4 comments about The Rough Guide to Mandarin Chinese Dictionary Phrasebook 3 (Rough Guide Phrasebooks).

1. Although the book favors the Beijing style pronunciation, the Chinese characters within are worth their weight in jade. I frequently pointed at more difficult characters. Coupled with a few phrases I'd picked up from the beginning of the book, I got around China really well.
   
   Missing was a section on how to properly tell off street peddlers and other nuisances. I would have loved a dialogue page with the following exchange:
   
   "Would you like a 'Rolex' watch?"
   "No. Go away and never pester me again you troglodyte!"
   
   Even with the above-mentioned shortcoming, I'd take this book back with me to China if I ever get the chance to return there. Take this with you and keep it very handy. I compared it to the newest Lonely Planet guide and this one is superior.



2. This book is fun to read and easy to find a phrase that your looking for.
   Good phrases for shopping and getting directions.



3. Rough Guide Mandarin is structured completely different from most phrase books: The first 40+ pages gives you numbers, days of the week, time, etc., and a 20 minute course in grammar. Oh no, you might be saying, but it is presented very simply. For instance it presents a handful of common verbs and their conjugations. So on one page you can see how to say "I have," "he has, " etc. and "I like," "he/ she likes," etc.
   
   The rest of the book is split between an English-Mandarin dictionary (160 pages approx), a Mandarin-English dictionary (40 pages, approx.), and a 20 page menu reader. What makes the English-Mandarin dictionary pages unique, though, is that most every other page (at least) has dialogue boxes relating to the most useful word(s) on that particular page. For instance, when you thumb through the book for the word "live," you get the word itself, but also the phrases "I live in..." and "Where do you live?" It'll take you 10 minutes to find such a phrase in Berlitz or Lonely Planet in their "getting to know others' section. But because Rough Guide is structured as a dictionary, with hundreds of really useful phrases highlighted in boxes within, you can access something you want to say rather swiftly...and actually deliver it just a minute or so after looking for it. Add the grammar section, where you learn useful verbs and how to conjugate their past tenses, and the number section, and you can learn easily to chat with someone about where you are from, where you are going, where you have traveled thus far, what you like/liked, and so on. Likewise, knowing have to say "have" make sit easily to ask whether a hotel has rooms, whether the room has a shower (after thumbing through the book for the word for shower), etc. And when the answer comes back that the hotel doesn't have, or say "we have," you can actually catch what they are saying.
   
   If still not persuaded, next time you're in a bookstore compare a Berlitz, a Lonely Planet, and a Rough Guide language phrase book side by side. Lonely Planet Mandarin, for example, is basically several pages of basic grammar followed by many sections of phases you won't likely ever use. For instance, the guide provides several pages each of lists of occupations, nationalities, college majors, items of stationary, jewelery, colors, insects, flowers, aquatic sports(!), electrical appliances, camping terms,and so on. Also provided are pat phrases to employ at a hotel's front desk, at a doctor's, at the optometrist, and eating out, among other mini-sections. The book, in effect, is set up to be taken out to be used once a day, if that. It's an improvement on Berlitz phrase books, but not by much. (Berlitz simply divides their books into 10 or so color coded sections such as: "sightseeing," "relaxing," "shopping," traveling around," "money," "eating out," etc.)
   
   So, if you just want a book for emergencies (say, breaking a leg, etc.) then Berlitz and/or Lonely Planet phrase books will serve you well...in your pocket until you are faced with such a situation, since they do have many more specific terms (like 50 different parts of the the body), but if you really want to be able to say some things in Chinese on a daily basis during your trip you'll be much better served by Rough Guide Mandarin. Cheers



4. As with most of these books the print is small. There needs to be more English to PinYin translation of both words and phrases.

5 comments about Mandarin Chinese-English Bilingual Visual Dictionary (BILINGUAL VISUAL DICTIONARY).

1. This is a nice little tome for browsing and referencing, though is not a replacement for a standard dictionary. I would agree with the others about the strong Western bias -- most people studying Chinese are interested in some aspects of culture as well, and thus would be interested in relevant words. However, for learners of Chinese language living outside of China, it's quite useful. It takes a while to figure out where some words are categorised, though there is an index in back. It also does not show traditional characters, or alternative pronounciations or uses of words as may occur in Hong Kong or Taiwan, and again a good standard Chinese-English dictionary would be a better option since most will show you the variants. Some uses and prounciations in this text are simply wrong to native Mandarin speakers from HK or Taiwan.
   EDIT -- having had this book a while now, it's still a fun reference though one thing to note is that it is HEAVY. Nice quality paper stock makes for a compact book that feels like a brick.



2. This compact, square-shaped visual dictionary is the best of its kind as far as I've seen. Being a visual dictionary, the majority of the words are nouns, but under many categories there are additional related adjectives and verbs, along with fixed phrases. Including nearly 6,000 nouns, the book covers the majority of objects that students would seek to know, while at the same time it doesn't overdo it with superfluous, obscure vocabulary. Ideal for English-speaking students of Mandarin or Chinese-speaking students of English as a reference.



3. While this dictionary includes attractive images that encourage browsing, the characters are somewhat small and the organization of the book by theme (rather than in alphabetical or Pinyin order) makes quick look-up difficult. Also, I have a hard time believing that simply listing all the body parts (for example) is an effective way to learn the Chinese words. Discussion of characters/etymology and Chinese-specific culture is limited, but this might be a fun book to look at with a non-English-speaking Chinese friend in order to facilitate communication.
   
   
   Nathan Dummitt
   author of Chinese Through Tone & Color



4. I was disappointed with this visual dictionary. I suppose I should have paid closer attention to the other reviews before making the purchase. My biggest complaint is that the font of the Chinese characters is much too small. Any character that is more than a few strokes is virtually impossible to distinguish. You would need a magnifying glass to be able to read the characters. I know why the book has this problem. All of the visual dictioanries are essentially the same -- they simply change the text for each language. Since the Chinese version requires both Pinyin and the Chinese characters, there isn't enough space to use a larger font. The cookie-cutter approach also means that the book is not culturally "in tune" with many items that you would find in China. Finally, since the dictionary is all nouns, I think it should include the corresponding measure words/classifiers for the nouns. This is a huge oversight, making the dictionary less valuable. I need to use another reference book to find out the corresponding measure words. The pictures in the dictionary are nice, but that doesn't overcome the flaws I have mentioned. While the cost of the book was relatively low, I still don't think it was worth purchasing. Oh well.



5. The book does not have a 'Western bias' as some reviewers argued. It IS a Western visual dictionary, with many nice pictures, if that's what you buy it for. If you buy it with the intention of learning something about China, and not just Chinese words for universal-cum-Western concepts, beware: It has NOTHING specific to do with China or Chinese culture. These aspects are not neglected -- to repeat my point -- they simply do not exist. The worst thing is that the publishers PRETEND that the book teaches you about China, and MARKET their product as such. Thus, the front and back covers are the ONLY places were you'll find Chinese specific pictures/words.
   I can't see how this is anything but plain cheating. The price is reasonable, so that is not the problem, but rather the feeling of being lied to.
   I would have given this book a zero marking, if that was an option.

5 comments about SPEAK E-Z CHINESE In Phonetic English.

1. While this book is fairly well laid out and the content is helpful, be forewarned that this book contains profanity that I found offensive. I bought this book to help me communicate with my newly-adopted teenage daughter from China. I never expected to see the sh- word or the fu- word in a translation book. Who really needs to know how to curse in Chinese? Sheesh.
   
   Just know what you're getting when you buy this.



2. I have bought a few books and an audio course in order to learn some Chinese for fun and also because I wanted to communicate better while visiting China. If I had my pick of just one resource, this awesome, efficient little reference would be it. The best part about it is the pronunciation key for us Westerners to pronounce pinyin, it helps enormously. The book starts with the pronunciation guide and the four tones, then moves on to the essential phrases in every contexts, such as transportation, currency, time and calendar, and restaurants. It teaches both words and short phrases and sentences that introduce you to sentence construction. At the end there's a 130-page dictionary that is surprisingly complete, and includes a pronunciation key for every word. Most of the times I want to know how to say something out of the blue, it's there.
   
   As an added bonus, there's a *lot* of interesting things here that you are unlikely to learn from any other source. I am not sure why they are there but there they are, some are pretty funny. If you want to tell someone she's cute or sexy or that you love her, if you want to curse, call somebody an idiot or crazy or odd, how to call BS, how to say Chicago or California or Spain, how to say general or female/male body parts, how to say football or basketball, how to say honey (both as the sweet liquid and as a term of endearment), how to say "I'm stuffed", how to say so-so, and a bunch of other things, look no further: it's all here.
   
   You can also download an audio version of the book for free from their website, I have not tried it yet but I definitely will. I took this book everywhere I went to in China. Highly recommended.



3. What can I say? I am traveling to China, and looked at many resources to learn some Chinese. This is by far the easiest one to learn quickly and easily for someone who only speaks English. Their online resources and responsiveness to inquiries are a big bonus. The authors truly care about improving relations between China and other countries, and have made this available for a very reasonable price.



4. When beginning to study any foreign language, one of the most important things to remember is that you will almost certainly be required to master sounds that do not exist in English. The rolled 'r' of Spanish, the high 'u' of German and French, and the aspirated 't' of Hindi are all sounds that do not have corresponding equivalents in English. Mandarin Chinese is a language that contains many such sounds, and it is especially important to be careful when recognizing and producing these foreign sounds as each one is assigned a tone that determines the meaning. While Speak E-Z Chinese claims to help beginning learners navigate this difficult sound system, it instead replaces the Pinyin pronunciation system that the 1.4 billion Chinese speakers world-wide have used for decades with a new English-based approximation that brashly ignores tone completely. Speaking Chinese without proper tone is akin to speaking English using only one vowel. While context and inflection may help you make yourself understood, the "modest degree of fluency" that the book promises will continue to elude you. The content of the book is somewhat random and also occasionally inappropriate for young learners.
   
   Nathan Dummitt
   author of Chinese Through Tone & Color



5. This is horrendous! The circumvention of learning the proper pronounciation of Chinese phonemes and tones is doing the reader no good at all. Imagine a language which consists of only tongue-clicking sounds, grunts and hand claps (if such a language existed.) Now imagine that you speak only this language, and someone told you: "I can teach you English using your own phonetic system." This would certainly result in communicational disaster, were you to find yourself in an English speaking area.
   
   Chinese phonetics is difficult for most non-natives. There's no escaping it. If you interchange you pinyin-letters x and sh, your "I love Shanghai" (w ài shànghi) might be interpreted as "I love looking like the sea" (w ài xiàng hi). If you don't learn the tones correctly, there is no difference between the words "to buy" (mi) and "to sell" (mài). There certainly are important semantic differences conveyed by the small nuances in sounds and tones. If you really want to learn to make yourself understood in China, and not learn how to sound like a garbled radio, buy a book that starts out with lots of pinyin and sound/tone practice.

5 comments about Reading & Writing Chinese: Simplified Character Edition.

1. This is an excellent book for learning Chinese character recognition and writing. Despite indexing errors, I would recommend this book to all those who want to learn how to write and read Chinese. The book is well organized with similar sounding and similar looking characters arranged in learning facilitating sequence. In the first part of the book, which shows 1067 characters, each page presents 5 characters with the sequence of strokes clearly displayed.
   Do not be misguided by negative reviews written by some of the buyers. Look at the over-all rating and rely on the positive reviews provided by many readers.



2. I bought this book years ago because it was on one of these Amazon lists, and when I got it, I couldn't figure out what to do with it. Because I was learning Chinese in university, I didn't have a shortage of materials like dictionaries. Then why "bei danzi" / memorize single characters? That's the way Chinese study English in college, which is why it's so tough for them. No. Take the "read, write, speak, listen" approach. I guess if you're learning to write all by yourself you might need something like this. I don't know.



3. If memorization is the key to learning Chinese, then this book is the best tool around. It systematically introduces every character so that one learns the simpler characters first that are subsequently combined to make new characters. The 10 pages or so of introduction is extremely informative and I suggest to anyone using this book to begin by reading it thoroughly.



4. If at all there is a single book to learn Mandarin Chinese script, this is certainly not the one. Once the expectations are made reasonable, this is indeed a great book for a beginner. The book is very well produced, on thick paper, with an attractive layout, and it is as well organized as a military camp! Although it is an encyclopedic listing of Mandarin ("man daring"?) characters, I found it to be quite interesting to skim through, and found a few characters to be quite cute.
   
   The author does a remarkable job in trying to make sense of a non alphabetical script that does not lend itself to any such attempt. Characters are grouped by number of strokes they contain, by numbers 1-1000 (there are 6-50,000 characters, I am told), and by English alphabetical order. None of these makes learning the script any less intimidating. Let's admit that the energy expenditure has to be weighed against the desired gain.
   
   Learning by immersion ("sink or swim") may be the best method to learn a language, but it is not relevant here. Next is learning to read and write its alphabet, which is apparently not the case with the Chinese language. I have tried CDs and tapes of conversational Chinese, but to memorize hundreds of meaningless phrases is hardly better than mastering the (non)alphabet.
   
   Ordinarily, learning through the grammar and usage is not considered a good method. However, I found it to be more practical for learning Chinese. I bought Claudia Ross' book Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar (Modern Grammars) (see my review), and the McNaughton's book at the same time. The Ross' book gives an adequate introduction to the grammar, and the remaining 3/4 of the book gives its application. I could begin to learn conversational Chinese fairly easily and painlessly. The present book satisfied my curiosity, and and curbed my unwarranted jubilation.
   
   I have tried creatively to simplify and teach foreign languages to a native English speaker with varying success Sanskrit: An Appreciation Without Apprehension, A Crash Course to Learn the Gujarati Script (Setubandh Language Series Volume: 3), and A programmed text to learn Gujarati (Setubandh language series). I wish to find a simpler way to learn/teach Mandarin Chinese. Pending that, I highly recommend both, Ross' and McNaughton's books, which are complementary.



5. Reading and Writing Chinese Simplified Character Edition is an excellent guide to thousands of characters. Each character shows the stroke order and gives examples and definitions of characters close to or similar in meaning or sound or look. There is an alphabetical index as well as a stroke index. It is probably best to read the preface and student's guide, but it is not necessary if you want to jump right in you can. Reading the preface and student's guide is advised at some point.

5 comments about Conversational Mandarin Chinese: Learn to Speak and Understand Mandarin with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's).

1. I love Pimsleur's method, but NOT FOR STARTING Mandarin. Needs more explanation, not "listen and repeat".
   
   For an English speaker, Mandarin requires more up-front explanation of how the pitched syllables work.
   
   I've used Pimsleur's audio CDs for learning basic Japanese and Spanish and *LOVED* it.
   
   But when I bought Pimsleur's Mandarin, I was stumped. I couldn't even imitate the very first sentence, no matter how many times I went back and tried again. My mouth just didn't know how to make that sound. And there was no explanation, just "listen and repeat".
   
   After an hour of trying one sentence of this Pimsleur Mandarin, I had to give up. Knowing there must be a better way, I was about to take private lessons.
   
   Instead, the brand new "Michel Thomas Method" to Mandarin has just been released by Dr. Harold Goodman and it made all the difference in the world. A completely different approach that I feel needs to come FIRST, BEFORE you get into the Pimsleur method.
   
   In the Michel Thomas method, someone really takes the time to explain the sounds and grammar. No memorization, just explanation then experience. It gets you really understanding the basic building blocks of Mandarin first, so that when you're done with its 10-hour audio CD program, THEN you can come back here to Pimsleur's Mandarin and it'll all make sense.



2. Even decades after its creation, the Pimsleur system for learning a spoken language continues to be a quick and effective way to attain basic spoken fluency. Using a system of graduated intervals that reminds you of a previously-learned term just as you are about to forget it, Pimsleur's Chinese program will have you speaking and understanding at a basic conversational level in less than 30 hours of study. While the lack of written instruction may be difficult for more visual learners, this CD set remains an extremely effective, albeit somewhat expensive, introduction to the language.
   
   Nathan Dummitt
   
   author of Chinese Through Tone & Color



3. I've used Pimsleur materials before for German. As a foreign language teacher (French, Japanese, English) I value the thoroughness of the method with regard to pronunciation as well as to the methodology which drills/reviews vocab. and phrases while incorporating new structures & vocab. Especially for a language which a learner may find difficult to pronounce, this is in my opinion the best available short of a native speaker. Pimsleur will likely not be useful for someone who seeks a quick review or overview of a language.



4. Good product because it is easy for the beginner to learn. It will have you speaking a little Mandarin after a few sessions but you do need to have some sense of the sounds. You have no visual so some words may be difficult to follow despite hearing it many times. I had my son who is also a beginner but with some college coursework in Mandarin under his belt help me with the listening. He says for him, the lessons rate 5 stars. For me, once I got the hang of it, it's the best I've heard so far in my attempts to find learning material that is reasonably priced. Since the lessons are short and build on one another it is not difficult to practice, but like anything you do have to practice.
   Sheila Sidney Bender, PhD co-author The Energy of Belief: Psychology's Power Tools to Focus Intention and Release Blocking Beliefs



5. I think this is a good way to start learning Chinese, but I wish that this product had also had a written text with it, so that I could have also used visual learning. This would have made it a stronger product for me.
   
   However, I am making progress with this strictly audio approach, and expect to be able to say a few basics when I visit China at the end of this month. I have heard other people who have praised the Rosetta Stone products. I have no knowledge of those products, but perhaps those considering this product should compare Pimsleur with Rosetta Stones. That being said, I am not sorry I bought this one.

5 comments about Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary.

1. I'm at a real loss as to how this book rated such good reviews. It's possible that it is a good book but I can't tell because the printing is VERY tiny. You would either need the vision of a Barn Owl or a really big magnifying glass just to make out the characters. It's going back tomorrow.



2. Chinese Characters: A Geneology and Dictionary makes searching for Chinese words easy. The author, Rick Harbaugh, has included six indexes
   to help the scholar and learner in what has often been a long, and sometimes futile, search through traditional Chinese dictionaries.
   The use of the radical index had been the only option if the pronunciation of the word is unknown.
   
   Harbaugh includes the traditional radical index, a stroke index, a pronunciation index, an English-to-Chinese index, a Chinese index, and an index using the Bopomofo phonetic system.
   
   The dictionary itself is structured around the radical system; all words
   derived from the same radical are presented in a geneological tree.
   Word combinations, bound forms, are then listed and explained.
   
   Pinyin romanization is used throughout.
   
   I highly recommend Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary.
   I wish this book had been available when I began my study of Chinese many years ago.



3. A unique tool for searching chinese characters for foreign language students. It's easy to read. The book includes all the possible ways of looking for words: by English entries, by Chinese sounds, by stroke counting, by stroke order. The body of the dictionary is designed to illustrate how Chinese characters are actually constructed starting from radicals.



4. I'm studying chinese language for 2 years now, have some conventional dictionaries and use internet for help me learning. After several months of using [...] as my prefered online dictionary to get definitions, and character genealogy, I bought this excellent book that has very clever indexes to find the information using the sounds, character components, pinyin, english meaning, stroke count, radical, etc. It is a great help for learning. Great work !



5. If you want to learn the signs along their shape, take this book.
   The book describes todays state of the signs, and their internal relations.
   
   As somebody of the reviewers said: "this editor fell prey to the seductive charm of cute graphic stories"
   Yes, and intentionally so. This book is for learning todays signs, gives relations and sometimes what is called "folk etymology", to make learning easier. If you are a sinologist, who wants to know how the signs developed diachronically, this book isn't for you. You dont need it in the first place, because you know all the signs already.
   
   I hope this distinction: structure of todays signs vs hard core sinology & etymology is helpful.

5 comments about Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar (Modern Grammars).

1. I just started to learn Chinese a couple of months ago, when I felt the need for a grammar book.
   
   This book uses very simple vocabulary, which I can already understand. The grammar is explained with sample sentences all the time. The sample sentences are 'written' with both simplified and traditional characters.
   
   PartB is the really rich part, where not only additional grammar is presented (past, future, location, etc.), but also common and everyday expressions and situations (phone, agreement, etc.) are also explained.
   
   In my opinion it is very comprehensive, not only on beginner level. The grammar terms are simple - not like an 'official', heavy grammar book, which makes it easy for a beginner, but it is far from shallow for an advanced student either.
   
   I can only recommend it!! Currently I don't think I'll need any other Chinese grammar book in the near future...



2. After having used previous Chinese grammar books, such as those from Yip Po-ching, I found this one to offer a better organization of grammar patterns. The book is split into two sections. The first focuses on grammar patterns and the other which focuses on situational aspects of the language. These two approaches works great when learning how best to put together sentences.
   
   The book presents the material in Simplified/Traditional/PinYin. I also went ahead and got the workbook for this text and was also greatly pleased with the exercises presented.
   
   I would follow up your Chinese studies with a character dictionary (focusing on the 2000 most frequently used characters), and a vocabulary book such as those offered by HSK. With these resources you'll likely succeed in your Chinese studies. Oh, and don't forget ChinesePod; it's a great resource for Chinese listening comprehension.



3. If you are studying Chinese then you really need a grammar book as a companion to your other course materials. This will serve as a good reference which can be referred to when needed. The fact that the second half of the book focuses on functional (i.e. situational) grammar makes it easy to find the relevant grammar pattern. I won't go into too many details - you can read that in the review(s) below. I still have some grammar questions that the book doesn't answer but it is the best I have found so far. One area where the book is weak is on directional complements which can be unnatural for the western learner. Good luck on your learning!!



4. This is a simple, straight forward book to study the Mandarin Chinese language. It is actually a myths-buster. Having had a cursory glance at my copy borrowed from the library, I was convinced that Chinese is not particularly more difficult to learn than any other language. Although the authors do not claim this to be a book for the beginner, even a pre-beginner like myself found it to be easy to follow.
   
   Writing the Chinese characters still remains elusive, and awe inspiring, but this work succeeds eminently in making sense of how those letters combine to form words. Imagine the delight one can get to find out that Chinese nouns, and pronouns do not undergo any changes with gender, tenses, cases, etc. in most instances.
   
   This excellent work encourages the student by removing the fear generated by fear mongers and "linguo-phobes" by talking about 3-6000 characters, some with 40-50 pen strokes, several dialects, four tones of saying a sound, and so on, without ever explaining how such a language has survived for 30+ centuries.
   
   The customary approach of learning the alphabet, before learning to use the language, would probably frighten away many new comers to Chinese. Grammar (first part of the book) generally is not the best way to begin learning a new language. However, quickly reading through the early pages of this work takes one a long way. It gives much needed confidence. There is no learning by rote, memorizing lists of words, or phrases without understanding them.
   
   I have not yet reached the applied grammar (second part), but I am beginning to feel quite comfortable with the language. The book is very well organized, elegantly produced, and more than reasonably priced. One would be happy to pay that much for a lesson or two, and will get out only a fraction of what the book offers. I am ordering my own copy right now.



5. Claudia Ross improves and expands the work she did for Schaum's Outline of Chinese Grammar with a thorough and easy-to-use grammar guide for both beginning and intermediate learners. Chapter titles separate the language into clear and concise entires that are easy to navigate and provide hundreds of example sentences. "Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar" is exhaustively cross-indexed by chapter number to help learners distinguish between multiple uses of the same word/character. Overall, an excellent resource for serious students of the language!
   
   
   Nathan Dummitt
   author of Chinese Through Tone & Color

5 comments about Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Simplified Character Edition (Integrated Chinese) (Integrated Chinese) Textbook.

1. I studied Beginning Mandarin at the Northwest China Council offices in Portland, Oregon. This was the textbook used in the class and it was good, not outstanding. What helped a lot was the accompanying CD, to drill on pronunciation. Our instructor was from mainland China. I should also mention the accompanying character workbook which I would unhesitatingly award five stars. The only other text I've encountered is one called Practical Audio-Visual Chinese, which at this point I would grudgingly award two stars because it is difficult to get into. This text is used in a different Mandarin Chinese class in Portland. What alarmed me is that the numeral characters in PA-VC are entirely different than what I learned from IC. I went online to several sources and was relieved to find that all of the numeral characters were what I learned from IC, so it appears to me that the PA-VC is likely reflecting the Taiwanese style of Mandarin. I'm not about to learn another new system of numeral characters so I'll be asking my instructor about this. So far the speech seems to be exactly the same.



2. I started learning Mandarin with the Pimsleur series then moved to learning out of books and this is by far the best choice that I have seen so far. It gives clear explainations of grammar, you learn a lot of new vocabulary in each section and there are good dialoges in the beginning of every section. The vocabulary is up to date that includes words for even popular soda brands like Coke and Sprite. I yet to see a better Mandarin learning course.



3. Y unfortunely ordered integrated chinese level 1 part 2. This was incorrect so I reordered level 1 part 1 which is what I needed. I immediately returned the first book, however with out sales slip which I had lost. The Kentucky office, where I was told to send it, held it for several weeks until the 30 days had expired. Yesterday I received the book back stating I had not purchased the book from them. I have used no one else besides Amazon,com. I also noticed my order had been taken out of the computer. I now have a book I cannot use nor do I want. Therefore please take my e-mail off your mailing list as I will not be ordering from you again. We start Chinese 1 and 2 june 12. All students will need new books but they will be advised not to buy from your company. I will try to find a place locally or elsewhere.



4. I ordered the Level 1 simplified textbook and workbook from the same supplier, and the textbook has STILL not arrived after 2-3 weeks. I couldn't find any way to contact the supplier other than this. I NEED the book for an upcoming class quiz. I'm willing to delete this review if I can get it before this weekend.
   My address is
   101 Stone Mill Run Apt. 21
   Athens, GA 30601
   Please send it promptly!



5. Integrated Chinese is the good old reliable of chinese text series. Good for studying on your own and good for a class. Its integrated series of support material -- video, audio, workbooks -- is what really separates it from the field.

5 comments about New Practical Chinese Reader, Textbook Vol. 1.

1. This is a well organized book that makes learning easy. The text is arranged with a dialogue at the start of each chapter and with the new words & verbs embedded in the dialogue. Each chapter builds progressively on the last and there is enough English to bridge the gap so you will not be completely lost.
   One criticism is that the basic survival language / useful travel phrases take a while to show up and the book would be better organized if we were exposed to more of that sooner. But, otherwise this is a good learning tool. I have just returned from 2 weeks in China and the material in this book served as a good foundation.



2. I used this book for a high school students who just started learning Chinese. The book is well organized at a pace that the progress can move smoothly. I am glad that I picked a good one.



3. I have started my Chinese studies from an other language book during a language course, but after a time we have changed to New Practical Chinese Reader, which was far more better. Maybe those who have studied English as foreign language like me agree that this is a good book. Its main story is about some students studying in Beijing, and the lessons are about their life. From the very first lesson there are enjoyable conversations and useful phrases, so we can have the impression of a rapid progression which is important for guarding the motivation. The lessons have good structures and a good balance of texts and exercises, each lessons contains model phrases and explanation for the stroke order. It is easy to follow the instructions. There are not too much new words in one lesson, so one can manage to study them lesson by lesson.



4. I have been studying this series in class and privately for 3 + years now, and I am currently in book 4. The only wish I have is that I find the use of mainly a caligraphy-type font, while visually attractive, makes learning the characters a little harder, because many web sites, and newspapers use a different more "square", block style font. For me, it makes learning the characters harder, because one is more likely to run into the other style font on public signs ( I was in China for 20 days last summer) and in newspapers.
   
   So, if I were to redesign the book, I would mix up the style of the fonts to help the student get used to learning the characters as they appear in a variety of fonts.
   
   Otherwise, this is probably the best set of books for learning with a teacher or in a class. Also, the DVDs are excellent and well worth getting along with the CDs.



5. I first bought this book from a university bookstore when beginning to learn Chinese to adopt from China. The lessons are simple, clear, challenging, nicely laid out, and progress nicely. If one bothers to do all the included work with characters, one learns to read them instead of being chained to pinyin (most of my fellow adopting moms seemed in awe of me even attempting to learn the characters, but it really is my favorite part... and what is reading chinese with out reading charcters?)
   
   What I would like to add to the reviews here (and thankyou to the reviewer who pointed out all the various materials, including teachers manuals etc needed to actually properly use all the workbook material: it is true), is that this really is focussed on University Students. I learned how to ask how many students in a faculty, say what my major is, if the teachers were chinese or foreign etc. The characters meet in dormitories and cafeterias and have discussions with professors. I daresay I would have found all this wonderfully pertinent 20 plus years ago when I was a college student.
   
   As a mom to a toddler, whose chinese I would like to keep, and who wants basic vocab for speaking on a daily basis with other kids and parents around the home, it is frustrating and seems very disconnected to what I need to know. I am currently making my way through various children's books with a few of the other excellent books available: Oxford English Chinese dictionary: learn to look up by pinyin and character radical and stroke #, and William MCNaughton and Li Ying's "Reading & Writing Chinese" which is an index of chinese characters and stroke order. This together with having a native chinese speaker come into the home to help with real-life vocab has turned me away from continuing with these "I am an arts major" books.
   
   Anyways, this particular series is undoubtedly excellent, but not for everyone, being so college-topic based.

5 comments about Schaum's Outline of Chinese Grammar.

1. As I wrote in another review on Modern Chinese Grammar, I am developing a course for English speakers to learn Mandarin. What I didn't write is that if I could only have one Chinese grammar this would be it. This is an outline. It is not as complete or functional as the Modern Chinese Grammar. However, it contains all that you would need to master Chinese patterns ( there is a scholarly argument as to whether the language actually has a grammar).
   
   I have found information in here that I found no where else. This is a concise, distillation of how the language functions. Recently my Chinese teacher showed me a pattern but couldn't explain the logic and rules of use behind it. She said, " I can't tell you why but this is the way we say it." Of course, I found the information in Schaum's.



2. Although I didn't have time to read through the entire book, I am sure this will be very helpful as a reference book.
   
   I am not happy that I had to wait over 1.5 months to receive the book, but I can tell that Amazon made their efforts to ship this item seperatly with another book that I ordered in March, which was not in stock for long time.



3. Chinese has grammar? Well, not so much grammar as it applies to say, European language, but rather sentence patterns, suffix ending particles and lots and lots of them. This is an excellent book for explaining those sentence patterns and particles. This should help whip your Chinese into shape.
   
   Troy Parfitt, author



4. I'm currently living and studying in China. Although I'm a full-time Chinese student, all of my text books are written by Chinese educators. This is a great thing especially when I get more advanced in my study. However, right now I'm more toward the beginning and the English explanations in my textbooks are often mistranslated and confusing. For those of you who are toward the end of their first term of Chinese study (or if you have a general understanding of the language) this book will help you greatly.
   
   I've found it written in a way that is easier to grasp than many of my own Chinese textbooks. The readability of Schaum's book is what really sold me into singing its praises.
   
   I too am working my way through the Pimsleur series and this book does a great job of accompanying and clarifying some of the grammar points made in those lessons.
   
   Some people have said that this book isn't for the beginner. Well maybe so and maybe not. I will say that after a term of study I have a lot of questions that this book has helped me answer. My only regret is not purchasing it sooner as it could have helped me after the first month.



5. Dr. Ross has written a grammar guide that goes through basic sentence construction in Mandarin Chinese in a clear and systematic way. However, in an effort to be both accurate and exhaustive, the book occasionally gets bogged down in specialized grammar terminology such as "stative verb" and "aspectual suffix" that are sure to confuse younger learners of the language. As with most Schaum's outlines, the answers in the back of the book encourage self-study. Overall, a solid resource for adult learners who want a more thorough survey of technical grammar.
   
   Nathan Dummitt
   author of Chinese Through Tone & Color