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A review by naiapard
A Billion Voices: China's Search for a Common Language: Penguin Specials by David Moser
5.0
From my first interaction with languages, I heard these whispers about Chinese. There was a gossip that slipped through the cracks of my wall of textbooks: there is no Chinese language!
How come that is?
I mean, there is no “Chinese” per se, but rather a multitude of languafges spreading over the entire territory of today`s China.
I had been curious about this rumor for some time. I searched some videos on YouTube, but there was nothing too satisfactory, that until I stumbled upon this author`s video introduction into the history of what we call today “Chinese”.
It is truly a fascinating story, worth reading about (or listening. I can`t really find the video right now to attach it in here).
Quote:
The criticism that I have to give this book may be that at times, it is too pedantic. It went a bit too far with the didactic tone. Indeed, it was advertised as a fun simple way of learning some quick facts about Chinese. But, truly, here are moments in which the author is losing the track, maybe out of enthusiasm, but nonetheless, at times I was drifting away with them and I did not like it that much.
Overall, quite a nice book to make your introduction into the different aspects concerning the Chinese language!
