Need textbook: intermediate, traditional characters

[Minerva]

Hey everyone!

I am in need of a new textbook, and I thought that maybe you could give me some tips and recommendations.

I have worked my way through the first and second NPCR, and I liked them, but my problem is that they use simplified characters. Since I'm studying Chinese to communicate with some Taiwanese relatives of mine and want to go to Taiwan for half a year soon, simplified characters are not really what I aim for.

So far, I simply always checked whether the traditional version of a character differs from the simplified one and learned both, but it bugs me to learn both versions knowing that one would suffice. That takes up time that I could otherwise use more efficiently.

Therefore, I started to look into different textbooks that use traditional characters. The only ones I could find that seem to have some popularity are the 'Integrated Chinese' ones, but they are pretty expensive for a broke student like me, and I couldn't even find the 2.1 textbook on Amazon?

Maybe you have some suggestions regarding textbooks?

Thanks,

Minerva

[Shelley]

There were some suggestions on this subject recently here http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/50497-resources-written-in-traditional-chinese/

 

Hope this helps.

[TheBigZaboon]

@Minerva,

As you seem to have family in Taiwan, you may be able to get them to look for and send you Taiwanese texts that might give you a little foretaste of Taiwanese life. There are a number of very good textbook series available. They differ a bit in their approach, and maybe the "density" of the text and its content. That might make one more attractive than another.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest the Far East Everyday Chinese series. As the name implies, it has a more day-to-day approach and a more immediately usable content than the two or three alternatives available. When you actually get to Taiwan, when you choose a school, they will have preferences for one series or another, and you can make other choices then.

Far East Publishing is well known to many Taiwanese, not for its Chinese books, but because it publishes a huge number of TOEIC book series. So your relatives probably won't have too much trouble getting a bookstore to order it.

Because you have some Chinese already, you can probably start with Book II (volumes A and B). The audio is sold separately, I think, but I strongly recommend you get it. Purchasing the workbooks is up to you. Depending on your progress, there is also a Volume III.

There's other stuff available, but for a young person who's gonna go to Taiwan and who has ready-made family and friends, this series might give you an easier transition into daily life. Just make sure you get a traditional character version. Up until about ten years or so ago, use of simplified characters was actually against the law. But that has changed, and even Taiwanese publishers have started printing simplified-only versions of their texts. So be careful.

Anyway, just my two cents. Others on this forum have spent far more time in Taiwan than I have, so their advice may differ. But if you have any other questions, I will try to help.

TBZ

[wibr]

I think a thorough search of the forums should give you plenty of suggestions, some keywords: textbook taiwan iclp mtc

 

One textbook series which is easy to find in Taiwan is "Practical Audio-Visual Chinese"

[Minerva]

Thanks you guys!

I'll certainly look into the Far East series and talk to my aunt about sending some stuff. :-)