Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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this book/tape, so far, beats all others that I have purchased. Besides all useful material, the completeness of the chinese instructions is what pleased me the most. I would recommend to all learners of Chinese Mandarin. In fact, it is better than the other version "Teach Yourself Chinese" by the same authors.

I'm currently studying from this book, and it has been very helpful, and very thourough. However, I had a Mandarin speaking (yes, he's Chinese), friend of mine look at the book. He laughed. Most of the information is correct, but the usage of Ni and Nin (you informal and "formal") is very incorrect. My friend informed me that he has only using Nin once or twice with his parents, and only to suck up. Instead of being more formal, nin is more intimite. He showed me the difference in characters, and the only difference between the two is that nin has the symbol for the heart underneath! There are gross missuses of the word within the book, as in between a student and a teacher. My friend couldn't stop laughing! But other than that, the book is accurate...

Good teaching for early beginners of the language. Well-organized & easy to learn.