Writing systems, alphabets, scripts Books

Book SynopsisLearn to read, write, and speak everyday Japanese with manga stories! If you enjoy manga, you'll love learning Japanese with this book. The language lessons are interspersed with entertaining manga comic strips, making it easy to learn and remember all the key vocabulary and grammar. With a focus on the casual speech used by young people in Japan, you'll find yourself feeling confident with speaking, reading, and writing Japanese quickly! Designed for self-study use by adult learners, this book is a fun resource for beginners—no prior knowledge of Japanese required! Readers will find: Help with learning to write and pronounce the 92 Hiragana and Katakana letters plus 160 basic Kanji characters Hundreds of useful words and phrases—from numbers and greetings to expletives and insults! Seven manga stories woven throughout the book, reinforcing your grasp of the language The basic vocabulary and grammar needed to communicate in Japanese! Hundreds of exercises with free online audio recordings by Japanese native speakers A bidirectional dictionary and answer keys for all the exercises **Recommended for language learners 16 year old & up. Not intended for high school classroom use due to adult content.**

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Book SynopsisA complete introduction to written Japanese — start here with zero knowledge and finish feeling confident!This introduction to the Japanese writing system teaches you to read and write the fundamental 92 hiragana and katakana characters—and makes learning fun and easy with a memorable picture-based method!The method that's helped thousands learn Japanese successfully: Memorable pictures help you to learn the characters by associating their shapes and sounds with combinations of images and English words already familiar to you Clear examples and engaging exercises offer opportunities to read, write, use and practice all 92 primary hiragana katakana characters, plus the remaining kana that stand for more complex sounds Polish your knowledge with word searches, crossword puzzles, fill-in-the-blanks, timed recognition quizzes, and other engaging activities The online media includes printable flashcards to help you review and practice, even while you are on the go All media content is alternatively accessible on the Tuttle Publishing websiteTrade Review"As a whole I find this book to be a useful tool to learning the characters of both writing systems. I especially like the vocabulary usage at the bottom of each characters page…If you are looking for a book to get you started with Japanese I think this is a good place to start." --BenLearnsJapanese.com blog

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Book SynopsisThe most enjoyable way to learn about an unfamiliar culture is through its stories especially when they're told in two languages!Trade Review"…a great bilingual reader for beginners to mid-intermediate learners…Tuttle also offers downloadable audio files from their website…Always love the little touches like this--shows that the author / publishing house understands the readers' needs." --Hangukdrama & Korean blog"…comes with an MP3 collection that is an absolute joy to listen to. The reader speaks in a very clear voice and articulates words clearly--even on the higher-level stories." -- Mezzofanti Guild"I'd recommend [this book] to anyone interested in learning more about the Korean culture while still practicing some Korean." --Natalia Garza

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Book SynopsisPerfect for self-studiers or traditional students, this Farsi language book takes a user-friendly approach.Trade Review"Farsi for Beginners is a solid language learning coursebook with dialogues included together with the audio, and learners are directed through the various units and encouraged to do exercises in order to make them familiar with basic conversational skills in Farsi…it is truly worth keeping a copy of Farsi for Beginners in your bookshelf!" --Mehr News Agency

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Book SynopsisThis invaluable guide introduces all the basics of the language, as well as vocabulary and tips for typical daily conversation. All dialogues are highly practical, authentic and illustrated with manga for easy memorisation.

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Book SynopsisLearn over 2,000 Japanese Kanji characters with this user-friendly Japanese language-learning book.This unique Kanji study guide provides a comprehensive introduction to all the Kanji characters on the Japanese Ministry of Education's official Joyo ("General Use") list—providing detailed notes on the historical development of each character as well as all information needed by students to read and write them. As fascinating as it is useful, this is the book every Japanese language learners keeps on his or her desk and visits over and over. This Kanji book includes: Clear, large-sized entries All of the General Use Joyo Kanji Characters Japanese readings and English meanings Stroke-count Stroke order Usage examples Mnemonic hints for easy memorization The components which make up each character are detailed, and the Kanji are graded in difficulty according to Ministry of Education guidelines, allowing students to prioritize the order in which the Kanji are learned and track their progress. This book is essential to anyone who is planning to take the official Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) and will appeal to beginning students as well as those who wish to attain higher-level mastery of the Japanese language. It is the only book that also provides historical and etymological information about the Japanese Kanji. This latest edition has been updated to include all of the 2,136 Kanji on the expanded Joyo list issued by the Japanese government in 2010. Many entries have been revised to include the most recent research on character etymologies.Trade Review"This book is nothing less than an etymological kanji dictionary of all 2000+ joyo (everyday use) kanji! For each kanji character, it presents its history in brief, references it to associated characters, tells its story of how it has evolved into its current form, and also its readings (both kun and on readings) and three example words/compound words written using the character. Of all the Japanese learning-related books I own, this one is by far the one I've gotten the most out of. I heartily recommend this one! --Squidoo language learning"…I use it every single day and have done so for almost a year now. It is the most brilliant reference book ever for learning kanji. I use this in conjunction with a phone app for Android, Obenkyo. I use the app to learn how to write each kanji and to study them. I consult this book daily to learn the Why of each kanji, and to figure out how to remember them. There is a story to each kanji--and when you know the story it is much easier to remember each kanji. To find a kanji, you look it up by the readings in the back. If you get one book to learn kanji, this is the one you should get." --Goodreads

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Book SynopsisDoes your handwriting reflect the image you want to project?The way you write mirrors your mood and character. It is one of the main ways in which you communicate with the world, and the clarity and technique of your writing will be interpreted by others in many ways.This practical and informative book will help you to improve your handwriting and find a mature, attractive and individual style. It is specifically written for adults and uses self-diagnosis to identify problems and provides exercises for improving your script. In a digital age where writing by hand remains a vital skill, this book covers everything from holding a pen and retraining bad habits, to the difficulties that left handers face and problems that may be caused by medical conditions. It shows how to write quickly and clearly when desired, and beautifully when desired.Experiment with the way you write and choose the style that suits you best, enabling you to write quickly andTrade Review"This book helped me to easily diagnose what went wrong and how to set about improving my writing" * Tanya - Amazon reviewer *Table of Contents : Part one: Handwriting problems : 1. Self-diagnosis : 2. More about self-diagnosis : 3. Practical matters : 4. Help for left-handers : 5. More serious problems : Part two: How to put things right : 6. Regaining control : 7. Rhythm and texture : 8. A training model : 9. Joining up : 10. Personal modifications : 11. Capital letters : Part three: Before and after : Part four: Finishing touches : 12. Layout : 13. A more formal model

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Book SynopsisThe first stroke-by-stroke guide ever produced for learning to write Naskh, one of the six major cursive Arabic scripts.Table of Contents1 Introduction by Dr Venetia Porter; 2 Naskh script: a brief introduction; 3 The Arabic alphabet; 4 The initial, medial and final; 5 Getting started: what you need to know and do; 6 Stage One: al-Mufradat (single letters); 7 Stage Two: al-Murakkabat (joined letters); 8 Stage Three: al-Kelimat (words); 9 Gallery; 10 Naskh script: past and present; 11 Bibliography and further reading

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Book SynopsisA collection of 15 classic Chinese folk storiespassed down from generation to generationpresented in both Chinese and English. Welcome to the fascinating world of Chinese folklore. The fifteen stories in this book address universal concerns such as the origins of humankind, the impact of wars and natural disasters, the great deeds of cultural heroes, the struggle for dignity and justice for the common man, and the yearnings of the human heart. For readers from around the world, this book is a window to some of the historical and cultural facets of China that remain relevant today. These stories can be enjoyed in English by readers with no knowledge of Chinese, while the bilingual format and vocabulary lists are an added bonus for language students. Each story is given in parallel Chinese and English versions, and is accompanied by a short essay about its historical context, a vocabulary list, discussion questions, and native speaker audio recordings. Enjoy fifteen classic Chinese

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Book SynopsisA world master teaches you the equipment, basics, and how to create art from 28 Arabic letters!

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"I hope that the new and expanded edition of this book will further encourage both non-Tagalogs and non-Filipinos to speak the Tagalog language better. Only then shall they appreciate the individuality of the language that reflects the resilience and flexibility of Filipinos all around the world." -- Yolanda Canseco Hernandez, author

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Book SynopsisLearn to speak, read and write Japanese quickly using manga comics strips!If you enjoy manga, you'll love learning Japanese with this book. The language lessons are interspersed with entertaining manga comic strips that make it easy to learn and remember all the key vocabulary and grammar. The plot picks up where Learn Japanese with Manga Volume 1 left off — following Nuria, a journalist who is sent to Tokyo to research a news story, where she keeps encountering a mysterious "shadow" or kage. Use your knowledge of hiragana and katakana from Volume 1 to help you decipher hundreds of new kanji vocabulary — without romanizations! Learn to form complex sentences, with relative clauses, honorific forms and more! Learn hundreds of useful words and phrases — from how to order food in a restaurant to dealing with unexpected events and emergencies Five manga episodes are woven throughout the book, reinforcing your language skills A bidirectional dictionary and answer keys for all the exercises are included! Learn Japanese with Manga is designed for self-study by adult learners, but is also suitable for classroom use. Audio recordings by Japanese native speakers are available for free online to help you improve your pronunciation and listening skills. With a focus on the casual speech used by young people in Japan today, you'll find yourself speaking and writing Japanese before you know it!

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Book SynopsisMini Japanese Dictionary is the most up-to-date Japanese pocket dictionary available. This dictionary is completely up-to-date with the latest vocabulary for IT, smartphones and social media. It is the perfect dictionary to take with you when you travel to Japan for any reason.This powerful pocket reference contains the following essential features: Bidirectional English-Japanese and Japanese-English sections Covering over 13,000 essential words, idioms, and expressions Japanese words given in Romanized and native script for easy pronunciation Latest computer, Internet, smartphone, and social media terms Whether you need a travel size dictionary for your trip to Japan or are learning the Japanese language in a formal setting, this mini dictionary is an essential resource.

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Book SynopsisDon't worry—there's no need to stress about JLPT test prep! As the founder of JLPTBootCamp.com—a test prep website with more than 300,000 annual visitors—Clayton MacKnight has helped tens of thousands of students to pass the JLPT N5 exam. Now, he's distilled his study resources and tips into a handy must-have volume for anyone prepping for this important language test.MacKnight's complete study package fully prepares the exam-taker by providing: Clear and simple grammar lessons with sample sentence patterns Printable vocabulary, Hiragana, Katakana, and Kanji flash cards Over 300 sample test questions Three printable practice tests (all with answer keys and free online audio recordings for the listening portions) Exam-takers can stop worrying and take the uncertainty out of exam prep because the JPLT Study Guide shows them exactly what to expect—and how to pass the test with flying colors!The Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) is the standardized test taken by everyone who wants to study or work in Japan.Trade Review"Learning a second language can open up the world in many ways… Japanese can be difficult, but it is also mostly phonetic, which is a definite plus, and when you set yourself a measurable goal, you have something to work towards, which is where the JLPT Study Guide comes into play." -- Castle View Academy blog

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Book SynopsisJapanese Kanji and Kana Workbook offers a modern approach to learning the Japanese writing system, covering all 92 Hiragana & Katakana characters as well as over 600 important Kanji!Offering such a wide range of characters allows students to build a truly solid foundation of the Japanese writing system, and unlike many other available resources Japanese Kanji and Kana Workbook has everything you need in just one book!Presenting all 92 Hiragana and Katakana and 617 high-frequency Kanji characters, this character workbook teaches you how to write the Kanji and Kana neatly and correctly. With guided writing instructions, English meanings, vocabulary, radicals, and ample space for writing practice, this approach has helped thousands of students feel confident in their reading & writing abilities!This valuable Japanese language book also includes an introduction explaining how to begin learning the Japanese writing system and two Kanji indexes—one by radicals, the other by readings. The 617 Kanji characters provided cover all Kanji required to take the AP Japanese Language and Culture Exam and the JLPT levels N5, N4, and N3.Trade Review"Overall, this book can actually teach you a good deal of Japanese in three months … it could come in handy if you're the type of student who simply wants to learn Japanese grammar in a short period of time." -- Language Trainers

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Book SynopsisRunes employ many techniques from informal scratchings to sophisticated inlaid designs on weapons, or the exquisite relief carvings of the Franks Casket. This book tells the story of runes from their mysterious origins, their development as a script, to their use and meaning in the modern world.

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Book SynopsisLearn to speak, read, and write Koreanwith manga illustrations!A complete language guide for beginners, Learning Korean is your gateway to learning the basics of the Korean language, allowing you to engage in practical daily conversations and build your vocabulary for effective communication. Whether you're a self-study enthusiast or participating in a beginner-level class, this guide equips you with the essential skills to start conversing in Korean right away. Key features include:11 Beginner-Friendly Lessons: 11 thoughtfully crafted lessons designed to cater to adult learners taking their first steps in the world of Korean languageDaily Conversations: Learn basic sentence patterns and essential vocabulary that are commonly used in everyday interactions. This practical approach ensures that you can start communicating effectively from the very beginningManga Art: Illustrations throughout each lesson demonstrate the daily dialogues and common experiences in Korea, and help make lear

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Book SynopsisIn 1859 Brigham Young sent two Mormon missionaries to live among the Hopi, ""reduce their dialect to a written language,"" and then teach it to the Hopi so that they would be able to read the Book of Mormon in their own tongue. Young also instructed the men to teach the Hopi the Deseret alphabet, a phonemic system that he was promoting in place of the traditional Latin alphabet. While the Deseret alphabet faded out of use in just over twenty years, the manuscript penned by one of the missionaries has remained in existence. For decades it sat unidentified in the archives of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints - a mystery document having no title, author, or date. But authors Beesley and Elzinga have now traced the manuscript's origin to the missioaries of 1859-1860 and decoded its Hopi-English vocabularly written in the short-lived Deseret alphabet. The resulting book offers a fascinating mix of linguistics, Mormon history, and Native American studies.The volume reproduces all 48 vocabularly entries of the original manuscript, presenting the Deseret and the modern English and Hopi translations. It explains the history of the Deseret alphabet as well as that of the Mormon missions to the Hopi, while fleshing out the background of the two missionaries, Marion Jackson Shelton, who wrote the manuscript, and his companion, Thales Hastings Haskell. The book will be of interest to linguists, historians, ethnographers, and others who are curious about the unique combination of topics this work connects.Trade ReviewUseful and interesting to all those interested in Hopi language, Hopi culture, and Hopi history."" - Peter Whiteley, American Museum of Natural History

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Book SynopsisAn enjoyable and effective way to learn Japanese kanji!This useful reference book helps self-study and classroom students remember the meanings and pronunciations of 520 essential kanji. An otherwise daunting task, memorization is made easier with this book—which uses mnemonic techniques based on the psychology of learning and memory. Key principles include the use of visual imagery, the visualization of short "stories," and the systematic building-block approach that shows how more complicated characters are constructed from basic elements.This is a practical guide with a clear, concise, and appealing layout; it is well-indexed with easy look-up methods. The kanji in this volume give you the majority of characters you will encounter in daily life, from newspapers to street signs. It also includes the kanji required for the AP Japanese exam and N4 & N5 JLPT tests.Accompanying online audio provides recordings by native Japanese speakers to perfect your pronunciation.

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Book SynopsisThe first critical study of writing without language In recent years, asemic writing—writing without language—has exploded in popularity, with anthologies, a large-scale art exhibition, and flourishing interest on sites like tumblr, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram. Yet this burgeoning, fascinating field has never received a dedicated critical study. Asemic fills that gap, proposing new ways of rethinking the nature of writing.Pioneered in the work of creators such as Henri Michaux, Roland Barthes, and Cy Twombly, asemic writing consolidated as a movement in the 1990s. Author Peter Schwenger first covers these “asemic ancestors” before moving to current practitioners such as Michael Jacobson, Rosaire Appel, and Christopher Skinner, exploring how asemic writing has evolved and gained importance in the contemporary era.Asemic includes intriguing revelations about the relation of asemic writing to Chinese characters, the possibility of asemic writing in nature, and explanations of how we can read without language. Written in a lively style, this book will engage scholars of contemporary art and literary theory, as well as anyone interested in what writing was and what it is now in the process of becoming.Trade Review"How does the noncommunicative communicate? This is the seemingly innocent question Peter Schwenger unpacks. At once storehouse and treatise, Asemic has the clarity of a dictionary entry, its sagacity delivered with deceptive ease, revealing a domain vaster than anyone would have thought: a Copernican marvel."—Jed Rasula, author of History of a Shiver: The Sublime Impudence of Modernism"Asemic is a long-overdue study of poetries that occupy liminal spaces between art, like Twombly's paintings, and recognizable words, like Michaux's poetry. Peter Schwenger offers an extended theory and an introductory survey of contemporary asemic writing by Michael Jacobson, Rosaire Appel, Christopher Skinner, and others. From this book one can learn to read and, by extension, teach a-semiological texts."—Craig Saper, co-editor of Readies for Bob Brown's Machine"This is the first full-length exploration of the history and meaning of asemic writing. Important figures such as Michaux, Twombly, Barthes, Jim Leftwich, and Rosaire Appel are included, as well as examples from Chinese culture. Well-chosen illustrations accompany Peter Schwenger's insightful text. This book is a solid first map of a territory previously unknown to academic study."—Tim Gaze, publisher of Asemic magazine"What emerges in Schwenger’s book is an aesthetics of language, and of reading in par- ticular, that draws attention to how asemic writing lets us dive into the untapped possibilities of incomprehension."—Literary Review of Canada"The Art of Writing,Peter Schwenger’s engaging and groundbreaking book focused on the asemic as a cultural phenomenon and ratified genre of modern and contemporary art."—Art in America"Peter Schwenger offers a history of the practice, linking modern era pioneers like Barthes, Henri Michaux, and Cy Twombly to lesser-known contemporary practitioners Michael Jacobson, Rosaire Appel, and Christopher Skinner. Pulling examples of asemic writing from a diversity of fields—across contemporary art, comics, notation, and even nature—he demonstrates poet Michael Jacobson’s fitting definition of his field: “Without words, asemic writing is able to relate to all words, colors, and even music, irrespective of the author or the reader’s original language.”"—The Brooklyn Rail"Peter Schwenger offers the first book-length academic study of this vibrant field; it is an important and valuable start to the formal study of asemic writing."—Rain Taxi Review of Books"Vital and fateful . . . engagingly international."—CAA Reviews"In a clear and in-depth way, Asemic: the Art of Writing can be seen as a first official notation of that dance, excelling in the ability to bring to a wider audience the intricacies of a subject often seen as a niche of encrypted doodles legible only to a few."—Electric Book Review

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Book SynopsisLearn and practice how to write Chinese characters with this handy workbook!This essential workbook is designed for beginners to learn to write Chinese characters the correct way, and to provide an easy-format notebook of blank gridded & lined pages for writing practice.A brief introduction to Chinese pronunciation and tones is provided along with common greetings, expressions, and explanations of the eight basic Chinese writing strokes?and how they are combined to create characters.Stroke-order instructions and practice writing boxes are given for the 48 most common characters. Learners can write each character by simply following the directional arrows in the grids. The book then provides 110 additional blank lined and gridded pages for continued writing practice?extremely helpful to beginners to write and memorize the basic characters!At the back of the book, helpful tips are provided showing how characters are combined to form words and sentences. Complete vocabulary lists for the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) Level 1 and Level 2 standard proficiency exams are also included. These lists contain all the characters which beginning first-year and second-year students are expected to learn.Free online audio recordings by native Chinese speakers provide the correct pronunciations of all the characters and words in the book.

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Book SynopsisCodes of Modernity explores the global history of Chinese script reforms—efforts to alphabetize or simplify the writing system—from the 1890s to the 1980s.Trade ReviewA brilliant book on the political economy of script reforms in modern China. For the first time, Uluğ Kuzuoğlu clarifies how the technologies of writing, such as the making of new or simplified scripts to manage labor, information flow, and so on, became increasingly central to the political struggles over the future of China and its place in the world. This rich and well-researched study is a major contribution to the fields of Chinese history and global history. -- Lydia H. Liu, author of The Freudian RobotKuzuoğlu’s achievements in Codes of Modernity are unmatched. Analyzing a dazzling array of transnational historical, linguistic, and communications phenomena, he presents nothing less than the ascendancy of China’s twentieth-century political economy of information. Kuzuoğlu proves convincingly that it both shared features with and departed from global labor regimes of economy and efficiency. -- Christopher A. Reed, author of Gutenberg in Shanghai: Chinese Print Capitalism, 1876-1937Uluğ Kuzuoğlu's Codes of Modernity is not only one of the most rigorous and fascinating histories of Chinese scripts ever written, it is also a story of media, of the conditions of thought and language, and of the technological mythologies structuring the goals of 'modernity' that were central to China's ongoing transformations during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This is a field-defining book, as rich in analysis as it is in archival insights. Kuzuoğlu brilliantly reframes the history of China's efforts at language and script reform as part of a much larger economy of information and knowledge work. Codes of Modernity brings questions about the evolving conditions of Chinese orthography into conversation with the rise of information capitalism, computation, and global politics. Codes of Modernity will be indispensable to scholars of Chinese writing, but it also deserves a much wider readership—a book of archival treasures and powerful synthesis for anyone interested in the evolution of information technologies over the past two centuries. -- R. John Williams, author of The Buddha in the Machine: Art, Technology, and the Meeting of East and West Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Alphabetic Labor Time: Scripts, Wires, and Brains in the Late Qing2. The National Phonetic Alphabet: Scripts and the Birth of Language Politics3. Basic Chinese: Cognitive Management and Mass Literacy4. Simplification of Chinese Characters: Mining, Counting, Seeing5. The New Dunganese Alphabet: Latinization Across Eurasia6. The Chinese Latin Alphabet: A Revolutionary Script7. The Empire of PinyinEpilogue: A New Age of CodesNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThe Ancient Egyptians used a hieroglyphic writing system that still resonates today for its graphic representation of things, people, pharaohs and concepts. These hieroglyphics were discovered by adventurers and archeologists in temples, tombs and on papyrus documents, telling of the everyday life, religion and history of this 5,000-year-old civilization. Some of the symbols were simple but represented something with a wider significance, such as the eye of Horus; other logographs might represent an animal, such as a snake, elephant or lion; while others, such as the Ba symbol of a bird with a human head, represented the human soul with the ability to travel to the afterlife using wings. The language grew and over time came to represent every facet of Ancient Egyptian life. This book allows the reader to piece together and read the symbols, to understand their meanings and use, and examines what they have taught the world about this most influential of early civilizations. In Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs Illustrated, we learn more of the story of this rich ancient language and its development over thousands of years, and the story of their decipherment after the discovery of the Rosetta Stone. The book explores the key logograms for popular concepts such as ‘sun’, ‘house’ and ‘mountain’, as well as more complex ideas such as Ajet, or ‘sun rising over mountains’; marvel at Tutankhamun’s full name as marked on his tomb, which is portrayed using a reed, a wave of water, a falcon, an ankh symbol, and a series of staffs; learn about the two outstretched arms of the Ka symbol, which represents the mortal life and soul of a person. Each of the graphically illustrated entries is accompanied by a description of the written form and an explanation of its meaning. Presented in a high-quality Chinese-bound format with accompanying illustrations, Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs Illustrated provides a compact, easy-to-understand introduction to the writing system of Ancient Egypt.Table of ContentsSelected Contents: History of Language Scribe and Society Hieroglyphic alphabet Sign of the Times Reading the SymbolsLife and Land Sistrum, Bee Lotus, Tree of LifeReligion and Ritual Shen Ring, Menat, Winged Solar Disk, Djed ColumnPharaohs and Power Uraeus, Hedjet Crown, Crook & Flail, ObeliskRoyal Cartouches Khufu, Tuthmose I, Hatsepshut, Tutankhamun, Alexander, CleopatraGods and Myths Eye of Horus, Eye of Ra, Osiris, Ankh, Tyet, ShuAfterlife Seba, Ba, Duat, Ka, Mummy, IbKey Discoveries Narmer Palette, Abydos Kings List, Book of the DeadSelected Letters A – Vulture, B – Foot, D – Hand, F – Horned Viper, H – Twisted Flax, M – Owl, N – Ripple, T – Loaf of Bread, Z or S – Door bolt

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Book SynopsisThis workbook is designed for use with the Elementary Mandarin Chinese Textbook and offers a wealth of carefully-designed practice activities to help you solidify every aspect of your Chinese skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It includes extensive interactive drills, exercises and other practice materials.

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Book SynopsisA global exploration of the many writing systems that are on the verge of vanishing, and the stories and cultures they carry with them.If something is important, we write it down. Yet 85% of the world''s writing systems are on the verge of vanishing - not granted official status, not taught in schools, discouraged and dismissed.When a culture is forced to abandon its traditional script, everything it has written for hundreds of years - sacred texts, poems, personal correspondence, legal documents, the collective experience, wisdom and identity of a people - is lost.This Atlas is about those writing systems, and the people who are trying to save them. From the ancient holy alphabets of the Middle East, now used only by tiny sects, to newly created African alphabets designed to keep cultural traditions alive in the twenty-first century: from a Sudanese script based on the ownership marks traditionally branded into camels, to a secret system used in one c

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Book SynopsisBig Cat Phonics for Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised has been developed in collaboration with Wandle Learning Trust and Little Sutton Primary School. It comprises classroom resources to support the SSP programme and a range of phonic books that together provide a consistent and highly effective approach to teaching phonics.Dimensions: A0 841x1189mm (Poster)The website shows the VAT inclusive price. The price before VAT is 14.99.This Grow the code grapheme chart covers Phases 2, 3 and 5 GPCs, and is referred to every phonics lesson as children grow the complex alphabetic code. Display this in your classroom.

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Book SynopsisCultural Graphology could be the name of a new human science: this was Derrida's speculation when, in the late 1960s, he imagined a discipline that combined psychoanalysis, deconstruction, and a commitment to the topic of writing. He never undertook the project himself, but he did leave two brief sketches of how he thought cultural graphology might proceed. In this book, Juliet Fleming picks up where Derrida left off. Using his early thought and the psychoanalytic texts to which it is addressed to examine the print culture of early modern England, she drastically unsettles our knowledge of the key vehicle of modern writing: the book. Fleming shows that the single most important lesson to survive from Derrida's early work is that we do not know what writing is. Channeling Derrida's thought into places it has not been seen before, she takes on topics such as errors, spaces, and print ornaments that have hitherto been marginal to our accounts of print culture and excavates the long-forgot

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[Drucker] provides a rich, detailed account of how western thinkers have understood the origins and development of the alphabet. . . . Millions learn the alphabet in childhood, and Drucker's study opens up a fascinating realm of ideas and scholarship into its origins and meaning." * BBC History Magazine *"In its wealth of detail and generous illustration [Inventing the Alphabet] goes some way toward reproducing the experience of reading the catalogs and compendia it describes." * New York Review of Books *"Drucker takes us on a journey through centuries of intellectual history, from the musings of the first historians to the scientific methods of modern archaeologists and linguists. At the heart of it all is the alphabet: an invention that is both ubiquitously banal and world-changingly innovative." * History Today *"This latest book by Drucker is not primarily a new history of the alphabet, although it provides this history, but a historiographical work that traces the ways beliefs in Western thought shaped the discourse around the alphabet’s origins. The author asks who knew what when and how people conceptualized the evidence available to them, from the earliest classical and biblical accounts to contemporary archaeological, epigraphical, and paleographical syntheses. . . Highly recommended." * Choice *"Johanna Drucker​ ’s Inventing the Alphabet is all about writing’s material histories." * London Review of Books *"For ill and for good, our world remains profoundly alphabetized, from classroom rosters, to bureaucratic systems, to the labeling of our very genetic essence, even if random access, not ABC order, has become our everyday search mode. As Drucker somewhat shockingly reminds us. . . the ancient analog alphabet forms the substrate of our digital world." * Critical Inquiry *"Stunning. . . . Drucker deserves our full recognition for this masterpiece of bibliographical scholarship." * Publishing Research Quarterly *“With Inventing the Alphabet, Drucker—scholar, interpreter, and designer of printed words and letters—sheds light on that which has brought humankind out of darkness." -- Steven Heller, author, design critic, and cochair of the SVA MFA Design DepartmentTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. When Did the Alphabet Become "Greek"? 2. Divine Gifts: Original Letters, Moses, and the Tablets at Mount Sinai 3. Medieval Copyists: Magical Letters, Mythic Scripts, and Exotic Alphabets 4. The Confusion of Tongues and Compendia of Scripts 5. Antiquity Explained: The Origin and Progress of Letters 6. The Rhetoric of Tables and the Harmony of Alphabets 7. Modern Archaeology: Putting the Evidence of the Alphabet in Place 8. Reading the Early Alphabet: Epigraphy and Paleography 9. Alphabet Effects and the Politics of Script Coda: Alphabetic Agency and Global Hegemony Notes Selected Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisSi Nae Park examines how the culture of Chosŏn Seoul gave rise to a new vernacular literary form (yadam), anonymously and unofficially circulating tales. She focuses on the collection Repeatedly Recited Stories of the East, which was written in a new medium in which Literary Sinitic is hybridized with the vernacular realities of Chosŏn society.Trade ReviewPark’s research into No’s linguistic-literary experimentation opens a new path for understanding the multilayered diglossia in Chosŏn literature. It also helps us reflect on issues in Korea today, such as Seoul-centrism, social mobility, and wealth and status. I feel that this, the first monographic work on yadam in a Western language, will appeal not only to specialists of premodern Korea, but to a wide range of readers as well. -- Jeongsoo Shin * Journal of Asian Studies *Si Nae Park’s The Korean Vernacular Story: Telling Tales of Contemporary Choson in Sinographic Writing offers a new look at the intriguing classical literary genre of yadam. Her thorough study of the late eighteenth-century collection known as Dongpae naksong, or Repeatedly Recited Stories of the East, compiled by No Myeongheum, casts light on the formation and significance of the yadam genre in the literary history of the Joseon period. -- Charles La Shure * Seoul Journal of Korean Studies *[An] impressively-researched book . . . The Korean Vernacular Story will not only appeal to scholars (there is much here that is analytical and scholarly) but to anyone interested in finding out about Asian writing which is not Chinese or Japanese. * Asian Review of Books *In The Korean Vernacular Story, Park unfurls a sparkling canvas of eighteenth-century Chosŏn Korea, where new forms of the written vernacular, social mobility, literary sociability—both Seoul- and Beijing-centered metageographies—and vernacular temporalities intersect. A remarkable intervention in Korean studies with crucial implications for the study of East Asia’s Sinographic literatures. -- Wiebke Denecke, author of Classical World Literatures: Sino-Japanese and Greco-Roman ComparisonsThe major project in Korean cultural history is to recapture Korea’s hidden vernacular past in the forest of “Chinese” writing by Koreans. Si Nae Park’s reading of the hitherto neglected yadam genre does exactly this, bringing these voices from Chosŏn Korea to life in their original earthy splendor. -- John Whitman, author of Korean: A Linguistic IntroductionIn this valuable study of yadam, Si Nae Park deftly handles the tensions between the oral and contemporary origins of the tales and the Sinitic script in which they are inscribed. Park has made a subtle, significant, and lasting contribution to an emerging but important field—the study of vernacularization in East Asia. -- Peter Kornicki, University of CambridgeThe Korean Vernacular Story is a meticulous and compelling reassessment of the emergence of yadam, elaborated through No Myŏnghŭm’s compilation of real-world stories in highly vernacularized Sinitic. This insightful study demonstrates how premodern Korea, its culture increasing influenced by women, came to appreciate and readily circulate stories about itself. -- Sunglim Kim, author of Flowering Plums and Curio Cabinets:The Culture of Objects in Late Chosŏn Korean ArtThe first full-length examination of the yadam genre, The Korean Vernacular Story examines the literary and social milieu in late Chosŏn Seoul. Using meticulous research, Park forms arguments that will certainly serve as the foundation for further research. -- Michael J. Pettid, coeditor of Premodern Korean Literary ProseA rethinking of vernacularity in late Chosŏn, free from modernist assumptions about the relationship between language and text. -- Sixiang Wang * Journal of Korean Studies *Park’s achievement does not lie merely in her nuanced historicization of the rise of the literary vernacular in eighteenth-century Chosŏn Korea. Her book also powerfully foregrounds the intricacy of the cosmopolitan-vernacular dynamics in a larger sinographic world. . . This is a must-read book for anyone who is interested in Chosŏn literary history and manuscript culture, early modern East Asian literature, and literary Sinitic and local vernaculars in the sinographic world. -- Suyoung Son * Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies *The Korean Vernacular Story is indispensable for all scholars dealing with questions of Korean language, literature, or pre-modern societal structures. Furthermore, this book about the telling of stories is itself a wonderful story and, in fact, a delightful read. -- Vladimir Glomb * Acta Koreana *Table of ContentsAcknowledgmentsA Note to the ReaderIntroduction1. The Compiler: A Marginalized Yangban at the Center of the Chosŏn Cultural Scene2. The Narrative World: A Window Into the Zeitgeist of Contemporary Chosŏn at Large3. The Language: Articulating in the Language of the Here and Now4. The Text in Motion: The Circulation of the Tongp’ae naksong and the Rise of Yadam in the Chosŏn Manuscript ContextCodaAppendix A: The Original Text and Translation of “The Biography of No, the Clumsy Old Man”Appendix B: A Translation of “The Story of a Slave Girl from Chirye”NotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisA handy and colourful illustrated guide to reading, writing and understanding ancient Egyptian names, epithets, titles and phrases.Table of Contents1. The importance of names in Ancient Egypt; 2. People and their names: how Egyptian names are written and what they mean; 3. Gods' names and epithets; 4. The animal world: how animal names express the nature of the creature; 5. Secret names and names for posterity; 6. List of useful Egyptian words and phrases.

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Book SynopsisDirk Booms is a curator of Roman archaeology at the British Museum. He has special interests in Roman architecture, sculpture, glass and inscriptions and is co-author of Roman Empire: Power and People (British Museum Press, 2013).Table of Contents1. Who put up inscriptions and why? • 2. The Latin language and its Latin script • 3. How to read inscriptions • 4. Imagery and inscription • 5. The art of the stone cutters • 6. Inscriptions today

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Book SynopsisHave you ever wished that you could read the beautiful hieroglyphic script of ancient Egypt for yourself? Now you can, with the help of this practical step-by-step guide. It is suitable for complete beginners, or for anyone who would like to improve their knowledge of the language and culture of ancient Egypt. Mark Collier and Bill Manley have many years of experience teaching non-specialists at courses around the UK, so their approach is tried and tested. From the very beginning you will be introduced to genuine texts from ancient monuments. Each chapter introduces a new aspect of the ancient Egyptian language's hieroglyphic script and encourages you to develop your growing reading skills with practical exercises. The authors concentrate on a fascinating and rewarding group of monuments funerary inscriptions, coffins and tomb scenes. The texts and supporting notes offer a first-hand insight into topics such as the pharaonic administration, family life in ancient Egypt, and anci

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Book SynopsisMandarin Chinese Characters Fast Finder is an entirely new study aid that lets you look up Chinese characters quickly and intuitively from their appearance alone, without knowing their pronunciation, radical or stroke count. This reference book has been designed for dedicated learners of Chinese, as well as general readers with interest in the written Chinese language. Mandarin Chinese Characters Fast Finder features: A thumb-index allowing rapid access to all of the characters by shape rather than etymological radical Clear and easy-to-read layout to facilitate speedy scanning Covers 3,200 characters, including those prescribed for all levels of the HSK Proficiency test Comprehensive information for each character, including: traditional forms, pronunciation, core English meaning, radical, stroke count, HSK grade

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Book SynopsisThe 24 lessons in this book are meant to be used in 3 hours per week of class instruction over one academic year. Students will need another 23 hours of outside practice and review for every hour of class time, using the materials in the accompanying Elementary Mandarin Chinese Workbook .

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Book Synopsis

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