Friday 56 Rules: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice.
Also Book Beginnings by Rose City Reader.I wish there was a way for me to show the inside of the book, the colorful and easy to understand calligraphy and illustrations that make some of the Chinese characters seem really easy to learn. Click on the book cover to amazon, where you can take a look inside the book!
Title: Chineasy: The New Way to Read Chinese by Shaolan Hsueh, Noma Bar
Published March 10, 2014; March and Hudson
Book beginning, Introduction:
The Calligrapher's Daughter
I was born in Taipei, Taiwan, the daughter of a calligrapher and a ceramic artist, so I grew up immersed in art and with a deep appreciation of the beauty of the Chinese language. Speaking and writing Chinese is an integral part of who I am and how I see the world. But it was only when I had children of my own that I properly understood what a difficult language Chinese is to learn.
The ultimate goal of Chineasy is to help bridge the cultural gap by demystifying the Chinese language, which acts as a barrier to so many people - my children included!Page 56:
moon (yue) with calligraphyThis building block for moon originally derived from a pictogram of the crecent moon. It has now evolved to be a visual counterpart to 'sun'. This character also means 'month'.
Amazon description: 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.
I've heard about this book from one of the recent issues of The Economist! I was quite intrigued about it because of the idea behind the book. Happy reading! Thanks for sharing this book, hope you have a great weekend :)
ReplyDeleteMy Friday Book Memes
This sounds so lovely and unique. Thanks for sharing...and here's MY FRIDAY Post
ReplyDeleteMaking Chinese easy is quite a task. Thanks for sharing. Here is My Post
ReplyDeleteChinese seems like a difficult language to learn, but perhaps this book, Chineasy, would make it easier! :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting 56. I still think Chinese would be incredibly difficult to learn to read and write. The title seems rather misleading. I hope you are enjoying the story. Happy reading!
ReplyDeleteNe dong ma... LOL... Means I don't understand in Cantonese. :-) There are so many dialects, and this is the only one I know. Difficult language, but are they not all difficult if unknown?!
ReplyDeleteHappy weekend!
Oh my this appears like it would be much easier, to learn with.
ReplyDeleteI like the title, Chineasy. I can image how difficult Chinese is to learn!
ReplyDeleteGreat beginning! Sounds like an interesting book!
ReplyDeleteHere is my Book Beginning post!