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The Chinese Language: Its History and Current Usage
This is an introductory book about the history and contemporary usage of the Chinese language.
Chinese is generally considered a difficult language. It is also a fascinating and important language that cannot be ignored. A growing number of English speakers are learning the Chinese language to the enrichment of their lives and the admiration of their friends. Chinese does, however, present a number of challenges. Written Chinese looks like a random set of stroke, dots and dashes. In its handwritten form it looks like a series of undifferentiated squiggles. Spoken Chinese sounds like a rapid series of almost identical monosyllables with rising and falling intonations.
This book is a contemporary introduction to the modern Chinese language as it is used in China during the first few years of the twenty–first century. China has changed so much and so dramatically over the past century, and indeed over the past twenty years, and these changes are reflected in the language. Textbooks written only twenty years ago are now quite quant. Much information on the actual use of putonghua, the use of dialects or various romanization systems is now out of date. The aim of this book is to present current realities. China is a country with a long history, and to understand modern China we must know something of its past. The same applies to the language. Earlier stages of Chinese still have a deep influences on the current language, and we should at least be aware of such influences.
This book is not a language textbook. It does not try to teach Chinese. It is a book about Chinese. It has been written for people who are thinking of taking up Chinese and would like some insights into what they are letting themselves in for. As the Chinese strategist Sunzi said, "zhi ji zhi bi, bai zhan bai sheng."—"Know yourself and know the other: a hundred battles, a hundred victories." The same apples to learning Chinese.
Chinese is generally considered a difficult language. It is also a fascinating and important language that cannot be ignored. A growing number of English speakers are learning the Chinese language to the enrichment of their lives and the admiration of their friends. Chinese does, however, present a number of challenges. Written Chinese looks like a random set of stroke, dots and dashes. In its handwritten form it looks like a series of undifferentiated squiggles. Spoken Chinese sounds like a rapid series of almost identical monosyllables with rising and falling intonations.
This book is a contemporary introduction to the modern Chinese language as it is used in China during the first few years of the twenty–first century. China has changed so much and so dramatically over the past century, and indeed over the past twenty years, and these changes are reflected in the language. Textbooks written only twenty years ago are now quite quant. Much information on the actual use of putonghua, the use of dialects or various romanization systems is now out of date. The aim of this book is to present current realities. China is a country with a long history, and to understand modern China we must know something of its past. The same applies to the language. Earlier stages of Chinese still have a deep influences on the current language, and we should at least be aware of such influences.
This book is not a language textbook. It does not try to teach Chinese. It is a book about Chinese. It has been written for people who are thinking of taking up Chinese and would like some insights into what they are letting themselves in for. As the Chinese strategist Sunzi said, "zhi ji zhi bi, bai zhan bai sheng."—"Know yourself and know the other: a hundred battles, a hundred victories." The same apples to learning Chinese.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
10 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Daniel Kane
4 books2 followersDr Daniel Kane is Professor of Chinese and Head of the Asian Studies Department
at Macquarie University. He was twice visiting scholar at the Department of
Chinese at Peking University, and was Cultural Counsellor at the Australian
Embassy in Beijing in 1996. Dr Kane has previously held a lectureship in Chinese
at the University of Melbourne. He has broad interests in the field of Chinese
Studies, including linguistics, politics, intellectual history and current affairs.
at Macquarie University. He was twice visiting scholar at the Department of
Chinese at Peking University, and was Cultural Counsellor at the Australian
Embassy in Beijing in 1996. Dr Kane has previously held a lectureship in Chinese
at the University of Melbourne. He has broad interests in the field of Chinese
Studies, including linguistics, politics, intellectual history and current affairs.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
August 19, 2017
Reading this book I felt a bit like Mollière's Would-Be Gentleman relearning his vowels and consonants as though they were something new to him. Chinese is my life obsession, so I pretty much already knew most of the content of this book - but you can often pick up useful bits and pieces from more basic works, so I feel it was worthwhile. Also, I met the author many years ago at a conference, which is one of the reasons I got the book in the first place.
I think this book is best suited to high intermediate students - otherwise a lot of the information is bound to be a bit obscure. For example, I think it would take a good bit of background in phonetics to understand much of ch. 5 "Pronunciation". And some bits of information were repeated three or more times in the book. But overall this book is a good, more up-to-date addition to existing works on the Chinese language by e.g. Robert Ramsey, Jerry Norman, John DeFrancis, and many others.
I think this book is best suited to high intermediate students - otherwise a lot of the information is bound to be a bit obscure. For example, I think it would take a good bit of background in phonetics to understand much of ch. 5 "Pronunciation". And some bits of information were repeated three or more times in the book. But overall this book is a good, more up-to-date addition to existing works on the Chinese language by e.g. Robert Ramsey, Jerry Norman, John DeFrancis, and many others.
March 19, 2012
Excellent overview of the Chinese language. It's perfect for a reader with some knowledge of linguistic terms, but it's definitely written for a layman. It has tons of examples and really whetted my appetite to learn more.
September 12, 2008
If you are thinking of learning Chinese, read this first to get an idea of what you are getting yourself into.
February 16, 2021
I found this book fascinating. I am fairly new to Chinese / Mandarin and finding it hard, but loving it. I am pleased that I had already put all the radicals in a memory palace because Kane refers to radicals a lot. I am finding being so engaged with them invaluable in learning new characters. I am also glad that I had some basic vocabulary and am familiar with pinyin. I am far from advanced, but that small amount made it easy to appreciate the numerous examples in the book.
I will be returning to The Chinese Language when I know a lot more and expect to gain even more from it.
I will be returning to The Chinese Language when I know a lot more and expect to gain even more from it.
May 11, 2018
Many interesting tidbits, although I feel like I found this at the right time. A few years ago most of it would've been over my head, and yet I read it early enough that most of it was new to me.
The points on pronunciation and grammar were especially useful, since they addressed points and details that were never covered in my classes (like why 沒 has that darn water radical).
And apparently our words for "tea" and "ketchup" both came from Hokkien. And 葡萄 came from Greek. huh. The section on ancient pronunciation was fascinating as well.
My new favorite expressions:
畫蛇添足
井底之蛙
and definitely:
天不怕，地不怕，只怕洋鬼子說中國話
The points on pronunciation and grammar were especially useful, since they addressed points and details that were never covered in my classes (like why 沒 has that darn water radical).
And apparently our words for "tea" and "ketchup" both came from Hokkien. And 葡萄 came from Greek. huh. The section on ancient pronunciation was fascinating as well.
My new favorite expressions:
畫蛇添足
井底之蛙
and definitely:
天不怕，地不怕，只怕洋鬼子說中國話
September 29, 2009
This is a book I'll be coming back to as my Chinese (hopefully) gets better. It's crammed full of charts that are sometimes overwhelming, and list upon list of examples for various grammar points, proverbs, etc. Kane's discussion of different dialects is useful, but it was the one part of the book I wished was more extensive. The last two chapters--"Pronunciation" and "Beyond the Basics"--were especially helpful for a current laowai.
August 31, 2016
Fascinating insight(s) into the Chinese language, not just from a historical/development angle, but linguistic as well. Intermediate and Advanced learners should also get something out of this - extremely well laid out and researched. I also found the veins of (dry) humour that run through this, extremely refreshing for an academic title.
Want to read
October 2, 2015bought fall/winter 2007/8 for 130RMB
Really too advanced for me, but I am finding the Chinese language fascinating and I am looking forward to actually taking some classes when the girls are back in school.
Really too advanced for me, but I am finding the Chinese language fascinating and I am looking forward to actually taking some classes when the girls are back in school.
January 11, 2010
Confirms my suspicion that I will never progress beyond elementary level Chinese. But what a great book, written with obvious love for a fascinating language.
January 5, 2010
The was a great overview of the language and a necessary exercise before pursuing further studies.
August 14, 2014
Interesting book. Lots of useful tables for looking at the differences among the dialects of Chinese.
November 17, 2017
Had some fascinating explanations of ancient vs modern language (more interesting than I expected) and fun phonetic exercises to point out subtle differences between Chinese and English (exercises at which, it must be said, I excelled beyond the ability of my wife, who is a native Chinese speaker (don't tell her, she insists she won, bless her heart)).
Sometimes it would slip into the astral plane of way too scholarly jargon, which no amount of befuddled gazing could discern. The section on dialects was what I was looking forward to most, and it looked promising until there were samples of conversations in unrecognizable Romanizations and characters, all different from each other. I think I found the Big Dipper in one of the text samples, but that's about all I got.
Sometimes it would slip into the astral plane of way too scholarly jargon, which no amount of befuddled gazing could discern. The section on dialects was what I was looking forward to most, and it looked promising until there were samples of conversations in unrecognizable Romanizations and characters, all different from each other. I think I found the Big Dipper in one of the text samples, but that's about all I got.
September 18, 2023
This book covers the history and cultural context of Chinese as a language. How it evolved, the different dialects, and some basic vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation are all covered here relatively quickly.
It is not a book for LEARNING Chinese, but a book for understanding why the language (whichever one you may want to learn) is the way it is, and how to best go about learning it.
One of the best introductions a non-native could have towards learning Chinese, whether they come from a background that uses the language but they themselves never really learned, or if they've had no exposure whatsoever.
It is not a book for LEARNING Chinese, but a book for understanding why the language (whichever one you may want to learn) is the way it is, and how to best go about learning it.
One of the best introductions a non-native could have towards learning Chinese, whether they come from a background that uses the language but they themselves never really learned, or if they've had no exposure whatsoever.
November 4, 2020
It's a nice small overview. However, the interesting parts of the book are often annoyingly disrupted by an extreme ammount of unhelpful examples. Two or three might do the trick, but the rest are repetitive and unnecessary to have in the middle of the paragraph. Unless you have a photographic memory, or already know what he is talking about, and if you know, I really wonder why you are reading such an introductory level book in the first place.
July 30, 2019
Ce livre de base permet à quiconque qui a peu ou de connaissances sur la langue chinoise de comprendre rapidement la culture chinoise dans différentes régions du globe.
October 25, 2020
Very good book to help explain the language. Easier to understand if you have some basics of Chinese.
August 17, 2009
Great if you're thinking about studying Mandarin (not if you're thinking of Cantonese which it disparages as not practical anymore for a foreigner). Some of the examples and illustrations however are not comprehensible for anyone that has not studied a little bit of Chinese already.
Good enough to convince me not to study Mandarin, at least for now.
Good enough to convince me not to study Mandarin, at least for now.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews