INTRODUCTION TO STANDARD CHINESE PINYIN SYSTEM (2nd Edition) Textbook

Introduction to Standard Chinese Pinyin System(2nd Edition) consists of a textbook and a workbook, aiming to give a systematic introduction to Chinese Pinyin.

The textbook consists of ten lessons. Lesson 1 provides a brief introduction to Standard Chinese pronunciation and gives a holistic picture of the Standard Chinese pronunciation system. Lessons 2–9 introduce 21 initials and 36 finals, describing how each sound is pronounced. Most of these lessons each consist of four sections – Pinyin knowledge, useful words and expressions, classroom exercises, and tongue twister / poem. Lesson 10 gives a summary of phonetic spelling rules for writing Chinese syllables and rules for tone changes in the context of intonation patterns. Chinese classroom expressions are presented in dialogue form in the appendix for the convenience of learners. At the end of the textbook, the Answer Key to the exercises is enclosed so that users can have access to the correct answers in a timely fashion.

Helen H. Shen is a professor and Chinese language project manager at the University of Iowa in the United States and a former president of the Chinese Language Teachers Association. Ms. Shen’s research interests lie in the acquisition, development and teaching of CSL (Chinese as a second language) reading skills. She received an International Research grant from the US Department of Education during 2005–2008 and a STARTALK grant from the US Department of Defense in 2010. She has established the biggest CSL reading website in the world and has authored several academic books and university textbooks in addition to more than 20 journal articles.