Integrated Chinese, Level 1, Part 1: Workbook (Traditional Character Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Cannot stress it enough
Review: I am currently studying in China right now, and this book as well as the second-year version formed the foundation of my Chinese. I have been studying Chinese for a little more than two years (almost all of which were in the U.S.) and I am now taking university courses at Tsinghua University. I cannot say enough good things about these books especially compared to other books like the Practical Chinese Reader. The only possible shortcoming (and that is if it is one) is that the grammar and phonetic explanations are sometimes unclear if you do not know the terms (although English is our mother tongue, so . . .), but very clear if you are familiar with English grammar. However, these words are very important if you ever study Chinese in China or use things like the Beijing University Press books which only use the Chinese words for these terms to explain grammar. I noticed that one person criticized the lack of English->Chinese glossary, but the implications and connations of words in Chinese are such that you require a Chinese dictionary to really understand them. My teacher constantly warned us about using an English-Chinese dictionary to find the words we were looking for. The first-year level of integrated Chinese gives you enough words and grammatical structures to survive and thrive in China upon first arrival, as well as flexible and reusable words to enable you to handle many situations.

Rating:
Summary: Integrated Chinese is fantastic
Review: I've been studying Chinese for three semesters using the Integrated Chinese series (Level 1, Part 1; Level 1, Part 2; and Level 2), and I'm a BIG fan of these books. I went to Taiwan after learning only 18 chapters' worth of material, and found that the book had -- miraculously -- taught me most of the practical vocabulary I needed to survive. The grammar explanations following each chapter are clear and thorough, and the workbook is an excellent means of reinforcement.

Rating:
Summary: A Good Place to Start, in an Academic Setting
Review: This is not a phrase book, and not usefull for those wishing to independently learn some Chinese before going on vacation or some tour package. For that you should realy get a phrase book, like Lonely Planet.

This is good for an academic, and thus slower, study of Chinese. I have studied Chinese at the University of Washington, and my first year was taught by Bi Nian Ping, one of the contributors for this book.

The reason I recomend this book is, obviously, it's integration. Typicaly people bring lots of very narrow interests to the table when they decide to learn Chinese. Some just want to learn to speak, some want to learn for buisness, some just want to learn to read classical Chinese. The truth is that you realy can't break off part of the language and ignore the other parts, otherwise you will be hard pressed to make sense of the overall system that is the Chinese language. This book forces the student to, in equal parts, listen, read, write, and speak. That way a full comprehension can be developed, not a fragmented and specialized one.

There are some criticisms of the book: When I was a first year student, the main one was of the books artwork, which is either awfull or hillarious. But that's not realy fair. Other criticisms are that the book is prone to using words it hasn't explained yet. This, however, is an important strategy in language learning. When the student is confronted with actual Chinese speakers, they will hear lots of words that they don't necessarily know, but will need to judge from context what they mean. A lot of students who have only studied in the classroom experience a panic-paralyisis when confronted with and actual Chinese speaker, because if they can't understand every single word they are hearing, they assume they can't understand what the person is saying. Of course, that's not the case, but we need to get in the habit of being ambushed by unfamiliar words, and be comfortable with that. This eleminates a major barrier to open practice of talking, reading, and writting Chinese.

Also, the book is highly instruction-oriented. In other words, it can be dificult to learn from when not partnered with explanation from an instructor. A good solution for the independent student would be to find suplemental books, like the Routledge Comprehensive Chinese Gramar. Or on the other hand, one could just sit in a Chinese restaurant and study untill someone comes along who is eager to help you out. This has certainly never failed me.

Finaly, I recomend the traditional version of this book because I believe that it is far easier to learn traditional first and transition to simplified than it is to learn simplified first and transition to traditional. If you think you don't need to learn both, you are kidding yourself. Almost all the books published in Chinese available in the US and Europe are in traditional characters. Almost all the classic literature was written in traditional, and the traditional characters represent an important aspect of Chinese culture and attitudes. If you think you can ignore this, you will never realy understand Chinese.