I will admit to actually having come to quite like the audio-visual text/vcd that shida produces and having come back to it now after a couple of years am even prepared to admit that almost all of the vocab and most of the patterns are useful. What I would love to do is continue with it into the second text, but alas, the dialogues from the second text appear to be in chicken scratch. I am thinking about buying the text and the vcd anyway and having a go at listening to them, typing out the pinyin for the stuff I don’t know, using the dic, requesting the sweet pea creatures assistance and bugging you guys on the rest. Bananas?
No, these are bananas: 
If you’re happy putting in the time, I see no problem. Feel free to ask about Chinese vocab, grammar, etc. here and we’ll be happy to assist.
Actually, Gwen Stefani says that “This sh*t is bananas! B-AN-AN-AS!”
And she ain’t no holla back girl.
What is “chicken scratch,” Bob? Are you referring to the traditional Chinese characters?
No, they’re plantains.
HG
I think he’s referring to hand-written characters in what is supposed to be printed material.
[quote=“Chris”]No, these are bananas:
If you’re happy putting in the time, I see no problem. Feel free to ask about Chinese vocab, grammar, etc. here and we’ll be happy to assist.[/quote]
So those are bananas while I are not bananas I think? Anyway, have you guys actually done the second book? Does it have the cute dialogues all contextualized by professional actors in realistic settings as does the first book? Does it recycle vocab from the first book and expand upon it in a logical manner allowing, as it were, for the opportunity to guess the meaning of new words from context? I love that part.
I was just thinking yesterday what a great text book that Shi Da radio plays is. Seriously, in all the places I studied, I really think Shi Da and their text books pushed my Chinese the furtherest.
HG
Book one offered the entire lesson dialogues in pinyin and zhuyin on separate pages, in addition to the dialogue in characters. The subsequent volumes don’t do this, assuming recognition of previously presented words, presenting the lesson dialogues only in characters, while giving romanization of new vocab in the vocab sections of the lesson.
Book one is possible to study without memorizing characters. The other books really aren’t. If one studied book one for spoken and listening only, they’d have to transcribe the dialogues of the other books into pinyin themselves if they wanted to continue to use the ShiDa series.
Is what you were referring to, Bob?
Yes dear.
Well, it shouldn’t take more than a few minutes to transcribe a dialogue into Pinyin, right? Or is the problem everything else in the chapter?
As for repetition and giving students chances to guess meanings from context… 
The “chicken scratch” will be good practice reading handwriting. 
Grin and bear it! 
I just want to continue with the shida program and am disapointed to discover it doesn’t include a transcription of the dialogues into Pinyin. I rather doubt that I could do even one with correct spelling and tones myself in a few minutes. I already know about 60% of the new vocab listed (with pinyin) in each chapter so I don’t imagine the text is too terribly advanced but can’t be certain as I CAN"T FREAKING READ IT! and am not inclined to buy either the book or the vcd without some kind of feedback on the material contained therein. I suppose the vocab from the list is a good indication but still I’d like a bit of a heads up on the dialogues, vcd quality etc…
Or is there an entirely more preferable solution for the intermediate student who “absolutely” refuses to study characters?
I just want to continue with the Shi-Da program and am disapointed to discover it doesn’t include a transcription of the dialogues into Pinyin. I rather doubt that I could do even one with correct spelling and tones myself in a few minutes. I already know about 60% of the new vocab listed (with Pinyin) in each chapter so I don’t imagine the text is too terribly advanced but can’t be certain as I can"T FREAKING READ IT! and am not inclined to buy either the book or the vcd without some kind of feedback on the material contained therein. I suppose the vocab from the list is a good indication but still I’d like a bit of a heads up on the dialogues, vcd quality etc…
Or is there an entirely more preferable solution for the intermediate student who “absolutely” refuses to study characters?[/quote]
The ShiDa series puts emphasis on character recognition, especially after book 1. You wouldn’t just be transcribing the tapes, but you’d have to get someone to romanize all of the pattern practice sections, grammar exercises and questions–which make up the bulk of the later books-- if you wanted to get any benefit from them. If you don’t study characters, the later books will be a source of frustration for you. You may be better off studying other things…
Maybe not a cheap option, but the Rosetta Stone software is audio-visual and can be set to only display pinyin. I’m sure others will chime in with some options. Maybe the Far East series books will be a better choice of materials you can easily get in Taiwan.
Thanks toasty. That’s precisely the sort of input I was looking for.