How foreigners learn Chinese through the PinYin System

Download How foreigners learn Chinese through the PinYin System PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : AuthorHouse
ISBN 13 : 1491848693
Total Pages : 94 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (918 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis How foreigners learn Chinese through the PinYin System by : HUI LING CHEN COMPILED

Download or read book How foreigners learn Chinese through the PinYin System written by HUI LING CHEN COMPILED and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2014-01-16 with total page 94 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now we are in multicultural community. We need understanding and communication among countries. As a Chinese teacher, I have learnt a simple way through tried and error to learn Chinese which is suitable for western people. We can learn Chinese Pinyin by the Method of Chinese Learning by Transfer from English International Phonetic Alphabet to Chinese Pinyin ,So I want to recommend the book«Elementary Chinese» to you. Let the world know China better and Let China reach out to the world. With the further Reform and Opening, more and more foreigners want to know China and study the Chinese language. From my years of English learning, I have noticed studying Chinese with the help of Transfer. Among the English International Phonetic Alphabets, many alphabets are similar to the Chinese Phonetic Alphabets. The Transfer has obvious effects for the foreign beginners in reading the words correctly and improving their self-taught abilities. There are three parts in this book. The first part is how to learn Pinyin by the Method of Chinese Learning by Transfer from English International Phonetic Alphabet to Chinese Pinyin,The second part is to grasp Chinese spelling by practicing Pinyin. The third part is to learn how to write Chinese by “Chinese Basic Strokes.” An Introduction to the Method of Chinese Learning by Transfer from English International Phonetic Alphabet to Chinese Pinyin 1. Contrast between the Chinese Pinyin and English International Phonetic Alphabet There are 48 phonetic alphabets in English with 20 vowels and 28 constants, 20 vowels including 8 double vowels and 12 single vowels. Vowel is the critical phoneme in forming syllable and word and its right reading is the key in studying standard English pronunciation. There are 47 Chinese Pinyin, 6 simple finals with the same function as the 12 single vowels in English phonetic alphabets, 9 compound finals and 9 nasal finals with the same function as 8 double vowels, and 23 initials just like the 28 constants. The precise sounds of the finals are key in Standard Chinese pronunciation. 2. Chinese pronunciation is termed "Voice Front Approach", that is, the front of the oral cavity exercises more and pronounces. While English pronunciation is termed “Voice Rear Approach”, that is, the rear of the oral cavity exercises more and pronounces. The book will talk about the learning of Chinese Pinyin by Label of English Phonetic Alphabet Sound Symbolism Approach and Phonetic Alphabet Transfer Approach. It will help the foreigners learn the Chinese Pinyin and know the ways to read Chinese characters from the comparison of the places of articulation in phonetic alphabets and Pinyin. With the purpose of transfer, the book will teach the foreigners to learn Chinese by Phonetic Alphabet Sound Symbolism Approach of the English International Phonetic Alphabets and the Chinese Pinyin. From my point of view, the greatest advantage of the method is that it is simple, practical, and easy to understand, with operability. Surely, it will give a shortcut for the westerners to study Chinese. I have intended to continue with Volume 2 and Volume 3, which will show the Chinese long history, brilliant culture and traditional customs to the world and make China known to the world.

Mandarin Primer

Download Mandarin Primer PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780674732872
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (328 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Mandarin Primer by : Yuen Ren Chao

Download or read book Mandarin Primer written by Yuen Ren Chao and published by . This book was released on 1948-02-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Remembering Simplified Hanzi 1

Download Remembering Simplified Hanzi 1 PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 0824875931
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (248 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Remembering Simplified Hanzi 1 by : James W. Heisig

Download or read book Remembering Simplified Hanzi 1 written by James W. Heisig and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2008-10-31 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At long last the approach that has helped thousands of learners memorize Japanese kanji has been adapted to help students with Chinese characters. Book 1 of Remembering Simplified Hanzi covers the writing and meaning of the 1,000 most commonly used characters in the simplified Chinese writing system, plus another 500 that are best learned at an early stage. (Book 2 adds another 1,500 characters for a total of 3,000.) Of critical importance to the approach found in these pages is the systematic arranging of characters in an order best suited to memorization. In the Chinese writing system, strokes and simple components are nested within relatively simple characters, which can, in turn, serve as parts of more complicated characters and so on. Taking advantage of this allows a logical ordering, making it possible for students to approach most new characters with prior knowledge that can greatly facilitate the learning process. Guidance and detailed instructions are provided along the way. Students are taught to employ "imaginative memory" to associate each character’s component parts, or "primitive elements," with one another and with a key word that has been carefully selected to represent an important meaning of the character. This is accomplished through the creation of a "story" that engagingly ties the primitive elements and key word together. In this way, the collections of dots, strokes, and components that make up the characters are associated in memorable fashion, dramatically shortening the time required for learning and helping to prevent characters from slipping out of memory.

Hacking Chinese

Download Hacking Chinese PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781530334889
Total Pages : 246 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (348 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Hacking Chinese by : Olle Linge

Download or read book Hacking Chinese written by Olle Linge and published by . This book was released on 2016-03-26 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learning Chinese can be frustrating and difficult, partly because it's very different from European languages. Following a teacher, textbook or language course is not enough. They show you the characters, words and grammar you need to become proficient in Chinese, but they don't teach you how to learn them! Regardless of what program you're in (if any), you need to take responsibility for your own learning. If you don't, you will miss many important things that aren't included in the course you're taking. If you study on your own, you need to be even more aware of what you need to do, what you're doing at the moment and the difference between them. Here are some of the questions I have asked and have since been asked many times by students: How do I learn characters efficiently? How do I get the most out of my course or teacher? Which are the best learning tools and resources? How can I become fluent in Mandarin? How can I improve my pronunciation? How do I learn successfully on my own? How can I motivate myself to study more? How can I fit learning Chinese into a busy schedule? The answers I've found to these questions and many others form the core of this book. It took eight years of learning, researching, teaching and writing to figure these things out. Not everybody has the time to do that! I can't go back in time and help myself learn in a better way, but I can help you! This book is meant for normal students and independent language learners alike. While it covers all major areas of learning, you won't learn Chinese just by reading this book. It's like when someone on TV teaches you how to cook: you won't get to eat the delicious dish just by watching the program; you have to do the cooking yourself. That's true for this book as well. When you apply what you learn, it will boost your learning, making every hour you spend count for more, but you still have to do the learning yourself. This is what a few readers have said about the book: "The book had me nodding at a heap of things I'd learnt the hard way, wishing I knew them when I started, as well as highlighting areas that I'm currently missing in my study." - Geoff van der Meer, VP engineering "This publication is like a bible for anyone serious about Chinese proficiency. It's easy for anyone to read and written with scientific precision." - Zachary Danz, foreign teacher, children's theatre artist About me I started learning Chinese when I was 23 (that's more than eight years ago now) and have since studied in many different situations, including serious immersion programs abroad, high-intensity programs in Sweden, online courses, as well as on the side while working or studying other things. I have also successfully used my Chinese in a graduate program for teaching Chinese as a second language, taught entirely in Chinese mostly for native speakers (the Graduate Institute for Teaching Chinese as a Second Language at National Taiwan Normal University). All these parts have contributed to my website, Hacking Chinese, where I write regularly about how to learn Mandarin.

The Chinese Language

Download The Chinese Language PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
ISBN 13 : 9780824810689
Total Pages : 348 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (16 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Chinese Language by : John DeFrancis

Download or read book The Chinese Language written by John DeFrancis and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 1986-03-01 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "DeFrancis's book is first rate. It entertains. It teaches. It demystifies. It counteracts popular ignorance as well as sophisticated (cocktail party) ignorance. Who could ask for anything more? There is no other book like it. ... It is one of a kind, a first, and I would not only buy it but I would recommend it to friends and colleagues, many of whom are visiting China now and are adding 'two-week-expert' ignorance to the two kinds that existed before. This is a book for everyone." --Joshua A. Fishman, research professor of social sciences, Yeshiva University, New York "Professor De Francis has produced a work of great effectiveness that should appeal to a wide-ranging audience. It is at once instructive and entertaining. While being delighted by the flair of his novel approach, the reader will also be led to ponder on some of the most fundamental problems concerning the relations between written languages and spoken languages. Specifically, he will be served a variety of information on the languages of East Asia, not as dry pedantic facts, but as appealing tidbits that whet the intellectual appetite. The expert will find much to reflect on in this book, for Professor DeFrancis takes nothing for granted." --William S.Y. Wang, professor of linguistics, University of California at Berkeley

A Chinese-English Dictionary

Download A Chinese-English Dictionary PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 1822 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (243 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Chinese-English Dictionary by : Herbert Allen Giles

Download or read book A Chinese-English Dictionary written by Herbert Allen Giles and published by . This book was released on 1912 with total page 1822 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters

Download Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Tuttle Publishing
ISBN 13 : 146290128X
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (629 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters by : Alison Matthews

Download or read book Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters written by Alison Matthews and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2011-12-20 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This user-friendly book is aimed at helping students of Mandarin Chinese learn and remember Chinese characters. At last--there is a truly effective and enjoyable way to learn Chinese characters! This book helps students to learn and remember both the meanings and the pronunciations of over 800 characters. This otherwise daunting task is made easier by the use of techniques based on the psychology of learning and memory. key principles include the use of visual imagery, the visualization of short "stories," and the systematic building up of more complicated characters from basic building blocks. Although Learning Chinese Characters is primarily a book for serious learners of Mandarin Chinese, it can be used by anyone with interest in Chinese characters, without any prior knowledge of Chinese. It can be used alongside (or after, or even before) a course in the Chinese language. All characters are simplified (as in mainland China), but traditional characters are also given, when available. Key features: Specially designed pictures and stories are used in a structured way to make the learning process more enjoyable and effective, reducing the need for rote learning to the absolute minimum. The emphasis throughout is on learning and remembering the meanings and pronunciations of the characters. Tips are also included on learning techniques and how to avoid common problems. Characters are introduced in a logical sequence, which also gives priority to learning the most common characters first. Modern, simplified characters are used, with pronunciations given in pinyin. Key information is given for each character, including radical, stroke-count, traditional form, compounds, and guidance on writing the character. This is a practical guide with a clear, concise and appealing layout, and it is well-indexed with easy lookup methods. The 800 Chinese characters and 1,033 compounds specified for the original HSK Level A proficiency test are covered.

The Way of the Linguist

Download The Way of the Linguist PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : AuthorHouse
ISBN 13 : 1420873296
Total Pages : 142 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (28 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Way of the Linguist by : Steve Kaufmann

Download or read book The Way of the Linguist written by Steve Kaufmann and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2005-11 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey. It is now a cliché that the world is a smaller place. We think nothing of jumping on a plane to travel to another country or continent. The most exotic locations are now destinations for mass tourism. Small business people are dealing across frontiers and language barriers like never before. The Internet brings different languages and cultures to our finger-tips. English, the hybrid language of an island at the western extremity of Europe seems to have an unrivalled position as an international medium of communication. But historically periods of cultural and economic domination have never lasted forever. Do we not lose something by relying on the wide spread use of English rather than discovering other languages and cultures? As citizens of this shrunken world, would we not be better off if we were able to speak a few languages other than our own? The answer is obviously yes. Certainly Steve Kaufmann thinks so, and in his busy life as a diplomat and businessman he managed to learn to speak nine languages fluently and observe first hand some of the dominant cultures of Europe and Asia. Why do not more people do the same? In his book The Way of The Linguist, A language learning odyssey, Steve offers some answers. Steve feels anyone can learn a language if they want to. He points out some of the obstacles that hold people back. Drawing on his adventures in Europe and Asia, as a student and businessman, he describes the rewards that come from knowing languages. He relates his evolution as a language learner, abroad and back in his native Canada and explains the kind of attitude that will enable others to achieve second language fluency. Many people have taken on the challenge of language learning but have been frustrated by their lack of success. This book offers detailed advice on the kind of study practices that will achieve language breakthroughs. Steve has developed a language learning system available online at: www.thelinguist.com.

Reading and Writing Chinese

Download Reading and Writing Chinese PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Tuttle Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9780804842990
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (429 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Reading and Writing Chinese by : William McNaughton

Download or read book Reading and Writing Chinese written by William McNaughton and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2013-07-23 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a complete and easy–to–use guide for reading and writing Chinese characters. Learning written Chinese is an essential part of mastering the Chinese language. Used as a standard by students and teachers learning to read Chinese and write Chinese for more than three decades, the bestselling Reading & Writing Chinese has been thoroughly revised and updated. Reading & Writing Chinese places at your fingertips the essential 1,725 Chinese characters' current definitions, derivations, pronunciations, and examples of correct usage by utilizing cleverly condensed grids. This guide also focuses on Pinyin, which is the official system to transcribe Hanzi, Chinese characters, into Latin script, now universally used in mainland China and Singapore. Traditional characters (still used in Taiwan and Hong Kong) are also included, making this a complete reference. Newly updated and revised, these characters are the ones officially prescribed by the Chinese government for the internationally recognized test of proficiency in Chinese, the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK). The student's ability to read and write Chinese are reinforced throughout the text. Key features of this newly-expanded edition include: The 1,725 most frequently used characters in both Simplified and Traditional forms. All 2,633 characters and 5,000+ compounds required for the HSK Exam. Standard Hanyu Pinyin romanizations. More mnemonic phrases and etymologies to help you remember the characters. An extensive introduction, alphabetical index, and index according to stroke count and stroke order. Completely updated/expanded English definitions. Convenient quick-reference tables of radicals. Updated and revised compounds, plus 25% more vocabulary now offered. Codes to assist those who are preparing for the AP exam or the HSK exam.

Mandarin Chinese for Beginners

Download Mandarin Chinese for Beginners PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Tuttle Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1462914764
Total Pages : 203 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (629 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Mandarin Chinese for Beginners by : Yi Ren

Download or read book Mandarin Chinese for Beginners written by Yi Ren and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2014-06-01 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: …well-written and helps you speak Chinese in no time. --FluentU.com

Dreaming in Chinese

Download Dreaming in Chinese PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 080277914X
Total Pages : 209 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (27 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Dreaming in Chinese by : Deborah Fallows

Download or read book Dreaming in Chinese written by Deborah Fallows and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2011-09-20 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Deborah Fallows has spent a lot of her life learning languages and traveling around the world. But nothing prepared her for the surprises of learning Mandarin, China's most common language, or the intensity of living in Shanghai and Beijing. Over time, she realized that her struggles and triumphs in studying learning the language of her adopted home provided small clues to deciphering behavior and habits of its people, and its culture's conundrums. As her skill with Mandarin increased, bits of the language - a word, a phrase, an oddity of grammar - became windows into understanding romance, humor, protocol, relationships, and the overflowing humanity of modern China. Fallows learned, for example, that the abrupt, blunt way of speaking which Chinese people sometimes use isn't rudeness, but is, in fact a way to acknowledge and honor the closeness between two friends. She learned that English speakers' trouble with hearing or saying tones-the variations in inflection that can change a word's meaning-is matched by Chinese speakers' inability not to hear tones, or to even take a guess at understanding what might have been meant when foreigners misuse them. Dreaming in Chinese is the story of what Deborah Fallows discovered about the Chinese language, and how that helped her make sense of what had at first seemed like the chaos and contradiction of everyday life in China.

Language Together English for Kids Set One

Download Language Together English for Kids Set One PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780997124002
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (24 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Language Together English for Kids Set One by : Germaine Choe

Download or read book Language Together English for Kids Set One written by Germaine Choe and published by . This book was released on 2016-02 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Precursors of Functional Literacy

Download Precursors of Functional Literacy PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9789027218063
Total Pages : 374 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (18 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Precursors of Functional Literacy by : Ludo Th Verhoeven

Download or read book Precursors of Functional Literacy written by Ludo Th Verhoeven and published by John Benjamins Publishing. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this volume is to present recent research in the field of the acquisition of functional literacy and its precursors. The volume aims to capture the state of the art in this rapidly expanding field. An attempt is made to clarify the vague and often inconsistent definitions of functional literacy from the perspective of development. Cognitive, linguistic, educational, and social factors of literacy development are all taken into account. The volume consists of three subsequent parts. The first part goes into phonological precursors of literacy development. In this part the focus is on the development of early language precursors of of reading and writing. The cultural foundations of these precursors are explored, and their links with reading development are dealt with in detail. Different psycholinguistic approaches are also proposed to explain the occurrence of literacy problems. In the second part, the scope is on the constraints of reading and writing efficiency at the word level and beyond. The acquisition of reading and writing is seen as a result from the interaction between phonological, orthographic, and semantic processes. A crosslinguistic perspective is taken on the role of writing system factors in the acquisition of literacy skills. The final part deals with the role of social and educational factors in literacy acquisition. Starting from a crosscultural perspective, the central issue is how the attainment of functional literacy is dependent on sociocultural variation. The predictors of more advanced levels of literacy development are considered, including foreign language literacy and adult literacy.

A Billion Voices

Download A Billion Voices PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Penguin Group Australia
ISBN 13 : 1760143308
Total Pages : 96 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (61 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis A Billion Voices by : David Moser

Download or read book A Billion Voices written by David Moser and published by Penguin Group Australia. This book was released on 2016-05-23 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mandarin, Guoyu or Putonghua? 'Chinese' is a language known by many names, and China is a country home to many languages. Since the turn of the twentieth century linguists and politicians have been on a mission to create a common language for China. From the radical intellectuals of the May Fourth Movement, to leaders such as Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, all fought linguistic wars to push the boundaries of language reform. Now, Internet users take the Chinese language in new and unpredictable directions. David Moser tells the remarkable story of China's language unification agenda and its controversial relationship with modern politics, challenging our conceptions of what it means to speak and be Chinese. 'If you want to know what the language situation of China is on the ground and in the trenches, and you only have time to read one book, this is it. A veritable tour de force, in just a little over a hundred pages, David Moser has filled this brilliant volume with linguistic, political, historical, and cultural data that are both reliable and enlightening. Written with captivating wit and exacting expertise, A Billion Voices is a masterpiece of clear thinking and incisive exposition.' Victor H. Mair, American sinologist, professor of Chinese language and literature at the University of Pennsylvania and author of The Columbia History of Chinese Literature 'David Moser explains the complex aspects of Putonghua against the backdrop of history, delivering the information with authority and simplicity in a style accessible both to speakers of Chinese and those who are simply fascinated by the language. All of the questions that people have asked me about Chinese over the years, and more, are answered in this book. The history of Putonghua and the vital importance of creating a common language is a story David Moser brings to life in an enjoyable way.' Laszlo Montgomery, The China History Podcast

Basic Spoken Chinese

Download Basic Spoken Chinese PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Tuttle Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1462914810
Total Pages : 386 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (629 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Basic Spoken Chinese by : Cornelius C. Kubler

Download or read book Basic Spoken Chinese written by Cornelius C. Kubler and published by Tuttle Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-12 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

The Chinese Typewriter

Download The Chinese Typewriter PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262536102
Total Pages : 501 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (625 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Chinese Typewriter by : Thomas S. Mullaney

Download or read book The Chinese Typewriter written by Thomas S. Mullaney and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2018-10-09 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How Chinese characters triumphed over the QWERTY keyboard and laid the foundation for China's information technology successes today. Chinese writing is character based, the one major world script that is neither alphabetic nor syllabic. Through the years, the Chinese written language encountered presumed alphabetic universalism in the form of Morse Code, Braille, stenography, Linotype, punch cards, word processing, and other systems developed with the Latin alphabet in mind. This book is about those encounters—in particular thousands of Chinese characters versus the typewriter and its QWERTY keyboard. Thomas Mullaney describes a fascinating series of experiments, prototypes, failures, and successes in the century-long quest for a workable Chinese typewriter. The earliest Chinese typewriters, Mullaney tells us, were figments of popular imagination, sensational accounts of twelve-foot keyboards with 5,000 keys. One of the first Chinese typewriters actually constructed was invented by a Christian missionary, who organized characters by common usage (but promoted the less-common characters for “Jesus" to the common usage level). Later came typewriters manufactured for use in Chinese offices, and typewriting schools that turned out trained “typewriter girls” and “typewriter boys.” Still later was the “Double Pigeon” typewriter produced by the Shanghai Calculator and Typewriter Factory, the typewriter of choice under Mao. Clerks and secretaries in this era experimented with alternative ways of organizing characters on their tray beds, inventing an input method that was the first instance of “predictive text.” Today, after more than a century of resistance against the alphabetic, not only have Chinese characters prevailed, they form the linguistic substrate of the vibrant world of Chinese information technology. The Chinese Typewriter, not just an “object history” but grappling with broad questions of technological change and global communication, shows how this happened. A Study of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute Columbia University

Mandarin Chinese

Download Mandarin Chinese PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 ( download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Mandarin Chinese by : Lexus (Firm)

Download or read book Mandarin Chinese written by Lexus (Firm) and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To meet the expanding demand for Asian language guides the acclaimed Rough Guide series now adds Mandarin Chinese to its line of phrasebooks. The Rough Guide phrasebooks provide quick key word referencing, cultural information, and dos and don'ts, along with the mechanics of making phone calls, using cash machines, and much more.