Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese Script

by Scurfield, Elizabeth

• ISBN13: 9780071419833
• ISBN10: 0071419837
• Edition: Bilingual
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-07-03
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Summary

Now learning non-Roman-alphabet languages is as easy as A-B-C!Readers wanting to learn the basics of reading and writing a new language that employs script will find all they need in the Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series. Each book includes a step-by-step introduction to reading and writing in a new language as well as tips and practice exercises to build learners' skills. Thanks to the experts at Teach Yourself, script will no longer be all "Greek" to language learners--unless of course, it is Greek script!Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series books feature: Origins of the language A systematic approach to mastering the script Lots of "hands-on" exercises and activities Practical examples from real-life situations

Author Biography

Elizabeth Scurfield is a founder member of the Chinese Department at the University of Westminister.

p>Song Lianyi is Lecturer in Chinese ath the School of Oriental African Studies London.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. vii
Origins of the script	p. 1
What the earliest characters looked like
About the evolution of characters
Over the years
Ten basic characters
How Chinese characters are formed	p. 6
What radicals are
Various ways in which characters are composed
More than 30 new characters/radicals
Writing Chinese characters	p. 14
Some basic strokes
Stroke order when writing characters
A dozen more characters/radicals
How words are formed	p. 27
Various ways in which words are composed
About the Chinese language in general (including its pronunciation)
Numbers, basic calculations, years in Chinese
Tips for learning characters
Mini-test 1	p. 40
Signs (1)	p. 46
Practical signs in e.g. hotels and restaurants
Some common Western names in Chinese characters
Country names in Chinese characters
How to tell the time in Chinese
Signs (2)	p. 61
More signs to help you get around
Directions
More words for places in Chinese
Signs (3)	p. 72
More characters in advertisements
Some characters used in menus
How to fill in simple forms
Entertainment	p. 83
How to read characters on tickets
How to read posters about shows and exhibitions
About characters used on currency
Measurements in Chinese characters
More Chinese place names in characters
The weather	p. 92
Some common wishes
Some set phrases and proverbs involving numbers
How to read the weather forecast in newspapers
How to write simple postcards or messages
About Chinese calligraphy
Mini-test 2	p. 103
Using a Chinese-English dictionary	p. 109
How to use a Chinese dictionary
About Chinese word processing
Some more Chinese idioms
Taking it further	p. 121
Key to the exercises	p. 123
Table of radicals	p. 140
Pronunciation guide	p. 145
Useful public signs and notices	p. 150
Chinese-English vocabulary	p. 153
English-Chinese vocabulary	p. 184
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.