Tales and Traditions Volume One

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 21:34:51 +0000

Several months ago, I purchased the book Tales and Traditions, Volume One. It contains twenty-some stories about Chinese proverbs, historical figures, and myths. The book is suggested to be appropriate for Advanced Beginners of Chinese. I was thrilled to finally find this kind of book. After testing a couple stories with my students, I had them purchase it and we are using it as supplementary materials for this semester. Thank you to those responsible for putting together this series of readers, I look forward to seeing more of the beginning level variety in the future.

However, I do have some questions/comments. How was the vocabulary and grammar in these readers graded, that is, how was it decided if the vocabulary/grammar was truly 'advanced beginner' level vocabulary? I ask because I find that several words appearing in the stories that seem relatively 'advanced', on the other hand I find words in the vocabulary lists that strike me as being things even advanced beginners should know. I recognize that there is bound to be some disagreement on how to grade vocabulary/grammar, particularly with the task of distinguishing between common vocabulary vs. common characters. I imagine that no matter how much care goes into the process, some words that are less common will likely sneak into the stories without comment. Could I suggest that for future volumes, a bit more information could be provided about the process? It would be especially useful if the books would indicate what vocabulary items are NOT part of a core of 1000 or so characters/words, and where that standard core came from. If for some reason it seems unnecessary/cumbersome to include that information in the book, could it be made available on-line?

Thanks again for making readable materials with real cultural value available for our beginning Chinese students. Keep up the good work!