Speaking Of Chinese

"This pleasant, unpretentious account [is] a small stream leading to the ocean of the culture of China."--Scientific American

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In this major new book, leading cultural thinker Ien Ang engages with urgent questions of identity in an age of globalisation and diaspora. The starting point for Ang's discussion is the experience of visiting Taiwan. Ang, a person of Chinese descent, born in Indonesia and raised in the Netherlands, found herself "faced with an almost insurmountable difficulty" - surrounded by people who expected her to speak to them in Chinese. She writes: "It was the beginning of an almost decade-long engagement with the predicaments of `Chineseness' in diaspora. In Taiwan I was different because I couldn't speak Chinese; in the West I was different because I looked Chinese". From this autobiographical beginning, Ang goes on to reflect upon tensions between `Asia' and `the West' at a national and global level, and to consider the disparate meanings of `Chineseness' in the contemporary world. She offers a critique of the increasingly aggressive construction of a global Chineseness, and challenges Western tendencies to equate `Chinese' with `Asian' identity. Ang then turns to `the West', exploring the paradox of Australia's identity as a `Western' country in the Asian region, and tracing Australia's uneasy relationship with its Asian neighbours, from the White Australia policy to contemporary multicultural society. Finally, Ang draws together her discussion of `Asia' and `the West' to consider the social and intellectual space of the `in-between', arguing for a theorising not of `difference' but of `togetherness' in contemporary societies.

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Use this one-of-a-kind practice guide together with any Chinese book or language program, and dramatically enhance your speaking and listening skills. No matter what book or course you're using to learn Chinese, it takes a lot of practice. Here is a wealth of effective practice activities--including more than 16 hours of audio material!--to help polish your spoken Mandarin Chinese. This book corresponds to Basic Spoken Chinese and allows you to move from complete beginner level to basic proficiency. Downloadable content features over 16 hours of audio material, as well as (printable) PDF files of hundreds of additional practice pages and exercises. Basic Spoken Chinese Practice Essentials includes carefully designed activities to help solidify every aspect of your spoken Chinese skills, including: Pronunciation exercises. Vocabulary and Grammar summaries. Substitution drills. Transformation and Response drills. Role Play & Listening Comprehension exercises. Dictation exercises. Translation exercises. The downloadable content contains: 16 hours of audio by native Mandarin speakers. Printable practice pages. Printable exercises and activities. Together with or after this book, you can use Basic Written Chinese if you want to learn Chinese reading and writing. It introduces the highest-frequency characters and words in a systematic way. About the Series Respected Chinese language expert Dr. Cornelius Kubler, who has taught diplomats, business people and students, presents a learning system that uses separate but integrated "tracks" to help you efficiently master the basics of spoken and written Chinese. The materials in the Basic Spoken Chinese series allow you to move from complete beginner level to intermediate fluency.

This is a beginning-level course in spoken Chinese that employs a revolutionary new method designed to have you quickly speaking and comprehending Mandarin Chinese. Along with its sister book Basic Written Chinese and their accompanying workbooks, Basic Spoken Chinese offers a complete introductory course to the Chinese language. As a native English speaker, working hard to learn Chinese is not enough; you have to work smart to learn this very different language efficiently. Downloadable audio and video reinforce the material introduced in the book. No matter why you've chosen to learn Chinese--for business, travel, cultural studies or another goal--the Basic Chinese approach of two separate but integrated tracks in spoken and written Chinese will help you learn this language most efficiently and successfully. Detailed explanations in English of Chinese pronunciation, grammar, usage, culture, society, and recommended learning approaches. A digital Instructor's Guide is available electronically. A written Character Transcript (Simplified and Traditional) is available electronically. The downloadable materials feature: 40 videos with dozens of native speakers filmed on location in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. 6 hours of native-speaker audio, including all of the book's conversations. Build up sections, new words, and pronunciation exercises. Available separately, Basic Spoken Chinese Practice Essentials is the companion workbook for Basic Spoken Chinese. This practical guide includes a broad range of drills and exercises designed to enhance your proficiency in speaking and comprehending dramatically. While intended for use with the companion textbook, it can be used together with any Chinese textbook or teaching program to hone your Chinese language skills.

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This portable, user-friendly Chinese language guide, phrasebook and dictionary is the cheapest and easiest way to learn Chinese before and during your trip. If you only want one Chinese language book--Essential Chinese is the way to go. Part of Tuttle Publishing's Essential Phrasebooks Series, it is a great first introduction and beginner guide to the language of China and Taiwan and is also designed as a great Chinese phrasebook, making it the most versatile Chinese language learning tool on the market. Perfect for business people or tourist traveling to China or for students who want to supplement their learning, this book's easy indexing feature allows it to act as a Mandarin phrase book or as English-Chinese Dictionary. A clever "point to" feature allows you to simply point to a phrase translated in Chinese without the need to say a single word or read a single character. You will soon find yourself turning to Essential Chinese again and again when visiting or working in China. In this book you will find: Over 1500 practical sentences for everyday use. A glossary of over 2000 terms and expressions. Terms and phrases covering essential aspects of traveling and living in China. Extensive information about Chinese grammar and pronunciation. This beginner Chinese book will help you quickly and easily learn Chinese. Your ability to read Chinese, write Chinese, speak Chinese, and comprehend Chinese will be vastly improved without having to take an entire Chinese language class. Other titles in this bestselling series of phrasebooks include: Essential Japanese, Essential Arabic, Essential Korean, Essential Tagalog, and Essential Arabic.

This comprehensive Chinese character workbook can be used with any textbook or on its own to dramatically enhance your Mandarin reading and writing skills! No matter what textbook you're using to learn Chinese, it requires a lot of practice. Here is a wealth of effective activities and drills--plus an hour of native speaker audio recordings--to help you learn the 288 basic Chinese characters quickly and effectively. This book follows the Basic Mandarin Chinese--Reading & Writing textbook but works equally well with other coursebooks or on its own. The free disc contains audio recordings as well as printable PDF files providing hundreds of pages of extra exercises and activities and a set of 288 printable flash cards to help you learn the basic characters. Basic Mandarin Chinese--Reading and Writing Practice Book includes a wealth of carefully-designed activities designed to improve every aspect of your reading and writing skills, including: Character writing practice sheets Dictation, fill-in-the-blank, and dialog completion exercises Answering questions, reading maps, converting written style to spoken style Identifying radicals and phonetics, punctuating sentences Writing tasks based on real-life schedules, photographs and name cards Translation exercises The accompanying disc contains: Audio recordings by native Mandarin speakers Hundreds of printable practice pages A printable set of 288 Chinese flashcards About the Basic Mandarin Chinese series: Respected Chinese language educator Dr. Cornelius Kubler has taught Mandarin Chinese to diplomats, business people and students for several decades--using an effective learning system with two separate but integrated "tracks" to help you learn the spoken and written forms of the language more efficiently and more successfully. The materials in this series have been acclaimed as a breakthrough in Mandarin Chinese language learning.