Mandarin Phrasebook: A Rough Guide Phrasebook (Phrase Book, Rough Guide) (Mandarin Chinese Edition) [Paperback]

Lexus (Author)

Book Description

Series: Phrase Book, Rough Guide | Publication Date: May 1, 1997

A Mandarin phrasebook designed for the traveller. It provides guidance on Mandarin pronunciation and tones, dos and donts, cultural know-how and other matters where language is important like making a phone call.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Chinese is a difficult spoken language for most Westerners to master, and its written characters are even harder. A good phrasebook smoothes out the necessary transactions involving shelter, food, and transportation, but it's nice for your cross-cultural communication to get past "thank you" and "good" on that 72-hour train ride, too. Lightweight and pocket-sized, the phrasebook is divided into "The Basics," "English-Chinese," "Chinese-English," "Signs and Notices," and a "Menu Reader of Food and Drink," telling how to pronounce the Chinese words, and spelling them out in characters for when your pronunciation just isn't making it.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Rough Guides (May 1, 1997)
• Language: Mandarin Chinese
• ISBN-10: 1858282497
• ISBN-13: 978-1858282497
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,116,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable for those travelling to China, February 11, 2000

By 

Leo Dirac (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mandarin Phrasebook: A Rough Guide Phrasebook (Phrase Book, Rough Guide) (Mandarin Chinese Edition) (Paperback)

I've recently had reason to review a vast quantity of teach-yourself-chinese literature and this is one of my favorites.

The first thirty pages or so give a wonderful concise summary of the language's grammar which I've found invaluable. The majority of it is organized as a E-C/C-E dictionary, with many phrases and cultural descriptions near definitions of important words.

It makes a passable dictionary, and includes character, pinyin and an 'intuitive phonetic' for everything in chinese. It's small enough to take on a trip too.

Highly recommended.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, basic, single source. Useful and practical, July 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mandarin Phrasebook: A Rough Guide Phrasebook (Phrase Book, Rough Guide) (Mandarin Chinese Edition) (Paperback)

This is a solid phrasebook for anyone who is not well versed in Chinese. While no single phrasebook or dictionary can do everything, this is the best single source we've found. It has the three necessary requirements - easy-to-read, Mandarin characters for all definitions (so you can show the non-English speaker), and it fits into a pocket. It should be accompanied by a basic dictionary that has the three necessary requirements, if you can find one. (We are still struggling) Useful and practical for everyday use for the business person or visitor.