I don't speak fluently. At this stage in the game, I have only completed the first year of Chinese language college classes and it's hard to use Chinese with the kids often when in the chaos of everyday life. So, I started looking for books my kids could read or ones I could read to them. Guess what? It is really difficult to find Chinese language books for kids. There are a ton of books, videos, and games that promise to teach your family Chinese (usually the basics like numbers, colors, and fruits), but it is actually very time consuming (and not very productive) searching for Chinese language picture books in the United States.
So what's a parent to do? Well, I've decided to order books straight from the source. A friend has sent me the links to some bookstores in Asia and I'm going to pick out the books I want! One problem, the websites are in Chinese! So below is a quick (and incomplete) list of vocabulary you will run into if you want to buy books online through a Chinese website.
Publishing Information
·
作者 (zuò zhě, author)
·
繪者 (huì zhě,
illustrator)
·
(翻)譯者 (fān yì zhě, translator)
·
語言 (yǔ yán,
language)
·
英語/英文 (yīng yǔ/yīng wén, English)
·
漢語/華語/中文 (hàn
yǔ/huá yǔ/zhōng
wén, Chinese)
·
簡化版
(jiǎn
huà bǎn, simplified
(character) version)
·
繁體版 (fán
tǐ bǎn, traditional (character)
version)
Age Groups
·
教養 (jiào
yǎng, parenting)
·
童書 (tóng
shū, children's books)
·
嬰兒成長書 (yīng'ér chéng zhǎng shū, toddler books)
·
幼兒成長書 (yòu'ér chéng zhǎng shū, early childhood development books)
Categories
·
分類 (fēn
lèi, category)
·
多媒體 (duō méi
tǐ, multimedia)
·
(圖畫)繪本 (tú huà huì běn, picture book)
·
主題繪本 (zhǔ tí huì běn, theme picture books)
·
童話傳奇寓言 (tóng
huà
chuán qí yù yán; fairy tales, legends,
and fabels)
o
童話 (tóng
huà, fairy tales)
o
傳奇 (chuán
qí, legend)
o
寓言 (yù
yán, fable)
·
幻想冒險 (huàn xiǎng mào xiǎn, fantasy and adventure)
o
幻想 (huàn xiǎng, fantasy)
o
冒險 (mào xiǎn, adventure)
·
小說 (xiǎo
shuō, novel/fiction)
·
漫畫 (màn huà, comic
books)
·
卡通人物 (kǎ
tōng rén wù,
cartoon characters)
·
百科(全書) (bǎi kē quán shū, encyclopedia)
·
生活百科 (shēng huó bǎi kē, encyclopedia)
·
文學 (wén
xué, literature)
·
歷史地理(lì shǐ dì lǐ,
history and geography)
o
歷史 (lì shǐ, history)
o
地理 (dì lǐ,
geography)
·
自然科學 (zì
rán kē xué,
natural science)
·
傳記 (zhuàn
jì, biographies)
o
名人 (míng
rén, celebrity/famous person)
·
語文學習
(yǔ
wén xué xí,
language learning books)
·
學習評量 (xué xí píng lián, curriculum books)
·
藝術美勞 (yì shù měi láo, arts and crafts)
o
藝術 (yì
shù, arts)
o
美勞 (měi
láo,
crafts)
·
遊戲教具 (yóu xì jiào jù, games that
teach)
·
遊戲練習 (yóu xì liàn xí, practice
through games)
Prices
·
折 (zhé,
the percent you pay (see example below))
·
9折 means you would pay
90%. The “0” in “90” is dropped.
·
定價 (dìng
jià, original price)
·
特價 (tè jià,
special offer/price)
·
優惠價 (yōu huì
jià, favorable/best price)
·
價會期限 (jià
huì qí xiàn, price expiration/deadline/limit)