Reading & Writing Chinese Traditional Character Edition: A Comprehensive Guide to the Chinese Writing System

by William McNaughton, Li Ying

This is a complete and easy–to–use guide for reading and writing traditional Chinese characters.

Reading and Writing Chinese has been the leading text for foreign students and teachers of the Chinese writing system since it was first published. This completely revised edition draws on the lessons learnt from the use of the book in classrooms so as to provide a more convenient and up–to–date introduction to written Chinese. Over 1,100 new combinations of characters have been added, increasing the total vocabulary significantly to about 4,500 items. There are also new notes on usage to give students insight into the contemporary state of the Chinese language. The student's ability to read Chinese and write Chinese are reinforced throughout.

For each of the basic 1,062 characters, the pronunciation, definition and derivation are given, with examples of the use of most words and a chart showing how to write each character. Memorization tips and cautionary cross–reference to look–alike characters are also provided, as well as notes to help clarify those overlooked aspects of the Chinese writing system.

Key features of this book:
The Student's 1,020 List and the Official 2,000 List.
Over 2,000 characters and 4,500 vocabulary items.
Pronunciations given in standard Hanyu Pinyin Ronamized form
Memorization hints and stroke–order diagrams.
Hong Kong/Taiwan and China/Singapore forms.
Traditional and modern radical systems.
The best-selling student's guide

Genres: Language, China, Reference, Nonfiction

352 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 · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 · Rating 4 out of 5]

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