Using graded readers to improve reading ability
Reading ability in Chinese requires understanding words and grammar, but it also requires practice. If you're only relying on your textbook, you probably won't read enough Chinese to consolidate your knowledge. Reading material at the same level of your textbook will be a struggle. One way of solving this issue is to use more than one textbook and therefore get more and broader practice. Another useful way is to use graded readers.
Using graded readers to improve your reading ability
Graded readers are texts that are designed specifically for learners at a certain level. In Chinese, this is commonly done by counting the number of unique characters you need to know to stand a chance of understanding the text. Naturally, knowing a certain number of characters won't guarantee that you understand the text, but this is precisely why you need to read more: you need to learn how the characters and words you have learnt are used.
For instance, a new series of graded readers called Mandarin Companion offers stories containing only 300 unique characters. Since the goal here isn't to read as advanced texts as possible, but rather to read as much as possible, I suggest reading more than one story. If you find the first volume hard, going through a couple more is definitely a good idea.
If you want even more practice at the same level, or want to continue to slightly more difficult texts, you could also check out Chinese Breeze, a series that has been out for much longer and has more titles.
They are divided into three levels:
This won't take you all the way up to native-level material, but it's definitely good supplementary texts to solidify your knowledge. Remember, rushing through a textbook doesn't mean you have mastered all the Chinese in it. Instead of going through the same book again, why don't you broaden your horizons a bit and get hold of a few graded readers?
Using graded readers to improve your reading ability
Graded readers are texts that are designed specifically for learners at a certain level. In Chinese, this is commonly done by counting the number of unique characters you need to know to stand a chance of understanding the text. Naturally, knowing a certain number of characters won't guarantee that you understand the text, but this is precisely why you need to read more: you need to learn how the characters and words you have learnt are used.
For instance, a new series of graded readers called Mandarin Companion offers stories containing only 300 unique characters. Since the goal here isn't to read as advanced texts as possible, but rather to read as much as possible, I suggest reading more than one story. If you find the first volume hard, going through a couple more is definitely a good idea.
If you want even more practice at the same level, or want to continue to slightly more difficult texts, you could also check out Chinese Breeze, a series that has been out for much longer and has more titles.
They are divided into three levels:
- 300 characters
- 500 characters
- 750 characters
This won't take you all the way up to native-level material, but it's definitely good supplementary texts to solidify your knowledge. Remember, rushing through a textbook doesn't mean you have mastered all the Chinese in it. Instead of going through the same book again, why don't you broaden your horizons a bit and get hold of a few graded readers?
