Elizabeth Scurfield a sinologist, is the world’s leading published author for books on learning how to speak, read, and write Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

. Scurfield's Teach Yourself Chinese series of books and audio CDs have been published in four languages, in more than 50 publications.

Biography

Elizabeth Scurfield was born 1950 in Don Valley

Don Valley (UK Parliament constituency)

Don Valley is a parliamentary constituency which returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.Created in 1918, Don Valley is a former coal mining area which has elected only Labour MPs since 1922...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, the youngest of four children to Ralph Scurfield and Ella Jessie Barnes Scurfield (née Barnes). She graduated with a degree in Chinese (First Class Honours) from the School of Oriental and African Studies

School of Oriental and African Studies

The School of Oriental and African Studies is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London...

 (SOAS) in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

Scurfield co-founded the Chinese Department at the University of Westminster

University of Westminster

The University of Westminster is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Its origins go back to the foundation of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in 1838, and it was awarded university status in 1992.The university's headquarters and original campus are based on Regent...

 in London, where she was also Evening Programme Director, Principal Lecturer in Chinese, and Chair of the Department of Modern Languages. She is a member of the British Association for Chinese Studies, and was appointed specialist assessor with Higher Education Funding Council for England

Higher Education Funding Council for England

The Higher Education Funding Council for England is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the United Kingdom, which has been responsible for the distribution of funding to Universities and Colleges of Higher and Further Education in England since...

 (HEFCE) for the period October 1996–September 1998.

Scurfield joined the Religious Society of Friends

Religious Society of Friends

The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

 (Quakers) in 1995 and from 2002 onwards worked as representative at the Quaker Council for European Affairs

Quaker Council for European Affairs

The Quaker Council for European Affairs was founded in 1979 to promote the values of the Religious Society of Friends in the European context. QCEA, based in Brussels, is an international, not-for-profit organisation under Belgian law....

in Brussels.

Research interests

• Language characteristics and the search for Chinese culture in the Root-seeker literature of the Eighties.
• Possible techniques in the teaching of the Chinese language to non-native speakers of mixed ability.

Major works

Selected publications:

• Chinese: eleven editions published between 1991 and 2003 (Published in English and Chinese).
• Beginner's Chinese Script: three editions published between 1999 and 2003.
• Beginner's Chinese: An Easy Introduction: seven editions published between 1996 and 2002.
• Teach Yourself Chinese (Audio Recording): three editions published between 1992 and 2004.
• Beginner's Chinese: eight editions published between 1996 and 2003.
• Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese (Audio Recording): nine editions published between 1996 and 2004.
• Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese Script: two editions published in 2004 (Published in English and Vietnamese)
• Teach Yourself Chinese (Audio Recording): three editions published between 2004 and 2004 (Published in English and Chinese)
• Mandarin Chinese Conversation (Audio Recording): one edition published in 2005.
• Mandarin Chinese: two editions published in 1991 (Published in Chinese and English)
• Mandarin Chinese Conversation (Audio Recording): two editions published in 2005 (Published in 2005)
• Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese = Belajar Mandiri Bahasa Mandarin Untuk Pemula: one edition published in 2002 (Published in Chinese)
• Bahasa Mandarin Untuk Pemula: one edition published in 2000 (Published in Indonesian)

See also

• http://www.foyles.co.uk/display.asp?K=9780340906477&bic=CJCK&ds=Speaking+/+pronunciation+skills&sort=eh_aws_rank/d&m=15&dc=278 Foyes: Author Biography
• http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0071430334 Review: Teach Yourself Chinese Complete Course Package