Product Description
BERLITZ MANDARIN CHINESE IN 30 DAYS

Learn a new language in just one month


Learn everyday Mandarin Chinese in just 30 days! Daily lessons are designed to fit into your busy schedule the package includes a course book with short dialogues, pronunciation guide, tests and bilingual dictionary and two audio CDs that focus on the conversational language you want to learn.


What Do I Get?

*2 audio CDs with native speakers (2 hours total)

*2-color illustrated course book


How Does the Course Work?

1. Short, practical lessons are easy to complete

2. Print and audio format is ideal for all types of learners

3. Audio provides correct pronunciation at a natural pace

4. Compatible with your iPod® or MP3 devices


Learn to:

*Meet and greet

*Shop with ease

*Talk about daily routines

*Have phone conversations

*Order in a restaurant

*Make small talk

*Get around town

*Talk about your job
... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Not very useful
Found this language course of little use as a primary tool. Maybe it would work as a supplement to another course but the pace is far too fast and it's rather difficult to synch the audio with the book. That said, since I didn't like it from the get-go, I set it aside and didn't get past, perhaps, the first 30 pages. Maybe if one sticks with it, the course might make sense.

Foundation forLearning
This product provides thorough grounding in pronunciation of Chinese (something difficult to grasp in the beginning) and takes the beginner through exercises and even includes the Chinese characters along with the Pinyin in the instructional book. This is very useful for the beginner who wants to fuction in reading and even writing. Offers some useful structures for continuing learning. ... Read more

Product Description
Huanying: An Invitation to Chinese is a new series that will take you to an exciting new world of exploring "how, when, and why to say what to whom" in Chinese.

Designed for use in secondary schools and developed in accordance with ACTFL National Content Standards, the Huanying series engages students in interactive and integrated language practice through fun and meaningful activities, contemporary topics that appeal to secondary school students, and a full-color textbook design. Huanying contains the perfect mix of ingredients to ensure that the students' learning experience is continuously intertwined with the "5-Cs" of foreign language learning - communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and communities.

The textbooks are organized around topics that are essential to everyday communication, such as "greetings," "family," "things we use every day," and "our environment." How to use the language accurately is introduced through simple yet systematic language notes. Workbook activities are skill-integrated, meaning that almost all activities involve two or more skills, which mirrors real-life use and helps improve students' overall language proficiency.

By starting with a communicative approach, and combining it with carefully-crafted activities that embed repetitive language practice in a meaning-ful context, the authors of Huanying have created a practical, learner-centered , and engaging learning experience for secondary school students. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Comprehensive and thoroughly 'user friendly'
The Cheng & Tsui Company is a premier publisher of Chinese language instructional materials suitable as either classroom instruction textbooks and workbooks or personal self-directed individual language studies. One of their truly impressive co-authored series by Kiaying Howard and Lanting Xu is two volume "Huanying: An Invitation To Chinese". Volume 1 is a textbook specially written for students who have no previous knowledge of Chinese. Here assembled is course material sufficient for a one-year curriculum and includes six units featuring a specific and individualized communication themes and offering containing learning objectives, five lessons, a unit review, and end-of-unit self-assessment. Each lesson has two dialogues or texts, a new word list, language notes, cultural notes, Pronunciation Practice (Units 1-3), a more extensive glimpse into Chinese culture (Units 4-6), and some knowledge-related language activities. Students are introduced to the fundamentals of the spoken and written language, with guided practice in pronunciation and character writing. Three indexes (vocabulary, proper nouns and language notes) are included, as well as three helpful appendixes (pinyin tone & spelling rules, character strokes & radicals, and each lesson's dialogues & texts in traditional characters). The lessons are presented in simplified characters, with English and pinyin. Traditional characters are included in vocabulary lists and indexes. The Huanying instructional series also has available workbooks for Volume 1: Part 2; Volume 1: Part 2; and Volume 2. Comprehensive and thoroughly 'user friendly', the "Huanying: An Invitation To Chinese" is a highly recommended addition to Chinese Language Studies curriculums.
... Read more

Product Description
An introductory manual for writing Chinese characters specifically designed for English-speaking readers. The author guides the reader through the fundamentals of writing, introduces the various scripts used in China and demonstrates how to write with a fountain pen rather than a brush. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Very interesting book
I enjoyed reading this - I loved the examples it gave, and it's easy-to-read format.

Not quite as easy as suggested.
This book falls far short of its promise to teach you to write chinese charcters. It starts off fine then it all runs together and when your done you neither have the motivation or skill to write and understand chinese characters.

Opening the door to a wonderful new interest
This wonderful book opened the door for me to learn a new interest that I never thought possible - learning to read and write mandarin Chinese! It is an excellent teacher. I couldn't praise it more.

More Confusion on Chinese Writing
Trying to learn Chinese calligraphy, alone, from a book, is probably akin to trying to learn martial arts or ballet from a video or DVD - perhaps useless, potentially dangerous. Yet the book still deserves credit on the principle that in remote lands, a poor map made by a foreigner is better than no map at all. In fact, there is an apparent gap in the literature in English on this subject: a perusal of copious material available at Shanghai Foreign Language Bookstore on Fuzhou Rd reveals nothing any better. There is simply no authoritative English reference.

In any case, there are numerous points of contention within this book, concerning the presentation of basic strokes, composite strokes, stroke ordering rules, etc. The author presents the `basic' strokes as follows:

heng2, shu4, pie3, na4, tiao3, dian3, gou1, zhe2

The author presents tiao3 as a basic stroke. The stroke he is evidently describing is referred to elsewhere in the literature as ti2: `an upwards diagonal character stroke, rising from left to right; or a lifting brush stroke in painting'. In no other reference can I find this stroke named as tiao3.

The author presents gou1, `a hook stroke appended to other strokes', as a basic stroke with four variants. A hook stroke can definitely be appended to the basic strokes heng2, shu4, pie3, such that these strokes exist in `unhooked' and `hooked' variants. But as noted in other references, gou1 can also be be used to create wan1 gou1 `bent hooked', xie2 gou1 `slanting hooked', and wo4 gou1 `crouching hooked' as valid composite strokes, as well as heng2 zhe2 gou1, heng2 zhe2 wan1 gou1, heng2 zhe2 zhe2 gou1, shu4 wan1 gou1, shu4 zhe2 zhe2 gou1, heng2 zhe2 xie2 gou1, etc, which brings the number of variations to a dozen or more.

The author presents zhe2 `to fold, to turn' as a basic stroke with two variants. The author ignores wan1 `bend, bent', and xie2 `slanting', which are also used to describe direction or directional changes in composite characters, but with an obvious visual difference from zhe2. A useful visual comparison of the composite strokes (a) heng2 zhe2 heng2, (b) heng2 zhe2 heng2 wan1, (c) heng2 zhe2 heng2 zhe2, and (d) heng2 zh2 heng2 zhe2 should make the differences obvious. In fact, the two variants the author discusses are heng2 zhe2 and shu4 zhe2. These are only two of numerous uses of zhe2 in composite strokes. Other `variants' of zhe2 include: heng2 zhe2 ti2, heng2 zhe2 heng2, heng2 zhe2 heng2 wan1, heng2 zhe2 heng2 zhe2, heng2 zhe2 gou1, heng2 zhe2 zhe2 pie3, heng2 zhe2 wan1 gou1, heng2 zhe2 zhe2 gou1, heng2 zhe2 xie2 gou1, shu4 zhe2 zhe2 gou1, etc.

The author dismisses the study of composite strokes as unnecessary:

"These composite strokes can be seen as combinations of the eight basic strokes, and it is not really necessary to practice them separately."

This is nonsense.

The models or example characters the author provides for his basic strokes consistently use basic strokes not yet studied, and composite strokes, which the author dismisses as unworthy of study. For example, like every other book on Chinese calligraphy, the author presents the character yong3, meaning `forever', as a model for studying the basic strokes, but glosses over the composite strokes used in yong3.

In fairness, the literature in English on Chinese calligraphy is inconsistent, contradictory, confusing; and Bjorksten's book is a cut above the sorry lot. But it's discouraging to think that by following Bjorksten's method of practicing basic strokes over and over again, with no feedback from a teacher, that one may be ingraining incorrect knowledge and technique.

Insightful presentation
First, I have now been studying Chinese for about 4 years, and this was an early book I got cheap from a used book store. I have changed my mind about it several times over the years. The discouraging part of the book is indicating how many times you would need to practice a character to get good at it. In the beginning, this was definitely true becasue a newbie simply cannot understand the important parts of a character and the relative alignment of strokes. As you acquire more characters, it becomes clearer what is important within the character.

In the beginning, this is tough. You need to write them again and again until your hand moves fluidly, not haltingly. This book gives you directions to achieve this, and key pieces (or parts) of strokes that will distinguish your writing from a first grader. There a fixed number of actual strokes, the difficulty is this relative positioning that's the killer.

The book is short, but gets to the point. I would have preferred larger and more examples, but he nevertheless gives you what you need.

The issue of stroke order has arisen. In my Chinese class, the native-born instructor says we should not obsess on stroke order. BUT it is important. I find that it is easy to correct an order, less easy to recognize characters in beautiful balance. This book helps.

So, do I write well. My teacher says I need more work. A ball point pen or pencil does not emulate a brush very well. The book focusses on that. I still think the book in less focussed on "calligraphy" vs. good character writing. Calligraphy is much more than writing characters accurately: it's an art form usually deviating from a standard printed/written character. This book focusses less on the art form, and more on the appearance and quality of a character. A western analogy: the book improves printing, not cursive script.

I really like the book. Before you can do calligraphy, you must be able to write characters in the regular way. [That segment in "Hero" on calligraphy was excellent!]

Get the book now, before you develop bad habits. ... Read more

Product Description
This book provides a fresh approach to the study of Chinese language, culture and society. It adopts the tools of cultural studies and applies them to a previously conservative discipline. It uses concepts of social semiotics to extend the ideas of language and reading, covering a range of cultural texts. The authors tackle areas such as grammar, language, gender, popular culture, film and the Chinese diaspora. The Politics of Chinese Language and Culture is an engaging, and alternative, means of studying contemporary China. It will help to break down the boundaries around the ideas and identities of East and West and provide a more relevant analysis of the Chinese and China. ... Read more

Product Description

GET D!RTY

Next time you're traveling or just chattin' in Chinese with your friends, drop the textbook formality and bust out with expressions they never teach you in school, including:

• Cool slang
• Funny insults
• Explicit sex terms
• Raw swear words

Dirty Chinese teaches the casual expressions heard every day on the streets of China:

♦ What's up? Zenmeyàng? ♦Fuck it, let's party. Qù tama, zánmen chuqù feng ba.♦Who farted? Shéi fàng de pì? ♦Wanna try doggy-style?Yàobù zánliar shìshì gou cào shì? ♦Son of a bitch!Gouniángyang de! ♦I'm getting smashed.Wo ganjué heduo le. ♦I can't eat this shit! Wo chi bù xià qù!

About the Authors

Matt Coleman is a University of Queensland Chinese Language graduate who has spent six years in China--long enough to know that understanding foul language is a very important and essential skill that must be used wisely.Edmund Backhouseis the nom de guerre of a Beijing-based writer and translator. Despite his potty mouth and his choice of namesake, he leads a relatively virtuous life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Be careful how you use it.
Many people, especially educated people, have bad feeling about foul language. So, you may say dirty words to your friends, but don't say dirty words to your teachers, boss, colleagues, policemen, government officials, or any highly educated people.

Fun But Unprofessional Publishing
The content is fun and therefore, the book is worth a purchase. The only down side is that it looks like it was assembled by an amature. I would be interested in a future version with more professional type setting, if that's the right word.

Very usefull book
It contains really a plenty of colloquial expressions, those the Chinese use in everyday conversation, it has pin-yin transliteration, simplified characters and many words that are not easily found in a dictionary.
Sometimes the Chinese line has a 1st character missing, but it is still seen in the pin-yin line, so not a big deal. In a word- yi ben shu niu bi! ... Read more

Product Description
Traditional Chinese medicine, such as the practice of herbal medicine and acupuncture, is becoming widely accepted as alternative medical treatments in the medical field outside China. Nevertheless, the terminology and usage, many of which are not even understand among present day Chinese, always pose a challenge to the practitioner. This lexicon makes possible the speedy identification of Chinese materia medica. Approximately 2,000 species of plants, 135 species of animals and 110 kinds of minerals and other chemicals used in traditional Chinese medicine are included. Listed alphabetically are the English, Chinese, scientific and pharmaceutical names of the Chinese drugs. This book has been a useful reference for natural and medical scientists since its publication in 1980. About 50 new Chinese drugs have been added to this new and revised edition. Some typographical errors have also been corrected. "With the help of this book it is an easy task to find quickly the scientific, pharmaceutical, or English names of Chinese drugs. It is a very useful tool for all scholars in science and medicine interested in Chinese drugs" by Guy Mazars, Hist. Phil, Life Sci., 8 (1986). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A creditable work
As Chinese herbal therapy is an extremely extensive and complicated discipline, every well-informed work on this field, therefore, is beneficial. Despite certain imperfections, this enumeration is one of them.The work began as a list of Chinese medicines for quick reference to meetpersonal needs. Everyone engaged in Chinese pharmacology, or Chinesemedicine in general, knows to what dimensions such a primary "quickreference work" can expand. Neither this book is any exception. Without anydoubt the amount of labour devoted to its preparation had to be enormous.It supplies people in science and medicine with an amount of about 2000names of medical drugs used in Chinese medicine. Nevertheless, we can findin the work some mistakes, which seem to be a certain blemish on itsbeauty. They can be divided into several groups: 1. Minor faults of atechnical nature. They concern some dropouts in succession of headwordnumbering. Thus the item 0063 is followed by 0065, 0432 follows the item0430, 0483 follows 0481, 0557 follows 0555, 1098 follows 1096 and No. 1960is entered instead of 1690. 2. Incorrect transcription. For instancethe character"pei" (north) is transcribed as "pai" (0021a, 0076) or as„p'i" somewhere (1002, 1003). The character „shu" in the names of herbs aspai-chu, must be pronounced and transcribed as „chu" (0306, 0742, 0862,0925, 1010, and many others). Character „chieh" is transcribed here as„chiai" (0099, 1486), characters „yu" (oil) as well as „yü" (jadeite) aretranscribed with the same syllable „yu" (0013, 1872). Instead of„Mai-t'ou-ts'ao" (0398) there must be Hei-t'ou-ts'ao; „Liang-hsien,Wei-liang-hsien" (0737) correctly has to be Ling-hsien, Wei-ling-hsien andso on. 3. From the practical point of view, a lack of unity evenconfused arrangement as to the structure of items seems to be more seriousmistake. The basic structure of an article has to be - as it is explainedin Introduction by author - as follows: The article represents the majorname of a medical drug; synonyms, alternative names, are placed in theparentheses behind the major name; minor names, names of other parts ofplant also used as drugs, are the second level minor items. In fact, wemeet with many variations of this notified model, which relates asubstantial part of articles: 3.1. Synonyms. a) Though some ofalternative names are placed in parentheses behind the major name, a greatnumber of them is entered in other place as headword. At the same timethere is no appearance of explicit key, why was some chosen as the headwordand the other was not. b) If the alternative name is entered as aheadword, by rights there should to be a cross-reference to theparagraph-major name. This procedure is kept in several items, neverthelessthe feedback cross-reference fails in majority of articles (0006 versus2007, 0099 v. 0964, 0321 v. 0824). In some cases, even the original majorname is in parentheses behind this new item, considering that it converselytakes the position of the alternative name (0642 v. 1060, 1057 v. 1998 andso on). c) If there is a cross-reference, it is written in variousforms and it is not quite clear if this heterogeneity may have anydistinctive function: 0096 Chia-p'i (see Wu-chia-p'i), 0398 Han-lien-ts'ao See 0886, 0401 Hei-ch'ou SeeÊrh-ch'ou, 0873 Mêng-shih=Ch'ing mêng-shih 3.2. Termsin the parentheses. The synonyms of the drug's major name should beplaced in the parentheses. Unfortunately, this presumption is often notvalid and we can meet with the following cases: a) The name in theparentheses is the name, or names respectively, of drugs obtained fromother parts of the plant. A great many instances of this kind occur. Forinstance 1553 "Ti-yang-ch'üeh (Pai-mai-kên)"; Ti-yang-ch'üeh is the aerialpart of Lotus corniculatus, still Pai-mai-kên is the name used for the rootof the same herb. Then the pharmaceutical name Herba Loti, concerning thewhole article, is also not quite correct, because that for Pai-mai-kên isRadix Loti. b) In the parentheses, instead of alternative name of thedrug there is a name of the herb which the drug originates from. Forinstance 0312 "Ch'ung-wei-tzu (Ch'ung-wei, I-mu-ts'ao)"; the itemCh'ung-wei-tzu is the name of Leonurus artemisia's seed, Ch'ung-wei as wellas I-mu-ts'ao are names of the plant or its herb. 3.3. Minor items. The situation here is rather confused, too. We can observe this state ofaffairs: a) Minor items represent the names of other species of theplant the drug originates from (0917, 1484, 1525, 1622, 1716, 1748 etc.). b) Minor items at the same time represent a mixture of the names of speciesas well as those of other parts of the plant used as drugs (0599). c)Minor items are the names of forms of the drug prepared in different way(0786). d) Some of minor items have no index, while others are indexedwith letters -a, -b, -c etc. (0222, 0324, 0702, 0786, 0917, 1051, 1254,1525 and many others). The meaning of this double indication is not clear. 3.4. Many of major items are indexed with a capital letter "A" behind thenumber: 0103A (0216, 0260, 0297, 0398 and so on). In the book noexplanation is given for the purpose of this form of entry. If we take inaccount that the Enumeration had been developing in the second half of the70s, when there existed incomparably less systematic literature from thisbranch than today, one cannot term the work devoted to it - theidentification of Chinese, English and Latin names etc. - anything otherthan heroic. Nevertheless, in accounting the prospective next edition ofthe book, it would be appropriate to consider carefully how to rearrangethe text and put the items more precisely and systematically. (The completereview is published in Archív Orientální, 68, (2000), No. 2, Prague) ... Read more

Product Description

A FUN, PORTABLE WAYTO LEARN LANGUAGE BASICS

Not just another audio language program, the On the Move series features an engaging, natural approach to language learning ideally suited for today’s hurry-up world. Unlike other audioprograms that feature dreary drill formats and seemingly endless word lists, these innovativeprograms convey all the vitality and color of the cultures in which the languages are spoken.A lively narrator guides listeners through each course, at times meeting up with two other nativespeakers who take part in an unfolding story line that encompasses an array of everyday subjects, from meeting people, eating, dining, and shopping to getting around town, telling stories, and family relationships.

Customer Reviews (2)

On The Move is Awesome!
Chinese On The Move is a lively, sound effect and rock riff filled language CD that gets the listener into the Chinese language right away.Most students will supplement their studies with classes and thick textbooks; if so, this CD will be judged for what it is: a tool focusing the student on the phrases and vocabulary suitable for a beginner.The speakers are smart and concise and the CD is very enjoyable. For me listening to Chinese On The Move has been time well spent for getting back into thelanguage after two courses and two years off.

Can be useful, better when you also use Pimsleur
Being a "devotee" of the Pimsleur method of learning languages, I inevitably compare all other products to that.

These CDs provide quite a bit of good information and explanation, the speech is very clear, and the vocabulary and phrases are refreshingly useful after working through ten Pimsleur CDs talking about how I would like to order two beers. (And I still couldn't introduce myself...)

But the Pimsleur methodology can't be beat and is much better at building a language structure upon which you expand.In CHINESE on the Move, the instructors are so busy blabbing and explaining that you don't end up speaking very much yourself, even though they tell you to.

Suggestion: Do the Pimsleur Intro first, then use these as an extremely valuable supplement. ... Read more

Product Description
Introducing a groundbreaking visual technique--successfully tested in classrooms--for mastering the correct pronunciation of over 100 basic Chinese characters.

*Each character is printed in a color representing its tone, creating a tone-color association that makes recalling tones simple.

*Two CDs allow readers to practice along with native speakers.

*Clever visual mnemonic devices create associations between a character's shape and its meaning.

*Image-enhanced mp3s allow users to see and hear characters on a computer, or practiceon the go with an iPod. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

For newbies, this is apt
I would give this a go if one were completely new to Chinese characters.

At the same time, however, there are numerous apps available via iphone and itouch as wells as Chinese Flashcard Memorylifter: the added interactivity plus the sound of the actual character and bigram is instrumental in learning and adequate recall.

Also try Heisig's marvelous book on learning Hanzi (chinese characters) as well as Matthews' Learning Chinese Characters. Great books that take advantage of mnemonics for the English--->Chinese learner.

Incompatible with Michel thomas
I bought this book with high hopes, I thought it was a great idea to associate colour with the tone of a word.
I also bought Michel Thomas Mandarin foundation at the same time.

Therein lies the problem.

Michel Thomas uses green for first tone, blue for second, red for third, black for fourth and nothing for neutral.

I could not use both systems simultaneously, one of them had to go.

I kept Michel and put this in the charity bin.Unfortunate.

Nice supplement
It's true this book is just a starting point, and those much past beginner level may not get as much from it as the starting student will, but that said, I still really enjoyed this book. I probably won't pick it up again now, as I'm a bit past the level where it was useful, but it did make it easy to tie characters and pronunciations and meanings together. I felt it was certainly a worthy addition to our study materials when we were still trying to get used to an alternate system of writing and meanings changing based on the tones. I also liked the way he mixed pinyin and actual mandarin characters in full sentences. I found it a useful technique that made it easier to remember characters.

6 months after using the book...
I began studying Chinese language a few weeks before I moved to Beijing, where I lived for 6 months. Along with this book, I also purchased a really great English/Chinese Chinese/English dictionary and a book teaching the pronunciations, meanings and stroke orders of 800 Chinese words. This seemed to be a good combination for me - this book's strength (that the others didn't do anywhere near as effectively) is teaching you to remember tones.

I can't say that I became more than a 'beginner' after living in China and studying the language intermittently, but what I can say is that, having diligently studied maybe the first 3rd of this book, I can STILL remember the tones of most of the characters. THIS IS A REALLY BIG DEAL, SINCE ANY PERSON WHO HAS LEARNT EVEN A LITTLE CHINESE WILL TELL YOU, REMEMBERING TONES IS VERY DIFFICULT!

If you are a visual learner (like me), you will find that this book fills a role that no other study book will. Even now I vividly see the word for "I" (wo) as a nice sky blue, which means it's pronounced as third tone. Clear as day I can remember the tones of words I studied in this book. I for one think that's impressive. It's hard enough just learning to SING Chinese, it certainly helps to remember which notes you're meant to be hitting!

The only downside, the product advertisement stated:
"Image-enhanced mp3s allow users to see and hear characters on a computer, or practice on the go with an iPod."

I found the sounds worked fine on the ipod, but I could never see any pictures. I was a little disappointed because I thought the combination of listening and seeing the tone colour while practicing would have been really good reinforcement.

Love the approach
I love the approach of this book.The author explains things well and does a good job teaching the common verbage along with the formal.I have only used the accompanying MP3s briefly, as I have other audio/video to use for pronounciation, so I cannot comment too much on the quality of them. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Behind the WheelChinese is the best!
I have tried many ways to learn the Mandarin Language including living in China and having a personal tutor.This is the best!!Mandarin is a tonal language meaning that you can't get to square one without listening.There is no book learning here.You must listen.I discovered this after many trial and error methods.If you want to learn Mandarin in the quickest possible way. Learn the pinyin alphabet and repeat until it is second nature. Then get Behind the Wheel Chinese and follow it explicitly. Even if you feel you are lost.Just repeat.Of course there is plenty of time to do that behind the wheel.Especially in LA.From these wonderfully created lessons Mandarin can become you second language without much effort.Thanks to Mark Frobrose for finally making learning Chinese in the US possible for me. And be sure to print out the Pinyin companion book.

Clear and Concise Entry Level Course
GENERAL COMMENTS

Behind the Wheel Mandarin Chinese by Macmillan Audio is the only Asian language course that I have ever had exposure to, so I'm no expert. I just know that this Macmillan course taught me a lot - and I mean a lot - of Mandarin Chinese, including how to quickly speak simple yet original sentences. It also taught me a lot about Mandarin Chinese. I also think this eight CD course makes conversational fluency in Mandarin a very reachable goal.

I would definitely recommend it for anyone who wants to learn to speak some Mandarin. It's also great for those who are just curious about Asian languages or for anyone brave enough to step out of his or her Indo European `language comfort zone' and learn a little about what for most Westerners is truly a `foreign' foreign language.

SPECIFIC COMMENTS

In college I took courses in Spanish, French, and Italian. Since then I've wanted to study a language that is totally outside of the Indo European group that comprises my own linguistic heritage.

To that end, I purchased a copy of Mandarin Chinese, Level 1. Part of publisher McMillan's Behind the Wheel foreign language instruction series, this beginner's level course uses the phonetic spelling called Pinyin instead of traditional Chinese characters. The instructional goal of this Behind the Wheel course is spoken, not written, Mandarin Chinese.

I wanted to learn to speak a little Mandarin. I was also curious about the sounds, syntax, and grammatical structure of this Asian language. My goal was linguistic familiarity.

It was interesting to compare Mandarin's initials and finals with the Germanic and Romanic vowels and consonants. I was especially fascinated with the five rising and falling tones of Mandarin Chinese. Ever heard of measure words? It has nothing to do with feet and inches. How similar yet how different are Asiatic and European languages.

Though this course is not highly structured in a conventional classroom sense, the authors did recognize the necessity of teaching some grammatical structure. This is probably inescapable for those who come from a European or American background linguistically. The booklet that accompanies this course teaches lessons on constructing basic sentences, using pronouns, and on forming the past, present, and future tenses. Nothing extremely complicated, just the stuff that's necessary for basic communication.

All of the normal language instruction stuff is there, too: words about time and weather and color and transportation and places and food. The booklet teaches helpful phrases, and how to ask and answer common questions - all the things you need to know to get along.

And, of course, there are the CD's. Wow! This is not the Spanish or French that so many of us took in high school. No cognate words here to help you along. Asian languages have a way of intimidating Western language speakers. I was pretty intimidated at first. I'll admit it. But it got easier as I went along. After listening to the first two discs I began to get a `feel' for the language. For the sound of it, I mean. Listening and speaking became noticeably easier with each progressive disc.

I would encourage anyone with an interest in the Mandarin Chinese language to give this concise yet thorough introductory course a GO.

Way too hard to do behind the wheel
This is way too hard for a beginner!Not much intro to the language and no helpful groupings like restaurant conversation or travel.Would not recommend. ... Read more

Product Description
BERLITZ BASIC MANDARIN CHINESE
A complete beginner's conversational course

The bestselling, beginning language course from Berlitz, Berlitz basic Mandarin Chinese concentrates on everyday conversation and authentic situations, and Berlitz has tailored the materials so learners become comfortable with the most frequently required words and phrases. With Basic Mandarin Chinese, listeners can follow along to audio dialogues and activities in the audio program and course book.

What Do I Get?
*3 audio CDs with native speakers who assure correct pronunciation (3 hours total)
*128-page fully illustrated course book
*Go online for free additional materials--easy to read audio script and learner's guide for those who like to read along with the audio
*Save up to $100 on Berlitz language classes

How easy is it?
1. Build confidence as you use the course book and audio CDs to learn basic languages skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking.
2. Course book is arranged in short, succinct lessons so learners aren't overwhelmed, and learn gramma without having to memorize any rules.
3. Practice and reinforce what you've learned by listening to the audio at home or on the go.
4. Go to berlitzpublishing.com for free additional materials to help you learn your new language.
5. Compatible with your iPod® or MP3 devices. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

TOP PRACTICAL.
THISIS AN EASY-TO-USE GUIDE FOR LEARNING CHINESE. NO PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE IS NEEDED.LESSONS ARE SHORT AND UNDERSTANDABLE.IT HELPSA LOT THAT THECOURSE BOOK HAVE PHOTOS,PICTURESAND CHARTS.THE SOUNDOF THE CDS IS COMPLETLY CLEAR; ENGLISH AND CHINESESPEAKERS HAVE THE RIGHT INTONATION ANDPRONUNCIATION.HAVING A GOOD INTRODUCTION TO CHINESECHARACTERS,IT IS POSSIBLE TO CATCH THEWHOLE LESSON WITHOUT THEBOOK, AND TO CONCENTRATE MOSTLY ON CONVERSATIONAL CHINESE. ... Read more

Product Description

Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar Workbook is a book of exercises and language tasks for all learners of Mandarin Chinese.

Divided into two sections, the Workbook initially provides exercises based on essential grammatical structures, and moves on to practise everyday functions such as making introductions, apologizing and expressing needs.

With a comprehensive answer key at the back to enable students to check on their progress, main features include:

• exercises graded according to level of difficulty
• cross-referencing to the related Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar 
• topical exercises that develop students' vocabulary base.

Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar Workbook is ideal for all learners of Mandarin Chinese, from beginner to intermediate and advanced students. It can be used both independently and alongside the Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar.

Customer Reviews (4)

As long as you like Pinyin, you'll like this Grammar Book
This is one of the few Chinese Grammar books written in English for the English speaker studying Chinese. AND, it contains both the simplified characters used on the Mainland as well as the traditional characters used in Taiwan and a few other places. The book is comprehensive and has an excellent index. The only thing keeping it from a five-star rating is the errors of fact it contains in various statements about how Mandarin is being used in Taiwan. For example, page 9, section 2.4 states that some characters lose their original tone and are changed to neutral but only on the Mainland and never in Taiwan. I cannot speak for the Mainland but the tone change is most certainly current in Taiwan. (Ref: Taiwan National Normal University, Mandarin Training Center where I am studying.) There are a number of other errors of this kind.

Ridiculously simple
I really felt that this workbook was a waste of money.There's no substance any to the exercises.Most of them are fill-in-the-blank where you choose one of four or five words, and all based on what you studied in the last two or three pages in the textbook.A kindergartner could do this.

An excellent workbook for learners of Chinese!
This is an excellent workbook for learners of Chinese to get advanced in Chinese.

Sam Song
Author,
Learning Chinese The Easy Way with great fun and joy!

great book
Very simply a great buy and a must for anyone that has the grammar book already.The book is presented very well and linked to each chapter of the grammar book. ... Read more

Product Description
The first volume of the long-awaited revised edition of the popular Practical Chinese Reader series are finally available! This completely new edition (it will encompass six volumes in 70 lessons when completed) takes the student from an absolute beginner to an intermediate level, approximately 3 years of higher-level classroom instruction. The text follows the story of Ding Libo (the son of Gubo and Ding Yun from the first edition) and other international students as they live in China, learning about Chinese culture and society as they learn contemporary Mandarin. Emphasizing the basic skills of reading, writing (simplified characters), speaking, and listening, with supplementary exercises, many illustrations, charts, and in a larger 8 x 11 format. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

problems with the printing
This is a review of the printing, not the content.

This book (ISBN 978-7-5619-1040-5) smells toxic, unlike any other book I own. The pages feel like receipt paper. I feel like washing my hands after touching it. There's random blotches (it's recycled from who-knows-what) and a few printing smudges.

Recommended
This book was a very good price, shipped the same day that I ordered and arrived very quickly in mint condition.

New Practical Chinese Reader, Textbook Vol. 1
This book was in excellent shape. New no marks in it at all. Never Cracked open I do believe it was still in a wrapper if I'm not mistaken. Thank You.

Could have been more precise
As a textbook, The New Practical Chinese Reader leaves much to be desired.The format of each chapter is as follows: Dialogue, vocabulary, random non-concise grammar points, some hanzi information, and a one paragraph culture tid-bit.I feel that where the textbook is lacking is in it's breakdown of the grammar.Dialogues are given but very little it said of actual syntactic structure as well as why and how things are said in Chinese.Occasionally, you are given an asterisk that tells you about a phrase. Also, there is very little that is ever said in regards to Chinese culture which is very important when learning a language.Culture gives back ground and answers many "whys?" to a language.I feel the textbook could have contained more information.

Best out there...but
This textbook is the best book out there. However, that doesn't say much when there are so few textbooks for chinese. In comparison to many french/spanish/italian and other romantic languages, the textbooks available for them are of better quality.

This product is good and at the moment is still the best you can get however be warned, even with instruction which is where I use it at Northeastern University, chinese is not easy. Only buy it if you can at the minimum have a teacher, and even with a teacher, office hours or extra help is definitely recommended.

This is the best you can get out there today but there are still way too many flaws such as it being hard to understand and the large vocabulary needed. I personally wish the speed was half as much so volume 1 should have twice as many lessons after the first few lessons about pinyin for the amount of material it covered. If the speed was the same as the first few lessons, this would have been great. However, it goes quite fast and will be daunting especially since there's 4 volumes of this textbobok and it is hard to finish just 1. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (13)

Pretty Helpful
This book is from an English teacher living in China.It is a useful book for anyone planing on taking a trip there.There is a website that goes with the book where you can download the audio to help with the pronunciations which are both in male and female voices.

If you are a beginning student of Mandarin Chinese and want to learn how to say thing you can actually use in real time, this book may be for you.It also is helpful for learning the little quirks you might run into on your visit to China.

laowai blog author's FUN (and extremely informative) book
After trudging through my monotonous lot of Chinese textbooks, finding this useful and fun, yellow, square-shaped book was like stumbling upon an oasis in the middle of the Sahara... Beside the fact that it's excellent reference material, it is just as fun to read as Mr. Wolfe's blog! (batteries not included)

A brilliant transition from "student" to "fluent"
This book was originally written for Americans living in China surrounded by Mandarin 24/7 who can find or hire a native speaker to tutor them.Most Amazon shoppers will not have the chance to do that.If you can, then I am jealous, and you should definitely get this book.

And I would not try to learn Mandarin from this book alone here in the US.The coverage is too spotty.To learn Mandarin in the US you need more systematic sources.I am extremely happy with Pimsleur's Chinese (Mandarin) I (actually I am now in the middle of Mandarin II) for speech, Chinesepod on the web for speech and characters, and Tuttle Learning Chinese Characters Volume 1: A Revolutionary New Way to Learn and Remember the 800 Most Basic Chinese Characters (Chinese Edition) for characters, plus the Yellowbridge website for literature and for memory games.

But here in the US this book is a fantastic supplement to those systematic sources -- and it would be great if you are taking classes as well.The book breezes over the general rules, but has an uncanny ability to zero in on crucial, common, specific problems.I was amazed to find an entire section on pronouncing "shui" versus "xue."Back when I was first beginning, exactly that problem got me terribly tied up in a neighborhood soup and dumpling shop in Beijing when they (who did not speak English) wanted to know why I was looking at the menu if I could not read it. I tried to say "I am learning/studying Chinese characters" but they heard me saying some gibberish about water.I knew the difference in principle, but botched it in the situation, and the explanation in this book is exactly what I should have had back then!

There are lots of enjoyable lessons on crucial nuances of pronunciation, colloquial usage, practical culture, and things like how to understandvarious reactions by Chinese people.As I have experienced: Chinese people will often be extremely courteous (especially if you are buying something) but some will not want to hear it.The book opens with a fantastic section on deciding, realistically, exactly how much skill at Mandarin you hope to get, and exactly which skills, and what that will take.You must not set short-term goals so high that they defeat you instead of leading you on.

Actually the author is of two minds aboutChinese characters or Hanzi. He says what is certainly true: you can begin speaking Mandarin sooner if you don't worry about the characters.He basically recommends not learning them, and concentrating on speech.But he keeps coming back to them for two reasons.First, as he says, "Hanzi is useful as a way of organizing vocabulary."That is, the characters show connections between different words that you would not know from the sounds alone and so they help you move beyond rudimentary speech like "please give me..." or "where is..." into more flexible use of the language.The second reason reflects a great, general strength of this book, which is the nuanced appreciation for language use in China.He has a terrific essay on the theme "for most Chinese people, the hanzi aren't optional written representations.They *are* the Chinese language" while the spoken language and the phonetic spelling system merely represent the characters. He says much more about that which I will leave to him.

In fact, the advice in this book made me refine my short term goals:I do mean to be fluent at social courtesies and small talk and all sorts of travel transactions.I do not hope to master serious conversation in the short term (e.g. I do not aim to be able to talk about the housing market in Shanghai, popular television shows, or a graduate student's dissertation research).And I do want to emphasize reading characters more than this book does.But that does not make this book any less valuable to me!

It is a joy to use and extremely helpful in beginning to move from text-book exercises to fluent usage.

Best Resource to Learn Chinese
As ateacher in China, I needed a book that would take me from speaking no Chinese at all to where I can speak and understand native speakers.While this process is certainly not easy, I've found that Wolfe's book gives the reader the option of beginner, intermediate, or advanced.That way, I was able to start with beginner just to get through most of the information in the book, then move forward to the more advanced sections.His examples relate directly to English and every aspect of speaking Chinese was described in terms I understood.This book was perfect for my purposes.

Good idea but not enough
Great concept behind this book and the website has great information and examples as well as a few forums.But the book itself is quite limited.It has a handful of useful distictions (why use X versus Y, when X and Y seem similar).There's no CD but it's quite dependent on tracks recorded on the website.So if the website goes down, you're out of luck.Overall, good for browsing and picking up a few "a-ha" tips but it's not very in depth. ... Read more

Product Description
Whether you want to reserve a hotel room, hire a bicycle or pay the restaurant bill – The Rough Guide Mandarin Chinese Phrasebook will help you all the way. The A-Z English to Mandarin and A-Z Mandarin to English translations will have you speaking the language even before you step off the plane. Practice your pronunciation with 16-pages of additional scenario material; available as downloadable audio files, the scenarios have been recorded by native Mandarin speakers and are compatible to either your computer or iPod. This thoroughly-revised third edition includes a detailed grammar section and a helpful menu and drinks list reader to ensure you always choose the right dish. With this phrasebook in your pocket you are sure to have a great trip! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

The second best
I have used two editions of this in China and compared it to several other phrasebooks.But l just got Pocket Interpreter Chinese and have to say it looks slightly better.Both books are cheap and you might as well buy both.

Any usable phrasebook has to tell you both the pronunciation of words with tones, and the Chinese characters.Some omit the tones because they are hard at first, but no one in China will understand you if you do not pronounce tones at least nearly correctly most of the time.You need Chinese characters because sometimes you are going to have to point to them in the book to help people understand. And, despite heated arguments in some circles, you need the official Chinese pinyin romanization of Mandarin. If you grew up reading of Peking you might find Beijing odd.But "Beijing" is far more suggestive of the correct pronunciation. This phrasebook fits into a shirt pocket or the back pocket of your pants ready to use.These are the only two phrasebook that have all of that.

This book has a good sampling of short phrases on things like taking a bus (under the entry for "bus") but it concentrates on single words. This is really important when you are on-the-spot.The sample conversations in other phrasebooks rarely say just what you need -- and the replies are never what you will hear.A single word can tell someone what you are talking *about*, and from there you can work out exactly what you want to say about it.

Problems:This book is out of date.It has advice on taking a train but not a plane.And you will definitely want to find automated teller machines, electronic banks.Some people will tell you there are few of these in the country -- and they are wrong.Automated teller machines are all over Beijing and Xi'an (I am writing this in Xi'an).The term is not in this book.The best excuse for omitting the term is that these machines are so common you hardly need to ask how to find one!But, really, you will need to find them and a phrasebook should tell you how to do that.If you see a problem like this in advance, then look up the words you need on line.

Overall, when I think about the things I have actually needed to look up, this book seems not quite so well organized as Pocket Interpreter Chinese.

Mandarin guide book
I found the book to be a great pocket size for taking with me without having to carry it in my hands.The book has a nice amount of words for translation, however it would be nice if it had a few more short common phrases such as: ice cream, or cut the grass, etc.

Works for tours and visits
For travel to China this book is fine. I have used the Lonely Planet phrase books also and this differs in that Lonely Planet divides the phrase book into different situations. At the end there is a small dictionary. Rough Guide phrase books seem to have a short introduction to basic situations and then expanded dictionaries, that often have several dialogues included that would be useful when you look up the word. It also has the Mandarin characters next to the word or dialogue. We are spending two weeks in China and this seems fine. Trying to learn complete phrases hasn't worked too well for me. Mostly I need to look up words like beer, chicken, hot pot etc., try and pronounce them, and if they still can't understand, show the foreign words from the dictionary to the waiter...hotel people. As to whether the Rough Guide is better than Lonely Planet, I think if you are just on tour for a while either will help. As I said, I have used Lonely Planet in the past and thought I would try Rough Guide for Chinese Mandarin and also bought one for Japanese.

great organization
As the long 5 star review below tells you, this is an outstanding little book jam packed with info. The organization is superb, with almost nothing but useful phrases, each with characters and pinyin.

EXCEPT the opening 28 pages, which SHOULD be some of the most useful! This opening section is organized by category (shopping, emergencies etc.) and, indeed, holds some of the key survival phrases you need (to be fair, most of the content can also be found in the alphabetical section). HOWEVER, inexplicably, this section has the pinyin in WHITE FONT on LIGHT BLUE BACKGROUND and LEAVES OUT the chinese characters!! Indeed, even under *perfect* light, I can hardly see the diacritical marks above the pinyin for certain words (they often look like a smudged dot).In other words, it's hard to read what the tone is of these sentences. Sure, if it's something simple like "jiu4ming4 -- 'help' " you'll likely be understood, but more complex sentences you just might find yourself very misunderstood.

I cannot understand why these did this. In poor light you will find yourself straining just to read the pinyin, much less the tone marks.

Now, the alphabetical section (the bulk of the book), has very crisp and clear font, black on white, and includes the characters. Why they didn't use this format for the opening section, I have no idea.

That said, the book is fantastic. Buy it.

portable size, decent content
I chose the Rough Guide Chinese phrasebook because I prefer the Rough Guide country guides over others. The words and phrases organized by topics and situations are full of half-attempts at humor, but they aren't as useful as I'd hope for. Some important words - like dumplings/jiaozi - are missing from the dictionary section, but that's what you get with a pocket dictionary. ... Read more

Product Description
Learn to speak, understand, read, and write Chinese with the most complete and up-to-date program available!

Ultimate Chinese is a deluxe course with everything you need to learn Chinese from scratch or to revive the Chinese that you learned years ago. Developed by the experts at Living Language, it is a comprehensive, multi-media program that includes 8 CDs, a book, and a bonus interactive CD-ROM. Ultimate Chinese is the perfect way to learn to speak Chinese for school, travel, work, or personal enrichment.

Ultimate Chinese teaches Mandarin and Pinyin (a romanized Chinese writing system) is used throughout the course while you become familiar with the vocabulary and structure of the language. The HÀNZÌ (Characters) section of the course introduces you to the Chinese writing system gradually, with instructions on stroke order and the inclusion of the most basic and essential Chinese characters.

In this package you’ll find:

1 comprehensive coursebook with 40 lessons. Each lesson contains a lively and authentic dialogue, vocabulary, grammar and usage, cultural highlights, and plenty of practice. The book also contains review sections, a grammar summary, a glossary, and more.

8 Audio CDs
*4 CDs for use with the book
*4 more CDs that expand upon what you learn in each lesson, designed for review, reinforcement, and practice on-the-go

1 CD-ROM that contains flashcards with over 500 vocabulary words and phrases. You can see the word and its English translation, and can hear the word spoken too. Includes both learn and practice modes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Ultimate Chinese - Living Language
Very well organized lessons. Clear notes. Vocabulary progression is practical and not too extensive for each lesson. The additional CDs that can be used without the text are very handy. This course the best of the three Mandarin courses I have. I would prefer the text printed on higher quality paper.

argh!
Have been using the previous edition of this course to reboot dormant Mandarin. It's OK in itself, but the number of mistakes with the pinyin, the missing words in the dictionary and some really badly thought-out questions in the exercises are making me wish I'd gone for the "Teach Yourself" or "Colloquial Chinese" series instead.

Perhaps the new edition has fixed all these things...

it is a good course
Ultime Chinese is a great course to learn Chinese. It shows you how to write Chinese characters in a slow form and their usage in sentences which help you to learn in a more effective way. In addition, the book uses every day vocabulary and grammar notes which give you the opportunity to learn the language faster. It is a great course for a beginner-intermediate level of the language.

Warning! More for intermediate than beginners!
Christopher J. Deasy (his review is listed as the most helpful review) comes from a background in speaking Chinese and had the opportunity to live in China. After studying the book and listening to the CD several hours, I have come to the conclusion his review is only helpful for the those who are intermediate in Mandarin and not for the beginner at all.

I bought this product with the hope I'll learn to speak Mandarin proficiently enough to move to Shanghai (my dream).This is also my first purchase of a Mandarin language-learning book/cds. From reading the reviews that many thought were "helpful," I thought this will be the right product for me as a beginner.After spending several hours studying the book and listening/speaking tothe CD's, I still have not gone very far in speaking nor comprehending Mandarin. The reason being is that the book & cds compacts too much information in a chapter and moves far too fast for a beginner. Each chapter then starts off very quickly and does not seem to build up on what was learned on the previous chapter, thus making it hard to remember what was just learned. Repeating the chapter or cd does not work either. I listened to the CD's on my commute to work and it is basically the same thing what is written in the book, except someone is reading it outloud for you. Overall, there does not seem to be a systematic approach for the book, just dive right in.

My review may seem harsh for this book which may be true, but then again this book has the word "Beginner" written on it implying it's also for those who don't know anything about Mandarin. It's actually for those who have studied or have some background in Mandarin already. I recommend beginners should save their money and look for something else.

If anyone can recommend another resource (book, cd) that caters more to beginners, please leave a comment. I'll be looking for one as well and will update this review.

Capable instuction, but expensive for what it offers
The dialogues in Ultimate Chinese are natural-sounding and current (unlike many outdated textbooks for Mandarin Chinese) but the high price of this book/CD set makes it a considerable investment in 2008, when an abundance of audio and video resources for learning Mandarin Chinese are already available online at little to no cost.Also, serious students of the language - people taking a college-level course, for example - will find the lack of emphasis on reading and writing frustrating.

Nathan Dummitt
author of Chinese Through Tone & Color ... Read more

Product Description
Here is a complete course in the Chinese language, with graded units of dialogues, culture notes, grammar, and exercises that make it easy to study and then practice what's been learned.Audiocassettes feature dialogue recorded by native speakers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

Great suppliment to any course
I believe this is about as good as you can get, as far as books on chinese that is.
It gives hints on things that after you read you realize is correct, but for some reason no one else has stated it.
Since this book very quickly advances, I believe you need another course with lots of repetition. As others have stated Fluenz course is a good way to go, lots of repetition that will enable the material to stay in your head.
But since Fluenz does not have any good reading material to compliment the course at this time, do yourself a favor and get this book!

good for both reviewers and beginners
I came to this book from a slightly different point of view than some of the other reviewers, since I studied Mandarin for four years in college (mostly using the admirable and still very worthwhile DeFrancis series).Since that has been a while ago I got this book and CD to pick up some contemporary usages and keep my pronunciation up to date and I was very well satisfied in both these aspects.One thing that impressed me in the very thorough section on pronunciation was the author's discussion of the four tones of Mandarin and common mistakes made by beginners.Other sources of potential problems are also very well addressed, particularly compounded verbs of motion, and resultative/potential compounds, which often convey meanings that are pretty idiomatic and differ from what a beginner might expect from the components of the compound. The course transitions very smoothly from the early lessons where pinyin is used almost exclusively to the later sections where characters are introduced and it is shown how to write them.At the end of the book there is a section on Chinese poetry- a very unusual addition to what is an elementary course, but something should give a great deal of satisfaction to a student who has made it all the way to the end. There are both monologues and dialogues in the lessons that cover a lot of everyday situations, although sometimes the English translations are pretty free and I've thought that the author probably should have offered a more literal rendering as well- it's always good to know what the words mean. That's a pretty minor objection, though.This course is a great value and any student who completes it should be very well positioned to move on from there.

Mandarin Chinese
Being an American student of Mandarin Chinese I found this book not as linguistically clear as the elementary book of Chinese by the same authors.The exercises are evident, but the dialogues need to be presented with their specific pages to follow along in the text.Once you have bought the Basic Mandarin Chinese book, this particular book would be more advantageous if you were to spend daily time on the exercises and oral manipulations.

I keep learning!
I think it could be better if I listen someone talking... however since it is like reading in Spanish, I'm good at it or thats what my bf says... So far is its fun! I will keep learning :D

Reasonable text for casual learners
This book would be a reasonable resource for tourists or other casual learners of Chinese.It provides a good number of natural dialogues in a variety of situations, accompanied by simple and straight-forward grammatical explanation. Scurfield and Song's book - like many others in the Teach Yourself series - packs a lot of information into a compact and convenient format that is a reasonably solid introduction to the language.A lack of discussion about Chinese characters, and a tendency for only the most superficial analysis of grammar and language structure makes this book less than useful for more serious students of Chinese.


Nathan Dummitt
author of Chinese Through Tone & Color ... Read more

Product Description
This book contributes to building the research knowledge that language teaching professionals need in developing curriculum for the large population of East Asian heritage students (including Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) in countries like the United States, Canada, and Australia, where speakers of East Asian languages are among the fastest growing populations. Heritage learners are defined as those who initially acquired certain levels of linguistic and cultural competence in a non-dominant language mainly through interaction with foreign-born parents and other family members at home.
 
Heritage language instruction is currently a “hot topic” and is becoming a sub-discipline within the fields of foreign language education and applied linguistics. Special instruction for heritage language learners is on the rise, particularly in the U.S. and Canada. Providing theoretical and practical information about heritage-language instruction in terms of curriculum design, learner needs, materials development, and assessment procedures, the goal of this book is not only to promote research about heritage students in East Asian languages but also to improve the teaching of these students in various educational settings and all over the world, especially in English speaking countries. The volume is organized in four sections:
*Overview—addressing the timeliness, necessity, and applications of the work and issues and future agendas for teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean heritage students;
*Language Needs Analysis;
*Attitude, Motivation, Identity, and Instructional Preference; and
*Curriculum Design, Materials Development, and Assessment Procedures
 
Teaching Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Heritage Language Students is intended as a primary text or reference for researchers, educators, and students in the areas of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment studies related to teaching bilingual and heritage students in general and East Asian heritage students in particular. ... Read more

Product Description
Pocket-size guide to more than 2,000 essential phrases in Mandarin Chinese, divided into themed sections. Includes food, drink, and lodging; tips for train and automobile travel; and instructions and phrases for emergencies. Includes a pronunciation table that explains the phonetic pronunciation. Softcover. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Preparing for a trip to China
I bought this book in preparation for our trip to China.It has a lot of useful phrases that can be used in various situations travelers might find themselves in.The text is very small, which makes it compact, but requires the use of reading glasses for many of us over 40!I was dissapointed that there wasn't more vocabulary for navigating airports.

Uses standard Pinyin, which is great, but also challenging
This book is the only phrase book I've seen that uses standard pinyin.This is good because:
1)Standard pinyin is the official standard romanization for Chinese and is used on all signs in China.
2)It has the accent marks to indicate the 4 tones (and 1 neutral tone).
3)All Chinese people are required to learn Pinyin in school.

Pinyin takes a while to read and pronounce properly, so the learning curve on this book might be steeper than other books.(Don't try to read pinyin like English, or no one will have any clue what you're saying!)
But if you have any aspirations to learn Chinese correctly, I recommend this book as a good introduction.

Impressive
This phrase book is very useful, especially for foreigners who have some basic of Mandarin, but want to improve or use when they travel in China (For some who doesn't have basic, it's still useful because there is Chinese character written in the book, so they can show to locals). It also brushes up your memory of vocabularies. ... Read more

Product Description

Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar is an innovative reference guide to Mandarin Chinese, combining traditional and function-based grammar in a single volume.

Divided into two sections closely linked by extensive cross-references, it covers:

• traditional grammatical categories such as phrase order, nouns, verbs and specifiers
• language functions and notions such as communication strategies, giving and seeking information, expressing apologies, regrets and sympathies.

With all grammar points and functions richly illustrated with examples, and a strong emphasis on contemporary usage, the main features of this Grammar include examples in simplified characters, traditional characters, and romanization (Pinyin) as well as an emphasis on areas of particular difficulty for learners of Mandarin Chinese.

This is the ideal reference grammar for learners of Mandarin Chinese at all levels, from elementary to advanced. No prior knowledge of grammatical terminology is assumed and a glossary of grammatical terms is provided. Featuring related exercises and activities, this Grammar is accompanied by the Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar Workbook.

Customer Reviews (19)

The New World Order
The item was a quintessential quality of a book. It was in optimum conditions and it was well-packed.

Quite a deception...
To be honest, I must confess that, after reading the other customers' reviews, i found this book (as well as its exercise book) to be way below my expectations. It "explains" things in a very simple and undetailed way, at least for someone whose professional area is not linguistics. It introduces some new vocabulary while it tries to show you the grammatical rules of the language. That didn't help me, however, it just confused me more, as I had double work trying to figure out the new vocabulary and then trying to understand the Chinese Grammar (which, by the way, is not logical at all, at least to me). If you're a beginner in Mandarin, like I was, try to get a less complicated book. This one really didn't help me.

Excellent Resource; Three Minor Gripes
I've been studying Chinese for a few years in a once-a-week night school program at our high school.So, I'm not the most serious student; it is a hobby for me.

This book is the best resource I've found for understanding Mandarin grammar.I refer to it constantly.

That said, I have three minor gripes:

1.Index

The index is too short.Often, if you look up a Chinese word for a concept you will find an entry but the corresponding English word for the concept is not listed.The simple truth is that the index is not sufficient for beginning students who don't know enough to use the precisely correct Chinese word for what they seek.I presume that advanced students would have no problem with the index.


2. Typography

Pinyin text is boldfaced and I find this very distracting as I read.The boldface type of the Pinyin just grabs my attention away from the characters.I wish that the author had used a different typeface or italics for the Pinyin so that it doesn't stand out so much.


3. (Paperback) Binding

This is a reference book and as such the binding should stand up to repeated use over a long period of time.It doesn't.It is NOT a stitched binding, just glue holding the pages together.The glue cracks and the pages are not going to hold together for a long time.The binding for this book should be as durable as for a dictionary; it isn't.Yes, I could have bought the hardcover which presumably has a stitched binding.(I've never seen the hardcover book so I don't know what kind of binding it has.)But the cost of the hardcover was just too much for me, especially since I didn't know anything about the paperback binding.

Overall, I give the book's content five stars and take one away for the poor binding and index.

Hopefully, the author/publisher will address this shortcomings in a future edition.

Good layout, but not enough review or examples.
Like a previous reviewer, I had had the Schaums book earlier and left it in another state, so picked this up to replace it based on the positive reviews, along with the workbook.All in all, I'd have to say I liked the Schaums better because the chapters built on each other and the examples and questions were substantially more intense.This book takes the path of explaining each topic independently.However there's very little in terms of building up to something greater.You see something once, you see one or two example sentences, you do a couple trivial questions in the workbook, and then you never see it again.I found it hard to really remember much (and in general with foreign languages, find it hard to remember much) if there's not constant building, repetition, and review.Some people might like this format, but it wasn't to my liking.

Personally I'd say the New Practical Chinese Reader series is the best, as it has grammar, vocab, and interesting dialogs to help you understand intuitively how the language is really used.

The best of the market!!!!!!!!
I give this book a 5 star rating not because it is perfect but because
it is the best of 37 books that I have on Chinese language. This book has all the relevant grammar structure necessary to be functionally fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Claudia Ross's books are all outstanding. She reinforces my belief that the worst books are written by the Chinese born and the best by those who learned in the language of their students.

This is not a "ni hao ni hao" book. This book establishes the fundamentals of Mandarin Grammar and builds on it in a logical fashion.

Ross' current work books are further examples of her outstanding work. I hope that she continues to pump out her work.

Several Amazon clients have criticized my focus on writing critiques for some of the crap available online.

Well,here it is, my opinion of the best that is available.

Dr. Michael Howatt

Author of;

Hanzi and the Kangxi Radicals 978-0-9810576-0-6

The Rules of Chinese Characters and Mandarin,
Book 1A 978-1-926564-15-9

425 Easy Chinese Characters 978-0-9810576-2-0

101 Easy Chinese Characters 978-1-926564-12-8

300 Easy Chinese Characters 978-1-926564-16-6

425 Intermediate Chinese Characters 978-0-9810576-6-8

425 Advanced Chinese Characters 978-0-9810576-8-2

425 Chinese Characters Using 1-5 Strokes 978-1-926564-00-5

The 1st 251 Common Chinese Characters 978-0-9810576-4-4

The 2nd 251 Common Chinese Characters 978-1-926564-02-9

The 3rd 251 Common Chinese Characters 978-1-926564-03-6

The 4th 251 Common Chinese Characters 978-1-926564-04-3

The 1st 1000 Common Chinese Characters 978-1-926564-05-0

The 2nd 1000 Common Chinese Characters 978-1-926564-06-7

The 3rd 1000 Common Chinese Characters 978-1-926564-07-4

A Merciful Introduction to Chinese Grammar
978-1-926564-08-1

Generally Clever Things to Say in Standard Mandarin Chinese 978-1-926564-10-4

Chinese Grammar for the Keener 978-1-926564-09-8
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