Modern Chinese (BOOK 3) - Learn Chinese in a Simple and Successful Way - Series BOOK 1, 2, 3, 4

By Vivienne Zhang

Author Vivienne Zhang is a native Chinese speaker fluent in English who has been translating, interpreting and teaching for many years. She has tried, tested and perfected various lessons and techniques that apply well to Chinese studies. These modern techniques are now published in a series of four books.

Each book teaches the reader both Pinyin and Hanzi (Chinese characters). One of the unique features in these books is the literal translation into English of common Chinese expressions and vocabulary. For example, you can often see the annotation “lit.” with the daily life topic sentences in BOOK 3, showing the direct translation of the Chinese text. This technique reinforces an understanding of sentence structure and grammar which has proven to be instrumental in helping the students and readers to retain the Chinese that they have already learned. Other Chinese language books do not use this approach.

BOOK 3 provides useful, high frequency language and examples heard everyday on the streets of China. This book is designed to give the reader a solid basis for understanding Chinese in different day-to-day situations, such as eating as a restaurant, shopping, social situations, dealing with emergencies, and many more. You can study these daily life topics in any order.

Like BOOK 1 and BOOK 2 in this series, one of the unique features of this book is also the literal translation into English of common Chinese expressions and vocabulary.

NOTE: After you have learnt Pinyin (initials, finals and tones) in Part 1 of BOOK 1, you are ready to continue studying any books within the Modern Chinese series...BOOK 1, 2, 3 and 4.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vivienne Zhang
• Release date: Mar 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781625900067

Vivienne Zhang

After graduation from University in 2009, Vivienne worked as a freelance interpreter for many international companies such as Huawei, Samsung, Apple, Mercedes, Siemens, Areva, Peugeot, and others. In 2010, Vivienne decided to fully dedicate herself to teaching Chinese language to foreign expats employed at those same multi-national companies where she worked as an interpreter before. In 2012, based on the success of her teaching, Vivienne wrote a series of books that teach Chinese using her unique learning methods. These techniques have become very popular among her students and readers.

Book preview

Modern Chinese (BOOK 3)

– Learn Chinese in a Simple and Successful Way

– Series 1, 2, 3, 4

Vivienne Zhang

Copyright Vivienne Zhang 2012

Published at Smashwords

Acknowledgements

Preface

Daily Life Topics

Greetings (1)

Greetings (2)

In China

Restaurant (1)

Restaurant (2)

Family

Entertaining Guests

Learning Chinese/Mandarin

Making Phone Calls

Computer and Internet

Work (1)

Work (2)

Weather

Health and See a Doctor

See a Dentist

Emergencies

Traffic and (Asking) Directions

Bank

Post office

Shopping

Tailoring Clothes

Having a Haircut

Getting a Massage and Facial

Other books by Vivienne Zhang

Acknowledgements

There are many people without whose helpful support and encouragement BOOK 1, 2, 3, 4 would not have become a reality. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my good friend, Pax Webb, for his patience and meticulous care in proofreading the drafts and offering suggestions.

I wish to thank my parents for their undivided support and interest, whose wisdom inspired me and encouraged me to go my own way, without whom I would be unable to complete these books. I am also very grateful to my siblings, especially my younger sister Vicky who shares my daily happiness and woes. My appreciation of their love for me truly goes beyond mere words.

I also give my sincere appreciation to all the teachers who have taught and encouraged me during my life studies. From their instructive courses and stimulating discussions I have acquired many insights and a genuine love for languages and linguistics.

I hope you find these books as interesting, challenging and rewarding as I did writing them.

Preface

In recent years, China has grown to be a powerhouse in the world economy. Mandarin, Putonghua in Chinese, has always been the world’s most spoken language by sheer volume of native speakers but its value has also become especially important among foreigners and business professionals. With the ever increasing focus on international trade with China, Western interest in learning Chinese has grown exponentially.

As a Chinese native speaker fluent in English, I have been translating, interpreting and teaching for many years. I have not always been satisfied with the available books and materials for teaching Chinese to foreigners. Over the last several years I have tried, tested and perfected various lessons and techniques that apply well to Chinese studies. I have collected and now publish all of these modern techniques into books.

One of the unique features in these books is the literal translation into English of common Chinese expressions and vocabulary. For example, you can often see lit. with the grammar points in BOOK 1, showing the direct translation of the Chinese text. This will reinforce an understanding of sentence structure and grammar which has proven to be instrumental in helping you retain the Chinese you have already learned. Other Chinese language books do not use this approach.

BOOK 3 provides useful, high frequency language and examples heard everyday on the streets of China. This book is designed to give the reader a solid basis for understanding Chinese in different day-to-day situations, such as eating at a restaurant, and dealing with emergencies and everything in between. You can study these daily life topics in any order.

Like BOOK 1 and BOOK 2 in this series, one of the unique features of this book is also the literal translation into English of common Chinese expressions and vocabulary.

Daily Life Topics

rìcháng shēnghuó huàtí

日常 生活 话题

Greetings (1)

wènhòu 问候 (1)

zǎoshang hǎo! / zǎo!

早上好！/ 早！

Good morning!

(lit. Early morning good! / Early!)

nǐ hǎo!

你好！

Hello!

(lit. You good!)

nǐ hǎo ma? / nǐ zěnme yàng?

你好吗？ 你怎么样？

How are you?

(lit. You good? / You how?)

wǒ hěn hǎo. xièxiè! nǐ ne?

我很好。谢谢！你呢？

I am fine. Thank you! And you? (ne is used to return the same question to the first speaker.)

(lit. I very good. Thanks! You?)

wǒ yě hěn hǎo.

我也很好。

I am fine too.

(lit. I too/also very

Reviews for Modern Chinese (BOOK 3) - Learn Chinese in a Simple and Successful Way - Series BOOK 1, 2, 3, 4

[ShanghaiFan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of many aspects that I like about these books is that they present very, very practical examples. For instance, Book 3 covers visiting a doctor or dentist. What would you say to book the appointment? What would you say to tell the doctor or dentist what's wrong? What would you expect the doctor to say to you? Many other books cover school, being a student, exams, etc., and that's all fine, but for folks who want to go to China and talk to native speakers, a broader conversational base is required, and these four books can give you a good start with many topics. Not saying these books alone will do it, after all this is a complex foreign language we are learning here. But there's no better place to start, IMO.

[2012parayancher · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very useful.