Business Chinese (Intermediate) helps learner to develop their communication skills in speech and writing. Learner can conduct business in a Chinese language environment.
The emphasis is placed on the usage of business terms in modern Chinese and on language proficiency in a business context as well as on business related social-cultural awareness.
By following the progress of an American business delegation in China, A Practical Business Chinese Reader has developed sixteen lessons in all to introduce some typical business activities and business-related social events in a Chinese business world. Each of the sixteen lessons in the book contains the following sections:
1. Dialogues
The dialogues in each lesson are set at various authentic sites in China. The scenarios are intended to be typical of those encountered by foreigners conducting business in P. R. China. Authentic language of modern Chinese, which occurs in realistic business contexts, is employed to the greatest extent in order to provide the most efficient examples for students to imitate and eventually enhance their Chinese language proficiency.
2. Reading Passages
The reading passage in each lesson is a short essay, in which the topic of the lesson will be further explored. The passages are intended to sketch some general pictures of cultural background in Chinese society and its business world. In the terms of language style, the passages in the book are in written form while the dialogues present a more lifelike spoken style.
3. Exercises and Activities
Exercises and activities are designed to reinforce newly introduced vocabulary and patterns as well as to help learners to understand the content of the dialogues and the passage in each lesson. Some questions posed in this section require learners to do research in business related topics by using various media sources, including the internet, while some questions are intended to lead learners into discussions of cultural differences.
4. Appendix
Appendix in each lesson provide examples of business documents in Chinese as well as other useful information such as a Customs Declaration From, a Product Catalogue, an Order Sheet, a Letter of Credit, a Letter of Intent, a Contract and Common Chinese Signs etc. Some of them are duplicates of the originals.
The book has also compiled a General Appendix, which contains a complete English translation of all dialogues and reading passages, vocabulary, patterns, useful web sites, a map of China and a bibliography. There are 1000 new words and 152 sentence patterns introduced in the book. Through study of this textbook, learners may attain an intermediate level or even higher in Chinese.
