Mandarin: Lonely Planet Phrasebook [Paperback]

Anthony Garnaut (Author), Lonely Planet Phrasebooks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2004

Containing essential words and phrases for effective communication with local people, this title is organized to help travellers find the right words at the right time with ease

Editorial Reviews

Review

National Geographic Traveler, September 2006
'Lonely Planet Phrasebooks. Portable, pocket-size, cheap, and available for almost any country you might want to visit...'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Publisher

Lonely Planet phrasebooks give you a comprehensive mix of practical and social words and phrases in more than 120 languages. Chat with the locals and discover their culture - a guaranteed way to enrich your travel experience.

Product Details

• Paperback: 254 pages
• Publisher: Lonely Planet; 5th Biling edition (September 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1740591798
• ISBN-13: 978-1740591799
• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 3.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,808,773 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly poor, March 6, 2006

By 

Brian Asquith - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mandarin: Lonely Planet Phrasebook (Paperback)

Over the years I've been a strong advocate of the Lonely Planet series of books - they've usually been pitched at just the sort of level of travel that suits my budget and interests. This was the first phrase book I bought by them and found it to be very, very disappointing. Not only is their pronounciation system a waste of time learning, many of the translations were found to be incorrect by my chinese friends in terms of sentence structure and word order. A number of key phrases weren't provided and the "strokes" dictionary in the back is also a waste. Also many words used in the phrases were not the same as the ones provided in the dictionary. Basically a lack of consistency throughout...a very, very poor effort and a very disappointed customer. LP should offer a refund.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars PINYIN IS BACK IN 6TH ED, May 25, 2007

By 

Christopher H. Pang - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mandarin: Lonely Planet Phrasebook (Paperback)

Please note that the product sold on this page is the 6th edition September 2006. This edition marks REINTRODUCTION OF PINYIN.
Best phrasebook on the market though not perfect. Issues with format, not really with content.
Front grammar section is useful, but compartmentalized format in relatively newer editions makes it harder to follow. Questionable advice claims no tones are more understandable than bad tones.
Very thorough coverage of situations, including those never encountered (e.g. drugs, expressing interest in indigenous issues). As a 5 years student of Mandarin, I find the phrases accurate if sometimes stilted, but colloquial expressions given are still current.
I only wish the color coded category tabs were more effectively used. It is hard to find phrases quickly, as it is hard to find specific situations within the five categories of tools, practical, social, food, safe travel, and dictionary.
Anyhow, I will take this book along on upcoming trip to Beijing. (Have studied mostly modern literature and newspaper in Chinese, still don't know word for can opener!)

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very un-intuitive phonetic system used in this book, March 19, 2005

By 

David Harris (Kuwait University) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mandarin: Lonely Planet Phrasebook (Paperback)

I want to add my voice to the chorus who have bemoaned the move away from Pinyin in this edition. This system is anything but better. Because it's so un-intuitive, I found myself constantly having to refer to the table of sounds and spellings at the beginning the book to decipher the correct pronunciation of a word or phrase.

In some cases, the transcriptions are inconsistent in that they don't follow the system described at the front of the book. For example, the spelling sequence 'ow' occurs several times throughout the book but is not in the reference table. Presumably, it represents the sound 'ao' as heard in the English word "couch", but that's only a guess. It could just as easily refer to the diphthong 'ou' as heard in the English word "dough".

That said, a book like this is a useful one to have along when traveling in China. It contains a 40-page grammar section with lots of information about how Chinese works. In typical phrasebook fashion, it also contains several sections organized by subject where one can quickly locate specific words or phrases. It also contains a two-way dictionary, the Chinese-English section being ordered by number of strokes in the character so as to allow Chinese speakers to find English translations.

But do get the previous edition if you can get your hands on it!