Chineasy range

Description

Learning Chinese is notoriously difficult and has long put off the most linguistically savvy Westerners …until now. Breaking down the Great Wall of language, ShaoLan Hsueh has unpicked Chinese characters and created a simple system for quickly understanding the basic building blocks of the written language.

Working with renowned illustrator Noma Bar, she has developed a unique set of illustrations that are engaging and delightful, and offer a glimpse into the wonder of the Chinese language and culture.

The books main section introduces the radicals the key characters on which the language is built and reveals how they can be combined to form a wealth of more complex words and phrases. In fewer than 200 pages, readers of all ages will have made the first steps towards a genuine appreciation of Chinese, loving every new character they learn.

Thames & Hudson Ltd 2014

192 pp

(Vol 2) Chineasy, the brainchild of entrepreneur ShaoLan Hsueh, has been a publishing phenomenon. Its special building-block learning method brought to life by highly recognizable and appealing graphic illustrations has attracted a substantial online following and has been published in fifteen languages. But it marks only the beginning of a larger ambition to educate the world about the richness and character of China’s people, its customs and its heritage. The first volume of Chineasy introduced the method and visual language. This follow-up volume, which requires no experience of the first, expands the scope to include all facets of Chinese life and culture in twelve central sections. Each begins with an overview of key characters before a presentation of the subject using those characters as a basis, providing insight into how Chinese thinking has shaped its language and civilization in a way that anyone can understand and appreciate.
As children are increasingly taking up Mandarin, and as business exchange with China develops, this is a single-volume encyclopedia on China that will stimulate young minds, enchant the culturally minded and inspire everyone who seeks new experiences and a wider understanding of the world we live in.

Flashcards:

The Chinese language is traditionally taught through a series of between roughly 180 and 215 radicals. These radicals are then used to form the characters of the Chinese language. Chineasy has broken down this collection of characters into their most basic and recurring forms, allowing students to learn fewer and simpler radicals that we have termed building blocks. One building block, or a specific compound form of the building block can be combined with one or more other characters to make a compound character. Two or more independent characters can be placed next to one another to make phrases. In compounds, a whole new character is created; in phrases, the placement of characters next to one another gives a new meaning to the collection of characters. This principle of building blocks is what makes Chineasy so easy!

ISBN:

Vol 1: 9780500650288

Vol 2: 9780500292266

Flashcards: 9780500952047