Books on Mandarin language

There's obviously tons of books out there to teach Mandarin Chinese (普通話), but finding books that have the Traditional Characters (繁體字) is rare.  In searching for text books to get cozy with, the best book I came across is one from Taiwan called Practical Audio-Visual Chinese, 2nd Edition.  There's a whole series.

Many will undoubtedly argue against this, but I prefer Traditional Chinese characters (繁體字)  over Simplified Chinese characters (正體字) for three reasons:

1. first, the traditional characters are more artistic and culturally significant; 
2. secondly, it is easier to go from Traditional to Simplified; and 
3. thirdly, there's greater utility for traditional characters.

For latter reason, many will argue that this is not true because of the sheer number of Mandarin speakers (1st or 2nd language) in mainland China.  But given that it is easier to move to simplified characters from Traditional,  I can more easily maneuver to Simplified characters used in mainland China, and also into Japanese Kanji (日本漢字), which has different simplified characters of their own.  Additionally, I can build vocabulary in Korean, as many borrowed words can be referenced in Korean Hanja (韓國漢字), which uses traditional characters.  Naturally, in either Taiwan (台灣) and Hong Kong (香港), I can understand traditional characters.  Thus with traditional characters, my utility extends to all of East Asia, where Simplified extends to parts of mainland China.

Books for Learning Cantonese

There aren't too many books on Cantonese, and the ones out there have too many short-comings to count.  Any book that does not include Chinese characters (漢字) is simply less than worthless.  There's no common script to communicate with native speakers, needed to help coach one into speaking the sounds correctly, or to leverage off of existing Mandarin knowledge.  Many books have bizarre schemes for romanization (roman letters used to represent Cantonese) rather than the commonly used Yale, or the newer promulgated Jyutping.  Out of the limited set of books out there, there are two I found to be the most valuable: Cantonese Phrasebook by Lonely Planet, and A Cantonese Book.

The lonely planet book is comprehensive and detailed, and goes through the basic grammar, and shows the actual Chinese characters used.  I highly recommend this book.

The downside though, is that they invent their own romanization scheme, which is problematic, especially when using other material, or trying to use some input tool, like John Burket's CantoInput java application.

The A Cantonese Book is really awesome, but also uses some homegrown romanization scheme as well, and I think they do not document the initials and finals properly.  What I like is that they have drills to help distinguish unique Cantonese sound properly, which is an invaluable tool.


For a comprehensive list of published resources, check out:
http://lc.ust.hk/HASALD/newsletter/96newsletter/96geoff.htm.

I'm an American Student in Hong Kong

I'm just dabbling in Cantonese.  Here's a sample sentence of "I'm an American student":

Cantonese:

• 我係美國學生喺香港。
• ngó hai méi-gwok hok-sàang hái hèung-góng

Mandarin:

• 我是美國學生在香港。
• wǒ shì měi-guó xué-shēng zài xiāng-gǎng.

What do I do when tired

Now if you are tired in Japan, what do you do?  You can rest or sleep to fix being tired.  Resting as understood by a native speaker would mean sitting down, while sleeping is really just that, sleeping.


I need to rest.
休まなくちゃいけない。

I need to sleep.

ねなくちゃいけない。
寝なくちゃいけない。
寝るしなければいけない。

Feeling Tired In Japanese

One of my cognitive stumbling blocks when going from English is to express being tired, which is quoted from Mac OS X Dictionary:

tired |tīrd|
adjective
in need of sleep or rest; wear

In Spanish we have SEUÑO and CONSADO, and in Japanese we have NEMUI and TSUKARETA.

Here's different usages in Japanese:

(1)
運動したから、疲つかれた。
After doing exercise, I am tired.

(2)
薬を飲んだので、眠ねむい。
I took medicine, so I feel tired now.

(3)
花粉のせいで眠い。
The pollens cause me to feel tired.

(4)
昨日、暑くて眠れなかったので、疲れた。
Because last night was so hot, I couldn't sleep, so now I am tired 

Seogang University's Program

In all my studies in C-J-K (Chinese-Japanese-Korean) and Romance Languages (French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish), Seogang University has by far the best language program I have come across for any language.  They focus on quality rather than quantity, and their reputation proceeds them.  Undoubtedly, if you ask around, you'll find accolades and high recommendations for the program.

In the class, you'll find students constantly pushed to the edge through competition and the use of games.  Each lesson is exhausting, with memorization of 80+ vocabulary words for even beginner courses.  After the 3rd week though, I was able to start understanding people in the street and ask them basic questions.  Now in USA, when I speak with Koreans, they think I am fluent, as I am conversent and my pronunciation is accurate.  I shock them when I tell them I'm in 일급 (Level 1).

Now the books are something really special.  They are very well organized with related grammar and vocabulary organized through miniature dialogs that can be directly applied in the streets after practicing them.  This is sharp contrast to other Korean language programs, or even Japanese texts for Japanese, where one studies disjointed grammar rules with sparse vocabulary, and only polite formal speech patterns useful in speaking only to the teacher, or other esteemed persons.

The topics and patterns I think are a good model to follow for not only Korean, but Japanese as well.  So, if you have any Japanese background, the organization in these books are great for organizing Japanese studies as well.

Japanese Text Books = 悪い

I don't want to say Japanese books are bad, but they perhaps are not as mature as let's say textbooks for Spanish or French.  Often they follow the rigid philosophy that one must memorize tombs of grammar before speaking, enforce extreme formal polite pattern of speech useful to speaking only to sensei (teacher), and have topics used in perhaps 1% of situations one will encounter in Japan.  Sure, I'm sure going to the post office or hospital are important, but I don't see this as a common conversation topic useful in practicing grammar, especially for beginners.

An even greater problem is the introduction of grammar rules.  For one, they are not aligned to what you would take in JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Exams).  Secondly their introduction is both disjointed and incomplete, which limits their usefulness.  The grammar rules become little islets in these texts.  I think many might find it difficult to connect the scattered grammar rules.  (I'll show specific examples in future posts).

These texts like Genki and SFJ (Situational Functional Japanese) make learning Japanese difficult and inefficient.  Unfortunately though, these texts are probably some of the best text books out there.

JLPT4: 51 Important Expressions: Review of WA

This is the rule set I'm working on at the moment, extracted from Unicom's JLPT4 book.

[2-1]　Part A

• 〜は　〜です
• 〜は　〜（し）ます

Rule:  おだいの　ことばの　あとに　《は》を　つかう。

[2-1]　Part B

• 〜を　〜（し）ます＝ 〜は　〜（し）ます

Rule:  を→は。

[2-2]　Part A

• 〜は　〜ない
• (negative sentence)

Rule:  《が》《を》→《は》。

[2-2]　Part B

• Xは　〜が、Yは
• (contrastive sentence)

Rule: 「バナナが　すきです。」＋「メロンがきらいです。」→
　　バナナはすきですが、メロンはきらいです。

These are some words or related kanji:

• 説明　　せつめい　　explanation
• 掃除　　そうじ　　　cleaning, sweeping, wiping
• 洗濯　　せんたく　　washing clothes
• 覚える　おぼえる　　to commit to memory
• 全部　　ぜんぶ　　　all, the whole, total

JLPT4: 51 Important Expressions: Review of GA

This is the rule set I'm working on at the moment, extracted from Unicom's JLPT4 book.

[1-1]　Part A

• 〜が　〜（し）ます
• 〜が　〜です

[1-1]　Part B

• 〜が　ほしいです
• 〜が　すきです
• 〜が　すきです
• 〜が　きらいです

Rule:  「ほしい」「すき」「きらい」の前に、《が》をつかう。

[1-2]　Part A

• 〜が　できます
• 〜が　わかります

Rule:  「できる」「わかる」の前に、《が》をつかう。

[1-2]　Part B

• 私は写真を撮りました。→　私が撮った写真です。
• I took a photograph. → This is a photograph taken by me.

Rule: 名詞を説明する文の中で：《は》→《が》

These are some words or related kanji:

• 旅行　　りょきょう　trip, travel
• 空　　　そら　　　　sky
• 地下鉄　ちかてつ　　subway
• 野菜　　やさい　　　vegetables
• 作る　　つくる　　　to make, to create
• 作文　　さくぶん　　composition
• 撮る　　とる　　　　to take photo
• 写真　　しゃしん　　photograph
• 重要　　じゅうよう　important

Beginning JLPT Studies

My finals are over for Spring 2010, and now I am free to study anything.  I chose to  review Japanese form the basics and iron out all the pieces I am missing.  I will review for the JLPT Level 4 (the most basic level).

I found an awesome book in Japan titled 実力アップ!日本語能力試験4級入門総まとめ 文法・漢字・語彙, or in English The Prepartory Course for The Japanese Language Proficicy Test, Level 4 - Basic Japanese - Grammar, Kanji & Vocabulary.

Though is the really basic material, and some would probably laugh that I'm even bothering with it, there's still some minor subtle areas that are worth reviewing, and this book is a really good start to review.  After this, you can move onto Level 3, or take the test for 4 to get a sense of acomplishment and encouragement.

The Forgotten Hanja

Before, Korea mixed both Hanguel (Korean alphabetical letters) with Hanja (Chinese Characters).  Later the Korean government removed Hanja from usage for various, probably nationalistic bent, reasons.  I always chose to learn the Hanja, as it helps me learn extra meaning to the words, and how it relates to both Japanese and Chinese.

Where I live, I signed a contract with the elderly owner, and I was so excited that he did the contract in traditional old style true Korean culture, with mix-script (that is both Hanja and Hanguel).  This is the contract he wrote out.

Learn Korean From Spanish?

Most languages books are in English. For Korean language books, you also get Chinese and Japanese due to the popularity of Korean in those countries, and even in Russian due to popularity of Korean in Russia. But seldom you see other languages like French and Spanish, but this series has all of those languages. The Spanish in this book, First Step in Korean for Spanish (ISBN: 89-387-011-9) is a bit formalized, like book Spanish, but it is still useful to see the Spanish to Korean connection, especially in order to get a deeper meaning to the words and their usage.  Many English words can be vague or ambiguous, at least with most Korean-English dictionaries.

I like the overall organization of the book, it is well put together, and is a great initial overview of the Korean language, and great for conversation.

Grammar Snippet: Negative Copula 아니다

A while back, wrote out this lesson from the Yonsei Level 1 text book (Lesson 1.3) and filed it away.  The purpose of this is to make something negative, which is English it would mean something is not equal or equivalent to something, e.g. Her name is not Cindy.

The format in Korean when conjugated is this:
  (subject) 이 or 가 아닙니다.
And the format in Japanese is this:
  (subject)  じゃありません。

---

Here's the Korean in mixed script with particles highlighted:

저는 日本사람이 아닙니다.

jeoneun ilbon-sarami animnida. 

I am not Japanese.

존슨 씨는 醫師가 아닙니다.

jonseun-sshineun euisaga animnida.

Johnson is not a doctor.

린다 씨는 先生님이 아닙니다.

rinda-sshineun seonsaengnimi animnida.

Linda is not a teacher.

우리어머니는 한국사람이 아닙니다.

Uri eomeonineun hanguk-sarami animnida.

Our mother is not Koeran.

---

And the same in Japanese with the particles highlighted:

私は日本人じゃありません。

Watashi wa nihonjin ja arimasen. 

I am not Japanese.

ジョンソンさんは医者じゃありません。
Jonson-san wa isha ja arimasen.

Johnson is not a doctor.

リンダさんは先生じゃありません。

rinda-san wa sensei ja arimasen.

Linda is not a teacher.

私達の母は韓国人じゃありません。

Watashi-tachi no haha wa kankoku-jin ja arimasen.

Our mother is not Koeran.

Grammar Snippet: 하고 Particle

Here's a little snippet of the Korean particle HAGO, which is the same as the particle TO in Japanese, and means "and" in English.  This material is derived from Yonsei Level 1 textbook (Chapter 1.4).

It's fascinating how some words are similar, like kutsu vs. kudu, kaban vs. kabang, and ban vs. bbang in the samples.

---

Here's the Korean in mixed script with particles highlighted:

冊하고空冊이 있습니다.

chaek hago gongchaegi itseumnida.

There's a book and notebook.

빵하고김밥을 먹습니다.

bbang hago kimbabeul meokseumnida.

I eat bread and kimbap.

아버지하고 아머니가 계십니다.

abeoji hago ameoniga kyeshimnida.

Father and Mother are there.

가방하고 구두를 삽니다.

kabang hago kudureul samnida.

I buy a bag and shoes.

韓國말하고 日本말을 工夫합니다.

hangukmal hago ilbonmareul gonbu hamnida.
I study Korean and Japanese.

---

And the same in Japanese with the particles highlighted:

本とノートがあります。
hon to nooto ga arimasu.
There is a book and notebook.

パンとのり巻きをたべます。
ban to nori-maki o tabemasu.
I eat bread and sushi-roll.

父と母がいます。
chichi to haha ga imasu.
Father and Mother are there.

かばんと靴をかいます。
kaban to kutsu o kaimasu.
I buy a bag and shoes.

韓国語と日本語を勉強します。
kankokugo to nihongo o benkyoo shimasu.
I study Korean and Japanese.

Yonsei KLI Experience Part III: A Second Look

I went back to Yonsei KLI and talked to some of the instructors.  Some of them are really nice people.  I then realized probably why this program has problems or struggles.  The program is very popular, and so they have numerous teachers and students, so the challenge, for the program, is class and student management, rather than focusing on the quality of the instruction and development of the program.  They can be the worst program in Korea, but nevertheless they get tons of students.  Maybe this is due to the popularity of the Yonsei name itself, being one of the top three universities in Korea.

Probably another challenge, is that many of the instructors are very limited in English.  The emphasis of the program is immersion, so there's no importance on knowing English, even though majority of their students speak this language.  If there are questions or confusions, and the students cannot ask in Korean, they need to seek help unfortunately outside the program.  If there are any criticisms to the program, the instructors are unable to understand, because of communication problems. The instructors cannot adapt or tailor the program to maximize the quality, because there's lack of feedback, and also with so many students, they focus on the status quo, just staying afloat managing the classes and sheer number of students.

Thus maybe Yonsei KLI is a victim of their success?

In general though, as a consumer, I want to choose the higher quality program, so this will be either with Sogang or a small school that uses either Yonsei's or Sogang's text books, and I'll look toward TOPIK in order measure my success or failure with the language.  I think Sogang's program is really aggressive and geared to your ability to seriously speak the language.  Yonsei's text books are perhaps really solid for grammar usage, and so their program also reflects this.

Personally, I prefer speaking and conversing even if I am light on grammar, because this generates enthusiasm and excitement for the language, which gives me energy to learn more and become more diligent in my studies, and of course to learn the grammar.  Thus a speaking oriented course (Sogang) will be a better choice for me than a grammar oriented course (Yonsei).

Yonsei TextBook

I might not have enjoyed the Yonsei KLI experience, but the text books I have to admit have greatly improved.  The layout and graphics are really excellent, and the content is reasonably well organized.  There's still some potential problems or criticisms I have, such as lack of sample sentences to discern word usage, and limited dialogs, and poor explanations in English.  For the Japanese version of the book, there were some mistakes in Japanese, which are typical of beginning learners of that language.  Well, so maybe the book is an unpolished gem, has a lot of flaws, but beyond that it is good.

Personally, I use this book as a supplement toward other material I have, such as books from Sogang University.  This helps identify material I am missing at beginning levels and reinforces material I know already.  I am also less surprised at material presented in TOPIK sample tests between both Yonsei and Sogang text books.

Another book on TOPIK

In any language, I think it is a good idea to look at the national standard and also certifications for documenting your skill in any given language.  A college degree in a language doesn't really matter because if  you truly cannot read, write, and converse in the language then it doesn't really matter what degree you hold.  These certification exams in any given language, is to certify a level of competency in the language.  Thus, studying and targeting a certification program will help you specify exactly what your strengths and weakness as well as any material you might be missing.

For Korea, the most documented standard is TOPIK.  There are other certification programs, but I just don't see much material for it. Even in TOPIK alone, the documentation is in Korean, so for certification on lower levels, this might be hard.

I came across one book that is a rough guide for TOPIK called Complete Guide to the TOPIK: Basic (ISBN 978-89-5995-810-8) and costs 16,000 weon (about $14).  The book looks pretty good with good layout, graphics, and English explanations. Between this book and sample practice exams, you should be able to assess your skill and competency in Korea.

Studying Korean: TOPIK

Regardless of how you learn Korean, one way to pull it together to see what you know or missed is some sort of certification, and TOPIK seems to be the most widely used.  What's great about studying for these types of exams is that it really pools all your efforts toward one single goal and refines your knowledge.  It's a way to leverage yourself and certify your strengths.

As a beginner, I am looking at cho-geup, or beginning level, so I grabbed this book on S-TOPIK (ISBN 978-89-414-5743-5) for 13,000 weon (about $10) and I going through the practice test questions.

Studying Abroad through Cal State

In California, for the four year universities there are two public systems: UC (University of California) and CSU (California State University).  The CSU system has a very good international program called CSU IP.  Every student who attends a Calfiornia State University can apply to the program and take courses in another country and have this count toward toward courses within the CSU system.

The information and support for the program varies from college to college.  I think SFSU (San Francisco State University) has the best support with their OIP.  In additional to the availability of CSU IP program, SFSU not has a rich home grown study abroad program themselves.  They have a system that allows you to meet your GE (General Education) requirements (Segment III) abroad, where other universities, this could be somewhat of a mess and not well discernible if this is possible.

In Japan, you can go to the top prestigious private school Wasaeda, and for Taiwan you can go to NTU (National Taiwan University).   I don't know about their language programs, but the for NTU the books look well developed.  And for Korea you get to go to the top university there, Yonsei, whose motto claims they are the "First and the Best".

If you are considering Korean language studies, note that currently there are no programs in any Cal State University that offers Korean according to the 2010-2011 undergraduate majors matrix.  The last time I looked, Korean is even limited in the UC system with only UCLA and UC Berkeley offering Korean language courses.  In contrast, according to that same matrix, of the 24 CalState universities, 3 offer Chinese (San Diego, LA, and SFSU) and 6 offer Japanese.

Studying Abroad Through Yonsei

I did a one year study abroad at Yonsei, and as a requirement from Yonsei, you need to take some Korean instruction.  However, to meet this requirement, they allowed me to take a 0-unit credit/no-credit course through their graduate program called GSIS, which was just great.  I couldn't imagine throwing away 6 units to the Yonsei KLI, and instead devoted those units to things like Marketing and Organizational Behavior.

The GSIS Korean course wasn't bad; it was a self-study fast paced course, and the instructor actually spoke English, so some instruction was in English, but mostly it was in Korean.  It was very aggressive pace, which I loved because with some Japanese language background, the grammar is easy to understand.  I can piece together quickly what I needed to learn to speak and what I could revisit later.

Though, unfortunately in the end, I found myself devoting more toward business courses than language studies.  I really needed a private tutor and some serious time to keep up with the course, but then it's zero units and doesn't go on my transcript.  I enjoyed it.