Chinese Vocabulary Cards: Academic Study Card Set [Misc. Supplies]

Vis-Ed (Visual Education) (Author)

Product Details

• Misc. Supplies: 1000 pages
• Publisher: Visual Education Assn (October 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556370873
• ISBN-13: 978-1556370878
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 3.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #140,219 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Tool to Use with a Textbook or Alone., August 20, 2009

By 

Duane Blanchard "dblanchard" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chinese Vocabulary Cards: Academic Study Card Set (Misc. Supplies)

I picked up a box many years ago, and found them indispensable. I found that I had a lot more time to study cards than I thought, just waiting for a bus, walking between classes, falling asleep, etc.

Each card has English on one side in blue, and Mandarin in black (in traditional characters) on the other. Each side also has examples of the keyword used in context with common words in the examples. This is truly valuable to the learner.

Even though each card is pre-numbered, I knew I'd quickly get the out of order and knew I'd want a quick way to sort them. With the cards still in order in the open box, I took a black Sharpie and a straight edge and marked a diagonal line from the lower left to the upper right of the stack. This let me easily re-sort card later. It isn't a perfect system and I still have to look at the numbers, but I am able to get pretty close without much effort.

I also marked each card with a different color for each unit of my text book it was used in. Some cards are good for multiple words, or even grammar constructions, so some cards have multiple markings.

The little dictionary is really more of an index, but is very useful. It only has the words from the cards, but it has all the words from the cards, not just the keywords, or main words. It also includes the variant forms that appear below the keywords in examples.

I'm ordering my second set today because I lost some cards on a car trip. This time, I'll be sure to tape up the edges of the box. Even though it is sturdy, my first set has seen a lot of use and the box is starting to tear in places.

I wish I could find an electronic resource with the same words and examples.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I love it., January 18, 2006

By 

houston student (houston, tx United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chinese Vocabulary Cards: Academic Study Card Set (Misc. Supplies)

I bought the cards many years ago and I found it very helpful.It has practical compound words and plenty of examples. Now I am learning to write, read (both in traditional and simplified characters} and speak the language and I find the cards very, very interesting. I hope they will issue those cards in simplified characters. Anyway, there is nothing wrong with traditional characters which had logical etymology/ies, although fewer people use it now. If you know traditional, it will not be too difficult to recognize the simplified ones, but not vice versa. Many hundred years ago, everybody said the world/earth was square. Only one guy said it was ROUND. The traditional will help you appreciate CLASSICAL CHINESE. By the way, I have TWO boxes of those and want more sets as gifts to my friends.

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Upside, downside, July 25, 2005

By 

Saved Wretch "Worm" (China) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Chinese Vocabulary Cards: Academic Study Card Set (Misc. Supplies)

Upside - around 3000 phrases in hanyu pinyin and English - eminently usable. Downside - publishers, similar to Vocabulearn, made the fatal mistake of not using simplified characters as used by 1.4 billion mainland Chinese, choosing instead to use Taiwan Traditional characters as used by what, maybe 23 million Taiwanese. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!