Intermediate Spoken Chinese: A Practical Approach to Achieving Fluency in Spoken Mandarin (DVD and MP3 Audio CD Included)

Intermediate Spoken Chinese: A Practical Approach to Achieving Fluency in Spoken Mandarin by Cornelius C. Kubler

Welcome to the world's most effective method of learning Mandarin! This widely-acclaimed series continues to impress and inspire learners whether they're studying Chinese on their own, or in a classroom setting.

Intermediate Spoken Chinese and the corresponding Practice Essentials allow you to experience real-life situations in different Mandarin-speaking locales. Each of the common situations explored here—from shopping at a market to playing unexpected phone tag—is one you're most likely to encounter as you interact with Chinese speakers.

The breakthrough foundation of these books is that you don't need to know the characters in order to speak Chinese. This series provides separate "tracks" to help you master the skills of speaking and writing Chinese at your own pace. Some learners place greater emphasis on reading and writing, while others focus on developing a knowledge of spoken Chinese first, and then learn the characters. Both approaches are perfectly valid, and the one you adopt will depend on your personal goals and the amount of time you have for weekly study. This series allows you total flexibility in this regard.

You may choose to use this as a stand-alone book, or in conjunction with Intermediate Written Chinese if you wish to learn the corresponding Chinese characters. The latter introduces the characters in this book in a systematic way.

Key features of Intermediate Spoken Chinese:

• Clear and detailed explanations of natural, colloquial Chinese pronunciation, grammar and usage
• Recommended strategies to help you learn to speak Chinese more efficiently
•  Videos teach you real-life Chinese, the actual speaking styles of Chinese people in various parts of mainland China as well as Taiwan, Macao, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia
• Notes on Chinese culture and society allow you to understand situational etiquette
• Discussions of challenges faced by English speakers who are learning Chinese and how to overcome them
• Audio recordings by native speakers of all the vocabulary, dialogues, and other key items
• A separate Teacher's Guide and a full character transcript (both Simplified and Traditional) are both available electronically

An accompanying software program contains 56 videos shot on location which allows you to view conversations involving Chinese speakers from different parts of China. With this language learning set that includes a textbook, CD-ROM, and DVD, you will be speaking Chinese gracefully and fluidly and feel confident traveling in the Mandarin-speaking world.

Intermediate Spoken Chinese: A Practical Approach to Achieving Fluency in Spoken Mandarin - About the Author

Cornelius C. Kubler, Stanfield Professor of Asian Studies at Williams College, received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees in linguistics from Cornell University. He earned a second M.A. in Chinese literature from National Taiwan University. From 1980-1991 he was employed at the Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Department of State, where he served as Language Training Supervisor in Mandarin, Cantonese, Japanese, and Mongolian; as Principal of the advanced Chinese field school in Taiwan; and as Chair of the Department of Asian and African Languages. Since joining Williams College in 1991, he has chaired the former Department of Chinese and Asian Studies Program as well as the Department of Asian Studies, which he was instrumental in founding. He has also served as visiting professor at Eisenhower College, Portland State University, Middlebury College, National Taiwan Normal University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages. Kubler, who is author or coauthor of 20 books and over 50 articles on Chinese language pedagogy and linguistics, frequently serves as reviewer or consultant for Chinese and Asian Studies programs in the U.S. and overseas. He has served as Chair of the Test Development Committee for the SAT Subject Test in Chinese and as member of the Executive Committee of the Association of Departments of Foreign Languages of the Modern Language Association. He is currently serving as American Co-Director of The Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, China.