Not half bad organization and content. I disagree with whoever was saying this is advanced Chinese and not intermediate ( spoilers: its definitely intermediate) .
Good for those that have already read through the "Integrated Chinese" series. I found it a little odd that there were two sides of a text always : a traditional and simplified text.
Taiwan only uses traditional. A bit unnecessary to add the simplified, but I suppose its a bonus for those of us that started off in simplified as opposed to traditional.
Also would have liked to see the BoPoMoFo or ZhuYinFuHao alpho-syllabary used in place of pinyin, since Taiwan doesn't use pinyin that much. (*Using ZhuYin keeps me from using the pinyin as a crutch when trying to read though a vocab list)
I will say that the cultural notes aren't half bad... though they do pertain more to the mainland and not particularly to the Island of Taiwan ( a few exceptions ) . * I suppose I'll have to visit Taiwan myself to confirm if the mainland and Taiwan really are as similar as portrayed in this book.
* Disclaimer here:
Would have liked to see some of the controversial topics here regardless of what stance the authors or intended audience have.
For example:
Maybe could include something cool like how the president of Taiwan legalized gay marriage and made Taiwan the only place in the region to allow same sex marriage in the eyes of the law. ( maybe in the next edition? )
Or the elephant in the room: is Taiwan a country or break away province? ( I would suggest taking a neutral stance giving both the mainland vs Taiwans stance and allowing the reader to come to their own conclusion)
Some food for thought. Anyways, its quality stuff, but not exactly that riveting or as focused as I hoped.
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Drew-David
A decent intermediate book but...
Reviewed in the United States on 8 May 2022Verified Purchase
Drew-David
Reviewed in the United States on 8 May 2022
Good for those that have already read through the "Integrated Chinese" series. I found it a little odd that there were two sides of a text always : a traditional and simplified text.
Taiwan only uses traditional. A bit unnecessary to add the simplified, but I suppose its a bonus for those of us that started off in simplified as opposed to traditional.
Also would have liked to see the BoPoMoFo or ZhuYinFuHao alpho-syllabary used in place of pinyin, since Taiwan doesn't use pinyin that much. (*Using ZhuYin keeps me from using the pinyin as a crutch when trying to read though a vocab list)
I will say that the cultural notes aren't half bad... though they do pertain more to the mainland and not particularly to the Island of Taiwan ( a few exceptions ) . * I suppose I'll have to visit Taiwan myself to confirm if the mainland and Taiwan really are as similar as portrayed in this book.
* Disclaimer here:
Would have liked to see some of the controversial topics here regardless of what stance the authors or intended audience have.
For example:
Maybe could include something cool like how the president of Taiwan legalized gay marriage and made Taiwan the only place in the region to allow same sex marriage in the eyes of the law. ( maybe in the next edition? )
Or the elephant in the room: is Taiwan a country or break away province? ( I would suggest taking a neutral stance giving both the mainland vs Taiwans stance and allowing the reader to come to their own conclusion)
Some food for thought. Anyways, its quality stuff, but not exactly that riveting or as focused as I hoped.
Images in this review
Eron
This book is really useful and insightful for learning about Taiwanese culture
Reviewed in the United States on 22 April 2015Verified Purchase
