First Thousand Words in Chinese: Internet Linked (Chinese Edition) (Hardcover)

by Heather Amery (Author), Mairi Mackinnon (Editor), Stephen Cartwright (Illustrator)

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 64 pages
• Publisher: Usborne Books (January 2007)
• Language: Chinese
• ISBN-10: 0794515509
• ISBN-13: 978-0794515508
• Product Dimensions: 12.1 x 9.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #35,406 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #2 in	Books > Children's Books > Educational > Multilingual > Chinese

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent but flawed, August 9, 2008

By	James Lavin "PatriotsBook.com: Management Sec... (Stamford, CT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you have Mandarin speakers in your house and are trying to teach a child Mandarin, this is an excellent book. It's pretty enough to hold my two-year-old's attention. I've found a few incorrect tones and several odd translations, but it's mostly high quality. I'm very pleased.

If you don't have Mandarin speakers, this book poses several challenges. First, you'll have to learn how to correctly pronounce the words. I haven't visited the associated website which apparently lets you hear the words. But if you don't speak Mandarin, you'll need to invest substantial time learning how to pronounce pinyin before you can use this book effectively. And, second, this book doesn't display English alongside the Chinese characters and pinyin. It's usually obvious what the word means, but the pictures aren't always obvious. If you already know Mandarin and are teaching a child, that's no problem. But if you don't know Chinese, you may scratch your head looking at 10% or 20% of the words and associated pictures.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Picture Book, May 31, 2008

By	eldil (Albuquerque NM) - See all my reviews

This is a picture book with labelled objects / things / activities. The labels are in simplified Chinese and pin yin, there is no English (or explanations) outside the introduction and index.

The book has a nice, large format. There are two kinds of spreads; locations, and illustrated 'lists'.

Some (incomplete) examples of the 15 double-page location spreads are: at home, in the kitchen, the city center, in the toy store, the park (see customer image), airport, farm, seaside, and kindergarten.

Examples from the 11 (double) pages of lists include occupations, seasons, weather, body parts, foods, colors, animals, verbs, adjectives + prepositions.

As mentioned, there's no English within the main body, and this might sometimes cause you to puzzle for a second at what the pictures are trying to represent (not that bad though, part of the fun perhaps).

The lists aren't comprehensive (how could they be?) but a start. The illustrations are certainly pleasant. The cover image is a typical example (but also see a couple of 'customer images', if they're there). Personally I could have done with the characters being printed larger, but maybe my eyes are just old. Perhaps if you're learning just the spoken language that's no matter anyway.

Personally I was looking at this book to provide some vocabulary in a pleasant, unhurried way (I think I'm really after flash cards) and truthfully, it might be fine for kids, I don't have any to try it out on, so ignore my rating. 2 stars as flash cards, 4 (imagined) for its intended audience (just caution, I seldom give 5s).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, January 28, 2009

By	C. Dotson "New Mom" (Carlsbad, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Really a great book. One of the best out there for this category. Only real complaint is that I just wish it had bigger text! Also, would be nice to have accompanying CD with the audio and some alphabetical list in the back to do quick look up. Got this for my 4 yr old but it's really meant for kids a little older. He found it very engaging and prompted discussions. Since there are alot of pictures per page, can be hard to focus on individual words so I would recommend some individual flash cards too to focus (though I really hate flashcards!).