Get Talking Chinese: Mandarin Chinese for Beginners

by Elinor Greenwood

If you're interested in learning a new lingo, why not try the world’s most spoken language?

This crystal clear and completely comprehensive guide to Chinese is everything you need in one perfect package.



There is no Great Wall stopping you from learning now. Follow Get Talking Chinese  and you’ll be speaking, writing, and understanding the most popular language in no time. This beginner’s book for adults and children is based on Pinyin, the system used to spell out Chinese characters using Roman letters. You’ll learn language and phrases for everyday use so you can introduce yourself, read and write numbers, and chat about the weather, food, and interests. What’s more, you can give yourself a Chinese name, haggle over shop prices, master Chinese characters, and learn all about the national culture.

Inside this visual guide is an audio CD to help you speak Chinese with ease. Any time you spot the special headphones symbol inside, simply switch on the CD and make sure your pronunciation sounds spot-on.

Genres: Language, China

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Leigh Collazo · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews at Mrs. ReaderPants.

If you are new to my blog, then you may not know that I currently live and work in Suzhou, China. China is a big, bustling place, and I have loved every minute of my time here. As of this writing, I have been living in Suzhou for 17 months. While I have learned some Chinese, I can still barely get by in basic conversations. That's where this little book comes in!

REVIEW: I've had my eye on this book for quite awhile now. We have three copies in my library, and the students do check it out occasionally. I like that I already knew many of the phrases (numbers, hello and goodbye, thank you, etc.), but there were lots of new and useful phrases that were new to me. The book emphasizes learning and practicing the four tones, which I think is the hardest part of learning to speak Chinese. I especially loved the guide to marketplace haggling, something I do not like to do and will avoid if at all possible. At least when I do find myself in a haggling situation, I know a bit more about how it works.

I also like the colorful, easy-on-the-eyes layout. This book is not linear; rather, it has boxes of text in various sizes, fonts, and colors. This would be a great starter guide for children as well.

If you are interested in learning Chinese, this is an excellent place to start. I will suggest that this book and audio CD be read/played many times--one time through is definitely not enough. Even though I hear these words and phrases all day long, I won't remember them after only one read of this book.

THE BOTTOM LINE: An excellent guide to learning basic Chinese. Use the CD and play it often so you can learn the words and tones. This is a beginner's guide; you will need more than just this to really learn Chinese, but it is a great start.

STATUS IN MY LIBRARY: We have three copies, and they do get checked out.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR LEARNING BASIC CHINESE:

YoYo Chinese (video, audio, and workbook series)--There are some free videos on YouTube if you want to try it out first. I am planning to purchase this program to work on over our Christmas holiday break.

Chineasy: The New Way to Read Chinese--This is another book in our library that I plan to read. It takes Chinese characters and draws pictures around them to help readers remember the characters. Flashcards and a Memory game are also available in the series.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

我有要學中文。。。第一步✅

[Adriana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have this in paper and in the electronic version. I’m using this for all my newbie students and on the ones that haven’t studied in a long while, to freshen up their Chinese. It’s a very basic book, but it’s really nice and does provide a strong basis for beginners. Visually, it’s a dream. I did not like one single affirmation it has, about making up little stories of characters as you try and learn them. There’s reasons and history behind every character and every radical. But other than that, it’s colorful, beautiful, easy to read in one sitting and provides good information to students. I truly like it.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

You can call Chinese easy peasy however it is not, and no matter how you present it, it is a very difficult language to learn, anyhow there is some interest here, but fair warning get the paper version, the E-Book version is very difficult to read.
Publishers need to reformat books for different mediums and this just shows the sloppy laziness of DK publishing.

[Bellatuscana Bellatuscana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do wish I had this when I was learning Chinese to begin with. It would have made things so much easier.

[Stephen Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

The greatest Audiobook on CD from language learning for all ages!!!!!!! LOL, so fucking funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started learning Mandarin a little over a month ago, so I decided to get a couple of books to accompany the one I already have for class, to get a slightly different perspective and to familiarize myself with the language. I bought this one solely because of the positive reviews I'd seen on the web - if I hadn't read them I would never have picked up this book, since the title is so ridiculous. There's nothing "easy-peasy" about Mandarin, unless you're a native speaker, I guess.

Still, this is a good enough book for those who, like me, are just starting out. It touches upon many interesting cultural facts, like traditions, festivals and the lunar calendar, and covers basic conversation skills and grammar. The CD is quite useful to get the pronunciations right.

However, if you don't want to go to classes and instead intend to study Mandarin on your own - I can't imagine why you would, but anyway - this book, while a decent place to start, won't be nearly enough. I'll be looking into others.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is excellent! It is a perfect introduction for someone who shows up in China and has no idea what's going on. It also happens to have some really charming illustrations and a bevy of helpful photos. I am particularly fond of the cutely rendered stick figure man who appears on almost every page to speak, sit at a table, haggle in the market, or kick up his little stick figure leg on the martial arts page. I love him. I call him my little guy as I practice my Mandarin with this book. The words and phrases are presented in a sensible order and many life basics are covered, so if you practice with the book and CD, you can conceivably be survival-ready for a little bit of Mandarin speaking in basic daily transactions. A wonderful intro! I love DK ! There's even a bit about characters, for those like me who insist we also learn to write and read a bit. I'm moving on to my next level of Mandarin study now, but I'll miss this book that started me on the path.

[Anh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just started learning Mandarin and this book is a great start for beginner. It is easy to follow, very nice illustrations (lovely stickman), and explanation about Chinese culture. I wish the authors would write more Chinese-learning books :)

[Jerjonji · Rating 5 out of 5]

The fun thing about this book is the CD that comes with it. I took it to school and one of my special ed. 5th graders claimed it and followed along with the book whenever he had a spare moment.

[Bethany]

Didn't get enough time to truly use this book

[Amy Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introductory text.

[Tara_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clear and easy to understand but basic.