时间：2022-05-21 04:13:55
Encounters - Chinese Language and Culture is a series of textbooks published by Sinolingua Co.， Ltd.， which can help foreigners to learn Chinese efficiently and systematically. Studying these books is a kind of “having fun with Chinese”. Wang Junxiao， President of Sinolingua Co.， Ltd.， says that these textbooks are not boring but very interesting and they’re just like a tour enabling students to experience the diversity of Chinese culture.
For domestic readers， Encounters - Chinese Language and Culture mainly targets overseas students coming to learn Chinese in China as undergraduate， regardless of their majors being linguistic or Chinese； namely， they could be any non-specialist language students. For overseas readers， it aims at senior students in high school， and all specialist or non-specialist language majors. The reason why it can serve so many people is that it is a textbook starting from zero.
Here we quote a teacher’s feedback which deserves careful consideration. He said that he finally found a set of textbooks that could satisfy him as western language textbooks do. That is to say， Chinese language textbooks are unsatisfactory in the eye of westerners in every aspect from content to form； while they feel quite contented with Spanish and French textbooks compiled and published by western countries. They feel that this set of textbooks finally meets the same standard as the western ones do. The reason， most fundamentally， owes to the changes made from format design to the layout and arrangement of the whole structure， which have been completely separated from some of the Chinese language textbooks published in China and even those published overseas by Chinese people. That is， the format has been accepted by westerners in the first place.
In addition， the overall structure is different， as there are less available medium for previous textbooks. First， Encounters - Chinese Language and Culture has movies with a cinema level quality. Second， it has a specialized website on which students and teachers can use all the contents including videos and audios as well as exercises， such as after class exercises and extension exercises， after registration. Third， students and teachers can commute in the community space， and they can even upload some interesting contents of their own. Moreover， some contents unavailable in books such as study experience and learning resources are also provided on the website. For example， a teacher can share a certain good Chinese dictionary on the website and then everyone can find this dictionary. Such resources beyond classroom teaching are very insufficient， especially for teachers teaching abroad， for they can hardly find those resources.
The supporting movies are 20 episodes so far and the follow-up sequels are still under shooting. This set of textbooks is the only one based on movie rather than a thick teaching book. It starts from students’ interest and intrigues them immediately， which is the most remarkable highlight or a distinctive character of this textbook.
The early market research is very important to the publication of books， so China and America have spent almost half a year on market research before signing the Memorandum of Understanding.
Huang Youyi said that they have spent half a year in focusing on doing research for this book， but the research cooperated with the team has taken ten years， fifteen years and even twenty years rather than half a year or one year. They paid attention to the Chinese language textbook of Yale University in 1987. Then Huang Youyi came to Yale University and found the editors to see how they conducted their works. Therefore， the research for this set of books is half a year， but the research work with potential partners started long before. They directly participated in the half-year research. On one hand， the Chinese side took charge of the research within China， while the American side took charge of the research of another region. The research was conducted separately and then the research reports were exchanged. The so called half-year research was calculated from the project initiation to the project operation. Actually， the research process ran through six years.
The production team shot a pilot film on the basis of research， and then used it in the trial lectures at different places to continuously collect feedbacks.
After using this set of books， many teachers found it is very easy to accept. Large number of textbooks published in China are mainly “I” focused， thus the production team of the books held the opinion that many contents are very awkward in abroad teaching according to the constant feedbacks from teachers， which reflects the fact that textbooks China produced are very unsuitable for western customs as to teaching method， time arrangement and classroom teaching.
So the production team put most of the efforts on research and teaching method study. The team spent almost half a year on domestic and abroad research. Finally， they formulated a research report with about hundreds of thousands of words， which is also the most fundamental guideline of this textbook.
Idea comes first and then the team. Such kind of textbook involves international cooperation of both Chinese and Western teams. Although technical personnel could shoot high quality movie， the problem of cultural conflicts should also be considered， thus personnel with cross-cultural communication ability are required to resolve conflicting issues. Thirdly， a spirit of courage and of making a bet to a certain degree is required.
The design of this set of textbooks should be mainly based on the foreign party for the target reader is foreigners； if not， it may be the same with the pattern of previous textbooks. Therefore， the team， based on foreign authors， ought to let them take charge of the teaching syllabus including the first draft of these textbooks and the story line， etc； while the Chinese authors ought to be responsible for providing opinions， that is， Chinese experts， together with the press personnel， would review and approve the draft and put forward their opinions. At last， it should be modified by the foreign party again.
The movie was basically shot by the Chinese side， but the creators are not all Chinese. For example， the director is a foreigner； while the editor is chose by the Chinese side. That is to say， their opinions and teaching methods are respected.
The production team of this set of textbooks is relatively young. They have experienced a lot in negotiating with the American side and pushing forward the entire project after participating in this project. They also learned a lot from the American side， such as their understanding of authority， which is totally different from that of Chinese people.
First of all， they endeavored to be the best irrespective of investment in the project. All directors are the best and famous ones in America. As to the investment in the project， all the factors they considered are to be the best and perfect. But for the Chinese side， we must calculate the cost， consider the cost-performance， and compare the input and output. In the view of American side， once they decided to guarantee the authority， they would try their best.
Secondly， their market experience carries out constantly. The investment of pilot film is very huge. It’s about four to five million RMB in total. But it is just a pilot film which was taken as the first episode after negotiation.
Sometimes the Chinese side would find it difficult to understand why invest such large quantity of fund only to make an experimental product. However， after all works were completed， the Chinese team learned a lot. The big investment could guarantee the quality of all movies in the future. Since with the previous investment， many mistakes， which may cause greater losses， can be avoided in the later actual production. Without the pilot films， we may probably suffer from bigger losses.
An international mutual understanding and cooperation mechanism should be developed in the first place for any project. Whether this set of textbooks could be published in six years is closely related to our cooperation with Yale University， regardless of the many difficulties encountered. Yale University is one of the five biggest and most famous universities in America， and Yale University Press is also one of the most reputable academic presses in America. When compiling Encounters - Chinese Language and Culture， they’ve always accepted suggestions from Chinese side. The President signed Letter of Intent with Chinese leaders later. The reason why they made their decision was that Chinese team has made a positive impression on them. Those positive factors， including the academic level， cooperative spirits， and resources obtained as well as the first class editorial team， made them believe that we’re the best cooperative partners. Looking back now， the most satisfactory thing was that we have tested us as a cross-culture communication team through cooperation with the American side.
In the end， we hope Encounters - Chinese Language and Culture could become a set of authoritative textbooks with the largest number of users worldwide. At the same time， we hope it can also contribute to the brand construction of the Sinolingua Co.， Ltd..