August 31, 1911 – January 2, 2009
Many of us who have studied Chinese language are familiar with DeFrancis’s work. My first year Chinese class used his Beginning Chinese textbook. Here is a link to an obituary page on wordpress posted by some of his friends.
Thanks for this notice and link. His The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy changed my understanding of the Chinese written language forever.
Thanks for the link. Yeah, we used Beginning Chinese I & II when I was a student at Penn State years ago. A fascinating life story.
I went through DeFrancis’s beginning and intermediate books I forget how long ago, and despite their age, they’re still some of the best resources I’ve found for vocabulary building.
His work set a bar I’ve yet to see met by any other pedagogical resource, a shame given the modern tools we have at our disposal.
Would appreciate any information on his original language text also called Beginning Chinese, published long before the series developed for Seton Hall University.
C. P. Sobelman