Classical Chinese for Everyone: A Guide for Absolute Beginners by Bryan W. Van Norden (PDF)

Description

In just thirteen brief, accessible chapters, this engaging little book takes “absolute beginners” from the most basic questions about the language (e.g., what does a classical Chinese character look like?) to reading and understanding selections from classical Chinese philosophical texts and Tang dynasty poetry. “An outstanding introduction to reading classical Chinese. Van Norden does a wonderful job of clearly explaining the basics of classical Chinese, and he carefully takes the reader through beautifully chosen examples from the textual tradition. An invaluable work.” —Michael Puett, Harvard University

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐A great way to be initiated into the mysteries of classical Chinese literature. Having studied modern Chinese before, I’ve used it as a stepping stone on my way to Rouzer. It was a quick and highly enjoyable read. If you are completely new to Chinese, you should still be able to make your way through the book without too much trouble — and that is its unique appeal. Afterwards, when you read one of those bilingual editions of Chinese philosophical classics where every character is glossed, the sentence structure, if not always clear, will no longer read like word salad. That said, I’m not convinced that it’s possible to really learn classical Chinese without studying modern Chinese first. Snippets of classic texts are fine for illustrating grammar, but I doubt anyone would be willing to memorize thousands of characters using word lists and flash cards alone, without the aid of graded readers with tons of artificial text, which — as far as I know — exist only for modern Chinese. There is just not enough repetition in the classics to suffice for that purpose.

⭐Even though I have studied modern Chinese I found the grammatical descriptions very useful and the philosophical descriptions fantastic for getting insight to the Chinese way of thinking. I have always regarded languages a window into a given culture so these insights are very meaningful.

⭐This is a very handy reference for learning Classical Chinese (literary Chinese) The author uses writings attributed to Confucius as the basis for vocabulary and grammar points, and makes it more interesting with explanatory notes. I recommend it for anyone who has a genuine interest in learning.

⭐Funny writing. Very hard if you don’t have the translations though – at least for me. It might not be as intuitive, but Van Norden sure likes to make you think hard on things. A great start.

⭐This book is awesome. Well suited for those interested in Classical Chinese at any level.

⭐I’m always interested in new Chinese textbooks, so even though I’ve been studying Classical Chinese for about 4 years now I had to go borrow this one and give it a thorough examination. Though I was excited about the concept, having looked through the book, I have to admit I have mixed feelings.First, some pros:1. He seems to have a fairly good grasp of what people with absolutely no familiarity with Chinese will know about the language. Other textbooks which claim to be suitable for this audience overestimate this knowledge. In particular, his discussion of the development and structure of characters is one of the clearest I’ve encountered. (I haven’t been an absolute beginner at Chinese in over a decade, though, so YMMV.)2. Making practice materials available online is a welcome addition, especially for self-learners. Unfortunately, as of this review there are only quizzes available for the first few lessons; I’m not certain if the author intends to expand them.3. The texts seem generally well-selected; not only do they demonstrate grammatical concepts in an orderly fashion, they are also part of the canon of works that would be known to any educated Chinese person. Familiarity with the canon is as essential to understanding Classical Chinese as is grammatical knowledge. In particular, I appreciate his choice to include some later poetry, which is a serious omission from other beginning textbooks.And the cons:1. For a book published in 2019, it’s remarkable how little the author seems to be aware of technological advances in language learning. I do commend him for mentioning Pleco, probably the most important app for Chinese learning. But I was surprised to see that he wasted space, both in the introduction and within lessons. on the tedious process of looking characters up in a paper dictionary. Further, I was *shocked* to find that his advice on learning characters is to “write each new character fifty times.” This is a great way to learn–if you want to hate Chinese and quit after the first lesson! Cognitive science has produced a large body of research on how memorization works, and if we don’t make use of its findings we are doing our students a great disservice.2. I understand that the original texts did not include punctuation and that a true scholar should not rely on this crutch, but it’s a crutch that comes standard in the modern Chinese editions of these texts. Chinese scholars I know consider working without punctuation to be an advanced level skill. There’s no need to subject students to this sink-or-swim approach; give them their commas and colons and let them focus on the words.3. I find it counterproductive that the first lesson is a terse saying whose meaning requires a not inconsiderable grasp of Chinese culture and philosophy to unpack. Without this, the sentence remains as opaque as it was before you learned all the new vocabulary, and it’s impossible to feel the satisfaction that “I can read Chinese on my own.” The author appears to have chosen this sentence precisely for its inaccessibility, and expects the student to intuit its meaning simply by reading it several times. (As a middle school teacher, I have ample evidence demonstrating the futility of this strategy!) Providing students with opportunities to experience a sense of accomplishment is essential to maintaining their motivation. Any one of the numerous sayings with equally simple grammar and far more accessible meaning should have been chosen instead.4. There’s a bit too much extraneous information attached to the chapters (even if you skip the “nerd notes” section at the end), which is likely to overwhelm less confident students. It is not essential for absolute novices to be thinking about why Being is an important philosophical concept in Western philosophy and not in Chinese; let them get used to working without a “to be” verb first, and bring up the nuances once it’s no longer a cognitive strain. (Or don’t. I’m sure a number of potential readers don’t care about philosophy and are only here because they want to read Du Fu and Li Bai.)5. A brief note on different genres of Chinese literature and why it is best to start by reading philosophy would have been appropriate, as this is pedagogically sound but counterintuitive to most novices.Overall, it’s not terrible, but I can’t say I would recommend it. The author is a typical specimen of academics relegated to teaching beginning language: plenty of subject knowledge, not a whit of pedagogy, and decades past remembering what it was like to be a novice. Beginning students of Chinese face numerous barriers, both internal and external, and this book does more to build those up than to break them down. At best, it may be useful as a supplement to another textbook.

⭐For philosophers: If you have taken the time to read Confucius’ Analects more that two or three times, then you owe it to yourself to read the first 70 pages of this book. You will learn, better than any number of translations can teach you, how concise, direct, and yet often-ambiguous the Analects are. Then, as a language learning tool: Van Norden has made it radically easier to begin studying Chinese. He finds amazingly simple starting points so that you can read genuinely interesting passages from Classical originals with astonishing ease. By the end of the book it is not entirely easy, but it is doable. The editorial reviews above by experts assure you this treatment is accurate. But me, I am an expert on being a non-expert Chinese learner. I assure you this book can work for you, if you work with it.

⭐This book is incredible! Within an hour, I began to develop confidence about being able to think about meaning in Classical Chinese. It’s clear, accessible, fun (and funny), and scaffolded for quick progress. Van Norden offers great advice for developing real mastery, which takes dedication and time, while simultaneously giving the reader satisfying accomplishments in each short lesson. I have a little modern Chinese, which makes it easier and faster for me, but the promise of the cover holds; even an absolute beginner in Chinese could make progress with this book.

⭐I see some reviews complaining about the lack of English translations for the exercises, but I find it very refreshing and illuminating to find a book that admits that translating is not only hard but also often very biased, and to illustrate that by showing us more than one way certain passages have been interpreted. It also allows us as students to fully appreciate the nuances of Classical Chinese in translation, especially when there might be many different ‘correct’ answers to the puzzle.

⭐Excellent and essential for any beginner to classical chinese. I’d give it 5 stars except it is not self-contained, but refers to books in the notes that the reader probably does not own. It also does not supply a translation of its texts. To check on your own translation, the reader is referred again to books they do not own. And they should check on their translations. The book is dense in terms of grammar. Those who have studied a foreign language would find it less taxing. Still a very useful little work. Thank you.

⭐Este fantástico libro ofrece al aprendiz de chino clásico un estilo de estudio novedoso, ágil, que nos permite iniciarnos en el complejo estudio del chino clásico desde sus inicios. Van Norden ha realizado un trabajo estupendo, apto para amantes de la sinología.

⭐Not found.

⭐Indispensável para quem deseja aprender mandarim, começando por um título que desenvolva as bases gerais de tal idioma.

⭐Not found.

⭐I enjoyed reading this book . While I did not agree on some points of interpretation and analysis, It was clearly written and filled a lot of gaps and made many connections in my scattered and disjointed Knowledge of Chinese Philosophy. Well worth reading even for those who have a good grounding in philosophy.

Keywords

Free Download Classical Chinese for Everyone: A Guide for Absolute Beginners in PDF format
Classical Chinese for Everyone: A Guide for Absolute Beginners PDF Free Download
Download Classical Chinese for Everyone: A Guide for Absolute Beginners 2019 PDF Free
Classical Chinese for Everyone: A Guide for Absolute Beginners 2019 PDF Free Download
Download Classical Chinese for Everyone: A Guide for Absolute Beginners PDF
Free Download Ebook Classical Chinese for Everyone: A Guide for Absolute Beginners