Reading & Writing Chinese: Simplified Character Edition

by William McNaughton

This is a revised third edition of Tuttle's Reading and Writing Chinese.

Reading and Writing Chinese has long been the best–selling reference text for foreign students and teachers of Chinese. This new edition focuses on the internationally recognized test of proficiency in Chinese, the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK). All 800 characters prescribed for Level A are covered here, and the 1400+ Levels B and C characters are covered concisely. All of the prescribed vocabulary for Levels A-C of the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi is included among the example compounds. Knowledge of the 2,200+ characters and 5,253+ vocabulary items covered will equip students to take the test at either the Basic or the Elementary-Intermediate standard. Success in the top band of the Basic standard is sufficient to enter college in China.

Completely revised with simplified characters, it draws on the lessons learned from the use of the book in classrooms to provide a convenient and up–to–date introduction to the Chinese writing system. materials are organized in units of progressive difficulty and complexity, with clear definitions of the individual characters presented in a logical and systematical sequence. The student's ability to read Chinese and write Chinese are reinforced throughout.

Genres: Language, China, Reference, Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2005

About the author

William McNaughton was the founding teacher of Chinese at Oberlin College. From 1986 he taught at Hong Kong’s City University, where he was the founding program leader of the BA (Honors) program in Translation and Interpretation.

Reviews

[Cris Morales]

Good practice. Specially if used with a chinese character writing sheet as this one.

I also bought Tuttle Learner's Chinese-English Dictionary. However, I suggest you give Line's character search a try before buying it. You'll probably find yourself hardly using the paperback dictionary.

[Jennifer]

I browse this book sometimes while I'm eating lunch. Over time, hopefully I'll absorb a few Chinese characters ... enough to recognize a few characters on signs and in the grocery store. I like this book because there is enough background information about related words and radicals to help understand the character. It is also nice that the characters are printed in large size, and the character stroke orders are included.

[CR]

If I were serious about reading and writing Chinese, I would buy this book. I would read it everyday. This one has been the most comprehensive book on the subject that I could find. But I'm not that serious. So back to the library it goes.

[Judith]

Nice way to learn Chinese characters in a logical order based on their components. You need to have somebody else explain the basics (pinyin, stroke order, the idea of components, Heisig's memorization method) to you first though, because this book doesn't do it.

[Peter Lindsay]

Reading & Writing Chinese: Simplified Character Edition by William McNaughton (2005)

[Hayley]

Incredibly handy, great supplement for when a dictionary isn't always enough!