When Jane Austen sat down in January of 1814 to write about “a heroine whom no-one but myself will much like”, she could have never imagined that one day her story would be adapted into a Chinese setting hundreds of years in the future. This adaptation of “Emma” spans approximately 200 years, from the Victorian to the Digital age, into two widely different cultures. Although there are great differences in time and culture, we were able to find direct parallels between these two different time periods to bring this classic story to you.
However, bringing Emma into the hustle and bustle of 21st century Shanghai was no small task. Fortunately we had a resident Jane Austen expert in the Mandarin Companion family. My wife, Heather, discovered her works as a young girl and since has devoured all things Jane Austen (she has read Pride and Prejudice over 50 times, literally). Having lived in China for many years, she was uniquely qualified to help with this special adaptation.
In the original story, Emma was born into a wealthy family whose mother died when she was a young girl, sees no need for a man in her life, and spends much of her time dabbling in the lives of her friends and neighbors. To set it in modern day China, we realized that Emma had to be much more than a woman of leisure in the big city. We envisioned Emma as the only daughter of a wealthy real estate tycoon who had sent her to all of the best schools and supported her in pursuing her dreams. We felt the best career fit was for Emma to be fashion designer who was married to her job and was not only uninterested in a boyfriend, but also had no time for one. Instead of trying to play matchmaker with friends and neighbors, she would try to orchestrate office romances among her coworkers.
We had a lot of fun setting the story in modern day because this brought in a number of new possibilities that fit in perfectly with the original story. Hand-written letters sent via courier, commonly used in Victorian England, are replaced with text messaging. Community newspapers and bulletins as a way of spreading local news are replaced with social media, complete with likes, comments, and selfies. We were even able to incorporate Wechat (微信), the dominant social media platform in China, into the story.
The Highbury Times 2.0
It is fun to note that the cover image pays homage to the 1995 movie “Clueless”, perhaps the most commercially successful modern adaptation of “Emma” yet.
Clueless was based on Emma? Yep!
Despite the time difference between the original and adapted version, the core essence of Emma’s personality remains intact: a spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied heroine who greatly overestimates her own skills and is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people’s lives. We hope you enjoy this story as much as we did in creating it!
Mark Twain’s classic novel, The Prince and the Pauper, has been the subject of countless retellings, but has never been done in such a uniquely Chinese way before.
The story follows two nearly identical boys born into vastly difference circumstances. One into poverty on the streets and the other as a prince in the royal palace. After a chance encounter, they both think the other lives a more interesting life and swap places. The pauper, now living in the royal palace, lives in constant dread of being discovered for who and what he really is while he struggles to learn the customs of royal life. In the meantime, the prince is living on the streets where he is exposed to the harshness of society and the injustice of the laws of the kingdom over which he rules. Both children discover that neither life is as carefree as they expected.
In order to put the focus on the story in our adaptation, we set our version of the story in a fictional Chinese kingdom in the remote past. We never say exactly what year or dynasty it is, and the character names used, while sometimes inspired by real historical figures, are not straight out of the history books. The location of the story, a city called 西京 (Xījīng), is also fictional.
Cool map, eh?
Some elements of the story have a certain relationship to actual Chinese history, however. For example, although 宋 (Sòng) is the name of a historical Chinese dynasty, we chose it for the king’s name in our story precisely because there was no famous Chinese emperor with that surname. As for the name of the prince 宋知远 (Sòng Zhīyuǎn), we borrowed the given name from the actual historical emperor 刘知远 (Liú Zhīyuǎn).
刘知远 (Liú Zhīyuǎn) and 宋知远 (Sòng Zhīyuǎn). No relation.
One challenge in adapting this work was the title, The Prince and the Pauper. The word “pauper” means “beggar,” and can be translated as 乞丐 (qǐgài) in Chinese. However, this word is both formal and also contains two low-frequency characters, so it’s no good for a graded reader. The more colloquial option, 要饭的 (yàofàn de), also means “beggar,” but is so informal that it is not suitable for a book title (but it does appear in our book). Thus, we decided to go with 穷孩子 (qióng háizi), meaning “poor child,” a less literal translation of the English “pauper.”
Finally, our Chinese staff would like to make it clear to the reader that the hairstyle of the prince in our story does not conform to the actual historical royal hairstyles of ancient China (sometimes you just have to go with design choices that look a little cooler).
Get your copy today!* *Note, all print versions are available. The ebook is currently unavailable on Kindle. It’s an Amazon issue, you’re welcome to help us pester them :-).
The entire Mandarin Companion series is now available in paperback traditional character editions! Traditional Chinese editions of all of the stories have been available on ebook for a while and we’ve now taken it one step further and made available all of the traditional character versions in paperback as well!
We understand the difficulty for those studying traditional Chinese characters to find the best books to learn Chinese. Sometimes finding traditional Chinese textbooks or other traditional Chinese language books is about as difficult as remembering the stroke order for 齉.
So for all you traditional character types out there, whether your Chinese program only offers traditional Chinese, you have been learning Chinese in Taiwan, or if you have a Taiwanese parent, these traditional Chinese books are for you.
The bonus of the print editions is that you won’t have to download any traditional Chinese language pack! This is Chinese made easy…traditional style. The Mandarin Companion series will put you on the road to better Chinese!
To get your copy, visit our book page, select the title you are interested in, and follow the links to the traditional versions.
When John and I first started Mandarin Companion, “Journey to the Center of the Earth” was on a very early list of books that we wanted to adapt. We knew that it would be a more complex book that needed the flexibility that level 2 would offer. Reading the book over again brought back the excitement and fantasy I experienced as a young teen reading it for the first time.
In paying homage to the original story, we decided to base many of the illustrations of the Mandarin Companion version on the original illustrations by French painter and illustrator Édouard Riou who illustrated six of Verne’s novels. The original illustrations have long since entered the public domain and we hope you enjoy the artistry and talent of illustrators, then and now!
“这张纸上的每个字的意思我都知道，可是把它们放在一起以后我完全看不懂！这是为什么？！”
“叔叔跟老许两个人，一先一后，开始慢慢地往下。”
“我走过去看了看，前面有三个看起来很像的路口。”
“叔叔坐在我身边，把他最后一点水拿出来让我喝。”
“老许用工具在石头上打了一个洞，水一下子就喷出来了，我兴奋地大叫起来。”
“叔叔让我们每半个小时休息一次”
“这些植物不但高大，而且长得很特别。”
“我感觉海面一直在动，好像水下有很大的东西在动来动去。”
“我发现在离我们不远的地方，两只特别大的怪物打了起来。”
“前面有一个岛！”慢慢地，我才发现，水的声音是岛上的地下水在往上喷。
“海水就带着我们的船也掉进了那个大洞里！”
To check out the book or get a copy of your own, click on the image above or visit the book page!
If you have been waiting for the level 2 Great Expectations to be available, wait no longer. They are now available on all digital platforms:
Great Expectations Part 1 (Traditional character) Great Expectations Part 2 (Traditional character)
The good news is that all future releases of new titles will have both simplified and traditional character editions available at the same time! We’ve spent a lot of time to create tools that allow us to make this conversion quickly, and with far more accurate results. The next step will be print editions of traditional character editions. It’s in the works!
And if you are wondering about that character that looks like a spooky animal, it’s pronounced “biáng“, a special type of noodle from northern China.
You asked for it, we delivered. Visit the book page for any Mandarin Companion novel where you can download a word list for the book FREE. The word lists can be use to focus efforts on learning the words that will allow a person to read a Mandarin Companion book.
While each book uses a limited number of characters, you’ll quickly find that there are more words used than characters. For instance, The Monkey’s Paw uses exactly 271 characters, however the story is written using precisely 391 words. Using words with characters you already know is an excellent way to build on the knowledge you have already acquired and expand your vocabulary into words you are likely to retain.
We at Mandarin Companion want to assist in building the fluency of all Chinese learners. This is just one small step in that direction!
For your convenience, here is a link to the word list for every Mandarin Companion book published as of December 2015.
It has happened to all of us while learning Chinese: you are “attempting” to read a text in Chinese and then you inevitably stumble upon it, a black hole (a.k.a. an unknown character) and you’re instantly caught in its gravitational pull as it slowly sucks you in. Your eyes glaze over as you stare at it; it stares back at you like a spooky animal ready to pounce on its prey. You cycle through a database of possible pronunciations but absolutely nothing comes to mind. You can’t even attempt to pronounce it, and even if you did you’ve only got a 1 in 4 chance of getting the tone right. Nothing. You’ve got nothing. Sweat beads on your forehead, you start to scream, and your head explodes.
If this situation sounds familiar (minus the exploding head), fret not; you’re not alone. This is one of the things that makes Chinese so difficult. However, a fascinating study* published in Reading Research Quarterly offers insight into learning Chinese. The researchers studied how words are learned in context through reading, both by students in China and by students in the U.S.
A quick primer: learning words in context means being able to pick up the meaning of a word, term, or idea from the clues that are given in a sentence, paragraph, or article. For example, take the word “repugnant” in the following sentence.
You could see how repugnant the bitter medicine was by the way she shuddered and made a face as she swallowed it.
If you didn’t know the meaning of repugnant before, now you’ve got a much better idea. That’s because the context of the sentence gave you clues about the meaning. This is learning words in context.
Learning words from context is a universal phenomenon
The study found that both American and Chinese students are able to understand word meanings from context while reading normally. If you run across a word in a context that you understand, you’ve got a high probability of figuring out what that word means, even if you can’t say it. Even after controlling for cultural, family, educational, and language differences, the authors wrote “what is remarkable is not that there were some differences between Chinese and American children, but rather how similar the pattern of results is for the children from the two countries.”
What was even more interesting relating to Chinese, is how the individual components of characters, 部件 in Chinese, provide categorical information about the meaning of the character and often give a more transparent meaning than English. For example, the Chinese word for otter 水獭 has these two characters. The first character 水 is more commonly known and means water while the second character 獭 is more uncommon. However the character component 犭 conveys the meaning of a mammal or beast. Right away the reader can guess that this is some sort of animal, perhaps one that is amphibious. With the proper context the reader could probably guess this is an otter, since a native-speaking Chinese child may already know how to say “otter” in Chinese, and thus would now know how to pronounce both characters in the word 水獭.
“Knowing a Word” is not good enough for reading comprehension
You can do character flash cards? Great! But that’s only going to get you so far. A reader can improve reading comprehension if they can automatically recognize the words in a text. However, in order to build instant recognition of word meanings during reading, one must also have the opportunity to “meet” a new word repeatedly.
Interestingly enough, the study also cites that “knowing the definition of a word” is not enough for reading comprehension. In order to understand words correctly during reading, the words must be meaningfully used in context. When new words are integrated with existing knowledge, they are better understood and the new words move into the reader’s “comfort zone.”
We learn best when we read at a high level of comprehension
“Learning from context is a process based on children’s prior knowledge. If a new word can be connected with children’s existing [knowledge], it is easy to learn. But when learning a new word requires building a new [branch of knowledge], it is less likely that this word will be acquired through one exposure during reading.”
This makes total sense. Basically, it’s easier to understand something when you understand everything around it. This is the precise reason the Extensive Reading Foundation calls reading at a 98% comprehension level the “sweet spot” for learning new words.
Independent reading will help you learn more new words
Children, in both China and America, who did a lot of out-of- school reading learned more unfamiliar words from context than children who did not do as much extra reading.
“Chinese children who read extensively at home learned many more unfamiliar words than the children who read less. The probability of learning a word from context for children who did a lot of reading was over three times as great as children who did some reading, and over seven times more for children who did little or no reading.”
Read more = learn more new words. Possibly seven times more.
Conclusion
The study concluded that only extensive reading can simultaneously meet the three criteria necessary to effectively learn words from context and build large vocabularies:
Integration of new words with other knowledge
Presentation of new words repeatedly in context
Meaningful usage of new words as many ways as possible
It’s no wonder why extensive reading is so effective at building meaningful vocabulary development. If one has a large vocabulary and knows how to use it, isn’t that the same thing as fluency?
After over a year of work, Mandarin Companion level 2 is now available! The first level 2 title is Charles Dickens masterpiece Great Expectations. However, we are not releasing only one book, this tale will be released in two volumes; Part 1 and 2. Each book is approximately 30% longer in length than Level 1 and represents a step up in vocabulary and grammar used. Furthermore, both volumes will be available in print and ebook at the same time! Traditional Chinese versions will come shortly.
Great Expectations: Part 1 《美好的前途（上）》
Great Expectations: Part 2 《美好的前途（下）》
The ebooks are available on Amazon (part 1 and part 2). The print books are available for purchase (part 1 and part 2). Check out the book pages of Great Expectations (part 1 and part 2) for an overview and a small sample.
Next Steps for Mandarin Companion
This is literally a new chapter for Mandarin Companion. With the experience we have gained in producing our first 7 books at two different levels, we are poised to increase the number of titles we will release in 2016 and beyond. So many people have sent us emails wanting to know how they can help because they have found the magic of reading. You can help! Here are some things you can do.
Tell friends and teachers about the series and what it has done for you.
Become more familiar with the principles of extensive reading so that you can better understand what we are trying to do, how it affects you, and how to discuss it with others (it will also make you look pretty smart at dinner parties).
Note: Great Expectations will be released mid-December, 2015. Seriously, 真的.
Over a year in the making, Great Expectations or 《美好的前途》 is the first Mandarin Companion level 2 graded reader. Based on Charles Dickens classic novel, Great Expectations has been adapted into modern day Shanghai. Due to the length of the story, the book will be released in two parts, 上 and 下, each volume approximately 40% longer than a Level 1 graded reader.
With the upcoming launch of Great Expectations, we we took the opportunity to sit down with two of our test readers in Shanghai and get their thoughts on the book and the difficulty of level 2.
Our test readers Vanessa and Daniel
Vanessa is an American working as a primary school teacher and a mother of two. Daniel is a software engineer from Sweden. They are both living in Shanghai and served in a crucial role as test readers of Great Expectations.
Mandarin Companion: How would you characterize your level for our readers?
Daniel: Above intermediate, have no problem handling everyday things, and traveling (which also means getting stuck in hour-long queues). I have read all the books from Mandarin Companion, all but a few of Chinese Breeze up to Level 2. I occasionally read HSK 2 and 3 articles at The Chairman’s Bao. Although, currently I read better than I speak, slowly improving.
Vanessa: I’ve taken two semesters of Chinese at Donghua University in Shanghai and have worked with private tutors. I have read The Monkey’s Paw, Country of the Blind, The 60 Year Dream and now Great Expectations.
MC: Since neither of you had previously read the original Great Expectations, do you think being unfamiliar with the original story affected your enjoyment of 《美好的前途》?
Vanessa: It’s hard to say. The story held lots of surprises that I was able to experience them for the first time.
Daniel: For me, being unfamiliar added to my enjoyment. I came into the story with fresh eyes and no preconceptions, allowing me to form my own ideas about the surroundings and people involved.
Vanessa: Dickens is an amazing story teller and this Chinese rendition of the story showed a lot of his style without the extensive length. However, knowing the story beforehand could have been enjoyable as well because then I would have been able to more easily make connections and better understand some of the characters.
MC:《美好的前途》 is a two-part story, with over 13,000 characters in each part. That’s over twice as long as our Level 1 titles. How did you feel about the length?
Daniel: Loved it! Longer books allows expanding of both the story and characters, and in this case keep more of the original story.
Vanessa: The length was appropriate for my level. Like most books, the beginning reads a bit slower because you are just getting into it and establishing characters but then your reading pace quickens because it starts getting really interesting and you find yourself not wanting to put it down.
Daniel: Same for me! I like longer stories; when I get started reading I just don’t want to stop! I enjoy getting to know the characters, following them in more detail. So the length is something I have wanted for a long time!
MC: Did Level 2 (450 characters) feel much harder than Level 1 (300 characters)?
Daniel: I definitely feel it is a step up from level 1, but not overwhelming. There were both vocabulary and grammar I was not familiar with or could not immediately recall, but as they are repeated throughout the story recalling them became easier and easier. Also, the expanded vocabulary and grammar really adds to the story, makes it feel more alive.
Vanessa: Level 2 is more enjoyable as I was really able to enjoy the more detailed characters and plot. That being said, I really enjoyed the simplicity of the text. Dickens is known for his characters; He is very specific with their descriptions using “flowery words”. However, I loved how simple each character’s descriptions were. I felt confident in my Chinese abilities and didn’t have to worry about reaching for a dictionary. You can read easily without stopping and you can guess the words you don’t know through context–just like you would do when reading in your native language.
MC: Who would you recommend this story to?
Daniel: I would recommend it to anyone studying Chinese; regardless if you’re a bookworm or not; regardless if you read the original or not. It is deeply satisfying to realize one is able to read and understand a book in Chinese.
Vanessa: This is perfect for anyone who is tired of people recommending a newspaper to improve their character recognition and has to use a dictionary to get through it. There is so many ineffective ways to learn Chinese and there’s not a lot of good reading resources. That’s why I am so glad I found Mandarin companion readers. They are effective in that they keep you motivated. After you finish one, you feel like you have actually accomplished something and you feel proud of yourself and your abilities. After reading a Mandarin Companion reader, I finally thought to myself, “I can read in Chinese!”
This poignant question was poised by an eager Chinese learner on Quora. The short answer; No, reading Chinese poems will do little to improve your Chinese.
The truth of the matter is that Chinese poetry can be very beautiful. Diligent students of hanzi know that many Chinese characters are full of meaning and nuance. When written as prose, the characters combined with words and context weave a story of deeper meaning, insight, and reflection. I must confess there have been occasions after reading, pondering, and ultimately comprehending a poem, it was as if I had uncovered a hidden treasure that brought not only peaceful satisfaction but seemed to convey wisdom of the ages.
With that in mind, it may be no wonder that some instructors with advanced Chinese levels may extol the virtues of Chinese poetry and even require their students to become diligent pupils of the classics. While the rewards can be sweet, reading Chinese poetry is not an optimal way to improve your Chinese.
For a very SIMPLE (and I emphasize simple) example, consider the following poem that is included in the first semester Chinese text books for 1st graders in Shanghai.
《画》
远看山有色，
近听水无声。
春去花还在，
人来鸟不惊。
If you could read this, congratulations! It’s a nice poem isn’t it? It causes you to stop for a moment and reflect on the beauty and tranquility of the scene with beautiful, colorful mountains, quiet streams, spring flowers still in bloom, and birds unfrightened by the approach of people. Amazingly, it is also one of the most simple poems in existence. Of the 20 characters in the poem, 18 are found within HSK level 3 while the other 2 are at HSK level 4 (无 and 惊). Despite the simplicity of this poem, here is why it it’s not very helpful to learning Chinese.
It’s too short. By nature poems are short and are intended to be slowly chewed and digested. Poems are not designed to be long, however reading longer texts greatly aide in language acquisition because there is greater repetition, leading to the next reason….
No repetition. Research suggests that it requires 10-20 encounters with a word before they are truly learned and much more to learn how it is used with different word pairs and in different contexts. Poems cannot offer this type of repetition.
It does not reflect how people talk or communicate in daily life. Do we speak English the same way poems are written in English? Not unless your name is Longfellow. The same goes for Chinese. It’s rich and beautiful, but people do not speak like this in everyday life.
Low context. Usually there is little context given within the poem or the context is vague. As result, it becomes unclear if or how the words/characters/phrases are used in everyday life.
Frequent use of obscure characters. This is more common when reading classical poetry. Characters arise that refer to very specific parts of a soldiers weapon or perhaps you’ll learn the very specific character for duckweed: “萍” (both true stories). The only time you will run across some of these characters is when you are reading “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” or… classical poetry. You frequently will spend more time with a dictionary and translating in order to comprehend the passage. In the end you may understand what you read, but you’ll likely forget the characters you were exposed to.
Being able to read Chinese poetry is wonderful! However instead of looking at Chinese poetry as a step to better Chinese, it would be better viewed as a reward for hard work.
