68 of 72 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love this book, November 3, 2006
This review is from: Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide (Modern Grammars) (Paperback)
Speak Mandarin Chinese For BeginnersThe Michel Thomas Method (8-CD Beginner's Program)Michel Thomas Method Speak Mandarin Chinese Advanced
I am the author of the Michel Thomas courses to learn spoken Mandarin. Innovative approaches to language teaching is one of my passions. So I am always on the lookout for texts and resources to support me in my journey.
I have used most of the Chinese grammars out there. This is far and away the best. The entire series is outstanding. Why? Because it's totally practical without getting stuck in grammatical obscurities. It reflects the actual, contemporary use of the language as it is used by ordinary, educated speakers.
The first half of the book reviews all aspects of the grammar in a user-friendly way. The second half of the volume deals with how to express anything you could wish to say in contemporary Chinese using the patterns of the language as would a native speaker.
Over the time I spent designing cutting edge courses for English ( and now also French) speakers to really learn to speak Mandarin in the least amount of time this book was one of my most valuable resources. I cannot recommend it enough.
What I have found is that I continue to return to Modern Chinese Grammar year after year and am always happily surprised with its simple explanation of potentially complex topics.
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49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Two Part Intermediate Book That Beginners Can Benefit From, May 23, 2007
This review is from: Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide (Modern Grammars) (Paperback)
There is a recent influx of excellent materials on learning Mandarin Chinese, both conversational and written. This includes audio books and written materials, as well as excellent multimedia works. Computerized instruction is becoming more prominent. One just beginning this subject a number of years ago may have had difficulty finding sufficient instruction on the subject, now that situation may be reversing to where one must instead select from a far larger pool, the most appropriate materials for individual focus.
In most if not all cases, this book is a welcome, perhaps even essential, addition to those instructional materials. The authors are clearly passionate on this subject, and have created a work that is organized, and which spans a wide array of topics expertly. Arguably most beneficial for and targeted to intermediates in the language, this book will also be beneficial for one having only recently started Mandarin Chinese as well.
The first part of this book is 17 chapters in length, and overviews the ubiquitous Pinyin romanization, followed by lessons in the important similarities and differences in word order for typical sentences in Mandarin, in comparison to English. There are a surprising number of similarities, along with significant and noteworthy differences. After this, various parts of speech are detailed, specifically adjectives and adverbs, prepositions, and numerous forms of nouns and verbs. The reason for omitting other parts of speech becomes evident. There is also included in this first part a large chapter on numbers, one that goes into far more detail and explanation of different usages than most books do.
The second part of the book, the 43 remaining chapters of the 60 total in this book, provides a plethora of scenarios and common situations. This includes greetings and introductions, name usage, modern communication including internet and telecommunication, speaking in different tenses, questions and negation, discussing time, transportation and travel phrases, cause and effect and conditionals, guest and host scenarios and etiquette, expressing concerns desires and needs, requesting permission, and invitations regrets apologies and wishing others well, among other topics.
Every one of the nearly 400 pages is filled with practical sentences used in daily discourse, along with new vocabulary, pinyin as well as Mandarin characters, and well thought out explanations of and elaborations upon the examples provided. Common error avoidance and helpful hints for a typical English speaker are provided throughout.
There is a separate workbook available, associated with this one, that quizzes understanding of each of the chapters. Additionally, there are two books published earlier by Schaum's, one by one of the authors (Claudia Ross). Perusing the table of contents of both, it appears that this work is a confluence of the best of both of those earlier texts, and can be considered a new edition of that earlier grammar book.
The look and feel of this book is excellent. The typefaces used and occasional diagrams provided are elegantly done and are a pleasure to read. The paperback edition has a solid and sturdy feel to it, and the thick paper used gives the impression this is meant to be used as a long term reference work. Each chapter is clearly separated by page as well as visually, and is further subdivided and organized into smaller subsections, also made visually prominent within the chapter.
A very highly recommended work, focusing primarily upon intermediate level subject matter, yet presented in such a way that beginners can get an admirable jumpstart from it as well. The grammar rules of the language, along with sentence level word positioning in Mandarin, are presented in meticulous detail. This can easily supplement any of the typical beginning audio/visual or written instructional materials available on speaking conversational Mandarin Chinese.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good layout, but not enough review or examples., October 26, 2009
This review is from: Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar: A Practical Guide (Modern Grammars) (Paperback)
Like a previous reviewer, I had had the Schaums book earlier and left it in another state, so picked this up to replace it based on the positive reviews, along with the workbook. All in all, I'd have to say I liked the Schaums better because the chapters built on each other and the examples and questions were substantially more intense. This book takes the path of explaining each topic independently. However there's very little in terms of building up to something greater. You see something once, you see one or two example sentences, you do a couple trivial questions in the workbook, and then you never see it again. I found it hard to really remember much (and in general with foreign languages, find it hard to remember much) if there's not constant building, repetition, and review. Some people might like this format, but it wasn't to my liking.
Personally I'd say the New Practical Chinese Reader series is the best, as it has grammar, vocab, and interesting dialogs to help you understand intuitively how the language is really used.
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