Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese : An Easy Introduction (Paperback)

by Elizabeth Scurfield (Author), Lianyi Song (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Teaches basic vocabulary, grammar, and their applications to everyday situations using a simple style and illustrations that make learning a language fun.

Product Details

• Paperback: 267 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary (May 11, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0844237108
• ISBN-13: 978-0844237107
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,965,774 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Introduction, February 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese (Paperback)

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.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book to begin with!, October 14, 2003

By	"hanznsolo" (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese Audiopackage (Teach Yourself Beginner's Language Series) (Paperback)

I'm only about halfway (okay, not that far, even) through the book, and I've learned a lot. I've even had a couple of very short conversations with people in Chinese, and they've told me that I speak very well, so the book certainly does its job. The tapes are indispensible.

The book covers pronunciation and the different tones very well. I've got a lot left to read, but I'm very, very happy with the course over all! I WOULDN'T buy it, though, as a new, updated version is coming out in the U.S. in January, I believe. For more information on that, go to:

http://www.teachyourself.co.uk

17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good introduction to the Chinese language, March 9, 1999

By A Customer

After completing this book you will have a very rudimentary understanding of the Chinese language. Your vocabulary will be limited, your aural comprehension will be weak at best, and only if you're very studious will you be able to properly pronunciate all the words that you do learn.

That said, this is a good book especially when accompanied the audio cassettes. I had no previous knowledge of Mandarin Chinese before reading this book, although the little bit of Cantonese that I know helped somewhat. Now I can pick out a few words here and there when watching Chinese movies. Only with practice will I improve, although a vocabulary builder would be useful.