Customer Reviews

Schaum's Outline of Chinese Grammar

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

It took four years for the best grammar accompaniment to appear. That's when I started learning Mandarin. Like many of you who are satisfied with Pimsleur, you still needed more. I sat through classes in a university, used various software packages, and read books all contributing in different (and needed ways). The grammar problem though is recurring. I still have problems with guo/le that even in a classroom are not totally resolved. The Yip/Rimmington et al. grammar books just didn't resonate with my learning style: too formal, too detailed, too structured, and only in simplified (not to mention how much vocab you needed to understand well the examples).

Ross' treatment in the Schaum book is great. Lots and lots of examples (pinyin, simplified/traditional, English) with slight variations in usage illustrated. As has been pointed out in other reviews, having at least a year of study already improves its value. Actually there were distinctions made between some words I didn't know needed distinctions, such as zai/shi. Excellent treatment of other situations like the various unlike-English section on positional words (inside, outside, above, below, etc.). Another aspect is the exhaustive nature of some groupings or lists, for example, all the variations on these positional words and the possible combinations. Another example would be numbers/money/percentages etc. Almost more than you want.

This has been very helpful to me as a reference grammar that is excellent. In some cases, it would be helpful to have more descriptive text: like most Schaum's, text is terse. Also, time expressions, duration, etc. would be nice to be in a single place. Most are there, but you need to look for them.

It's inexpensive and worth the investment.

I had worked my way through all three of Pimsleur's Mandarin Comprehensive CD sets (each excellent its own right) and was looking for something to answer a few lingering questions. (Pimsleur is fantastic on giving you great pronunciation and practical speaking skills but often leaves you wanting to know a little more of the WHY behind the grammar.) This book was the perfect solution. It summarizes the core grammar accurately and succinctly and is very easy to work through once you've completed a course like Pimsleur. I also ordered a $50 reference grammar of Chinese from Routledge and found it almost useless in comparison. Just a really nice book that does exactly what it sets out to.

I am preparing for an oral exam in Chinese. I'm using the on-line version of Rosetta Stone, which is good for listening. I'm using both of the Schaum's books for additional material, a contemporary Chinese reader ("Shifting Tides" with CD) with a tutor.

According to my tutor, one of the most important differences between someone who can just manage in China, and someone who is conversant, is their grammar. She believes good grammar can cover lack of vocabulary in an oral exam.

Schaum's covers the topics very thoroughly, with useful exercises to cement the topic. Each chapter covers a different part of speech -- nouns, verbs, adverbs, etc. Each chapter starts with the basics and progresses into details. They have examples of good usage and bad usage (accompanied by yucky faces). On the downside, grammar is explained in linguistic terms, e.g. aspectual suffixes, which I am not very familiar with. The examples make clear the meanings.

This book is thorough. I've studied Chinese off and on for many years, and have used many different texts. So the grammar I have learned is spotty. This is a comprehensive study. My tutor (who teaches at the university) has mentioned that it covers topics rarely covered in other textbooks.

I like that the text is written in traditional, simplified characters as well as in pinyin, with an English translation. Studying for an oral exam, I have less interest in knowing characters, so I've been looking for pinyin texts.

This book is not for beginning Chinese students. There is far more vocabulary than a beginning Chinese student would know. I routinely add words from the book to my vocabulary flash cards --such as zhuang(4) guan(1) de Da(4) Xia(2) gu(3) -- magnificient Grand Canyon.

I consider this one of the best purchases I've made for studying.

There are some really bad ones out there, especially one called, Modern Chinese by Peking University. The only thing modern about that one is that they keep updating the picture on the cover. It was written during or shortly after the Cultural Revolution and contains nouns and phrases no one uses anymore. One of my complaints about other books is that many of them concentrate too heavily on the pinyin, the alphabetized Chinese, the implication being that characters are unimportant. Nothing could be further from the truth. I was in Beijing in 1999 and every sign, menu, train ticket, etc. was in characters. Moreover, because Chinese is a tonal language with a zillion homonyms pinyin really isn't very helpful except as a tool for pronunciation and filing. Perhaps it's because the characters came from pictures most people, once they develop some fluency, find them easier to read than the pinyin.

Ross' book is modern and the format is reader friendly; print is decent sized, not too busy, and the book can lie flat open. It covers many grammar points and has exercises. I like it that it also contains both the simplified and traditional characters. It has a couple of minor mistakes and needs a tiny bit of updating but, overall it's an excellent book.

This book is ideal for anyone who has at least a college year's worth of Chinese. It summarizes basic Chinese grammar and covers various sentence constructs, word usages, and important grammer points. Sentences like "you are so busy that you have no time to talk to me" are summerized in their appropriate sections, and specific words that might trouble English speakers like "guo/le" are covered thoroughly. It also uses both traditional and simplified for every sentence so whatever method of writing you like you will be fine. The examples spaced throughout each chapter help reinforce the material.

It is NOT however a book you should be neccesarily reading by itself if you are completely new to Chinese. It definatly assumes you have some knowledge in Chinese, and gives you no baby introduction to Chinese. For the beginning Chinese leaner, it definatly is not a standaloen book, but as a supplement to a text book (such as Chinese Interactions) and an audio program (like Pimsleur) it shines. Highly recommended for any student of Mandarin.

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. One of my passions is innovative ways to teach and learn languages. Mr. Thomas, who was known as the language master, was my teacher for 10 years.

As I wrote in another review on Modern Chinese Grammar, I spent a few years developing a course for English speakers to learn Mandarin. What I didn't write is that if I could only have one Chinese grammar this would be it. This is an outline. It is not as complete or functional as the Modern Chinese Grammar. However, it contains all that you would need to master Chinese patterns ( there is a scholarly argument as to whether the language actually has a grammar).

I have found information in here that I found no where else. This is a concise, distillation of how the language functions. Recently my Chinese teacher showed me a pattern but couldn't explain the logic and rules of use behind it. She said, " I can't tell you why but this is the way we say it." Of course, I found the information in Schaum's.

I bought this book to use as a grammar reference book for use in my job. This book is certainly helping me improve my Chinese. The grammar exercises are helpful and having the answers at the back make it a good choice for self study. It's great that the characters appear in both traditional and simplified form as well as pinyin.

I do feel that linguistic terms were over used which could have been substituted with more user friendly terms. It is obviously a book designed for university students who are already familiar with these terms. Yet I think it is probably not as bad as others. I would just like to see a glossary of the terms used.

The content of this book is very good and the Chinese characters look great on the Kindle. I have a paper copy which I have found very useful over the years. However, as mentioned in other reviews, the current (as of 2011) version of the book lacks a table of contents. This means that for the Kindle, the book is almost unusable. Unless you have memorized the order of topics in the book, you have no way of finding any information. This book is not meant to be read front-to-back, but without either a table of contents or a usable index it is largely unusable (the Kindle version's index is nothing more than a list of topics that one could find in the book--there is no way to actually locate them). The Kindle version of the book was a complete waste of my money. Valuable content is worthless if you can't locate what you're looking for.

A very good grammar book for an unbeatable price. Practical and broad in scope, with exercises and examples in pinyin, traditional, and simplified characters. I have gotten more use of this grammar gem over the years than other chinese grammar books that cost 4x more.

The main drawback is that the formatting is not the best. Little use of whitespace between sections, and subheadings that don't always stand out, make it a challenge to scan for information.

If you are willing to spend a bit more, I highly recommend Claudia Ross' most recent work: Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar (Modern Grammars) and Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar Workbook (Modern Grammars). This set presents the content of 'Schaum's Outline of Chinese Grammar', and much more, in a more organized, logical and thorough manner.

This book is a must buy for any student of the language. It was so helpful in explaining the structure of the language. It has sections on numbers, how the chinese write signs that mean 20% off sale, how to tell time. So many things--After studying from another textbook this book has been invaluable in helping me tie it all together. Another great thing is the book not only has pinyin and english but also traditional and simplified characters. I am very pleased with this purchase.