Customer Reviews

Interactions II [text + workbook]: A Cognitive Approach to Beginning Chinese (Chinese in Context Language Learning Series) (v. 2)

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The text and workbook for Interactions II are among my favorite materials. The optional audio CD and DVD (sold separately) add plenty of practice with listening and speaking. The dialogues are fun and represent very natural interactions with contemporary language use. Everything is presented 4 ways: traditional characters, simple characters, pinyin, and English. These are on different pages, not all cluttered together, so it's easy to skip or ignore parts you either don't need or aren't studying. This item comes with the text and workbook together if you purchase a new copy, and it's hard to find the workbook being sold by itself, so if you buy used be sure that you're getting both - a lot of used copies are just the text without the workbook.

Interactions I and II provide basic knowledge in Mandarin Chinese. The learning activities are decent, but I would recommend purchasing a text that contains an audio version of the text. One such example is A New China. One can learn how to read and write Chinese without audio, but pronunciation will still be very poor. Also, I do believe that this book was published in Taiwan. Some of the characters are a bit different than those from mainland China. Despite these shortcomings, Interactions I and II will provide a starting point for those interested in Mandarin. But for a few dollars more, one could purchase an even better beginning.