Think twice before buying workbooks, December 26, 2005
　

Although the quality of the lessons seems excellent, and the audio CDs for the textbook are very clear, I wish I had not purchased the workbook.

The workbook has various exercises such as matching the pinyin to the sound, matching the characters to the pinyin, writing the characters, completing sentences, and such like. The first puzzlement came when I listened to the audio CDs I bought with the textbook; there is nothing on them that resembles the "match the pinyin to the sound" exercises. The second puzzlement came when I tried to find the answer key in the workbook. After more research on Amazon and elsewhere, I was able to piece together what you would need to make a complete set just for book one:

New Practical Chinese Reader Textbook 1, $19.95
New Practical Chinese Reader Textbook 1 Audio CDs, $29.95
New Practical Chinese Reader Workbook 1, $12.95
New Practical Chinese Reader Workbook 1 Audio CDs, $16.95
New Practical Chinese Reader Workbook 1 Instructor's Manual, $14.95 (Amazon has it, but it's hard to find)
New Practical Chinese Reader Workbook 1 Instructor's Manual Audio Tape, $9.95 (Amazon doesn't have this; I found it at www.chinabooks.com)

I have nothing negative to say about the quality of the lessons, but I wish I had known how many things I needed to buy to make the workbook usable.

It would be good if Amazon would disclose this somewhere in its editorial descriptions of the books.



　

Although I don't think this book technically qualifies as a reader. I think it is an excellent book for beginners. It starts with text and is followed by new words. It includes notes on the texts, a grammar section for each chapter, drills and exercises, and also a section on writing characters including the stroke order. This would be an excellent companion to students studying beginners chinese in college.

I'm currently using this book for my Chinese 101 class in a community college. As a high school student, I was first scared to take a college class. However, this book have been really helpful to me. The text are easy to understand and not boring. Overall, it's a great book.

The best Chinese textbook I've seen, February 13, 2006
　

I've been studying Chinese in China for five months now with this textbook, and I've loved it. I'm on the 19th chapter right now, and really enjoying it. The text is quite well-organized and the teaching method solid. The way I use this text is to first memorize the characters, then go through the dialgues with the audio (copying most of the characters as I go) and then going through the vocabulary lists once. Then I spend 4-6 hours with a tutor per lesson going through the exercises in the textbook, and have my tutor correct my workbook exercises. My chinese teachers and friends like the textbook and say that the content is authentic and high-quality (even though I live in Guangxi province, in Southern China, where people sometimes get annoyed if I use the Beijing dialect used in this book :) I haven't gotten the Teacher's manuals, as they're difficult to get a hold of in China, but you're better off studying with a tutor if it's at all possible. My only complaint is that more help could be given when learning the characters - many times I have to do research using a dictionary to learn what some of the components are, and what the meanings of individual characters are.

I have mixed feelings for this book. Coming from a Chinese background (and having the ability to actually SPEAK Chinese fluently), the first six chapters were a breeze. It starts off with just some pinyin, so that's always there to guide. All of a sudden, chapter 7 takes away the guiding hand and puts you straight to characters! I didn't feel like I had a chance to absorb all the characters I had been expected to memorize in the first six chapters. I then decided to buy the workbook. Although the workbook isn't worth the price, it is helpful & I'd probably still buy it in hindsight. Unless you're in a class enviroment with supplementary work, the textbook alone won't be enough to help you with characters.

I should probably note that I'm going over the work myself as this is the textbook used at my uni and will be assumed knowledged for my Chinese class this coming semester. From my experience so far, using this book -- without classes & its weekly assignment -- a *lot* of discipline must be exercised & much hard work to progress through the chapters.

Truly Excellent!, June 12, 2005
　

I moved to China with no knowledge of the language whatsoever. Now I am learning rapidly every day with this series of books and they cover everything! Speaking, reading, writing Chinese characters and listening.

Highly recommended!!!