John DeFrancis (1911–2009), Emeritus Professor of Chinese at the University of Hawai'i, graduated from Yale in 1933 and immediately departed for China to pursue his interests. In three years of study and travel, he covered over 4,000 miles in Northwest China and Mongolia, across the Gobi Desert, and down the Yellow River, immersing himself in grassroots contact with the language and people. Upon his return to the United States, DeFrancis earned his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. He taught at several institutions nationwide. Dr. DeFrancis is the author of dozens of articles and books on spoken and written Chinese, among them a widely used 12-volume set of educational materials and Visible Speech: The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems (UH Press, 1989).
Delightfully engaging ... this book contains a wealth of hard facts
about Chinese."
—Canadian Journal of Linguistics
"DeFrancis's book is first rate. It entertains. It teaches. It
demystifies. It counteracts popular ignorance as well as
sophisticated (cocktail party) ignorance. Who could ask for
anything more? There is no other book like it. ... It is one of a
kind, a first, and I would not only buy it but I would recommend it
to friends and colleagues, many of whom are visiting China now and
are adding 'two-week-expert' ignorance to the two kinds that
existed before. This is a book for everyone." —Joshua A. Fishman,
research professor of social sciences, Yeshiva University, New
York
"Professor De Francis has produced a work of great effectiveness
that should appeal to a wide-ranging audience. It is at once
instructive and entertaining. While being delighted by the flair of
his novel approach, the reader will also be led to ponder on some
of the most fundamental problems concerning the relations between
written languages and spoken languages. Specifically, he will be
served a variety of information on the languages of East Asia, not
as dry pedantic facts, but as appealing tidbits that whet the
intellectual appetite. The expert will find much to reflect on in
this book, for Professor DeFrancis takes nothing for granted."
—William S.Y. Wang, professor of linguistics, University of
California at Berkeley
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