What do you mean by "Easy Chinese?"
The term
"Easy Chinese", as used in this course, refers collectively
to:
- A group of Chinese characters, about 800 in number,
that appear most often in everyday conversation, correspondence,
and modern Chinese publications.
- The sequence of introducing these characters.
- The step-by-step approach of teaching these characters.
- The basic text used in this course.
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What are the major components
of the Easy Chinese course?
The course consists of the basic text and the Easy Chinese Tutor
(CD-ROM)
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For whom is your course most appropriate?
Easy Chinese Tutor is designed
for those who want to learn the Chinese language on their own
with the help of a computer.
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Can I use this program to supplement regular
classroom instruction?
Absolutely. As a
tutorial program, Easy Chinese can be flexibly used to supplement
regular instruction.
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In what fundamental ways does your program
differ from other programs in terms of instructional approach?
First,
you learn Chinese one step at a time. Each step is small,
gradual, and manageable. You will never be overwhelmed by
the amount of material to be learned at any given time.
In fact, each step consists of no more than three new characters.
Second, learning is very
precise, you know exactly what to expect and what to accomplish.
Since the program is self-paced, you can move at a pace that is
most comfortable for you. Or you can take as much time as
you want to thoroughly learn the material provided in any given
step.
Third, learning is highly
structured and systematic. By design, each Chinese character
in the learning sequence has a special role to play: to build
up and expand your language network. Thus, you do not learn
the characters or words in isolation; you learn them as the necessary
components in the formation of a network of links, connections,
and associations. Typically, the more links you have in
your language network, the more efficient you will become in learning
the Chinese language.
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Is your program designed for beginners?
The first course assumes
no prior background in the Chinese language and is designed for
those who have never studied the Chinese language before.
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Which type of characters do you teach:
simplified or traditional?
Both. With just a
little effort, you can learn both types simultaneously.
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Are the terms "Chinese character"
and "Chinese word" synonymous?
Not exactly. While
a single Chinese character by itself may function as a word, a
Chinese word often consists of two or more characters. In
fact, most Chinese words are actually compound words.
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How many Characters can I learn in the first course?
There are only 134 characters
in the first course. However, there are more than 640 compound
words and phrases, which are the combinations of these same characters.
Thus, the total number of words you are expected to learn in the
first course is more than 700.
In addition, there are
more than 700 sentences in the first course. Each sentence
consists of only characters and words that have been introduced
to you. From these sentences, you will see how more than
700 sentences can be constructed with only 134 characters.
This course emphasizes
more on compound words, phrases, and sentences than on the number
of characters introduced. We do not believe that it would
be an effective strategy for anyone to just memorize a lot of
Chinese characters!
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If I know the 800 or so most frequently
used characters, will I be able to read modern Chinese with an
adequate level of comprehension?
If you master these characters,
along with the compound words, you should be able to read and
write modern Chinese with about 80% communicative competence.
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Why can a vocabulary of only about 800 characters enable
me to obtain such a level of proficiency?
This has a lot to do with
the way characters are combined to form disyllabic or trisyllabic
words. An individual character can be a word in itself if it conveys
a single concept or meaning. However, a character can also
be combined with another character (sometimes with the same character)
to form a new word. Therefore, even though you have only
learned about 800 character, the actual number of words you know
may exceed 4000 when compound words and phrases are included.
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