Customer Reviews

Beginner's Chinese with 2 Audio CDs

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you are serious about learning Chinese, this book and its sequel "Intermediate Chinese" by Yong Ho, head of the Chinese program at the United Nations, are just about ideal. They are by no means phrase books, but form a basis for a thorough but practical study of Chinese. I came to the study of Chinese some twenty years ago because my work took me to China. I have since been six times for visits of two to four weeks, but have never become really proficient. I have bought a number of texts and worked through carefully what was previously the best of them, "Practical Chinese Readers I." I therefore started Ho's second volume, but I found his explanations so wonderfully clear that I went back to read his "Beginner's Chinese".

These books are a work of art and science and are incomprably better than anything I have previously found. Ho has put his Ph.D. in linguistics to good use. He has listened to his English-speaking students and understood their problems. He has also thought about his native language and culture and come to a deep understanding of it which he is able to convey in clear concepts and good English. His exercises show how well he understands the problems of his students. There are a number of exercises which ask "What is wrong with this?" followed by Chinese sentences that make exactly the mistakes I tend to make.

Each book has ten lessons centered on very practical situations, such as getting something to eat. The new speech patterns and vocabulary of each lesson are carefully introduced, then applied applied in practical conversations that provide just the right amount of drill and repetition. They, like nearly all Chinese in the book, are given in simplified characters, pinyin (the phonetic script), and idiomatic English translation. Besides the conversations, there is expository text for practice in reading using the characters and words that have been introduced in the conversations. The "Cultural Insight" passages are original and sometimes stunningly perceptive. There are answer keys to the exercises given in both pinyin and characters.

By all means get the editions with the CD. The recordings are clear though not dramatic in the sense that they do not give the illusion that you are listening to a live conversation.

These books use simplified characters only. They do not show how to write the characters. That is not a big problem, for there are several good books that teach only that. Like all Chinese textbooks of my acquaintance, these say nothing about how to find characters in a dictionary. The best advice on that subject is to find the "Field Guide to Chinese Characters" on the Internet.

Beginner's Chinese has some good points. It comes with two CDs featuring native speakers -- one for the lessons and one for Chinese syllable practice. Simplified characters and pinyin are provided together for all material in the book. Each lesson has a good collection of exercises for translation, ad hoc response to questions, and grammar. A Cultural Insights section that addresses some aspect of Chinese society caps each lesson. The book has a pinyin-Wade Giles cross reference that is very helpful for English-speaking students.

But there are definitely areas for improvement. This is a second edition. The third edition could be a great book. First, the CDs. The CDs are indispensable, but each lesson takes up only a bit over three minutes. No time is left between sentences for the student to practice pronunciation. (The words can be pronounced if the student hurries.) And then there is the organization. On the CDs, first comes vocabulary, then sentence patterns, then conversations. In the book, the order is sentence patterns, conversations, then vocabulary. It would be nice if they were consistent and went through the lesson in order. Much more use could have been made of the CDs, but here we get into a critique of the book itself.

In general, there is not enough practice material. For example, in each chapter there is a list of "supplementary" words and expressions. These are not used in the spoken exercises except to pronounce them once on the CD.

In the place of more practice material each chapter has extensive "language points" where the author sometimes belabors subtle linguistic points that, in my opinion, could be done without in an introductory text. Here also is where speech patterns are discussed. In the actual Sentence Patterns section introducing each lesson, each "pattern" is given once, leaving the student to infer what the patterns are. Most have the impression that the pattern sentences are just a collection of unique sentences. Here is where more material should be added by giving additional examples of each pattern where such is possible.

In summary:

1. Remove the "supplementary" words and expressions section and just include it in the lesson vocabulary if individual words are important enough to include.
2. Make explicit what the pattern is for each pattern sentence.
Provide up to ten or twelve examples with each pattern using all the vocabulary introduced to that point.
3. Remove some of the show-off linguistics discussions and save them for a class on Chinese linguistics.
4. Include all the expanded practice material on the CDs with time for the students to repeat each sentence. Since this may disrupt the continuity of the Conversations, I would suggest recording that section twice: first at normal conversation speed without breaks for comprehension practice; then a second time with a pause after each line so students can practice pronunciation. If something has to go, do away with the Chinese syllable practice on the second CD, and continue the lessons on that CD. It's more important for the students to get their syllable practice on their actual vocabulary rather than be able to recite the universe of abstract ba, bo, bi's.

If you are an instructor, realize that you are going to have to make up additional material to provide pattern and "supplementary" vocabulary practice and listen to student complaints about the CDs. And hope the students don't lose their way or become discouraged trying to plough through the abstruse Language Points.

I have the book but just bought another copy just to get the CDs. I was a little afraid of buying it after reading the negative reviews about the sound on the CDs but took a chance. I would highly recommend buying both the beginners and intermediate editions ( I have both ).

Pros: It is very inexpensive. The topics covered are relevant, the vocabulary is good and the CDs are very useful. The CDs contain all the vocabulary and dialogues from the book. All of this is packed into one CD ( The other CD is used for tonal practice ). The speech pattern on the CDs is at the normal speaking pace. I find this to be very useful preparation for listening to normal paced speech. There are no sound gaps for one to practice responding to the dialogue but I prefer to have all my lessons conveniently on one CD. Also with repetition, one can anticipate and respond along with the speaker ( kind of like singing along to a song on a CD ).

Cons: The sound quality of the CD is not as loud or clear as Pimsleur. There is a some background noise. However, the main problem is that the recording volume is very low. This is easily solved by turning up the volume. The pronunciations were clear and the accent, although not Beijing, seems metropolitan. You do not have to speak in a Beijing dialect to sound educated.

The plastic CDs sleeves on the inner cover of my copy were placed incorrectly ( sideways ). The CDs themselves were also much thinner than normal CDs. The sleeves and sound quality of the CDs were of much better quality in the intermediate edition. I made back up copies of the CDs just in case. These minor glitches did not detract from the outstanding overall value of the books.

I own both of Yong Ho's books , Liz Scurfield's book ( 2 CDs ) and Pimsleur 1-3 ( 48 CDs ). I would start with Yong Ho and then move on to Liz Scurfield's book. I would not even consider Pimsleur. Comparatively, Pimsleur is very expensive, repetitive and SLOW; one only knows very few BASIC phrases after spending $225 on Pimsleur I ( 16 CDs). Unlike Yong Ho's or Liz Scurfield's books, Pimsleur does not explain the rationale behind the sentence patterns..the listener is left to figure it out subliminally through repetition...like a baby learning a new language.

Yong Ho and Liz Scurfield's books are bargains and well paced for an adult.

"dzaijian"!

I bought Beginner's Chinese by Yong Ho as a supplement to Colloquial Chinese by Kan Qian, and find it extremely useful for that purpose. I'm not sure that I would appreciate it as much on its own, but only because the "conversations" are so brief as to be not at all engaging (although I can imagine them forming the basis of actual lively conversations in a classroom setting).

However, in every other way it fills in the gaps left by Kan Qian's book. Materials are introduced in a similar order but Yong Ho offers extensive additional vocabulary and exercises, and thoroughly detailed grammar notes that explain - to a level of scholarly precision that some may find daunting and others will find indispensable - exactly when and how one expression or another is used. Best of all, Yong Ho is an anthropologist and linguist with a particular interest in the relationship between language and culture, so the "Cultural Insights" sections at the end of each chapter are absolutely fascinating.

This is one of the best beginner's language books I've seen. In each lesson, new words are introduced in small groups (nouns, verbs, etc.), and then they are immediately shown in action (sentence structure, conversation). The phrases even from lesson 1 can be used by tourists.

Unfortunately, as I was looking forward to hearing the sounds of the Chinese language, so different from any of the European languages, I was disappointed by the quality of the audio. The CD sounds like a tape recording made many decades ago. The speakers talk with dull, impassive voices giving no impression of the musicality and melodiousness of the Chinese pronunciation.

I had already studied the previous edition but I bought this second edition hoping that they had re-produced the audio, and they have. The new speakers ("featuring professional actors from Beijing") and the audio quality are now excellent, making it more pleasant and more convenient to use for periodic review, and a better match for his Volume 2.

The font is much larger and bolder (good for me). The number of pages went from 173 to 326 but the wording of the texts looks the same (so the lessons haven't changed- also good for me).

It now includes writing practice sheets, in the book. You would probably want to scan these out.

At least two of the cultural essays have been rewritten, in one case to make it more practical, and in another case to bring it up to date.

I had two other very well known and excellent works covering similar subject matter (basic conversation), but Yong Ho was the one I liked best and chose to use.

(One of the other reviews, the one currently given as "most helpful critical review", is dated 2005 but refers to a second edition. That must be a mistake. This second edition is just out, Oct 2010.)

I love Yong Ho's approach. I owe a good deal of what I know in Chinese to this course.
I found that this particular course worked very well with Behind the Wheel Chinese which does not come with any written material at all.
I have used other Behind the Wheel products and find that they work well when used with other top-notch courses which enhance areas that Behind the Wheel leaves out.
The plus to Behind the Wheel is the technique that enhances sentence formation along with the two native Mandarin speakers.
Used together, Beginner's Chinese and Behind the Wheel Chinese form an unbeatable combination. I have been getting great results.

My travels to China inspired me to begin learning Chinese. I just completed this beginning text with my native Chinese tutor, and I cannot believe how much I have learned! This book presents the language in a well-structured method, offering grammar, vocabulary, sentence patterns, review exercises and cultural notes. The accompanying CDs ensure correct pronunciation and a chance to develop your ear for the spoken language. In my opinion, the book has everything! I can already carry on a little conversation in Chinese. Now it is on to the intermediate book in the same series!

I just got this book and am pleased with the presentation and the CD's. It is for the absolute beginner, which is great! However if you are accustomed to "learn in your car" style language series, you will either be disappointed or at the very least, surprised.

The book is written with the idea that it is used in a classroom setting, which for undisciplined learners may be frustrating. It also assumes that you have a firm grasp on the technical details of the English language, so if you struggled in high school English with things like verbs, adverbs, participles, sentence structure, etc. you will probably find the discussion frustrating.

The CD is intended to be listened to while you read the chapter exercises. It's not a pronunciation CD; personally I read the lesson with it, and later just turn the CD on in the background at work so that I can get used to hearing the language. Again, BEGINNER Chinese. You aren't going to be an expert speaker at this level, you just need to learn the foundations of the language and the sounds. To that end, this book is great.

It's a great introductory book that is inexpensive, and by the end of it you will know if you want to continue studying the Chinese language.

What "C P chris9988" said about this book as a teaching tool is 100% true. The people who gave this book good ratings must already speak Chinese. It is next to useless for someone beginning to learn Chinese.

The introduction was full of so many highly technical grammatical terms - in English, mind you - that I had to refer to an English dictionary multiple times per paragraph. This was the ENGLISH part, and I couldn't figure out what he was talking about.

The audio CDs are both inadequate and very poorly organized. As someone else pointed out, they are in a different order than the book, and there is no pause for you to repeat what was said (you have to use the pause button on your CD player).

Worse, important stuff is missing. I've been trying to work on Lesson 1 - the FIRST CHAPTER. In the Language Points, it talks about how some syllables sound different when followed by syllables of certain tones. You'd think that his example could be on the audio CD, right? No such luck.

The second audio CD is a complete joke! It refers you to page 151 of the book, but I see no relationship between the endless robotic repetition of syllables, and what's on page 151. Also, who's going to listen to a mind-numbingly endless list of syllables to hear what ONE particular syllable sounds like? What was he thinking??

The only reason I gave this book two stars rather than one star is the language and cultural notes. For example, he points out that students often don't go high enough for the first tone, suggests practicing Chinese characters on grid-lined paper (good idea - I've been doing that), and offers other interesting tidbits about language usage and culture.

Maybe when I've learned some Chinese from other tools I'll find this book useful, but as a beginner's book it's an absolute joke. If you don't already speak some Chinese, don't expect to learn how from this book! This guy certainly KNOWS Chinese, but knowing something and knowing how to teach it are two different things.