Fine book for beginners, February 1, 2003

I am a 30-year old ABC (aka American-Born Chinese). As a result, I have grown up in and have adopted American culture as my own. In fact, I staunchly maintain that my native tongue and culture are English and American, respectively. My primary connections to recent immigrants from China and Taiwan are racial and genetic.

While I have an decent grasp of the Taiwanese language which is that of my parents, I have barely any grasp of Mandarin Chinese except a word or two. At the urging of my Cantonese girlfriend, I have recently purchased this book to learn Mandarin which is the predominant dialect in Chinese society. I have found the book to be well-organized as it builds on the vocabulary and sentence patterns learned in earlier chapters. Exercises in each chapter provide ample opportunities to use your vocabulary in a variety of ways. The repetition really helps you get used to the vocabulary and structure. The Language Points in each chapter explain the rationale for the language's structure. Fortunately, structure in Chinese is usually simpler than that of English. Cultural Insights provide information about the people of China and show how language is used to show politeness and respect in certain situations.

All that being said, you cannot learn a language simply by picking up a book. No book will ever get you to pronounce the words correctly or get you comfortable with the language. No fault of the book but I find pinyin, at times, to be counter-intuitive. To really excel at the language, you have to hear and listen to it. Fortunately, my girlfriend is a living, breathing language lab. I also suggest practicing a little bit each day otherwise you will rapidly slip back down the learning curve.

ALL IN ONE PACKAGE , for a small book, June 28, 2000

I have not found such a book. The book gives such descriptive and comprehensive tuturials of basic Chinese grammmar with various vocabulary words and sentence structures follows, with plenty of exercises: conclude each of the eleven chapters of this book. A vast amount of useful phrases: in both Traditional and Simplified Characters, and pinjin, serves its purpose of being a phrase book, as well as a very comprehensive "mini textbook." Even though I am learning Mandarin at the Intermediate level now, this book serves as a great review of vital information on basic grammar and vocabulary. Note that even though this book thoroughly describes the two main pronounciation systems: Wade Gilles and Pinjin, a good introductory CD or cassette program would serve as a good prounounciation introduction. Despite that flaw, this book, to me, is a fine asset to me with imperative information of the introduction to the Chinese language (Mandarin). I hope that native speakers and other Chinese language students will agree.

Good Introduction to Chinese, October 27, 2004

There is an audio tape that goes with this book. It is sold separately and you should get it to help you with pronounciation.

Chinese text is written in pinyin and simplified Chinese characters, with appropriate text in English.

You are also guided through the basic grammar.

If you can't find the recording for this book, then you may be better off getting Colloquial Chinese (the new version is easier, the older version is harder, but more thorough).

This is a very basic book and you can go through it relatively fast, without getting stuck along the way. Highy recommended for beginners.

Some other program to help you with pronounciation of Chinese are Pimsleur's programs and to help you write Chinese characters - Easy Chinese Tutor CD.

Good Introduction to Chinese, October 27, 2004

There is an audio tape that goes with this book. It is sold separately and you should get it to help you with pronounciation.

This is a very basic book and you can go through it relatively fast, without getting stuck along the way.

Highy recommended for beginners.

Some other program to help you with pronounciation of Chinese are Pimsleur's programs and to help you write Chinese characters - Easy Chinese Tutor CD.

Good Grammar, No Pronunciation, April 14, 2004

For the complete novice, this is an understandable approach to Chinese grammar, but the lack of a pronunciation guide (which would take only a couple of pages, as in "Chinese in 10 Minutes a Day") is a serious lack - maybe the audio tape would remedy this. There is a good discussion of pronouncing the tones, but nothing about how to pronounce the consonants and vowels. For this reason, it's not a stand-alone guide; except for this (and I think it's a big "except"), it seems thorough and comprehensible.

Structure and background, a great intro, March 7, 2004

The material is on practical daily life but despite the blurbs it is not a phrasebook; it is organized into ten lessons but it seems to have about a first semester's worth of material. The book's strength is that the author explains grammar and structure (and even 'Worfian' aspects of the mindset of Chinese speakers!) along the way to depths you wouldn't expect to find in a beginner's book. The author is a linguist and the reader gets the benefit. This is a great, authoritative (but accessible) linguistic and cultural introduction for those new to and curious about Chinese.