–10 for you to study, fill out, and hand in to your instructor or mentor for correction and comments. A sheet with the six characters for a lesson in simplified form always comes first, followed by a sheet with the same six characters in traditional form on the back side of the page. We recommend that you eventually learn to recognize both types of characters, though it’s sufficient if you learn how to write only one type.
Being able to handwrite characters is important not only for writing but also for reading, since if you can write a character correctly from memory, you’re more likely to be able to recognize it and distinguish it from other similar characters. Later on in your study of Chinese, you’ll also want to learn how to process Chinese characters using computers, but we feel it’s important for beginning students to have experience in writing characters by hand.
On the practice sheets, there are two kinds of model characters for your reference. To the left, in the large boxes, are large versions of each character with small Arabic numbers indicating the order and direction of the strokes. Note that the location of each number indicates where that stroke begins. Then, to the right of the large characters, in the smaller boxes, there is a stroke-by-stroke build-up of each character which further clarifies the stroke order. The purpose of the handwritten characters is not to serve as examples of calligraphy, but rather to instruct learners in accurate and legible handwriting of the characters, as written with pen or pencil by ordinary Chinese writers today.
Be sure to follow the correct stroke order and direction. If you don’t, your characters will not only not look right, but you might have difficulty in using dictionaries, since these are traditionally based on the number of strokes in characters or character components. The accuracy of handwriting recognition software might also be affected if strokes are written in the wrong order and direction. And if you’re not familiar with correct stroke order, you may in the future have problems reading and writing Chinese cursive script, since which strokes can be connected and which cannot is closely related to the order and direction of the individual strokes.
Beginning with the first empty box after the end of the stroke-by-stroke build-up, you should write the entire character in each empty box until all the boxes for that character have been filled. Write slowly and carefully, referring back often to the stroke direction and stroke order of the models. We recommend that you use either number 2 pencil or black or blue pen. As you write each character, say its pronunciation out loud and think of the meaning. You’ll probably want to have your textbook open for reference. Many learners find it helpful to write the Pinyin and basic English meaning of each character to the left of the large character on the practice sheets.
Even though there is an agreed upon stroke order for the majority of characters, there exists a small number of characters that have common alternate stroke orders, e.g., 方. For the sake of consistency, in the case of simplified characters we follow the stroke order promulgated by the Working Committee on National Language and Script and published in Beijing by Yuwen Chubanshe as 现代汉语通用字笔顺规范 (5th printing 1999). In the case of traditional characters, we follow the stroke order promulgated by the Committee on the Promotion of Mandarin and published in Taipei by the Ministry of Education as 常用國字標準字筆順手冊 (3rd revised printing 2008).
Reading and Writing Exercises
This book includes two pages of reading and writing exercises for each of the four parts of every unit of Basic Written Chinese. The first section of the reading and writing exercises consists of three phrases or sentences for dictation.* You should listen to the corresponding section of the included disc and transcribe what you hear into Chinese characters. Since this is for practice and not a test, you’re encouraged to listen as many times as you wish and, when needed, to consult your textbook or its glossaries.
Beginning with Unit 1, the second section of the reading and writing exercises includes four questions that you should answer in Chinese characters. The first two questions are always based on portions of the corresponding lesson in Basic Written Chinese, to which you should refer as you answer the questions, while the last two questions are addressed to you, the learner, and may be answered any way you wish.
The last section of the reading and writing exercises includes a wide variety of exercises involving scrambled sentences, dialog completion, fill-in-the blank, answering questions, word study, map reading, converting written style to spoken style, distinguishing different usages of characters, punctuating sentences, stroke order, radicals, and phonetics, as well as a number of exercises based on printed realia from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.
Translation Exercises
Ten phrases or sentences for translation from English to Chinese have been included for each unit of Basic Written Chinese. The purpose of the translation exercises is to provide you with additional practice in writing the characters, using the grammar patterns, and practicing the important vocabulary of the unit, and to serve as a check of mastery over the material. Completing the translation exercises will be helpful to you in reviewing for the unit tests.
The sentences should be translated into Chinese characters with correct punctuation in the blank space that has been left under each sentence. The English in the translation exercises is in some places purposely somewhat stilted, to guide you toward the correct Chinese translation. In certain cases, additional instructions have been added in parentheses within or after the English sentence, for example, to be polite or to use or not use certain words. If you’ve forgotten the Chinese equivalent for an English word or grammar pattern, you can consult the various glossaries and indices in the back of Basic Written Chinese and Basic Spoken Chinese.
It’s recommended that the instructor correct and return the translation exercises to students before the test on the corresponding unit, so that any remaining problems can be identified and addressed in a timely manner. Students should carefully study the instructor’s corrections, making sure they understand the reason for any errors, and then file the corrected exercises for later reference.
Flash Cards
Flash cards are an excellent aid in memorization. They work based on the principle of spaced repetition, that is, gradually increasing the interval between each time that you recall information correctly. We recommend that you take along a couple of dozen flash cards from Basic Written Chinese Practice Essentials wherever you go. Use “empty” time you spend waiting in line, on a bus, or before classes begin to study the flash cards. You can look at the character side and test yourself on the pronunciation and meaning of the characters, or you can look at the English side and try to reconstruct from that the correct pronunciation and characters. Your goal should be to identify those characters and words you still have problems with and remove them from the larger set for special study.
Two types of flash cards are available for Basic Written Chinese. The first type consists of traditional paper flash cards, one card for each of the 288 new characters. The paper flash cards have been designed with Chinese characters (simplified and traditional) on one side, and Pinyin and English on the other side. Both the new characters of each lesson and the individual words written with those characters are included on the flash cards. In the lower left-hand corner on both sides of every card are given the unit and part number, while in the lower right-hand corner is given the number of the character in this course. Due to page limitations and in an effort to control costs, the paper flash cards have been included on the enclosed disc for users to
