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Message-ID: <20060905072832.45114.qmail@web35709.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2006 00:28:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: Scott Miller <sgmiller34@yahoo.com>
Subject: Book/Audio Package
To: tim Xie <txie@csulb.edu>
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Tim,

I have done a more complete review of the book and
have several suggestions that can materially improve
it. Primarily, I would expand the amount of audio, so
that students can listen, pause, and repeat to
concentrate on pronunciation of the usage part of each
chapter. The commentary should follow as the teacher's
insights and suggestions are leisurely read and
considered.  

My brief experiences in learning Chinese, suggest that
your material is user-friendly and the audio is better
than what I've found. 

Then I would get a harsh English edit, because there
are a number of minor errors that are commonly made by
most Americans. The test that I apply is that a good
language teaching book should be fit for the reverse
learner; yours should be good for a Chinese student to
learn English. That test would correct one of your
early paragraphs that has a Chinese speaker saying
that xyz is his "last" name, while it is "family"
name. With that standard in mind, I can see a
heavy-weight editing job before you can publish the
next edition. 

I, by the way, was prominently recognized as an expert
in English grammar and testified as an expert in more
than 100 fraud trials in which issues of legal and
financial grammar were material issues. I am also the
person whose reports were used as examples as to why
the SEC should adopt the Plain English Policy, and the
Information and Education officer, at the SEC, who
started the program was my former client. 

Anyway, while I'm wandering around Shanghai trying to
stir up a business opportunity, I will happily comment
on the subject, if you think I can help. It looks to
me as if the market for Chinese language books will,
for many years, be a growing market.

Best regards,
Scott G Miller

Scott

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