Know & Do: Building a Superior Chinese Vocabulary: English Edition (Paperback, Black&White)

by Zhou Xiaogeng

For most newcomers to Chinese, it is a big challenge to learn enough of Chinese vocabulary. Many of my friends have told me that, when they pick up their Chinese textbook, they feel as if they are knocking onto a “Great-Wall” which they cannot get over.
As you know, till now, the Chinese language has been playing its role for over 5,000 years, while many of its companions - by which I mean other ancient languages - had vanished into the river of history. One of the most important elements to support the survival of Chinese language is --- SIMPLICITY.
The purpose of creating this book is very simple: to help you to understand the mechanisms and rules of Chinese vocabulary and expand your knowledge of Chinese words faster than you could ever have expected. Of course, everything in this book is based around simplicity and effectiveness – No intricate jargons, No maddening terms, and even No rote memorizations!



Zhou Xiaogeng has been working on research of the Chinese language as well as the development of educational products for more than 20 years. During 2007-2013, he worked in Hanban/Confucius Institute Headquarters and devoted in the R&D of Chinese language learning resources for learners and teachers worldwide.
Major Works Published:
Chinese World (A multimedia text book supported by Chinese government fundings), Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press (FLTRP), 2005.
Directory for the Qualification Certificate of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language, Beijing Language and Culture University Press (BLCUP), 2005.
New Path Getting Over Chinese Grammar (Second Edition), Sinolingua Press, 2009.

1.1 Chinese Characters and Chinese Words
1.2 Polyphonic Characters 2.1 The Combining Method
2.2 Basic Words and Compound Words 3.1 Rationality-Based Principle
3.2 Core-at-End Principle
...... 4.1 Basic Modes of Meaning-Generating Courses
4.2 An Overview of Word-Building Modes 5.1 Word-Building Mode: NN-1 (e.g., 山川)
5.2 Word-Building Mode: NN-2 (e.g., 岁月)
...... 6.1 Word-Building Mode: AA-1 (e.g., 繁华)
6.2 Word-Building Mode: AA-2 (e.g., 大小)
...... 7.1 Word-Building Mode: VV-1 (e.g., 等待)
7.2 Word-Building Mode: VV-2 (e.g., 买卖)
...... 8.1 Word-Building Mode: AN-3 (e.g., 热情)
8.2 Word-Building Mode: NA-3 (i) (e.g., 心静)
...... 9.1 Word-Building Mode: NV-3 (i) (e.g., 心动)
9.2 Word-Building Mode: NV-3 (ii) (e.g., 电焊)
...... 10.1 Word-Building Mode: VN-3 (i) (e.g., 激光)
10.2 Word-Building Mode: VN-3 (ii) (e.g., 演员)
...... 11.1 Word-Building Mode: DV-3 (e.g., 慢跑)
11.2 Word-Building Mode: VD-3 (e.g., 亏光)
...... 12.1 Onomatopoeic Words (e.g., 咖啡)
12.2 Affixes (e.g., 老师)
......

202 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2021

About the author

I once heard that everyone carries a mission when he or she comes to this world.

I realized something important: to help learners radically increase efficiency in the learning process, they first needed to understand this language. That is, they needed to know the specific way of thinking beneath the surface and to catch the rationalities in rules and the ways in which to apply them. It is similar to how we learn math: we always focus on the philosophies and approaches, and we never try to memorize the equations and the results.

Most people find great pleasure in thinking and creating in their own way, but it also calls for more hard work to make any progress. In the coming days, I will do just like many others would do with their own dreams. I want to fulfill my mission well: to create good things for learners so that they can learn this ancient and vibrant language in a much easier and interesting way.