flexibility concerning at which point, how, and even whether, to introduce reading and writing.
Graduated approach. There is so much to learn to become proficient in Chinese that Chinese language learning can easily become overwhelming. By dividing large tasks into a series of many smaller ones, the learning of Chinese becomes more manageable. Therefore, each spoken lesson consists of only one fairly short (five- to twelve-line) conversation, while each written lesson introduces only six new characters. An added bonus to this approach is the sense of accomplishment learners feel through frequent completion of small tasks, rather than getting bogged down in long lessons that seem never-ending.
Naturalness of the language. A special effort has been made to present natural, idiomatic, up-to-date Chinese as opposed to stilted “textbook style.” This will be evident, for example, in the use of interjections, pause fillers, and final particles, which occur more frequently in this text than in most other Chinese language textbooks. Occasionally, for comprehension practice, we have included recordings of slightly accented Mandarin speech, so as to familiarize learners with some of the more common variations in pronunciation they are likely to encounter.
Authenticity of the language. Chinese, like English, is a language spoken in a number of different societies, with multiple standards and varying usages. Although the emphasis of this course is on the core that is common to Mandarin Chinese wherever it is spoken, linguistic differences among the major Chinese speech communities as well as recent innovations are taken up where appropriate. Of the 96 basic conversations in Basic Mandarin Chinese Speaking & Listening and Intermediate Mandarin Chinese Speaking & Listening, the audio and video for 56 of them were recorded in Beijing, with another 31 recorded in Taipei, 3 in Hong Kong, one in Macao, 2 in Singapore, 2 in Malaysia, and one in the U.S. The relatively small number of terms that are restricted in use to a particular speech area are so indicated.
Emphasis on the practical and immediately useful. We have tried to present material that is high in frequency and has the most immediate “pay-off value” possible. An effort has been made to include the most useful words, grammar patterns, situations, and functions, based on several published frequency studies as well as research by the author. The units of this course have been arranged in order of general usefulness and practical importance. Although the course is designed to be studied from beginning to end, learners with time for only, say, the first five or ten units will at least be exposed to many of the most useful vocabulary items and structural patterns.
Eclecticism of approach. We believe that language is so complex and the personalities of learners so different, that no single approach or method can possibly meet the needs of all learners at all times. For this reason, the pedagogical approach we have chosen is purposefully eclectic. This course is proficiency-oriented and situational in approach with a carefully ordered underlying grammatical foundation. We have borrowed freely from the audio-lingual, communicative, functional-notional, and grammar-translation approaches.
Maximum flexibility of use. Student and teacher needs and personalities vary widely, as do the types of programs in which Chinese is taught. We have tried to leave options open whenever possible. This is true, for example, in the question of how to teach pronunciation; whether to teach the spoken skills only or also the written skills; when to introduce reading and writing; whether to teach simplified or traditional characters or both; and which of the exercises to do and in which order to do them. There is detailed discussion of all these and other questions in the Instructor’s Guide for Basic Mandarin Chinese Speaking & Listening and Basic Mandarin Chinese Reading & Writing.
Attention to sociolinguistic and cultural features. Knowing how to say something with correct grammar and pronunciation is not sufficient for effective communication. Learners must know what to say and what not to say, when to say it, and how to adjust what they say for the occasion. How do the gender, age, and social position of the speaker and listener affect language? Finally, language does not exist apart from the culture of its speakers. What are the cultural assumptions of Chinese speakers? These are some of the matters to which we have tried to pay attention.
Extensive built-in review. In order to promote long-term retention of the material learned, a great effort has been made to recycle vocabulary and grammar periodically in later units in the textbook and Practice Book after they have been introduced. In addition, there is a review and study guide at the end of every unit.
Attention to the needs of learners with prior knowledge of Chinese. While the course is designed for beginners and assumes no prior knowledge of Chinese, it tries to take into account the special situation and needs of learners who possess some prior knowledge of the language acquired from home or residence overseas. Consequently, there are special notes on features of standard Mandarin pronunciation and usage that differ from the Cantonese or Taiwanese-influenced Mandarin to which some learners may have been exposed.
Organization and Use
Basic Mandarin Chinese Speaking & Listening consists of twelve units. The first two are introductory units not directly related to the material in Basic Mandarin Chinese Speaking & Listening.2 They are followed by ten units, numbered 1 to 10, that parallel the ten units in Basic Mandarin Chinese Speaking & Listening. Each of these units in turn consists of four parts, with each part presenting six characters, common words written with them, and reading exercises to help you master the new material.
The twelve units of Basic Mandarin Chinese Reading & Writing introduce a total of 288 characters and about 700 common words and expressions written with them. Except for the two introductory units, the six characters in each lesson were chosen, based on frequency of occurrence, from the characters used to write the Basic Conversation of the corresponding lesson in Basic Mandarin Chinese Speaking & Listening.3 Since each lesson of Basic Mandarin Chinese Reading & Writing was designed to be studied after the corresponding lesson of Basic Mandarin Chinese Speaking & Listening and Basic Mandarin Chinese Speaking & Listening Practice Book, when you begin a new lesson of Basic Mandarin Chinese Reading & Writing, you already know the pronunciations, meanings, and usages of the new words, so you need only learn their written representations. This considerably lightens your learning load!
Our guide in questions of frequency has been the general character list in the 现代汉语频率词典 Xiàndài Hànyŭ Pínlǜ Cídiăn Frequency Dictionary of Modern Chinese, published by Beijing Languages Institute in 1985. All of the characters in Basic Mandarin Chinese Reading & Writing were selected from the top 1,000 (and most from the top 300) characters in that dictionary, with three exceptions: the surname 李 Lĭ, the character 湾 (灣) in 台湾 (台灣) Táiwān, and the character 津 in 天津 Tiānjīn.
NEW CHARACTERS AND WORDS
The first section of each part or lesson in Basic Mandarin Chinese Reading & Writing is called “New Characters and Words.” It introduces the six new characters of the lesson as well as common words written with them. For each new character, the following information is provided:
1. Number. The number at the beginning of the section for each new character is the number of the character in this course. Later in the course, characters are sometimes referred to by their number.
2. Simplified form. If only one character is given, then the simplified form is the same as the traditional form.
3. Traditional form. If the traditional form of a character is different from the simplified form, it is given next, enclosed in parentheses. So that learners are
