I want to learn Classical Chinese (文言文,古文)

請問有國文系的老師或學生嗎? 我是從國外回來的臺灣人。
想找一些書來學習文言文和古文。有沒有人可以推薦一些適合自我學習的書?

For what do you want to learn? For examination or for fun?

我非常推荐「古漢語大辭典」。 相當全面,例句很多。

https://baike.baidu.hk/item/古漢語大詞典/12059065

實體書似乎只有簡體版,不過Pleco app里面可以下载繁体版。

至於看什麼樣的文言文最適合,最重要的是個人興趣。不要逼自己看自己覺得很枯燥的東西。我個人超愛看聊齋:文筆簡練,故事精彩,它的文言文也不會太難懂

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For personal pleasure so I can read older Chinese literature, philosophical thoughts, poetry.

Thank you jinyu! I’ll look into that.

Then, reading what ever available and interesting doesn’t work?

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That sounds cost-effective.

classical chinese is actually taught in high school and college. it’s not simply just chinese literature from the past; in classical chinese, the words are extremely condensed compared to the regular modern chinese that people read and write in.
there are specific reference books, texts book, poetry and writings from different time periods/dynasties for teaching classical chinese.
Unless you have experience with them and are familiar with how certain words are used back in the days when classical chinese was used, you likely won’t be able to understand most of it or be able to appreciate its beauty.

While not necessarily a learning tool, a reading tool that could help is the Classical Chinese Wikipedia, of which has thousands of articles on modern things in Classical Chinese.

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Yes, I know that. But there are many textbooks on famous old literatures, and literatures with interpretation. Reading whichever interesting for you doesn’t work? Isn’t it mostly vocabulary, once you get some basics?

Elementary kids here remember Three Character Classic, Standards for being a Good Pupil and Child, some Tang and song lyrics. The rhyme is enjoyable without knowing much and will help when they learn it as a subject.

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Most of the classics, with translation and commentary in Mandarin, are available in Taiwan. Just pick what interests you and read away.

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http://www.漢川草廬.tw/

I like this site as most of it is searchable.

I’d like to note that Ming and Qing dynasty novels aren’t technically “classical chinese”. The farther you go, the harder it is to understand. Shangshu (尚書) for example is incomprehensible to me unless there are some translation for reference.

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There are some threads on this forum on classical literatures.

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The terminology kind of confusing in English. There are pre modern “classics” in vernacular 白文 like 儒林外史,三國演義 etc and then there is “classical Chinese” 文言文。

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從清代看起會簡單一些。紅樓夢、聊齋都不錯。聊齋是短篇可能更適合。世說新語也不錯。台灣小朋友幾乎都會看論語。還有一些詩詞也不錯,比較短可能比較好懂。

記得買有註釋的書來看。

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Not classical Chinese.

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古文觀止 is a well-known introduction to classical Chinese.

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適合學習. Of course you could start with 詩經, but it’s gonna be very difficult. I don’t know the OP I’m not sure how familiar they’re with 文言文.

沒錯。我另外推薦「浮生六記」,純文言文但不會太難懂,甚至比聊齋簡單些。一本很動人的書。

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山海經 is also very interesting. Try to get the ones with illustrations.

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