Opinions on Chinese/English books?

[boomerang]

After a stop at the wangfujing bookstore, I recently became enamored with the translations of Chinese classics that have the Chinese on one page, and an English translation on the facing page. I've already picked up 梁山伯与祝英台 and 三国演义. Without the English, they would be quite a bit beyond my comprehension level, but with the English translation already there as support, they seem to move along quite smoothly (albeit a little slowly). This seems like an excellent way of practicing reading comprehension, provided you don't rely to heavily on the English side of the page. My plan is to work through these book with the goal of feeling I have fully comprehended the Chinese.

The only concern I have with this method is that it might stunt my own comprehension of the text by trying too hard to match things up with the provided English translation, as opposed to forming my own interpretation of the text. I know translation is an inexact science (or rather, an artform), and that Chinese can be very deep.

Has anybody used these types of books before, and have any comments on their effectiveness?

[pattifranklin]

I have done similar things to practice my reading comprehension. you are exactly right that you might be restricting yourself and your "artform" of translation, but I feel that overall it is well worth the practice. You get more reading in and you learn how others translate- both of which benifit your own chinese abilities. Don't worry about cramping your potential you'll learn more this way than trying to do things the harder way.