Beginner's Chinese with 2 Audio CDs, Second Edition

by Yong Ho

This title includes a book and 2 CDs. This Hippocrene best-seller has been redesigned and updated, making learning to speak, read, and write Mandarin Chinese easier than ever! Spoken by over 850 million people world-wide, Mandarin Chinese is the standard dialect for business and trade in China, one of the six official languages of the United Nations, and the world's most widely spoken language. Mandarin is also a useful study tool for students of the Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Tibetan languages, all of which have strong cultural roots in Chinese. New features in this edition include the following: ten practical lessons with dialogues, vocabulary, and exercises; new audio CDs featuring professional actors from Beijing; updated cultural and language notes; an attractive, easy-to-read presentation of the Chinese characters; additional exercises for teaching stroke order and writing skills; an index providing traditional character equivalents; and, new technology sections on how to read and write Chinese characters on a computer.

Genres: China, Nonfiction

326 pages, Paperback

First published April 18, 2005

Reviews

[Henning · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for teaching yourself Chinese language and culture, but there seems to be some tonal mistakes in the pinyin at times are seemingly with errors, at least in the first edition, which is the one I have.

This is a book probably best suited for someone who knows more than 200 characters already; this is NOT the best book to begin learning. It also progresses very fast. You have to stop, work and repeat on your own.

The first time I opened the book, I was completely new to Chinese, and it was way too heavy for me. The first chapter includes 21 words and 17 supplementary words. The next chapters adds an equal number of new words. After learning some basic Chinese characters (100–150 characters) and basic Chinese grammar using other resources I went back to this book, and suddenly it was a lot more rewarding and much easier to follow. The later chapters are still quite challenging for a beginner.

There is a lot of content in the book, including 300 distinct characters making up almost 300 words plus an almost equal amount of supplementary words, teaching the student to be proficient in the basics of Chinese.

I really like the way the book is written. Each chapter has a glossary of new words, basic sentence patterns and a conversation, plus language insights explaining how the words are used, and cultural insights explaining how Chinese think and act, and exercises. The book teaches pinyin and characters, and the audio CD also teaches listening skills, although the sound quality is pretty bad, and the narrators could speak a bit slower. They only read the vocabulary and dialogue, not the insight text. All in all, this is a very complete and insightful book.

The chapters are structured like topics instead of difficulty: Greetings, Names, Places, Family, Time, Nationalities and Language, Money and Shopping, Food and Eating, Travel, and Weather.

After having checked out several Chinese learning resources I must say, this is probably the best book I have come across.

[Ferenc · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a small book but it covers a lot, about the same as a one-semester course in Chinese. Together with his follow-up book 'Intermediate Chinese' he covers a one-year course.

There are three specific things that I really liked about this book: the practical vocabulary, the way Professor Ho explains the language in a cultural context, and the logical way in which he explains the grammar.

The exercises were challenging and varied: you answer questions, do translations, correct sentences, and so on. All the exercises are for self-study only, no classroom or group stuff. The number of exercises were impressive given the small size of the book, its an efficient use of space.

As far as self-study textbooks go, this book and his follow-up are the best I have come across this far. They are inexpensive, have decent audio, you learn vocabulary that you can use straight away when you land in China, you get lucid grammar explanations, and lastly you learn about Chinese history and culture.
I don't see how you can ask for more as a self-learner.

[Ayunna Varioest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Salah satu prinsip dasar filosofi Rich Dad adalah untuk membuat lompatan dari karyawan untuk bos. Ini adalah buku yang menunjukkan Anda bagaimana untuk membuat lompatan - dalam 10 langkah mudah. Semua orang dalam bisnis tahu bahwa Anda tidak akan pernah mencapai kekayaan besar dengan menjadi karyawan. Rahasia sebenarnya untuk membuat uang dan mencapai kemandirian finansial adalah untuk memulai perusahaan Anda sendiri dan mengembangkannya dengan cepat. Jutaan calon pengusaha sudah yakin bahwa ini adalah cara untuk pergi - tapi mereka hanya tidak tahu bagaimana untuk mengambil orang-orang beberapa langkah pertama. Dalam SEBELUM ANDA QUIT JOB ANDA, Robert Kiyosaki mempersembahkan laporan tangan pertama dari perusahaan start-up sendiri dan bagaimana ia belajar dari kedua kegagalan dan kesuksesannya. Sepanjang jalan ia menjelaskan dasar-dasar: Bagaimana untuk menentukan apakah ide Anda adalah satu yang baik Bagaimana menulis rencana bisnis yang kuat dan di mana untuk menemukan Uang Othe Rakyat untuk membantu membiayai ide Bagaimana untuk menggabungkan diri untuk tujuan bisnis dan pajak Bagaimana membantu Anda menemukan penasihat kunci untuk membantu mengembangkan konsep Anda Bagaimana meluncurkan produk atau layanan terbaik. (less) Paperback, 304 halaman

[Will Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book that started it all!!! lol

[Tim Yam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great. I memorized the whole thing. Locals thought I spoke Chinese. Its a good introduction.

[Kevin Yee]

The cultural insights section at the end of each chapter was good.