Table Of ContentModern Mandarin Chinese
Modern Mandarin Chinese is a two-year undergraduate course for students with no prior background in
Chinese study. Designed to build a strong foundation in both the spoken and written language, it develops all
the basic skills such as pronunciation, character writing, word use, and structures, while placing a strong
emphasis on the development of communicative skills.
Each level of the course consists of a textbook and workbook in simplifi ed Chinese. A free companion
website provides all the audio for the course with a broad range of interactive exercises and additional
resources for students’ self-study, along with a comprehensive instructor’s guide with teaching tips,
assessment and homework material, and a full answer key.
Key changes to this new edition:
(cid:81) An increased number of vocabulary and characters introduced. 255 characters are introduced in this
second edition for active production. Dialogues and example sentences are also presented in full-character
format for passive recognition, and to provide additional challenge for more advanced students.
(cid:81) Additional exercises in the workbooks and online to support the expanded number of words and characters
incorporated into the textbooks.
(cid:81) New cross-references between the textbooks, workbooks, and companion website facilitate using all the
resources in an integrated manner.
(cid:81) Greatly enhanced and re-designed website.
Retaining its focus on communicative skills and the long-term retention of characters, the text is now
presented in simplifi ed characters and pinyin from the outset with a gradual and phased removal of pinyin as
specifi c characters are introduced and learned. This unique approach allows students to benefi t from the
support of pinyin in the initial stages as they begin speaking while ensuring they are guided and supported
towards reading only in characters.
Claudia Ross is Professor of Chinese at the College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts, USA. Her publications
include Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide, co-authored with Jing-heng Sheng Ma; Modern
Mandarin Chinese Grammar Workbook, co-authored with Jing-heng Sheng Ma and Baozhang He (2006, 2014);
Outline of Chinese Grammar (2004); and Traditional Chinese Tales: A Course in Intermediate Chinese (2001) .
Baozhang He is Associate Professor of Chinese at the College of the Holy Cross, Massachusetts, USA. His
publications include Diffi cult Grammar Knots Unravelled (2015), co-authored with Nansong Huang and
Wenzi Hu; Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar Workbook (2006, 2014), co-authored with Claudia Ross,
Jing-heng Sheng Ma, and Pei-Chia Chen; and Elementary Chinese (2006), co-authored with Pei-Chia Chen.
Pei-Chia Chen is Lecturer and Academic Coordinator of the Chinese program at UC San Diego, USA. Her
publications include Elementary Chinese (2006), co-authored with Baozhang He; and Modern Mandarin
Chinese Grammar Workbook, co-authored with Claudia Ross, Jing-heng Sheng Ma, and Baozhang He (2014).
Meng Yeh is Teaching Professor in the Center for Languages and Intercultural Communication at Rice
University, USA. Her publications include Chaoyue: Advancing in Chinese (2010) and Communicating in
Chinese: An Interactive Approach to Beginning Chinese, Student Lab Workbook (1999).
Praise for the fi rst edition
“I am deeply impressed by the pedagogical considerations that Prof. Ross and her team put
into the project. The approaches to teaching Mandarin Chinese in this series refl ected the
authors’ rich knowledge of Chinese grammar and their vast experience in teaching the lan-
guage. The materials developed are pedagogically well conceived and equally well supported
by theories of language learning/teaching. A truly innovative and delightful addition to the
Chinese teaching fi eld.”
Cecilia Chang, Associate Professor of Chinese and Chair of the
Asian Studies Department at Williams College, USA
“This text offers a refreshing approach to learning Chinese that is lacking in the vast major-
ity of learning materials. Each dialogue is contextualized so learners better understand how
the language is used in a variety of communicative situations. Students learn not only what
to say, but how to use the right language in a given context based on their role, and when
and where the situation occurs. Sentence pyramid exercises provide a stepped approach
that allows students to actually rehearse and perform the dialogues.
“The material is presented in manageable units with clear and concise explanations that are
understandable to students not familiar with linguistics jargon. Valuable information on
the social and cultural implications of the language is also provided.
“This is one of the few textbooks on the market that delays the introduction of Chinese
characters. This insightful approach allows learners to gain a foundation in the spoken
language before being inundated with characters to which they have little context in which
to place them. Furthermore, these materials use an innovative diglot approach to introduce
Chinese characters where newly learned characters are incorporated into pinyin texts. This
effectively eases students into reading without overburdening them. By the end of the text,
dialogues and other materials are presented almost entirely in Chinese characters. This
approach provides excellent spiraling and reinforcement of characters learned.”
Matthew Christensen, Brigham Young University, USA
“One of the very few accessible and clearly structured textbooks for the complete beginner
in Mandarin, which is absolutely designed with the non-native Chinese speaker in mind.
The gradual introduction of the script, together with the clear but not overly simplistic
grammatical explanations, will prove particularly useful for beginners.”
Frances Weightman, University of Leeds, UK
“An excellent introductory course from a dedicated team. This course serves as a practical
guide with the language knowledge and cultural tips you need for daily communication
with the Chinese people.”
Wei Jin, School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London, UK
Modern Mandarin Chinese
The Routledge Course Textbook
Level 1
Second edition
Claudia Ross, Baozhang He, Pei-Chia Chen, and Meng Yeh
Second edition published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 Claudia Ross, Baozhang He, Pei-Chia Chen, and Meng Yeh
The right of Claudia Ross, Baozhang He, Pei-Chia Chen, and Meng Yeh to be
identifi ed as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with
sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
First edition published by Routledge 2010
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ross, Claudia, author. | He, Baozhang, 1955– author. | Chen, Pei-Chia, author. |
Ye, Meng, 1950– author.
Title: Modern Mandarin Chinese : the Routledge course Textbook level 1 / Claudia Ross,
Baozhang He, Pei-Chia Chen and Meng Yeh.
Other titles: Routledge course in modern Mandarin Chinese
Description: Second edition. | New York : Routledge, [2018] | Originally published as
The Routledge course in modern Mandarin Chinese. Textbook level 1 :
Simplifi ed characters, "2010 | Includes index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2017040354| ISBN 9781138101104 (pbk. : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781315657226 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Chinese language—Textbooks of foreign textbooks—English.
Classifi cation: LCC PL1129.E5 R675 2018 | DDC 495.17/951—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017040354
ISBN: 978-1-138-10110-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-65722-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Scala
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Visit the companion website: www.routledge.com/cw/ross
Contents
Cast of characters vii
TOPIC 1: IDENTIFYING YOURSELF, YOUR FAMILY,
AND OTHERS 1
1. Hello 3
2. What country are you from? 16
3. What is your name? 28
4. This is my family 45
5. How many people are in your family? 63
TOPIC 2: SHOPPING FOR EVERYDAY ITEMS 83
6. Shopping 85
7. How much is it altogether? 112
vi Contents
TOPIC 3: TALKING ABOUT EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES 141
8. Happy birthday! 143
9. What are you doing right now? 180
10. What did you think of yesterday’s test? 206
TOPIC 4: TALKING ABOUT LOCATION AND DIRECTIONS 233
11. Come to my house for dinner 235
12. How do I get to your house from my dorm? 259
13. My home is easy to fi nd 285
14. My house is next to a bank 303
TOPIC 5: ENTERTAINING GUESTS AND TALKING
ABOUT FUTURE PLANS 323
15. Entertaining guests 325
16. Summer plans 349
Vocabulary: English to Mandarin (Pinyin) 369
Vocabulary: Mandarin (Pinyin) to English 403
Chinese characters alphabetically arranged
by Pinyin 434
Chinese characters by lesson 454
Cast of characters
(cid:17254)(cid:10964)(cid:15883) (Zha¯ng Dàwéi) (cid:16284)(cid:11931)(cid:14560)(cid:7625)Xiè Guóqiáng(cid:7626) (cid:15766)(cid:13652)(cid:13036)(cid:7625)Wáng Màikè(cid:7626)
viii Cast of characters
(cid:11712)(cid:13793)(cid:13271)(cid:7625)Ga¯o Meˇilì(cid:7626) (cid:10723)(cid:13848)(cid:7625)Chén Míng(cid:7626) (cid:13646)(cid:16258)(cid:15909)(cid:7625)Mˇa Xiˇaowén(cid:7626)
1
Topic
Identifying yourself, your
family, and others
