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John DeFrancis is a Chinese language professor emeritus and researcher at the University of Hawaii who wrote a number of Chinese instructional texts (his Readers series is particularly well regarded) in the 1960s and 1970s. Although some of his spoken language texts are now considered to be outdated, he remains an important figure in Chinese language and linguistic research. His most famous work is The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy, in which the common misconceptions of the language are debunked and several other topics disseminated.

He is the editor of the "ABC" series of Chinese-English dictionaries. Earlier in his career, he was the associate editor of the Journal of the American Oriental Society (1950–1955), and also served the associate editor of the Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association (1966–1978).

Volumes by John DeFrancis in the Yale Language Series:

• Beginning Chinese
• Character Text for Beginning Chinese
• Beginning Chinese Reader (Parts I and II)
• Intermediate Chinese
• Character Text for Intermediate Chinese
• Intermediate Chinese Reader (Parts I and II)
• Advanced Chinese
• Character Text for Advanced Chinese
• Advanced Chinese Reader
• Annotated Quotations from Chairman Mao

Books and Monographs:

• In the Footsteps of Genghis Khan (University of Hawaii Press, 1993)
• Visible Speech: The Diverse Oneness of Writing Systems (University of Hawaii Press, 1989)
• The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy (University of Hawaii Press, 1986)
• Colonialism and Language Policy in Vietnam (Mouton, 1977)
• Things Japanese in Hawaii (University Press of Hawaii, 1973)
• Chinese-English Glossary of the Mathematical Sciences (American Mathematical Society, 1964)
• Chinese Social History, by E-tu Zen and John DeFrancis (American Council of Learned Societies, 1956)
• Bibliography on Chinese Social History, by E-tu Zen and John DeFrancis (Far Eastern Publications, 1952)
• Talks on Chinese History (with Elizabeth Jen Young) (Far Eastern Publications, 1952)
• Report of the Second Round Table Meeting on Linguistics, Language Teaching Monograph Series on Languages and Linguistics, No. 1 (Georgetown University press, 1951)
• Nationalism and Language Reform in China (Princeton University Press, 1950)
• Chinese Agent in Mongolia, translated from the Chinese of Ma Ho-t'ien (Johns Hopkins Press, 1949)
• The Prospects for Chinese writing reform, Sino-Platonic papers #171, June 2006 [1] (PDF)

As Editor of Supplementary Readers for Intermediate Chinese Reader series (Far Eastern Publications, Yale University, 1976):

• Volume I: The White Haired Girl by Chi-Yu Ho
• Volume II: The Red Detachment of Women by Chi-Yu Ho
• Volume III: Episodes From the Dream of the Red Chamber by Louise H. Li
• Volume IV: Sun Yat-sen by Yung Teng Chia-Yee
• Volume V: Wu Sung Kills a Tiger by Yung Teng Chia-Yee

Publications about John DeFrancis:

• Schriftfestschrift: Essays on Writing and Language in Honor of John DeFrancis on His Eightieth Birthday, Sino-Platonic Papers #27, August 1991, edited by Victor H. Mair [2] (PDF)

• John DeFrancis biography at Wenlin Institute
• Contents and an excerpt from The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy
• John DeFrancis page from the University of Hawai'i