I think the only leveled reader book series that’s in traditional characters is Mandarin Companion. You can check out this site https://www.gradedchinesereaders.com/. Maybe they’ve added traditional on some of the other ones.
As I said above, I use Chairman’s Bao. There’s also Mandarin Bean and DuChinese as the main “go-to” sites. Those are all more news type/short paragraph stories as opposed to books.
Always try the trial and see if you like it. I tried Maayot, which only allows you access to the one assigned text per day and then it disappears, and I HATED it. I thought I would enjoy the pressure of needing to finish the whole text each day, but then I realized how much better it is for my comprehension to go back and listen to the text again after you’ve had a few days for it to sit in your brain.
For someone at the total beginning, I started using Little Chinese Readers with my international students (I have no idea what the CSL teacher is teaching them, but it seemed like nothing at all…). I like it because it clearly introduces characters with sufficient repetition and illustrations. The worksheets at the end may or may not be overkill for the average adult learner. The flashcards made a great memory game for the kids, again, maybe overkill for the adult. The website also has audio for each story, which I consider to be crucial for learning how words sound. Even if you think you know how words sound, you should still try to listen and follow along with audio as much as possible to embed a native sound in your brain.
Wow, thanks for the great, detailed reply! I will check out these readers. Should be a good approach for me. I speak at an intermediate level but have always struggled with motivating myself to learn characters.
I think there’s no harm in knowing both. That way you can navigate a number of East and South East Asia countries with greater ease. Knowing traditional characters can also be useful when going to Japan. Yes, I know Kanji is not exactly Chinese traditional characters, but I have friends from Mainland China saying that although they can’t speak Japanese, it’s never been a problem since they can “read” (recognize) the characters.
Great points! I think while the almost insurmountable difficulties of translation between simplified and traditional spoken mandalorian are one thing, there is actually another even more fundamental and I would say impenetrable communication barrier - like plugging USB C into USB D sockets - kids from China - aka simplified Mandalorians - are generally oblivious to the existence of traditional food items like say for example 廣東炒飯. So looking at the menus they are doubly stumped: 1 They are completely unable to read traditional Mandalorian. 2 There are simply no cultural parallels for any of the menu items in China. This doesn’t operate the other way round however as those that can speak traditional mandalorian are already familiar with Chinese food concepts like KFC. So they are able to adapt much more quickly whilst doing business in China. Just two cents from personal experience on my travels!
Best regards,
Uncle Matt
