|
 |
Read first book in Mandarin | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Books, Literature & Reading |  | |
| maxb Diglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 7174 days ago 536 posts - 589 votes  7 sounds Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Mandarin | Message 1 of 3 08 July 2007 at 2:02pm | IP Logged |
|
A couple of days ago I finally finished my first book in mandarin. The book I read is called 金发碧眼看中国(blonde hair blue eyes look at china) and is written in chinese (!) by Swedish journalist Catarina Lilliehöök who nowadays lives in China. As I understand it she has however had some help with the chinese text by a chinese editor. The book is intended as an effort to bridge the cultural gap between the western world and China. Although it felt good to read my first entire book in Chinese (although to be frank it is pretty simple language wise and I didn't understand every single word in it either but enough to enjoy it) I probably wouldn't have finished the book if it was in another language. The book basically consists of the author recounting some strange (in her opinion) experience she has had in China and then goes on to say that in the western world we do it COMPLETELY differently. For instance in one part of the book she is so irritated that chinese teachers always want you to memorize (for instance dialogs in the book), and that all western people hate memorization. Well I am western and I have nothing against memorization as long as I know that it will furhter my skills in the language.
However although the content of the book could have been better it was a good experience to be able to read an entire book in chinese. But it took time. I read the 300-page book off and on for 4 weeks. In comparison I just finished a 560-page Swedish detecive novel (very much more intersting content wise) in two days. Edited by maxb on 08 July 2007 at 2:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6885 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 3 08 July 2007 at 2:24pm | IP Logged |
|
恭喜成功了!
Still a long way short of that level myself, but getting closer, one step at a time :o). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Keith Diglot Moderator JapanRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6768 days ago 526 posts - 536 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 3 08 July 2007 at 9:16pm | IP Logged |
|
Congratulations!
I guess it's not surprising that the author makes sweeping generalizations. But hey, it makes her book more interesting! How long has she been living in China? 1 person has voted this message useful |
If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
