Chinese in a Flash, Vol. 1 (Tuttle Flash Cards) [Box set] [Cards]

Philip Yungkin Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0804833613 | ISBN-13: 978-0804833615 | Edition: Book and Kit

Whether on a train from Beijing to Shanghai or sitting under a tree in Berkeley, you can be practicing your Chinese with this quick and easy-to-use set of flashcards. Chinese in a Flash Volume 1 has a full range of features to help beginners and intermediate learners through character recognition, vocabulary recognition, revision, and testing. It includes indexes by radical, stroke count, and alphabetically by pinyin romanization.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Philip Yungkin Lee, a native speaker of Chinese, is a Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He has published several language learning titles and has received a Teaching Excellence award form his University.

Product Details

• Cards: 16 pages
• Publisher: Tuttle Publishing; Book and Kit edition (November 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0804833613
• ISBN-13: 978-0804833615
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #36,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Education & Reference > Dictionaries & Thesauruses > Foreign Language > Chinese
  • #11 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Language Nonfiction > Chinese
  • #21 in Books > Education & Reference > Foreign Languages > Chinese > Instruction

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

146 of 150 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars As good as it gets, October 11, 2005

By 

Kim (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chinese in a Flash, Vol. 1 (Tuttle Flash Cards) (Cards)

These are really wonderful aids and do all that a flashcard can be asked to do. Also, they DO provide a very detailed stroke order- I am puzzled why so many reviews comment that there is no stroke order. Perhaps there was an earlier edition? I will take and upload a photo, so other customers can see for themselves.

I find them superior to "Chinese Character Flashcards 888" and wish I would have saved my money as I purchased both sets. There is another review comparing them that is incorrect. These flashcards are more sturdy, have a more detailed stroke order (they break down every single stroke while the 888 set often groups them), provide a sample sentence as well as additional words using the character (888 only has a few sample words), and provide the traditional character along with the simplified when applicable (888 does too, but it's very small). They are superior in every way to the 888 set- I haven't even looked at the other set since the Tuttle set arrived. In fact, this is the first Amazon review I've written, and I do so to correct the misinformation I based my purchasing decision upon.

Another useful feature is that the first 500 flashcards in the set coincide exactly with the two Tuttle Language Library volumes "250 Essential Chinese Characters". So, if you're working your way through these books, these flashcards are the ideal study aid. (The labeling numbers coincide exactly...if learning character number 115 in the book, you can refer to flashcard 115.)

I am very happy with the cards and encourage their use as part of a well-rounded study program. It has been commented that individual characters have no real "meaning", so these cards have limited use. I disagree. Individual characters do have meaning and are used to represent a particular sound and tone. You must learn what sound goes with which character since characters are written individually with equal spacing- when reading Chinese, you need to pronounce each sound as you go along since characters are not grouped together to signal they are being used to build a particular word. Thus, each character needs to be learned individually since it can be used with many different characters to build different words. For example, "pengyou", meaning "friend", is written with two characters: one representing the sound "peng" (which means friend) and one representing "you" (which also means friend). But the character for "you" can also be combined with the character for "yi" which result in "youyi", meaning "friendship".

As far as the samples sentences go, they may potentially be confusing since they do not provide an exact word-for-word translation, but for someone with moderate experience (I've been studying Mandarin for 3 months now) they are very easy to understand. An exact translation wouldn't be very comprehensible anyway. I rarely find myself confused over which word represents which meaning, and if uncertain, it's easy enough to look up a troublesome word in the dictionary. It's all part of the learning process.

134 of 151 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Useful Tool for Memorizing Chinese Characters, October 30, 2004

By 

Laura De Giorgio "hypnotherapist" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chinese in a Flash, Vol. 1 (Tuttle Flash Cards) (Cards)

Since I have both "Chinese in a Flash" and "Chinese Character Flashcards 888" flashcard sets, I wanted to offer a comparison between the two.

Flashcards 888 are organized in the order of frequency of use of characters; Chinese in a Flash are arranged in the order of frequency and complexity. Someone learning Chinese language is more likely to encounter characters in the order presented in Chinese in a Flash cards.

Flashcards 888 are of a sturdier quality than Chinese in a Flash cards.

Both are approximately the same size.

Both have radicals mentioned. On Flashcards 888, radicals are provided in the upper right corner on the front of the card; on Chinese in a Flash cards, beside the radical is also noted the name of the character as well as character components.

On Flashcards 888, you'll also find a stroke order, helpful to know when you practice writing characters; Chinese in a Flash cards, do not provide a stroke order.

Both sets also mention several character combinations, together with their pronounciation in pinyin and the meaning in English.

Chinese in a Flash also provide a sample sentence where the particular character / word is used; Flashcards 888 don't.

Flashcards come in one set of 888 cards; Chinese in Flash come in two sets of 448 cards.

I am very happy with both sets and enjoy using them both.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent cards, great price, and better than the reviews, November 11, 2005

By 

Carolina Hernandez Diaz (Santiago, Chile) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chinese in a Flash, Vol. 1 (Tuttle Flash Cards) (Cards)

First, i would like to declare that i read all the amazon's reviews before add to my shopping cart this cards. Some include false information.-

I hope that you compare this review with the others, because i bougth this item in amazon, i study chinese, a i'm talking about something that i'm using.

I have to say that my purchase was excellent.

This cards are not for beginners. It's for students that have some knowledge of chinese characters, grammar and pinyin.

You dont try to buy if you are looking for something to learn by yourself with no training.

Second, this cards include a lot of practical information:

a) Simplified and Traditional chinese symbol

b) Order to write the strokes.

c) A proverb or an interesting sentence using the symbol.

d) 5 common word that include the symbol.

6) the radical of the symbol

7) The meaning of the symbol.

It's a really useful tool and the box have the shape of a book so it's easy to carry instead other cards that i have the chance to use.

The only negative part it's that this cards are not too resistant.

Sincerely

From the South of the world.

Carolina from Chile