MTC · NTNU · Dangdai Curriculum
A Course in Contemporary Chinese Book 2 — Elementary
CEFR A2 Band A · Novice 2 ~250 new words 100–150 hrs
Progress toward full fluency across the 6-book series
Key Topics
- Campus and university life in Taiwan
- Weather, seasons, and environment
- Health, illness, and appointments
- Taiwan culture and social customs
- Expressing preferences and opinions
- Phone calls, messages, and media
After Book 2 you can
Describe routines, talk about health and weather, make plans by phone, navigate campus and housing vocabulary, and express opinions with basic hedging.
10 Lessons — Book 2
| # | Lesson Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sports and Exercise |
| 2 | Weather and Seasons |
| 3 | Health and the Doctor |
| 4 | Campus Life |
| 5 | Phone Calls and Messages |
| 6 | Renting an Apartment |
| 7 | Taiwanese Customs and Festivals |
| 8 | At the Post Office |
| 9 | Media and Entertainment |
| 10 | Study and School Life |
Sample Vocabulary — Book 2
| Character | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 結果 | jiéguǒ | result; as a result |
| 健康 | jiànkāng | health; healthy |
| 習慣 | xíguàn | habit; to be accustomed to |
| 看醫生 | kàn yīshēng | to see a doctor |
| 方便 | fāngbiàn | convenient |
These are 5 representative words. Book 2 introduces ~250 new vocabulary items in total.
Frequently Asked Questions — Book 2
What grammar structures does Book 2 introduce?
Book 2 introduces resultative complements (打得好/打不好), the 把 construction for object manipulation, the 被 passive voice, potential complements (得/不), and a range of discourse connectives. These are the building blocks of intermediate-level Mandarin grammar.
How does Book 2 difficulty compare to Book 1?
Book 2 is a meaningful step up. Grammar patterns become multi-part and interacting — resultative complements, for instance, combine verb + result + potential. The vocabulary load remains similar (~250 words) but the sentence structures require more active construction.
Study Book 2 with Zhong Chinese
All ~250 vocabulary items from Book 2 are available in Zhong Chinese as FSRS-powered flashcards — so every word you learn gets reviewed at exactly the right time.
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