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Dreaming in Chinese: ? and discovering what makes a billion people tick
 
 
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Dreaming in Chinese: ? and discovering what makes a billion people tick [Kindle Edition]

Deborah Fellows (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews) |
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Review

"In Dreaming in Chinese, Deb Fallows opens up a window onto Chinese urban life through its notoriously difficult language. A charming and insightful book." Susan Shirk, author of China: Fragile Superpower

Product Description

Why can't the Chinese say "I love you"? Can you wear pyjamas on the streets of Shanghai? Why is it so difficult to hear Chinese tones?
In this charming, original book, Harvard linguist Deborah Fallows draws on her three years of living and working in China to provide the answers to these puzzles and many more.
Using her own struggles and triumphs with the study of Mandarin as a guide, Fallows manages to describe the workings of the language in a way that is both intelligible and entertaining. Her anecdotes and stories illustrate how Westerners have to think in a fundamentally different way to survive in China.
This book will appeal to anyone with an interest in China, be they first time tourists, seasoned business people, or just the idly curious. Accessible and revelatory, it will help you discover this extraordinary nation for yourself.
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Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 1481 KB
  • Print Length: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Short Books (15 April 2010)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B004T0AN22
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #93,081 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Deborah Fallows
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
sad 23 Jun 2011
Format:Hardcover
Short review: shallow and disrespectful

This book is a real disappointment. It is stated that the author has a Ph.D in Linguistics and from this you could have hoped for some good reflections and analysis. At least that was what I expected when I bought the book. Sadly, the book is a collection of erroneous statements and what appear to be random recollections of her time in China. Her reflections seldom go beyond the most obvious.

Time and time over she conveys her ignorance and lack of cultural understanding. The highlight of disrespectfulness: It took two years in China before the author understood that Chinese people care about each other (the chapter about the earthquake).

She claims that since Chinese characters are written with uniform spacing reading Chinese is as awkward as reading English with no spacing between words. She admits that she cannot read and write Chinese. I do, I can assure that her statement is nonsense.

She suggest "..the Chinese should learn to imagine words without the proper tone". Since tones in Chinese in effect provide different sounds, finals (a part of a syllable that contains vocals) with different tones are as different as different vocals are to English speakers. Try this: Yas thut us I vyri geed adoa! ("Yes that is a very good idea").
Her lack of understanding of Chinese characters and the importance of these as an important cultural heritage is remarkable. In this context she characterize the "deconstruction" (yes, "deconstruction" in the meaning of understanding a character) of characters as "complete madness". And this is even though she does not read or write these characters. Madness, - I will not comment her statement.

There are plenty of other issues I could mention. However, I believe the examples above give you an understanding of the qualities of the book.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Dreaming away... 1 Feb 2011
Format:Hardcover
Part linguistic anecdote, part travel writing, Deborah Fallows documents a few insights into the Chinese, their culture and their fascinating language. I am now better for knowing why he/she causes immense problems for the Chinese, who the Laobaixing are, some tried and tested learning techniques for the asailing Chinese learner, the evolution of Hanzi (Chinese characters) and some of the well-worn characteristics of the people. For a brief read it was well worth delving into but was underwhelmed by some of the sociological insights. There are masses of literature about the changing makeup of China, and it would have done well to draw from that.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
An encouraging read 11 Aug 2010
Format:Hardcover
This is an excellent book to read if you're attempting to learn Chinese. It's a great relief to find that someone who is an experienced linquist has encountered exactly the same problems that you're struggling with. Reading the book is a strange mixture of recognition - yes, I also fail at distinguishing tones - and new information which gives a glimpse of a land that most of us are unlikely to be able to visit in person. Each chapter uses a word or language concept as a starting point to explore a particular section of Chinese life. These are usually entertaining as the author has sudden breakthroughs which seem obvious in retrospect, but they can also be touching, particularly in the chapter concerning the earthquake of May 2008.

I have a couple of criticisms, the first being a backhanded compliment in that it seemed too short for me; I could easily have read a book twice the length. And the second that it's unlikely to be such an interesting read for people with no knowledge of Chinese.
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