Chinese in 10 Minutes a Day® (10 Minutes a Day Series) (Paperback)

by Kristine K. Kershul (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"This book is so accessible that learning Mandarin was actually easy and fun..." -- Amazon.co.uk on-line review, September 2000.

Product Description
The book walks you through your language in 23 easy steps. Almost automatically you will acquire a large working vocabulary that will suit your needs. As you work through the steps, use the sticky labels (included). At the back of the book, you will also find cut-out flash cards to make learning fun. When you have completed the book, cut out the menu at the back and take it along on your trip. Available in 11 languages.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 132 pages
• Publisher: Bilingual Books, Inc.; 6th edition (January 2002)
• ISBN-10: 0944502105
• ISBN-13: 978-0944502105
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #384,102 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for everyday speaking, October 7, 2002

By	Wallis Davenport "joyous2" (Ithaca, NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

While I agree with the other reviews of the book that this is a very accessible text for learning to speak Chinese, I feel I must mention that it doesn't provide most of the Chinese characters for the words, instead only writing them in pinyin. This is adequate for those who are learning to speak Chinese and want to gain fluency in everyday speaking and grammar use, but I did find it frustrating that I had to look elsewhere for the characters. Additionally, I do feel that it would be easier to learn some vocabulary with the Chinese characters - for example the word for flowers, huar, is given, and the word for garden, huaryuan. Are they related? Is it the same root word? Without the character, there is no way to know.

That criticism aside, I do feel that Chinese in 10 Minutes a Day has been very helpful in learning to speak Chinese. It provides a great deal of everyday vocabulary from around the town and house, and presents it in a fun format. It comes complete with stickers to label everyday objects in your house, for example, which act as a constant reminder as to the Chinese words.

I definately recommend this book, with the addition of a good dictionary for the student interested in learning Chinese characters.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very good with a little bit of dedication, April 10, 2001

By	Stacie (Kentucky) - See all my reviews

I found a few translation mistakes, but most are corrected later on by giving the other correct definition (though you may want a dictionary to be sure which is which). There weren't too many though, and I'm sure most any foreign language book is bound to have a few. What I really loved about this book was that in addition to the pinyin, they also gave the pronunciation piece by piece the way it would really be written in English-it's the only book I've seen that's done that, and for that added help on the pronuciation (which you could very easily mess up using only the pinyin) I would recommend this book.

But it's not only that: it offers most of the vocab you would NEED while in China, and though it doesn't have much to offer in the way of grammar, you can get by with only a little bit of confusion with the words and limited gramatical structure you pick up in the book.

And just in case it doesn't mention it in the description: this is Mandarin Chinese: which is spoken in Beijing, and not the Cantonese which is spoken in Hong Kong.

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT TOOL FOR BEGINNER STUDENT, December 6, 2005

By	Carolina Hernandez Diaz (Santiago, Chile) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have to start this review saying that i thought more than 4 times before buy this book.
For me the title was not to atractive (not too serious for a formal chinese student). But i have to say that since i received this book (with other three books to learn chinese), it got my atention.

This book has colorfull pages, beautiful illustrations, lot of useful vocabulary, and an interested way to introduce new chinese word in every text, even in english text.

Teachs you from you own language, make reference between english grammar and chinese grammar.

This book it's not ambitious, doesnt include chinese caracthers, it's focus on speak, and not to read.

With this book you will learn (at least) to say in chinese:
Where is the table? (nar you ....)
This is the chicken (zhe shi yi ge ji).
I want tea, (wo yao cha).
1,2,3,4,5... 1359...(yi, er, san, si, etc)
Red, blue, gray (hongse, lanse, etc)...
This is, that is (zhe shi, na shi).
Today is monday, see you tomorrow (jintian shi xingqi yi, mingtian jian).

Also include stickers with objects in chinese to stick to your table, clock, window, sofa, cat, etc,
At the end you will have a small vocabulary, but believe me, the way will be really funny.

The only lack of this book it's that doesn't include a CD, it's really important to listen the pronunciation, especially if it's purpose of the book.

It's a good tool for beginners, and if you want to start by yourself (and that's a lot if we talk about chinese).

Sincerely,
from the South of the World (Chile)

Carolina

PD: Sorry for my english... i just speak spanish and a little bit of chinese