Customer Reviews (3)

I needed this for a college class
Overall it's well written, but confusing in places as well.

Great book
I am using this book for beginning Chinese. It is very good because it has easy vocabulary for a beginner and gradualy turn difficult. I like specially the first section that tell you about the radicals, and certain rules for the use of pinyin that other books don't tell you, which makes you pronounce the words incorrectly. and also I like the chart that tell you the manner to pronounce the Chinese letter which are different than English ones, such as the "ch" which it is not exacltly the english "ch", as well as the "r", or "zh" or other.

the con ot that the audio does not come with the book, I do not know where to get it because it was provided in my class.

For anyone who has ever suffered through the hell that is Chinese school...
...and is still interested (somehow!) in actually learning [traditional] Chinese, this textbook and its attendant workbooks are for you. Grammatical notes, explanations, and cultural references abound, not to mention supplementary flashcards created by another student that are available on the internet. Most importantly, the workbooks (character and regular) give you an excellent chance to practice writing and to learn the characters in context, greatly helping with the necessary (but drastically de-emphasized) memorization component.

I haven't had any experience with any Chinese textbooks other than this one and the **** we had to use in Chinese school, so I can't speak about how this one fares in comparison to other non-Chinese-school textbooks, but on its own merits, I would definitely advise you to buy it. ... Read more

Product Description
Now readers can by-pass the complex Pinyin system in favor of user-friendly words and sentences provided in straightforward phonetic English. Packed with humorous slang and favorite Chinese idioms, only SPEAK E-Z CHINESE provides the means to communicate in fresh, contemporary Mandarin at only a glance. Free audio companion offered online at www.CathayCafe.com. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

excellent book
This is a excellent book for easy pick up off the chinese languge. I have been studying madarin also for a year and this book is ideal for quick reference to words you have forgotten, or for helping construct basic sentences. It is also extremely useful for phonetic tones.It is easy to get the correct pronounciation of words, this is extremely useful as pinyin does not give the correct sound of the words. If you picked up a chinese dictionary and try to translate pinyin to english i garantee you will not be understood. I'm off to china to live for a while and this book will be certainy included in my hand luggage, even if you are going for a short holiday this reference book will be an extremely valuable tool if you are trying to get your point across.

Ok, not great...
Ok, not great.I ended up buying the Lonely Planet phrasebook once I was already in China and found it more useful and better organized.While there's lots of useful information in Speak E-Z Chinese, it's not well organized (at least to me) and its medium text-book size makes it less practical to carry it around if you don't want to carry a bag compared with the pocket-sized phrasebooks.I dumped this book at the hotel and carried the Lonely Planet phrasebook in my back pocket or jacket pocket.However, others may find it more useful depending on their needs.

ez chinese
Helpful for those starting out or traveling. Some of the phonetic english is not(according to my tutor) in accord with Beijing mandarin pronunciation, but is passable if wanting to converse merely as a tourist.
Does contain vulgar language, so those sensitive to this need to beware.

Works Well Easy to Understand
I have found it to be useful. I am using it to supplement my other language learning resources. Looking up words is quick and easy. The phonetic spelling works well. The pronunciations must be the official language dialect. My wife is Chinese and her version of words pronunciation differs slightly but she is able to understand my attempts.
I wish it had more words. But you can't have everything. Good Book!

Eh, same complaints
I bought this book knowing the complaints about it. They're all accurate but it doesn't mean this book is useless. It is great for introducing one to slang and uncommon yet useful mandarin, which courses would not necessarily expose one to. Good for the intermediate or novice mandarin learner. ... Read more

Product Description
This Conversational program contains 8 hours of interactive audio-only instruction, effective language learning with real-life spoken practice sessions.

The Pimsleur Method provides the most effective language-learning program ever developed. The Pimsleur Method gives you quick command of Cantonese Chinese structure without tedious drills. Learning to speak Cantonese Chinese can actually be enjoyable and rewarding.

The key reason most people struggle with new languages is that they aren't given proper instruction, only bits and pieces of a language. Other language programs sell only these pieces -- dictionaries; grammar books and instructions; lists of hundreds or thousands words and definitions; audios containing useless drills. They leave it to you to assemble these pieces as you try to speak. Pimsleur enables you to spend your time learning to speak the language rather than just studying its parts.

When you were learning English, could you speak before you knew how to conjugate verbs? Of course you could. That learning process is what Pimsleur replicates. Pimsleur presents the whole language as one integrated piece so you can succeed.

With Pimsleur you get:

• Grammar and vocabulary taught together in everyday conversation,
• Interactive audio-only instruction that teaches spoken language organically,
• The flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere,
• 30-minute lessons designed to optimize the amount of language you can learn in one sitting.

Millions of people have used Pimsleur to gain real conversational skills in new languages quickly and easily, wherever and whenever -- without textbooks, written exercises, or drills.

Conversational Cantonese Chinese includes the 10 lessons from Pimsleur's Basic Cantonese Chinese plus an additional 6 lessons.

The 16 lessons in Conversational Cantonese Chinese are the same first 16 lessons in the Pimsleur Comprehensive Cantonese Chinese Level 1. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Fun, easy and effective, even if you're not a kid
I'm in my 50s and an absolute beginner at Cantonese. The speakers are clear and easy to follow, the words and conversations are useful right from the start, and the 30 minute format is manageable. I play the disks on my way to work.

Each lesson incorporates what you learned on previous disks into the new conversations, so there's plenty of reinforcement while you learn new words and sentences--no need to feel overwhelmed. I'm on Lesson 9, and on a recent visit to Chinatown I was already able to understand some words and phrases.

A little booklet tells you how to use the disks and how you'll know when you're ready to advance to the next lesson. Although the instructions suggest one lesson per day, I find I usually need 3-5 plays for each lesson before I feel I'm ready. You might need more or less repetitions. I feel confident that I'll be "conversational" in basic Cantonese in a few weeks.

I'm really pleased with this product.

Too painfully slow to maintain interest
I've listened to many a language tape for several languages, and while I've never adored any of them, this one is just too painful to listen to. The first few discs consist of a voice saying a phrase, then silence while you repeat, then another phrase, silence, then back to the old phrase, silence, etc. Lots of long pauses and repetition, which could be helpful for someone, but was completely unappealing and boring for me.

I could understand almost immediately!
I am trying to learn Cantonese because my son-in-law's family speak it and I want to encourage my daughter to learn it. I was amazed that I could understand some of what he said within a week.

WOrks really well
I listen to it on the way to work.I am up to lesson 12 and it really works.Not enough vocabulary for general use, but it gets you off to a wonderful start.I now know the chinese girls at work often talk about eating.

I rcommend it over Berlitz or the other brands.This is taylored to the cantonese language and it teaches you in a natural way.

Warning.If you have the Basic Contonese, the first five discs are the same.

Started learning atage 21 in college, now studying again at age 51
Although the conversational Cantonese used is correct...many of the word phrases could be greatly improved with more commonplace word usage and phrases. A small written booklet - written in the romanized Yale system for conversational Cantonese would be most help for those of us 21yrs. and older:who's native tongue is English. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Prompt service.
I received the item earlier than the posted date (though Amazon usually ships early anyway so I had high expectations - which were met). ... Read more

Product Description

The need for a modern text to teach Chinese to English-speaking students has long been recognized. Even today Chinese tends to be taught by rote rather than concept for the want of pedagogically sophisticated course materials. Jennifer Liu and Margaret Yan, two Indiana University professors, have now produced a cognitively based first year course for learning Chinese. The innovative features of their texts include.

* An introduction to the cultural and social contexts of Chinese* A presentation of Chinese calligraphy* Lessons with real-life situations and lively dialogue* Explanations of Chinese pronunciation and grammar* Illustrations including cartoons* Chinese characters with mnemonic visuals* Criteria-grouped vocabulary* An instructor's manual* Student workbook

Customer Reviews (6)

Chinese is difficult, but...
I took a semester class with this book. I know that the other people seem to think that it moves too fast, but that really depends on the teacher. What it's trying to do is give you a relatively authentic Chinese learning experience in a way that you can still understand.

Chinese, unlike Spanish or French, requires your hand to be held as you go through, regardless of the book. If your teacher doesn't speak any English (ahem - even outside of class time) then you will struggle a lot with the book. If your teacher can speak English, then this book is excellent. It really depends on what kind of help you get.

I used this in a class at IU and I found that the 2 quizzes + test/quiz at the end of the week was an extremely taxing way of using this book. You're learning 70 or so words per week, in Traditional and pinyin, plus 20 characters in correct stroke order.

If you were bad at language in high school, don't use this book. Ability to look over a huge list of words and be able to write them in pinyin after 10 minutes is a must. (The alternative is the teacher-suggested 1 hr. of study time per day)

Learning Simplified comes later on.

Best I've found so far.
Recommended.I have switched to Interactions/Connections textbooks after using the Integrated Chinese course for a semester.Please see my full review and a comparison of the two courses under the textbook "Interactive Chinese by Yao and Liu".

Interactions I is challenging:before you tackle it, I absolutely recommend Pimsleur Mandarin I audio full course.And you will need a tutor or a class for any Chinese textbook.Classes are a lot of fun, but check the textbooks they are using before you sign up -- Chinese textbooks seem to be about 50 years behind other foreign language offerings.I have not tested the Interactions audio CDs ($100 from Indiana University Press).

Textbook courses typically assume you will continue your study in a language school in China/Taiwan/Hongkong, so they prepare you for student life.If you want Chinese just for travel, especially business travel:go with the Pimsleur full courses: Mandarin I, II, III.They are the BEST purely audio (speaking, no reading) courses. For just speaking Chinese, there is no textbook course that will take you as far and as fast as Pimsleur: you won't be able to read Chinese street signs, but you will be comfortable asking directions!

Spin your wheels
First the good:

The book has an excellent character reference with stroke order for key words in each chapter.

The cultural notes in each chapter are interesting and informative.

Then the bad:

Tries to do far too much, too soon. A beginning foreign language student needs to use their time building a foundation of the language that they can add to in later semesters. Huge vocabulary lists of words that students won't remember and aren't important for basic communication and learning of sentence patterns simply cause frustration and needless wasting of study time doing look up drills.

Sample dialogs SHOULD be useful. They can demonstrate the usage of key grammar points and vocabulary. The dialogs in this book are so cluttered with excessive vocabulary that one can easily spend hours just playing find the obscure words instead of getting a feel for how the language is used. I realize Chinese is difficult and a time consuming 5 credit course, but having to encounter "leading actress" or "United Nations" in dialogues really defeats the purpose of them. I suspect not one student in my class would have been able to say "vinegar" or "to be natural" in Mandarin Chinese a week after class ended, but they sure had fun turning the pages again to look up that strange character so they can get through the dialogs. Hey we can say "athletic field" so we're almost fluent!

Early language learning should focus on the core vocabulary. Let the students repeat and drill early and gain a feeling for the language. Don't believe me? Take a student who's completed two semesters with books like this and another who's listened to a complete 90 lesson Pimsleur course... drop them off in the foreign country and watch who can communicate. One has tried to memorize huge vocabulary lists, another has practiced over and over with the most useful words.

Pass on this book, unless you need to be able to say "pumpkin pie" in Chinese to feel like a proper beginner.

Recommended by my girlfriend from Taiwan
I bought this book today, as recommended by my girlfriend who is a Taiwan native.Meeting her in June of 2001, I became interested in learning the Chinese language.This would be my second foray into attempting to learn a foreign languge, as my first one, was back in the spring of 2001 with the Russian language.

As before, I went to bookstores, and looked and studied the different methods available.I found what I thought were some good methods, but thought I would wait until she came to visit me so she could advise me of the best one.

She came here over X-Mas, and we looked at many books in the bookstores.This is the only one she recommended.

Now, I cannot rate it just yet, but I will give it 5 stars based on her recommendation.

She chose it because she felt that it had the best presentation of the traditional and simplified characters, their pinyin pronunciation, and explanatory meanings.And she liked the fonts.

It is so fascinating in trying to learn a new language.It makes you think, about how did you learn your native language in the first place.In my first attempt to learn a new language, the Russian language, I was faced with some soul searching about this.I realized that aural assimilation and imitation, was probably the earliest learning method.Then, the study of the written character and alphabet, and word formation, then grammar.

So, probably no one method can cover it all, but a combination of methods would be comprehensive.

I guess it depends on your agenda and time frame.

I had purchased the "Chinese Now" by Transparent Language, I thought it was a good aural and imitation learning program, but my girlfried didn't like it.One thing I realized, is that it doesn't show you characters, only pinyin equivalent pronunciations.

Anyway sorry for rambling on, but I will let you know more after my studies, on how this particular book works out for me!

Simplified characters hard to distinguish
I'm going to be living in China in the coming year, and I was hoping to use this text as a means to get some knowledge of the language beforehand. I will be living in Beijing, where the simplified characters are popular. In contrast to the previous review, I found distinguishing the simplified characters from the traditional to be quite difficult, and I'm somtimes left to wonder if they are even there at all.

It is also not set up in a very easy to learn format: they start you out from the beginning with entire dialogues in Chinese characters (albeit, they then repeat the conversations in Pinyin and English) so they don't offer much in the form of grammar instruction, just jumbles of words with no explaination as to why or how the sentence is structured in that way.

One last qualm: The workbook has many activities involving the tapes for the books (which are not included, and I wouldn't even know where to find).

As a plus, it does give you the selected characters in each chapter with the number for each stroke, in addition to aides for remembering the meaning. It also offers a section on Chinese culture at the end of each chapter.

All in all, this would be a good book for use in the classroom with a teacher who would be able to answer your questions. ... Read more

Product Description
This comprehensive book covers 1,100 headwords, including all those required for the internationally recognized Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK) test of proficiency in Chinese. For each word the constituent characters are shown, along with their radical and stoke count . Notes on cultural context, grammar and usage are given to ensure correct understanding. An English-Chinese Finder, a radical index and a character index allow quick access to any headword and an appendix lists common character components, with explanations and examples.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Great Beginners Dictionary
This is a great beginners dictionary. We use it all at our Chinese class. Easy to find words from the radicals or pinyan. I can recommend it to anyone who is learning Chinese. The sample sentences are clear and understandable. There are more comprehensive dictionaries on the market but they are heavier to carry. The print could be a bit bigger. Its a trade off for a travel dictionary though.

Study a dictionary?
I found the traditional way of going through a course book, making exercises, listening to the CD, writing the characters with the right stroke order, etc. much too frustrating: I could make beautifull set phrases, but never understood the often elaborate answer! People think you speak good chinese, when all you do is repeat the sentence from the Pimsleur CDs! So I decided to take one step back, and go for the combination of pointing and single-word "sentences". And try to pick up some words in the answer. Figured that vocab is much more important than grammar in Chinese (at my level at least). Anyway, it's working. That's why I write this review, my first one. If it works for me, maybe for some others too. Mind that I did not use this book as a dictionary, it is probably to basic for that. But it makes an excellent wordlist.

What are the Pros?
1/ Most commonly used words are indeed very commonly used.
2/ Example sentences range from easy to difficult. And you really feel challenged to read and understand them.
3/ The cultural notes are limited, but usefull.
4/ Call me nerd, but this dictionary is fun! You will read it like a book.
5/ Because all words are arranged alphabetically (= by pinyin), you see words with similar pinyin, but with other tone marks grouped together. Makes it easier to remember the tones.
6/ You get a list with "Meaningfull Character Components" and they show you there's some logic in the characters.
7/ You get a list with "Measure Words", not all of them, but enough to recognize them when you read.
8/ You are given a list with "Usefull Words". Find the title rather strange for a basic dictionary, but basically you find a limited number of categories of words grouped together ex. colours, directions, animals, time, ... Would be nice if the whole book was like this. But then it wouldn't be a dictionary, would it?


Cons
1/ well, it is boring to learn by the letter. Be it from Pinyin to English, or the other way around.
2/ characters are printed in black in the example sentences, pinyin in bold. So your eyes tend to go to the pinyin.
3/ Characters are difficult to read at times, because of the font. So you'll check the example sentences often.

Since I bought this dictionary, I have bought a grammar book (Schaum's: recommended), a thematic vocab book (Schaum's: also recommended, but can not replace this dictionary), and the bigger dictionary of the same author (Tuttle Learner's Chinese-English Dictionary) because I am so happy with this one.

Greetings from China,

Coolest and Most Fun Mandarin Guide Ever
Thisbook is the best ever for getting down to what you actually need to know if you are learning Mandarin. The book uses pinyin andcharacters, both traditional and modern. It is a gold mine of the information a person actually needs and uses to pass the HSK Level A proficiency test. It also contains a wonderful variety of sentences that are in both pinyin, English, and characters that let you see real usages. The book is arranged alphabeticallyin pinyin transliteration. A snap to use. Not overwhelming. Makes you feel like maybe it really is possible to learn Chinese.Very enjoyable presentation. The first day I had it I sat down and read it for 4 straight hours, it was that enjoyable to study. And that is a lot to say for a dictionary.Very WOW! Koodos to the authors and publisher. Warning, there are words in here that only the English use, but you will recognize them immediately, you know, words like MUM. When's the last time you heard that one in the United States? ... Read more

Product Description
The major struggle facing all beginning Chinese language students is to learn to recognize, read and write hundreds of Chinese characters. This book adopt a structural approach that helps students overcome this initial difficulty and quickly master the basic Chinese characters fundamental to this language. Intended for beginning students, The First 100 Chinese Characters: Simplified Character Edition contains carefully selected and sequenced characters for rapid and effective learning. Each Chinese character is shown separately on a single page, along with its English definitions, hanyu pinyin romanization, alternate form, a stroke-order guide and ample writing space.
Two indexes—alphabetical by the English meanings and by pinyin romanization—are provided at the back of each book for quick and easy reference, along with extra sheets of blank boxes for writing practice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

The first 100 Chinese Characters
a lessonbook for my granddaughter.Her mother said it would be a big help.

Incomplete effort
.

The First 100 Chinese Characters

by Alison and Laurence Mathews

"The Quick and Easy Method to Learn the 100 Most Basic Chinese Characters"

ISBN 978-0-8048-3830-6

[...]

[...]

This could have been a good book if the authors knew more about Chinese language.

The effort is incomplete and lacks the essentials to develop good character writing skills.

This book does very little very well. There are absolutely no;

1) no Rules of Hanyu Pinyin
2) no Rules of Grammar
3) no Rules of Pronunciation
4) no list of named Strokes
5) incomplete rules of Stroke Order
6) very poorly thought out character writing drills
7) no "proper" list of the Kangxi Radicals.


There are only 4 rules of stroke order mentioned, grossly inadequate.

There are no write over practice drills, just typically 3 huge characters in 48 size font to copy. This does not give the student an opportunity to anchor the motor skills for each character. There is little value in practicing writing mega-characters unless you are going to be a Chinese sign writer. There is no guidance to learn the scalability necessary to write Chinese.

The book gives an incomplete list of the Kangxi Radicals at the back of the book but the officially assigned numbering is very wrong!Also, the Matthews add strokes and characters that are not Radicals and invent a new family of Radicals! Like why use the ones that the Chinese have used for hundreds of years, right, make up your own! It the first 10 of the Radicals they have listed, not one is the correctly numbered and there are "non-radicals" in the list.

The layout and readability of the book is very mediocre.The contents page is so small that the letters and characters are barely readable. The spacing, page format and font size of the Introduction makes it hard to read. Same for the List of Radicals at the back of the book, barely readable.

The Index is excellent.

The choice of characters are excellent.

Scoring

Score

Kangxi Radicals 0/3,

There is an imcomplete chart at the back of the book listing some of the Kangxi Radicals, however, the assigned numbers are wrong. There are both strokes and characters added to their list that are not Radicals. Also, it is very difficult to read due to the size of the font that they used. In order to get their partial chart with 226 (their are 214 numbered Radicals) characters on it, they reduced the size of the letters and Chinese characters so that they are difficult to read. However, they do make an attempt. Unlike most books. But how can you give a mark for so much wrong information?

Stroke Order 0/3,

Stroke order is deemed to be the basis of literacy in writing Chinese characters. At first I thought that there was nothing written on this. then I found 4 sentences of page 9. This is pathetic. A total of 62 words to describe a very important component to writing Chinese characters.

Named Strokes 0/3,

There is nothing on this

Readability 1/3,

For some reason, the authors used a smaller than usual font size on the first six text pages of the book. Slightly less than six pages is your entire introduction to all the components to character writing, incidentally. This makes it difficult to read. These first six pages cover very little that is useful to learn to write Chinese characters.It is hard to understand as to why the authors did not use a bigger size of font.

Corrrectness 3/3,

A good indexing system is utilized. There are no information errors in the
book, just very little information.The word choices are excellent.

Writing Drills 1/3,

The writing drills are simplistic and do not do a good job at guiding the student. There is a typical page of boxes to practice in but only a monster sized character to use as a guide. Chinese students learn by overwriting characters continually downsizing until they can do it at any size, accurately. This in fact make the book about 80% empty space. Studies have shown that students benefit most from trace over character drills. This book makes no provision for the scalability necessary to learn to write characters.

Grammar 0/3,

There are no grammar guidelines

Translations 3/3,

The book is a character writing book. There are a sampling of words for each character and they are accurately translated and useful words.

Overall Usefulness 1/3

This book has a good selection of characters for introduction. It does not assault the student with too much information like the books by Phillip Yungkin Lee.It whoever fails at its purpose as it is a book to learn to write characters.

Honesty, Integrity 0/3

The subtitle of the book is;

"The Quick and Easy Method to Learn the 100 Most Basic Chinese Characters"

There is no "Quick and Easy" method to learn Chinese character writing, and given that this book, like their first, lacks all the necessary strokes, stroke order, named strokes, I think the subtitle is a big lie.

This book fails entirely at providing the essentials to writing Chinese characters. By not providing the names of the strokes, the rules of stroke order and a good representative exampling of characters,a student cannot develop character writing skills.The authors do a further dis-service by not having pronunciation rules of Hanyu Pinyin.

Overall, the student is supposed to be able to write a character without knowing the names of the strokes and the stroke order. Then the student is introduced to words without knowing how to pronounce them. This book is another incomplete effort by the team of Alison and Laurence Matthews.

Hopefully the book will serve as a template for a more
knowledgable author to write a better book.

The Mathews keep trying but keep fallng short of providing the student with a useful book.

Overall Score

9/30


Dr. Michael Howatt

Simplified Chinese
Simplified Chinese is an abomination.The language was developed through thousands of years of combining ideographs, pictographs with phonetic parts.Learning simplified Chinese will actually make it harder to recognize more complex Chinese characters because each basic part of the word tends to have a meaning and has a reason it is combined with other parts.By learning simplified Chinese, which has a tendency to omit many parts to a complex word, you lose the meaning to the word.In traditional Chinese you can sometimes figure out what the word is by looking at all the parts used in the complex word, these parts tend to tell you one basic idea right away, as there is often a core character that describes what it is, then a phonetic part and if not you can usually tell by looking at the word it is next to.

There is an art form and purposeful design to this language and simplified Chinese destroys thousands of years of wisdom.If you want to learn Chinese and know more about its culture learning simplified Chinese will get you a watered-down uninteresting, simplified view of a complex culture and language.

The First 100 Chinese Characters
This book is only used as a "workbook" for practice in writing Chinese characters.It teaches how to write stroke order step-by-step.What I like about this book is I can make multiple copies of it and have our children practice many times until they get it down.It has special practice boxes with grid lines and lots of extra practice sheets.It does teach you how to pronounce a word and how it was used in common words or phrases. Our children like it because it has an English and Chinese index.

Great!
Thanks for this book. It came on time and is helping us to slowly learn to read the confusing language that is Chinese! ... Read more

Product Description
Each fairy tale starts in English, then slowly MORPHS INTO MANDARIN CHINESE

Begin with LEVEL 1! This book will teach your child 20+ new Mandarin Chinese words in a fun, fast, and truly easy way! Here s how it works...

* An English word in the fairy tale is circled with its Mandarin Chinese translation in the column.

* From that moment forward, the Chinese word (written in red) will be used throughout the rest of the story... and it will be used again and again in context!

* As the fairy tale progresses, more and more Chinese words are added like a big language train gathering words along the way.

* The new words are repeated throughout the story helping to reinforce understanding.

* By the end of the book, the child has easily learned 20+ new Chinese words in context!

It's easy! And remember... each level uses words taught from previous levels...so you ll want to continue with the next levels. By the end of the last level, the fairy tale will be written almost entirely in Chinese - and it will be easy to understand EVERYTHING!

****************************************** Included: Audio CD with narration, sound effects, & fully orchestrated original music
**Composed, arranged, and performed**
by Slangman David Burke! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Fantastic Skill Builder
This is a great way to get an introduction to a language.We have them in several different languages.The Chinese is challenging for Mom and Dad but we are giving this a try.

Terrific !
My Daughter age 4 Loves this book & CD. We play & read it every night. We love the CD narrator's voice & tone. We love the pictures. We love the simple fairy tale story with Mandarin words through out. We are learning Chinese & we love it ! I highly recommend this book & CD. Was shipped Fast too! ... Read more

Product Description
This work is an integral part of the Chinese Medicine Language series for students and practitioners. It presents the first 100 characters based upon frequency of use in medical texts, as well as an overall program designed to help the student acquire the necessary tools for building a thorough vocabulary. This first volume presents the basics of Chinese characters along with the etymologies of the 100 most commonly seen characters. Designed as a workbook, it offers students practice in learning to read, recognize, and write the characters and provides the basic tools that students need to become familiar with the written language of Chinese medicine and thereby enrich their studies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Pay for 100 Characters, Get 100 Characters
This is a book of the 100 most commonly used characters in traditional Chinese medical literature. If you are expecting more than a hundred, you'll be disappointed, but the 100 characters presented here are done so with clarity: 2 pages dedicated to each character.On the left, you have the character in simplified and traditional format (which is important, depending upon where in Taiwan or China you're reading Chinese), common ways and examples in which the character is used, an explanation of the component parts and significance of the character, and the etymology (evolution from the ancient pictograph into the modern), and on the facing page, there is a worksheet for practicing writing the character.Having studied Chinese for about two years in preparation for Chinese medical school, I feel the best way to remember these characters is to write write write!I was quite surprised to see that one reviewer complained that etymologies are offered here, since the symbolic significance and make-up of each character has really helped me to remember and differentiate between similar characters.(Sometimes you can really see the original meaning in the ancient script!)One thing this book could have had to further aid in memorization and usage is additional workbook type exercises and sample practice reading sections to help bridge the gap between this series and the rather dense Chinese Medical Chinese that follows.In terms of price, to be honest, having already studied a fair amount of Chinese, I think I would have paid 5 bucks just for a copy of the table of contents and done the research on my own.But for the beginning student, you're paying not only for the text, but for the assurance that it's been presented by a traditional Chinese medical language authority and veteran translator.

If you liked this book, the second, Acu Point Vocab, follows the same format and the third, Materia Medica Vocab, can also be found online elsewhere.

WriteChinese, good not great
Exactly what I wanted, but then I wanted more...
It covers a few characters and how they are written in many different ways.It can be a little confusing, pre-historic, ancient, modern, printed, etc.The authors feel the different forms are needed, but I really need only modern script.Also, I need more medical characters.This is Vol. one, and each of the next volumes will coaver more characters.I hope they publish them all in one book, before I graduate from TCM school.Right now, it is a lot of cash for a small book that just makes me want the next three books.Very valuble, and I'll use it for a few weeks but not return to it. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (12)

This is one of the better books I have seen
Wonderful introduction to the language, though not always consistent between standard and simplified form usage.

It was written during the Cultural Revolution for crying out loud!
The only thing "modern" about it is that they keep updating the cover and raising the price. It contains obsolete words and is absent technology. Tongzhi, comrade, has become something of a synonym for homosexual, co-operative stores have given way to Walmart, and the Soviet Union is no more. Even though Dalu, Mainland China, has been using the simplified characters for decades several sentences in this book are a mélange of traditional and simplified. That other reviewer was right in that there is a heavy emphasis on linguistics and pronunciation. I have met Chinese with backgrounds in math and science who are more knowledgeable about English grammar than some American English teachers. I guess it stands to reason that the faculty of Peking University would take a grammatical approach when trying to teach Chinese to Anglophones. Where I have found the Chinese to be sorely lacking is in teaching methodologies. I was a TEFL (teacher of English as a foreign language) in China in 1999/2000. One book I was asked to "teach" was called 300 Sentences. That is exactly what it was. It contained no methodology at all, but the real coup de grace was that it was sprinkled with phrases like, "I'm going to tell my boss to go to h-ll." Modern Chinese: A Basic Course is marginally better, but it's still a cram book. If you listen to the tapes long enough and read it enough times you can eventually memorize it. Lastly, a couple of reviewers lauded this book simply because it was produced by the faculty of Peking University, which most Chinese now call Beida. It's analogous to Harvard, ergo; I'm surprised they haven't been shamed into producing a top of the line series, or at the very least updating this debacle.

The best part is it is Chinese by Peking University
Think about it. Emphasis on pronunciation. How can THAT be wrong? I love this book becuase it uses repetition and then more repetition. In the end you have a vocabulary of approximately 200 words, yet the excitement is that you will be able to use those words in a lot of different sentences. The book is full of sentences and information about grammar so that as you aquire new words your usage will not cause you shame. The book does not require the addition of the cassettes or cd to be enjoyed. And look at the price. We are talking just pennies per word here, and you will be using the words correctly. I would have liked more info on stroke order for writing, but then everyone owns a copy of William McNaughton's character book, so why would the authors bother? Very important book and dirt cheap.

so-so effort
the best thing about this book is that it is cheap and well-bound, as is typical of dover books.it also has a good (if technical) description of the phonology of chinese.as a learning book, however, it's not especially good.its grammar descriptions are not only far too technical, but even for someone like me who studies linguistics and hence understands the terms, they are poorly written and unclear.there are hardly any exercises, and they are mostly geared towards writing the script; the remainder are mostly written in the script only, without pin-yin.in general, there is far too much emphasis on learning and using the script, not very practical for a beginning book.i'd much recommend the teach-yourself book (elizabeth scurfield) instead.

Could be better, but not a bad starting point
I think the other reviews are accurate for the most part. For example, as one other reviewer mentions, this book uses a lot of phonetic terms like "affricative" and "labio" that really frustrated me at first. But using a dictionary, I created a little glossary of all the terms used and as I got to know the terms better, I found the descriptions more helpful than any other source for correct pronunciation. (These descriptions alone are, I think, worth the cost of the book.)

Another reviewer mentions that this book doesn't compare any of these sounds to English equivalents. I think this is done to help the student begin the process of "thinking in Chinese" which, while frustrating at first, probably pays off down the road.

I've used two other books and several Web sites to help me learn Chinese. I don't know if I'd recommend this book by itself, but together with other sources, I think it's invaluable. ... Read more

Product Description
This series of books represents the first introduction to classical Chinese that focuses solely on medical texts. The selections that make up the chapters span a period of nearly 2,000 years, covering the entire written history of Chinese medicine. The extensive vocabulary lists, detailed grammar notes, example sentences, and clear explanations make this series suitable for self-taught learners and classrooms alike. Each chapter contains the text in its original as well as modern written forms, a vocabulary section, pinyin, translation of the texts, and a detailed notes section which explains grammar and difficult sentences. For reference, there is also a simplified version of all of the texts, a complete index and glossary, and detailed suggestions for how to successfully use the books.

Volume III contains fifteen selections, twelve of those focusing on herbal theory. The texts presented include single herb monographs from the Shen Nong Ben Cao, flavor theory from the Tang Ye Ben Cao and Nei Jing Ling Shu, and theories of creating and modifying prescriptions for specific illnesses and patterns. The remaining three selections focus on acupuncture and channel theory from the Ling Shu, Zhen Jiu Da Cheng, and Nan Jing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Misleading title
This is probably not the book you're looking for! Amazon's organization of this book series is perplexing, and in this case downright wrong.Amazon has this book (ISBN 0-300-00058-8) listed as "Beginning Chinese (linguistic) (Pt. 1)", but it's actually the first (1966) edition of "Beginning Chinese Reader, Part 1".

One of the best language textbooks ever
I can't comment on the naturalness or correctness of the dialogues.Obviously they're not up-to-date.But when it comes to explanations of grammar and usage, and especially the exercises and practice, I have never seen a better textbook than this, for *any* language!The building up of sentences one word at a time, the replacement drills, and so on, are perfect!And the pacing of the introduction of new words (and repetition of old ones) is excellent -- in the Reader as well.This text is the standard against which any other language textbook should be compared.

The tapes are still available, from the sources another reviewer lists, but only as cassettes, unfortunately.

the old alma mater
When I studied Mandarin in college, there ware basically two choices available:the DeFrancis series, and another series also published by Yale University. The school I attended used the latter, which was much less complete than DeFrancis and strongly flavored with the political and religious opinions of the authors. For that reason, I took up DeFrancis on my own time, working my way all the way through the texts for both the spoken and written language (eight in all).I considered it then- and still do- the absolute best language text book (and textbook series) that has ever been produced.

People have said that Chinese grammar is simple, and that is true in one sense:nouns and adjectives are uninflected, and verbs do not change for either person or tense. The complexity of Chinese comes at the level of sentences, rather than individual words, and DeFrancis remains the reigning world master at presenting these patterss, in a simple and straightforward way that even students not comfortable with grammatical terminology would find not too difficult to follow. Every single item of vocabulary is followed with at least one (and sometimes more than one) sentence to illustrate it, and the abundant pattern drills cover every grammatical point very thoroughly.Admittedly, the dialogues that begin each chapter aren't scintillating (the generic American student who goes to China, and hangs out with a Chinese family), but that shouldn't matter.
This is a language course, not a literature course.

The DeFrancis series, however, does have a few miles on it now. Although most of the vocabulary in the books is probably still usable today, an effort to bring it completely up to date is certainly overdue. And please, let's get the dialogues and illustrative sentences recorded on CDs or MP3s.This is Mandarin, remember?

what about tapes/CD
One cannot learn Chinese without the accompanying tapes.Amazon should make them available.In fact, it's quite an oversight that in general it's difficult to find the tapes that accompany textbooks through Amazon.

The book is excellent.

Good, proven system with 40+ years of results
This system will give you a solid foundation if you follow these guidelines:
A) First, learn how to hear the difference in the sounds. Consider [...] as a teaching aid. Then, learn how to say the sounds.
Move on to reading characters, and finally writing characters. This entire process could take years. I am only on the first step after about 12 months.

B) Get a tutor! It will be lots of fun, especially since this book uses some old fashioned words that will make your tutor laugh, and, provoke interesting conversation about Chinese culture.

C) Buy the tapes!! An absolute must, and expensive, but worth the investment if you are serious. Amazon does not sell them though. I found them at an online Christine Chinese book store, Melissa Yao is the purveyor.

D) Practice practice practice. ... Read more

Product Description
This dictionary is designed to help students understand, appreciate and remember Chinese characters. It has the following features:-Every character entry includes a brief traditional Chinese etymology.-Genealogical charts highlight the connections between characters, showing the creation of more than 4000 characters from less than 200 simple pictographs and ideographs.-Mandarin standards in China and Taiwan are distinguished.-Simplified forms for each character are given.-Character entries list all words which use the character in any position, allowing a word to be found even if the first character is unknown.-English definitions are referenced in an English-Chinese index.-A word pronunciation index allows students to directly search for an overheard word without having to guess the initial character.-A stroke count index lists every character by number of strokes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (90)

Chinese Characters, Yale University `Aliens Edition', 2009
You know how aliens look -- big head, big eyes, small body, small hands, and pocket book editions...

In spite of size 130 x 180 x 33 mm the book is huge in its content (nearly 20,000 words, characters, and phrases). Thanks to author Rick Harbaugh all Traditional Chinese-English entries of 214 radicals are easy organised under 182 numbers' system on the first 362 pages with Pinyin and tones.

Plus English-Chinese index 86 pages, plus romanized pronunciation index 60 pages, plus character pronunciation index 9 pages, plus stroke count index 6 pages, and in the last part all characters are listed under one of the 214 radicals, and it helps me to breath easy now.

Totally 531 pages and no usual one `Contents' some people sometimes begin to search. Maybe aliens can see it:)Every part has separate numeration.Last note inquisitive people probably would like to know a table of radicals doesn't not include variants of radicals.

In spite of that, almost always the Dictionary, Traditional Chinese, reference part, and gift of author look sympathetic. I usedthis book some months and more often than not feel satisfaction and pleasure.

I would like to pay double price for edition for us, humans -- silly head, small brain, greedy hands, and childish curiosity to read paper books and study foreign languages...

An Essential Reference Book!
Nearly 10 years after I bought this Character Geneology from Amazon, my copy is only moderately dog eared.That's surprising, because it has been one of the most needful books I own, dragged from Europe to Asia, from city to mountain and suburbs between.The pages, I've found, are stout travel-book quality, with a good hardy softback cover.They've held my section tabs and bookmarks very well over the years.

If you want to know HOW the writen Chinese language works, you MUST have this text.There is an inherent logic, a poetry, to Chinese characters.It's not a random "ideographic" system.There is method and illuminating order.Learning with regular dictionaries, you may eventually begin to intuitively pick that up.This is indeed the classical way of learning Chinese literacy, by inference and caligraphic study.

But this Zipu book makes many of the inherent links between characters clear using etymological cladistics.It's thus much more easy to see the shifts and affinities between characters.Quite quickly, you'll begin to read Chinese and say, "Aha!"Amongst the transgramatical meanings that characters suggest, the etymological stories you've learned, you'll begin to grasp a whole Weltanschauung, a world view.

For average learners, the Zhongwen Zipu will jump start your reading and writing capabilities.Need Chinese for business?Get this book.

For academics, literati, as well as religious and artistic aspirants, this book will deepen and broaden your appreciation for the world's semiotically richest and most illuminating writing system.Thus, as in any gongfu, it will enrich you.

Check out the accompanying website for easy, free online lookup.My only complaint is that there is not yet a downloadable version, and an ipod ap for this book.

Zhongwen Zipu
I've used this dictionary for about eight months now. This dictionary doesn't have every single Chinese character in it, but it has enough so that it's useful as a reading companion. This dictionary and a more comprehensive dictionary together would be ideal.

After using this dictionary, I'm of the opinion that every Chinese dictionary should be organized with zi4pu3 (genealogical tables). One nice thing is that you can look up a character without knowing how it's pronounced or what its radical is. It's usually not too hard to find a character, but every once in a while (especially as a beginner) you'll come across an elusive one. However, if you already know the pronunciation of the character, it's quite easy to find.

There are four ways to use this dictionary to find a character, which I'll rank from quickest to slowest: (1)by pronunciation, (2)by radical, (3)by the genealogical tables, and (4)by the number of strokes. Hopefully you never have to use (4).

This dictionary is organized using traditional characters. Since traditional characters are usually closely related to their simplified versions, using this dictionary is acceptable for those of us who wish to learn Pu3tong1hua4 (mainland Mandarin). The simplified versions of all the characters are written in the entries.

Best Chinese dictionary on the market, you'll need no other!
Ok so my son is in a chinese speaking area outside of the USA and even though he had 2 years of High School chinese and one semster of college chinese he still needed a GREAT dictionary! After buying several... I have a shelf full!!!!! This was by far the only one he needed.. it's user friendly and has all the tone marks! Once we finally found this GREAT one all the others became obsolete, wish we had found this one first!

Often inaccurate, some far-fetched, Not good for beginners or young kids
I took out 3 stars because: 1) Of more than 5000 characters in use, this genealogy only lays out perhaps 1000 pictographic explanations, most for traditional form of characters. The rest are simply and often incorrectly treated as pictophonetic characters (i.e., with one element indicating meaning and the other sound). 2) Many translations are close but inaccurate and some explanations are far-fetched. 3) Compared with other mnemonic tools, such as Hoenig's 2178 mnemonics or geniusChinese 5467 mnemonics, this one may be too technical for beginners or young learners.

Two stars are given for its very good price (even free at its website) and excellent presentation of the genealogy.

Although I only gave 2 stars, I still use it sometimes. The author did an excellent job at his time.
... Read more

Product Description

Congratulations on your selection of this Pimsleur Language Program. Learning to speak a language has never been easier.

The Pimsleur Language Programs, using the world-renowned method of Dr. Paul Pimsleur, will soon have you speaking the language of your choice.

This series of thirty minute lessons enables you to learn comfortably and conveniently at your own pace, and achieve measurable results.

Refer to the enclosed owner's manual and see how easy it is to learn to speak foreign language. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Excellent introduction to spoken Mandarin
I consider this product essential to learning spoken Mandarin. Against the competition it is, for me, the only one that can do the job. The Pimsleur approach is excellent. As you can read in their documentation they work introducing and reiterating at just the right pace for the average mind to assimilate. I have been told also that the result of my work with this product has given me a good accent (with almost no consistent practice with native speakers). While most courses at this price level have a classroom and textbook approach, Pimsleur is only audio recitation. And it excels other teaching methods as it build on basics at a methodical pace. The sequence of material is very well planed so that each half-hour lesson introduces some new material and at the same time exercises the listener's mind to reach back to prior lessons.

So while other courses have a broader approach to grammar, reading, writing, and speaking they tend to do it in a classroom style that does not tie so well to daily use. I find this more effective as it is the closest thing to immersion language acquisition. The audio program proceeds by repetition with a minimum of translation and no grammar discussion. Yet the arrangement of material is clever enough that one learns a good deal of grammar by the end of the course.

But one should remember that as this is not a complete course, some other materials for written Chinese are needed at some point. Also while the course is very good at brining the student to remember some essential spoken Mandarin, it lacks in breadth, in vocabulary. Even here, though, it easily opens the door to more advanced instruction by taking away the mystery (or fear) in learning Mandarin.

I highly recommend this product and have used all three 15-hour courses to learn, on my own, a great deal of spoken Mandarin.

Mandarin II CD review
Seller was exceptionally responsible to make sure the product arrived.
Very happy with purchase.The CD's are in excellent condition.

Fairly slow
I was hoping level II would pick up the pace a bit, but it doesn't really.Each 30-minute lesson introduces about 3-5 new vocabulary words.I definitely learned by using this series, and got good practice.But the most common reason I turned it off was that I was bored being asked to repeat an identical phrase for the 10th time.

It's also annoying that new words are very often only used in a single phrase.For example, when they introduce the word "just" it is only used in the phrase "just staying a few days."There are many other phrases that could be made using the new word combined with other words the series has taught that would both make the series more interesting and useful.

An important part of Language learning
Language acquisition is not likely to come through a single method.Stories of learning English by "watching American television" are typically rather exaggerated.The same is true of the Pimsleur program.This is not to discount the value of this program, which contains some amazing sentence structure practice for anyone who wants to learn Chinese.

As a Peace Corps Volunteer in China, I have often wondered how to most efficiently learn Chinese and how to retain the information forever (the key here has been daily use of the newly learned language).Acquiring language is something that I am forced to think about daily as I confront a myriad of obstacles and challenges related to language.

So far I have created a list to meet my own needs as a learner, not all of which I thoroughly enjoy.This last point is particularly important because balance between fun and hard work is important (so one never gives up and still continually learns).If you speak English and you are studying Chinese in the United States, your list may be modified as needed.

Each day I commit to studying Chinese for 2 hours no matter what.I try to study mostly in the morning so that I do not give up on it later in the day.In addition to my studying I try to have several interactions each day using the language.These are generally friendly inquiries about directions to places I already know or prices of vegetables.

My study program includes Pimsleur; it is my "warm up" for working with a language tutor (I work with a tutor for 1 hour in addition to my study time).Actually, Pimsleur II contains a lot of the words, phrases and sentence structures I was introduced to during my initial intensive language training.I believe anyone who masters (80% or better) Pimsleur I and II can consider themselves at least an "Intermediate-Low" level speaker.Generally, I still use Pimsleur because it is excellent pronunciation practice.By mimicking the sounds I have been very successful in sounding more native-like (many people specifically praise my pronunciation rather than my Chinese ability).

I have begun an immense stack of flash cards, which serve to help me with words or phrases that are difficult.I use the `add-a-card' method, which is quite behavioral but it WORKS.These are all written in Pinyin, but I am moving toward a system of Hanzi.I use the series New Practical Chinese Reader, which has a workbook, textbook and teacher text.I listen to one lesson daily.I also read Chinese Grammar, which is published by Schaum's Outlines.I allot times each day so that I am studying for 2 hours.It's easier for me in China because every good conversation motivates me more, and every poor conversation does the same!

Pimsluer
This product is excellent
for auditory learners.
A person can do chores,
go for a walk and be
learning.
Delivery was fast and excellent ... Read more

Product Description
Each fairy tale starts in English, then slowly MORPHS INTO MANDARIN CHINESE

Begin with LEVEL 1! This book will teach your child 20+ new Mandarin Chinese words in a fun, fast, and truly easy way! Here s how it works...

* An English word in the fairy tale is circled with its Mandarin Chinese translation in the column.

* From that moment forward, the Chinese word (written in red) will be used throughout the rest of the story... and it will be used again and again in context!

* As the fairy tale progresses, more and more Chinese words are added like a big language train gathering words along the way.

* The new words are repeated throughout the story helping to reinforce understanding.

* By the end of the book, the child has easily learned 20+ new Chinese words in context!

It's easy! And remember... each level uses words taught from previous levels...so you ll want to continue with the next levels. By the end of the last level, the fairy tale will be written almost entirely in Chinese - and it will be easy to understand EVERYTHING!

****************************************** Included: Audio CD with narration, sound effects, & fully orchestrated original music
**Composed, arranged, and performed**
by Slangman David Burke! ... Read more

Product Description
Compiled under the sponsorship of the China National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOTCFL) and in consultation with the Chinese Proficiency Test (HSK) Guidelines, the New Practical Chinese Reader (NPCR) series is designed to help native English speakers easily learn Chinese. Based on the time-tested Practical Chinese Reader (PCR), the revised and updated NPCR combines the grammatical strengths of the old PCR with contemporary material and more emphasis on learning to use Chinese in everyday conversation.

NPCR consists of 70 lessons in six volumes, covering beginning to intermediate levels, for three years of instruction. Features include balanced training in speaking, pronounciation, grammar, and vocabulary; gradual increases in difficulty, and a cyclical approach to learning with constant review of language structures, functions, and cultural knowledge; an abundance of practice material suitable for students to use inside and outside the classroom; and a new, systematic approach to the teaching of Chinese characters. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

very effective, relevant, and clear
After my initial lukewarm response to Volume 1 in this series, I found Volume 2 a great improvement.

One of the chief reasons is that the dialogues are presented in character form only - without any pinyin (let alone English) there as a "crutch". Volume 1 still included the pinyin, which I guess they felt was necessary for brand new beginners. But this book forces you to use characters, which is essential.

Other pluses:

I find the vocabulary exceedingly useful. It includes not just "everyday" and functional vocabulary (how to mail a package at the post office, visit a doctor's office, etc) but interesting vocabulary that expands your conversation range to cover a number of topics, including both the mundane (weather, sports), and the more cultural. As a geography buff, I especially enjoy the tools this book gives you to talk about place and location.

The book is well organized. I like that it doesn't waste lots of space on filler. The exercises are condensed to hone in on the essence of each new grammar point. Furthermore, the grammar points are explained in excellent detail, with helpful tables breaking sentences into their component parts.

I recommend the workbook too. My favorite exercises are the ones concerning character writing. They force you to think about the characters in relation to one another, and to jog your memory for different characters you have learned that share components (or radicals).

Good for beginners
This book is great for beginners. Students in their first or second semester of Chinese would benefit from having this book as a resource. It provides text with vocabulary, notes, a grammar section, drills and exercises, culture notes, and instruction on writing characters. One thing I really liked about this one is that the pinyin is omitted from the texts and dialogues. This prevents new learners from becoming dependent on the pinyin. I don't recommend getting the workbook unless you have nothing better to spend your money on or are just plain bored. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent series, has many colloquialisms, good explanations
The Princeton series has been well-regarded and justly deserves it.The lessons rapidly progress to colloquial Mandarin, and the red book gives in-depth explanations and examples.Each lesson has many new expressions.They are generally real-life conversations, but the authors have made an effort to make them at least a little humorous and not too dry.The 2007 edition seems to be improved over the earlier (1994?) edition with real typeset fonts instead of typewriter Courier and a better index.The content however is much the same.Besides this red/blue/yellow book group, you should definitely get the green book for the character text (why is it sold separately?) and the video series in which the dialogs are acted out (the audio is the most important, the video part adds some amusement).But not all is perfect: it would be nice if the answers were provided for the exercises in the red book and the practice sentences in the yellow book.Maybe they're in a teacher's edition (but of course teachers don't need it!) Otherwise, this series is quite excellent. ... Read more

Product Description
All the Mandarin Chinese you need to get started in a simple audio-only program!

Starting Out in Chinese is a beginner-level program on 3 CDs, and it includes short and simple lessons and dialogues. It covers all the basics, with plenty of repetition and practice so it is ideal for audio-only learning.

Starting Out in Chinese is perfect if you want to learn while commuting, running errands, or at the gym, as well as if you want to learn at home and simply prefer an all-audio course. If you want to refer to written material, you can go online to download the audioscript. ... Read more