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Beginner's Chinese with 2 Audio CDs | 
 enlarge | Author: Yong Ho
Publisher: Hippocrene Books
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $9.57
You Save: $16.38 (63%)
Rating:  30 reviews
Sales Rank: 71924
Media: Paperback
Pages: 173
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0781810957
Dewey Decimal Number: 495
EAN: 9780781810951
ASIN: 0781810957
Publication Date: April 18, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: SHIPS TODAY!! BRAND NEW BOOK
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Product Description
This popular introduction to Mandarin Chinese is now accompanied by 2 audio CDs covering each of the ten lessons with a special section devoted to the Pinyin dialect. Each lesson uses dialogues to teach the basics of grammar, vocabulary, everyday speech, and the written language. Exercises reinforce the material covered in the dialogues, and each lesson ends with a 'Cultural Insights' section that offers a deeper view into the Chinese people. Their way of thinking and the constants of their daily life.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 25 more reviews...
 I read the other reviews and decided to try it November 17, 2008
Richard Almasi (Europe)
I saw the other reviews of this book and decided to try it on.
My conclusion: I wish I had started with this book all those years ago when I first decided to learn Chinese.
Why?:
+ the grammar is so clearly explained
+ practical vocabulary for daily use (as opposed to college and business)
+ varied exercises that covers all angles of learning
+ the editing is sleek and uncluttered, it feels professional
+ fascinating cultural readings
Don't let the small size of this book fool you, it is a serious book for serious students.
It covers around 300 characters, which is what most first-semester courses in Chinese would cover.
Ok, the sound material could have been better, and the characters drawn abit bigger, but overall it is really good material.
For the asking price this book is really a bargain, it feels almost under-priced, for this level of quality and, above all, effectiveness, I would have gladly paid more.
An Excellent Book for Beginners October 1, 2008
Ingrid Berdahl (Arlington, VA USA)
As a former French teacher and foreign language instructor, I have to say that this book is just excellent. Each lesson builds well upon the previous lessons, the language notes are clear and the cultural notes are always on-point and fit well with the vocabulary being introduced. Nothing in this book is gratuitous. The audio CD's are good as well, although I wish some listening comprehension exercises had been included along with the pronunciation of the vocabulary being introduced.
I think that for me, beginning with pinyin (the romanized version of Chinese), and focusing on the oral language, is a great way to begin. After the first few chapters the kanji (Chinese ideographs) are just there, next to the pinyin, and the learner soon begins to recognize certain characters, without even trying. But it is helpful, I think, to have a grasp of the vocabulary and structures of Chinese before beginning to really work on the kanji.
 Awful June 16, 2008
lebeau
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'd give it 0 stars if I could. I used to be a language teacher and this book uses a very outdated methodology (audio lingual) which is based on repetition rather than a more modern approach to language learning called communicative competence.
If you sign up for to learn Chinese and they use this book run do not walk to the registrar to drop the course and find a program that uses a more up-to-date approach to language learning.
 book is good, but the cd is not that useful May 19, 2008
Jane Marcus
For native English speakers, the book is excellent. However the CD leaves much to be desired. The CD is all in Chinese, and therefore difficult to follow for a complete beginner in the language.
A nice introduction May 17, 2008
anonymous
I'm just starting out with (teaching myself) the Chinese language, and this book seemed like it was the best one to start with (being under $20 was a really nice bonus too!) I asked a native speaker to help me choose this, and she approved of it over several others. Anyway, I'm on the second lesson, and I've found it to be a good introduction. There seems to be a nice balance of vocabulary, grammar and general insight of the language in each lesson.
The only complaint I have with this book is the format of the CD that accompanies the lessons when compared to the format of the lessons: The book has sentence structures and conversations before the vocabulary, but the CD has arranged them vocabulary first and follows up with sentence patterns and conversations (which is the more logical order.) The complaint is small enough to not knock any points off, but worth mentioning as a heads up to prospective buyers.
A nice accompaniment for those interested in thoroughly learning the language might be "Reading & Writing Chinese: Simplified Character Edition" by McNaughton.
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