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New Practical Chinese Reader #1
New Practical Chinese Reader 1 Textbook
The first volume of the long-awaited revised edition of the popular Practical Chinese Reader series are finally available! This completely new edition (it will encompass six volumes in 70 lessons when completed) takes the student from an absolute beginner to an intermediate level, approximately 3 years of higher-level classroom instruction. The text follows the story of Ding Libo (the son of Gubo and Ding Yun from the first edition) and other international students as they live in China, learning about Chinese culture and society as they learn contemporary Mandarin. Emphasizing the basic skills of reading, writing (simplified characters), speaking, and listening, with supplementary exercises, many illustrations, charts, and in a larger 8 x 11 format.
243 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
36 people are currently reading
329 people want to read
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June 4, 2014main reason why I have read so few other books (novels) this year
March 9, 2018
This book review is written by professional Mandarin Chinese teachers from eChineseLearning. com:
If you are a Chinese beginner looking for suitable Mandarin Chinese textbooks, I’d like to recommend one series to you, the New Practical Chinese Reader Textbook (1-6). This textbook is just the beginning of the series. You will have another five similar books to learn from.
Those textbooks will teach you Chinese step by step. Textbook 1 offers ten new Chinese characters with every lesson, and Textbook 2 adds to ten to thirty new Chinese characters per lesson. Textbook 3 begins to teach you a larger group of new Chinese characters per lesson, while the Textbook 4 will list many Chinese characters with some common points, such as sharing the same radical. Starting from Textbook 5, no more new Chinese characters are contained in each lesson.
The main advantages of these textbooks are explained below:
Firstly, they contain a nearly-complete system introducing Chinese grammar, which can help you in understanding some particularly difficult grammar points.
Secondly, in Textbook 1, each new Chinese character is written out for you stroke by stroke. This is a very good way to remember those Chinese characters and practice writing Chinese.
Thirdly, the series is useful for your daily life in China since they contain so many daily conversations common in China, for example:
你忙吗？(Nǐ máng ma?) Are you free now?
我会说一点儿汉语. (Wǒ huì shuō yī dián ér hàn yǔ.) I speak a little Chinese.
Fourthly, it is a great choice if you are interested in Chinese culture. By all means, understanding Chinese culture will be easier and add an interesting experience when learning with a native Chinese teacher. These textbooks are essential during the journey!
Every coin has two sides. There are some disadvantages:
Some topics in the textbooks are not related to the language of daily life in modern society, such as the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine.
Students also will not find pinyin while learning Chinese grammar starting from the Textbook 2 and on.
Overall, these minor issues can be avoided with help from the teachers. This is an excellent and suitable set of teaching materials for students who have never studied the Chinese language and are eager to begin.
If you are a Chinese beginner looking for suitable Mandarin Chinese textbooks, I’d like to recommend one series to you, the New Practical Chinese Reader Textbook (1-6). This textbook is just the beginning of the series. You will have another five similar books to learn from.
Those textbooks will teach you Chinese step by step. Textbook 1 offers ten new Chinese characters with every lesson, and Textbook 2 adds to ten to thirty new Chinese characters per lesson. Textbook 3 begins to teach you a larger group of new Chinese characters per lesson, while the Textbook 4 will list many Chinese characters with some common points, such as sharing the same radical. Starting from Textbook 5, no more new Chinese characters are contained in each lesson.
The main advantages of these textbooks are explained below:
Firstly, they contain a nearly-complete system introducing Chinese grammar, which can help you in understanding some particularly difficult grammar points.
Secondly, in Textbook 1, each new Chinese character is written out for you stroke by stroke. This is a very good way to remember those Chinese characters and practice writing Chinese.
Thirdly, the series is useful for your daily life in China since they contain so many daily conversations common in China, for example:
你忙吗？(Nǐ máng ma?) Are you free now?
我会说一点儿汉语. (Wǒ huì shuō yī dián ér hàn yǔ.) I speak a little Chinese.
Fourthly, it is a great choice if you are interested in Chinese culture. By all means, understanding Chinese culture will be easier and add an interesting experience when learning with a native Chinese teacher. These textbooks are essential during the journey!
Every coin has two sides. There are some disadvantages:
Some topics in the textbooks are not related to the language of daily life in modern society, such as the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine.
Students also will not find pinyin while learning Chinese grammar starting from the Textbook 2 and on.
Overall, these minor issues can be avoided with help from the teachers. This is an excellent and suitable set of teaching materials for students who have never studied the Chinese language and are eager to begin.
April 30, 2021
Used this book and its pairing Workbook in my online class by Confucius. Thanks to there being a teacher to supplement with information here and there, the whole class was able to go through the book and manage to get a lot out of it. This edition has some issues, like some outdated words and expressions, but it’s still used by classes since it’s much cheaper than the 3rd edition.
For a class environment, it was a great book to work with, and probably would be all right for self-studying to some extent too, since it comes with audio as well!
For a class environment, it was a great book to work with, and probably would be all right for self-studying to some extent too, since it comes with audio as well!
February 10, 2023
This is an excellent resource for learning Chinese, and comes with the cd. I wish the reader and workbook were combined though. It would be easier to do the exercises in the book rather than moving back and forth.
I found this book useful, but it is sometimes frustrating because the choices of vocabulary words to start out with aren't as helpful. I'd like to have learned more conversation phrases rather than discussing how busy I am.
It would also be helpful (in the opinion of an English teacher) to discuss the formatting for sentences and how the Chinese organize their sentences, early on in the book, rather than waiting until chapter 8 or so.
Regardless, a useful book. Must practice though speaking with people. The audio on the cd is fast, and slowing it down is impossible. Either play the tracks repeatedly, or ask a local friend who speaks Chinese to practice with you.
I found this book useful, but it is sometimes frustrating because the choices of vocabulary words to start out with aren't as helpful. I'd like to have learned more conversation phrases rather than discussing how busy I am.
It would also be helpful (in the opinion of an English teacher) to discuss the formatting for sentences and how the Chinese organize their sentences, early on in the book, rather than waiting until chapter 8 or so.
Regardless, a useful book. Must practice though speaking with people. The audio on the cd is fast, and slowing it down is impossible. Either play the tracks repeatedly, or ask a local friend who speaks Chinese to practice with you.
June 8, 2013
This series for learning Chinese is not without some minor issues, but certainly will recommend this over Integrated Chinese as it a lot cheaper, comes with the audio. (Yes, I know both... part of language teaching).
The included audio recordings are of a very good quality. The thing I disliked the most is the size of print. It feels a lot like large script for people with a reading or visible impairment or it trying to aim different level of learner's (including college level). It makes the books large and unnecessarily thick. Especially noticeable since it lacks a digital version.
If you want to learn Chinese, these books can help you a lot to master the basics to even intermediate level (book 1-4) and some advanced (book 5-6). Use the newer updated 2nd edition.
The included audio recordings are of a very good quality. The thing I disliked the most is the size of print. It feels a lot like large script for people with a reading or visible impairment or it trying to aim different level of learner's (including college level). It makes the books large and unnecessarily thick. Especially noticeable since it lacks a digital version.
If you want to learn Chinese, these books can help you a lot to master the basics to even intermediate level (book 1-4) and some advanced (book 5-6). Use the newer updated 2nd edition.
October 23, 2020
An excellent choice for beginning Chinese from English. I read this series in class at Texas A&M University, and after a few books I felt confident in my ability to blunder through a conversation at a casual level. The devil is in the details, and there is a lot of information in this book for those with the interest to learn it.
March 10, 2023
Dada la variedad, buen manual para iniciarse en el aprendizaje del chino. Tiene muchos textos e introduce el vocabulario de manera muy progresiva. Como desventaja... Es un poco antiguo y habla de tecnología en extinción.
February 19, 2019
Nice book to learn Chinese
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 2, 2022
I use this book at my chinese class. I recomand it.
February 26, 2025
丁力波sometimes gets on my nerves man. Why are you 忙 when your friends want to go to the 警局? You don’t think a 小狗 counts as part of 你家的人? 当然是我们家的人！！你看，这是他的照片，多可爱。
August 13, 2017
I did not like this book that much coz i think the book was not that suitable for totally beginners.. the sentences sometimes felt too formal and some of the vocabs tend to focus on too much on chinese culture and tradition. moreover, they did not introduce enough useful basic vocabs such as colours, food, variety of feelings, shopping, etc.even if you have read all book 1 to 3 you still dont know colours or food names etc.. or other basic things as this book spent too much time describing qipao, xiangjiao pingguo, kanbing, taijiquan,yueju, jingju etc... sentence structures r often complicated n impractical...it might b good book for ppl wanna know more about chinese culture,and good grammar .but its not really for people who wanna master practical chinese conversation...我觉得这本课本不太实用因为这本课本的内容常常是中国文化,比如京剧,越剧,节日,传统衣服,运动,在日常生活不用的吗。。 我希望这本将更适合初学者。。在第一和第二, 生词不太实用。。。应该有颜色, 吃饭，爱好和什么的。。对不起我的汉语不太好。。我正在学习。。。 哈哈哈。。 笑。。。
April 5, 2013
Red ich chinesisch, oder was?
Ja, ich tu es! Mit Hilfe dieses Kurses geht das sogar recht flott von der Hand.
Nach der Durcharbeitung dieses Lehrbuchs können Sie auf Chinesisch grüßen, über Geburtstage und Alter sprechen, nach Datum, Uhrzeit und dem Preis von Waren fragen, über Ihre Familie reden und beim Arzt erklären, dass Sie Kopfweh haben.
Ich habe das Lehrbuch mit einem Privatlehrer (1 Stunde pro Woche, 1 Lektion pro Stunde) durchgenommen, der meine Aussprache und Grammatikfehler korrigiert und Dialogübungen gemacht hat, und ich glaube zwar nicht, dass ich mich in China schon wirklich verständigen könnte, aber wenn ein Muttersprachler langsam und deutlich mit mir redet, kann ich schon vernünftig antworten ohne wie ein Homo erectus pekinensis zu klingen.
Das einzige, was mich etwas stört, ist die Ausrichtung auf Studenten. Da lernt man halt einige Situationen, denen man als Berufstätiger nicht ausgesetzt ist (ich kann 学院 "xueyuan" nicht mehr hören, das ist wohl das meistgebrauchte Wort in diesem Lehrbuch).
Die Lektionen sind alle gleich aufgebaut - ein Dialog mit Pinyin und Hanzi, Vokabelliste, einige Anmerkungen zu besonderen Sprachkonstrukten, Übungen, Grammatikteil und schließlich Schriftzeichenerläuterungen.
Das letztere ist für meinen Geschmack etwas zu stark vertreten, vor allem, da es deutlich bessere Methoden gibt, Zeichen zu lernen, als die hier vorgestellte - dafür verweise ich gern auf die Bücher von Matthews (Learning Chinese Characters) oder Heisig (Vereinfachte Hanzi lernen und behalten).
Großformatig, deutlich lesbar und mit netten Illustrationen versehen, und auch mit viel Platz, um eigene Notizen im Buch zu machen kann ich auch an der Präsentation nichts meckern. Die CDs mit den vertonten Texten ist etwas spröde, dafür aber klar verständlich und mit mehreren Sprechern versehen.
Ich setze meinen Kurs im neuen Jahr mit Band 2 fort und kann dieses Lehrwerk wärmstens empfehlen.
Ja, ich tu es! Mit Hilfe dieses Kurses geht das sogar recht flott von der Hand.
Nach der Durcharbeitung dieses Lehrbuchs können Sie auf Chinesisch grüßen, über Geburtstage und Alter sprechen, nach Datum, Uhrzeit und dem Preis von Waren fragen, über Ihre Familie reden und beim Arzt erklären, dass Sie Kopfweh haben.
Ich habe das Lehrbuch mit einem Privatlehrer (1 Stunde pro Woche, 1 Lektion pro Stunde) durchgenommen, der meine Aussprache und Grammatikfehler korrigiert und Dialogübungen gemacht hat, und ich glaube zwar nicht, dass ich mich in China schon wirklich verständigen könnte, aber wenn ein Muttersprachler langsam und deutlich mit mir redet, kann ich schon vernünftig antworten ohne wie ein Homo erectus pekinensis zu klingen.
Das einzige, was mich etwas stört, ist die Ausrichtung auf Studenten. Da lernt man halt einige Situationen, denen man als Berufstätiger nicht ausgesetzt ist (ich kann 学院 "xueyuan" nicht mehr hören, das ist wohl das meistgebrauchte Wort in diesem Lehrbuch).
Die Lektionen sind alle gleich aufgebaut - ein Dialog mit Pinyin und Hanzi, Vokabelliste, einige Anmerkungen zu besonderen Sprachkonstrukten, Übungen, Grammatikteil und schließlich Schriftzeichenerläuterungen.
Das letztere ist für meinen Geschmack etwas zu stark vertreten, vor allem, da es deutlich bessere Methoden gibt, Zeichen zu lernen, als die hier vorgestellte - dafür verweise ich gern auf die Bücher von Matthews (Learning Chinese Characters) oder Heisig (Vereinfachte Hanzi lernen und behalten).
Großformatig, deutlich lesbar und mit netten Illustrationen versehen, und auch mit viel Platz, um eigene Notizen im Buch zu machen kann ich auch an der Präsentation nichts meckern. Die CDs mit den vertonten Texten ist etwas spröde, dafür aber klar verständlich und mit mehreren Sprechern versehen.
Ich setze meinen Kurs im neuen Jahr mit Band 2 fort und kann dieses Lehrwerk wärmstens empfehlen.
August 8, 2017
I did not like this book much.
It takes a whole 5 lessons to go through the all the pinyin. It took my class (and teacher) 8 months to go through all the pinyin.
The whole sequence seems off in a few places. In the workbook for instance, you need to listen to the MP3s and write the Chinese characters. Some exercises later you actually learn how to write these characters. In lesson 1 you already get bombarded with vocabulary that doesn't get explained and some if it has pinyin that you haven't even learned yet.
To me, this text book was utterly confusing, and even convoluted in some places.
It takes a whole 5 lessons to go through the all the pinyin. It took my class (and teacher) 8 months to go through all the pinyin.
The whole sequence seems off in a few places. In the workbook for instance, you need to listen to the MP3s and write the Chinese characters. Some exercises later you actually learn how to write these characters. In lesson 1 you already get bombarded with vocabulary that doesn't get explained and some if it has pinyin that you haven't even learned yet.
To me, this text book was utterly confusing, and even convoluted in some places.
October 2, 2013
I approached this book at the right time: I was already at a nearly intermediate level. It is not suitable for beginners from scratch, it will pull you off! Long lessons with too much vocabulary crammed. When you treat it as a pre-intermediate resource, then it does work! Dialogues sound very authentic and the idea of adding a text in characters-only that summarizes the dialogues is simply fantastic for 'breaking the ice' and allowing the learner to start reading in pinyinless Chinese.
November 7, 2013
The book is ok if you have a teacher next to you, unaccessible in case you're alone. To mark some weaknesses, the alphabetical parts are indeed too big and it doesn't offer, alike other books, a tool to allow you to read the hanzis excluding the pinyin. And some terms, such as "banana's flavoured apple", are quite useless to know at this stage, I presume.
December 16, 2013
I used this book to learn Chinese while in China. It was the first actual workbook I completed and I enjoyed the experience so much I told myself I would be conversational in mandarin. I'm not where I want to be yet but I do recommend this book.
Mr. Joe
Mr. Joe
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November 21, 2009None
February 3, 2016
Pretty good intro. The grammar was explained well for the most part.
As hokey as the cartoons seemed at first, they did help connect the dialogues to each other.
As hokey as the cartoons seemed at first, they did help connect the dialogues to each other.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews