The Secret Garden: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 1, Simplified Chinese Edition

As someone who has lived in China for five years and has studied Mandarin Chinese formally (in university classes and with private tutors and small group classes) and is constantly looking for practice and study methods that I actually enjoy, I found this book to be just the thing! Already a lover of The Secret Garden, I couldn't put down this contextualized, Mandarin translation. The level wasn't challenging for me; however I found it very encouraging to read swiftly without needing to stop and mentally translate. I did learn some new words, and though the level wasn't a challenge, some of the "new" words in the glossary were ones that I'd learned previously but still had trouble with. As an Oral English teacher, I tell my students that the best way to improve their vocabulary is to read English articles and others written works of interest to them. It turned out to be a great way for me to learn, too! Three suggestions for study: 1. Read on your iPhone/iPad and download the dictionary when your device prompts you to (after hovering your finger over a word). Then you can hover over any word and quickly navigate to the definition and pinyin pronunciation. (Although I find the dictionary to be fairly poor, so the book's appendix was best for words included in that. I found myself frequently referring to Pleco when I questioned the dictionary's definition.) 2. Read aloud to practice pronunciation and sentence timing/rhythm! Refer to the pinyin in the dictionary if you need to be reminded of the tones. 3. Highlight words or sentences you don't know how to translate or pronounce and take a screen shot; later ask a tutor or Chinese friend for help. Finally, when I got to the end, I wished I had studied or even printed out the word list at the end before reading so that I would be testing my knowledge of newer words as I went. Happy reading, and I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!

This is a great book in a great series from Mandarin Companion. I would recommend this book to any intermediate student of the Chinese language to practice their reading skills and really build confidence in their learning. As a graded Chinese reader, this book uses the concept of 'extensive reading' and fully accomplishes its goal to provide a fun and enjoyable story, with smooth and relatively 'easy' Chinese vocabulary and grammar. The book allows you to enjoy the story, while internalizing the flow of language and improving your reading comprehension. The story is a fun adaptation of The Secret Garden to a believable Chinese context. Kindle version is great and convenient for language students. You can read on various devices, highlight words as you read, navigate easily, etc.

I found this such a pleasure to read. I got the actual book not the Kindle version, and I was impressed with the quality - it has nice pages and the text is very crisp and clear, the color illustrations add a nice touch. The underlined "new vocabulary" is very helpful and very easy to see, but not so blatant that it's distracting. The back of the book has the pinyin and definitions for the vocabulary words, and I like that they are referenced with their number every time they appear, not just the first time. In addition, there are also some study questions and list of relevant articles from the Chinese Grammar Wiki for each chapter. Obviously you need to have a basic understanding of Chinese to start with, but for the 300 character level it should be just right. I'm at ~900 characters and I found this quite easy to read, but I did actually learn some new words. It's a really good way to reinforce grammar patterns. I have Kindle editions for some of the other books in this series and they are also nice (the text, links and illustrations work flawlessly), but if you're considering the paper book you won't be disappointed!

This was my first Mandarin Companion real book. I had bought a kindle version of their Sherlock Holmes re-write, which I enjoyed. But I didn't like flipping back and forth electronically. I found the paper version better: you can see more on each page with new vocabulary is at the bottom (as opposed to having to click on the link on a Kindle), it's easier to flip to the end to remind yourself of the new vocabulary, and it contains a great appendix at the back with grammatical notes as well as a comparison of new vocabulary vis-a-vis different textbooks. The rewrite of the story makes it both interesting, culturally, and accessible since you have a sense of the story arc (especially if you've read the original classic). I liked the Sherlock Holmes adaptation better; this adaptation had to be so short and stilted given the vocabulary that the conflict wasn't as tense and the ending seemed rushed. But overall I recommend the series.

This book is very well done, and the quality is what we have come to expect of Jared Turner and John Pasden. 秘密花园 adapts a well-known story into the context of China in a believable way. The story plot is developed well, characters are dynamic, even to the point that the way these guys think to describe the thought processes of 文思远 at the start of chapter 9 is really creative given the 300 or so unique words they have to work with. I’m a 28 year old man, and I was moved by the conclusion haha. Jared and John are killing it! My 2 cents on graded readers: The value of books like this to language learning can almost not be overstated. Research shows that fluency requires repeated exposure to material within the learner’s range of vocabulary, and that extensive reading like reading a graded reader within the limits of your vocabulary is the next best thing to living among native speakers. I lived among native speakers from 2014-2016 in Shandong, China and supplemented my learning with a couple of these books to score a perfect score on Reading on the HSK 3 test. I’d go so far as to say that the books were instrumental in my perfect listening and strong writing score of 92/100. HSK 3 is faaaaaaar from fluent in Mandarin, but these readers help you become fluent within those 600 words on HSK 3 and now I am using them back in the States as one part of my immersion self-study system to hopefully get to an HSK 4 level fluency and then branch out into more conversational topics in line with my interests. These books have rereading value for me, so they will always have a primary place in my Mandarin learning rotation.

Vocabulary is repetitive but does not constantly repeat the same information like other readers I've experienced. This book is not perfect and has a little bit of drama that will make you shake your head but I liked that it kept things interesting. YES, 100* Yes do I think it needs audio!! MANDARIN COMPANION -- give us audio!! I don't mind the price because the story was interesting enough to keep me reading and I felt SO happy and satisfied when I reached the last page. I have paid this price for other readers with audio that made me so bored that reading became a chore and the fact the reader had audio did not matter. I'm okay spending the same price for a book I know I'll finish. Pros That story! Vocabulary not draining or drilled in by repeatedly stating the same information over and over. Long enough (70 ish pages) Nice little definitions on page bottom Grammar explanations for the chapter in back of book Comparisons with other text books Vocabulary listed in the back and on each page Cons NO AUDIO (Give it to us!) This was a very minimal in difficulty read for me. I have practiced up to around the 9th chapter in the second integrated Chinese book and underwent 3 semesters of Chinese at College.

I am so happy to have found these books. My kids are in the Chinese immersion program and finding anything on their level and easy to read has been terrible. I bought this for my seventh grader. He knows all of the words except the ones that are being introduced and he is catching the new words without a problem. He hasn't ever read the book in English so I have him tell me what he has read and he is understanding the story. From what I have researched reading in a language and on the right level is one of the best ways to learn. I'm happy to see that Mandarin companion is releasing some even easier books that I'm hoping my fifth grader can read. I am definitely going to buy them all.

The Mandarin Companion graded readers are an excellent way to build fluency. I’ve been learning on my own for just under a year and, after reading all of the breakthrough level readers, 秘密花园 was my first level one. The amazing thing is- I was nervous to move up a level but found that it was actually perfect for where I’m at now. I only had to look up one character, and I noticed that as I was reading I was no longer directly translating in my head, just absorbing the meaning. I didn’t just recognize the characters- I understood how they worked together. I really feel that this level of understanding has come mostly through reading. Of course, because it uses only 300 characters (which is probably crazy hard to write), the sentences perhaps aren’t as “natural” but I really don’t think that’s the point! Once you finish this reader you will KNOW those characters. The TL;DR is that this is a fun and interesting way to build competence, confidence, and fluency!

This is a great series of books. So many graded readers are either so basic you nod off to sleep or too complex. These are both interesting and great learning tools. I have reviewed so many words and structures from HSK level 3 and 4 by reading these books and have a better understanding of the meaning and use of the language I've struggled to memorise. I can't get enough of them. Please continue this series.

Being able to read an extended text for the first time in a new language feels a little like standing on your own two feet before you take those first steps. For me it's the moment when I've felt a real boost for further learning! Up to now, I've searched for some such book in Chinese. This series promises to be the best I've found to date: I've been able to read the book on iPad(Kindle App) or Mac(Kindle App) which has given me the instant benefit of searching for the odd character which I couldn't read. The text is only in characters, which prevents taking "easy" way out. But never fear! The glossary at the back is linked to the text, so checking it with just a click-there-click-back is really convenient too. At present I'm preparing to sit the HSK3 and I think this book fits my level perfectly. The final really clever thing I've found is that the story is an adaptation of a known story. It's been MADE Chinese, so that the whole thing sounds more natural when reading it in Chinese. So even if you remember "The Secret Garden" from your childhood, you are still confronted with a new story reminiscent of that classic. Altogether great - looking forward to the series expanding alongside my Chinese level!

Very nicely translated story for the Chinese learners. Agree with the concept of extensive reading. Although my Chinese level is much higher this book still is quite useful. Planning to read all books from Mandarin Companion. It’ll help me strengthen my knowledge of the core Chinese words.

The characters are a good size and easy to read. I am disappointed that the audio has to be purchased separately through audible that charges a monthly fee. I would like to be able to purchase the audio in an MP3 and be able to use on any device without having to go through an APP or stream.

I never learn any Chinese without native audio, if you do that , you are listening to your own incorrect internal voice pronunciation and creating bad habits This was my first time listening along to a Chinese story. This was a year and a half ago , I’ve come a long way since then. This seemed so hard at the time but you just have to do a bit at a time , I listened / read it over several days (I started with a slow speed ) By the end I could up the pace a bit. I highly recommend the Mandarin Companion books as your first books 📚 You can adjust size of font (kindle) use the built in dictionary(kindle) , adjust the audio speed, you can’t get better than this.