Berlitz Premier Mandarin Chinese & Japanese (English and Chinese Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)For me, an at home learner of Mandarin Chinese, I found this "course" as another very useful aid in the pursuit of conversational "Learn at Home" Chinese. Another addition to my learning arsenal. I doubt seriously that one would reach a conversational knowledge purely with this material alone (If a Self Learner)! As an addition to a formal class it could, I guess prove helpful? But for the at home, on you own (No teacher, or class available person), I would recommend the
Living Language Mandarin Chinese course. as some reviewed it as "not for an absolute beginner" but with some prior knowledge. in my case little, I find it to be the "Mainstay" of my home study, supplemented by all the online Chinese learning material, that is in great abundance and varying usefulness, at no or little cost. this course Berlitz is another aid but not the way to go alone, though!

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BERLITZ CHINESE AND JAPANESE PREMIERThree easy ways to learn Chinese and Japanese Learn Chinese and Japanese the easy way with a straightforward system that helps you learn common words and phrases with vocabulary activities and sample conversations in three comprehensive levels: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. Ideal for busy people learn on your computer, in your car or on the go! Three easy ways to learn: 1. On your computer--Software for Windows and Macintosh**Total immersion learn by listening to actual conversations**Multimedia learning enhance your knowledge by watching videos**Flash card system reinforce your learning**Speech Analysis improve your pronunciation with practice conversations2. In your car listen to audio CDs (4 hours total) 3. On the go*Install the software on your Pocket PC or PDA*Specific exercises for iPod or other MP3 playersIdeal for All Levels: *Beginner**Meeting and greeting**Basic travel terms**Numbers and money**Colors*Sightseeing*Intermediate**Asking for Directions**Ordering a Meal**Shopping**At the Hotel**Emergencies*Advanced**Office Conversation**Speaking on the Phone**An Evening with Friends**Survival PhrasesWhat Makes It So Effective? *Interactive flash cards help you to learn essential words and phrases*Engaging videos teach real-life conversation skills*Speech analysis tools teach you to converse like a native*Entertaining games make learning fast and fun! System requirements: Windows: 98, 2000, ME, XP, Vista128 MB RAMCD-ROM driveMacintosh: OS X 10.2.8 or laterG3 or faster or IntelÂ-based128 MB RAMCD-ROM driveOptional: Microphone for recording and speech recognitioniPod or MP3 playerPocket PC 2002 or laterPalm (Palm OS 5 or later, 500 KB available memory)

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Chinese in a Flash, Vol. 1 (Tuttle Flash Cards) Review

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(More customer reviews)These are really wonderful aids and do all that a flashcard can be asked to do. Also, they DO provide a very detailed stroke order- I am puzzled why so many reviews comment that there is no stroke order. Perhaps there was an earlier edition? I will take and upload a photo, so other customers can see for themselves.
I find them superior to "Chinese Character Flashcards 888" and wish I would have saved my money as I purchased both sets. There is another review comparing them that is incorrect. These flashcards are more sturdy, have a more detailed stroke order (they break down every single stroke while the 888 set often groups them), provide a sample sentence as well as additional words using the character (888 only has a few sample words), and provide the traditional character along with the simplified when applicable (888 does too, but it's very small). They are superior in every way to the 888 set- I haven't even looked at the other set since the Tuttle set arrived. In fact, this is the first Amazon review I've written, and I do so to correct the misinformation I based my purchasing decision upon.
Another useful feature is that the first 500 flashcards in the set coincide exactly with the two Tuttle Language Library volumes "250 Essential Chinese Characters". So, if you're working your way through these books, these flashcards are the ideal study aid. (The labeling numbers coincide exactly...if learning character number 115 in the book, you can refer to flashcard 115.)
I am very happy with the cards and encourage their use as part of a well-rounded study program. It has been commented that individual characters have no real "meaning", so these cards have limited use. I disagree. Individual characters do have meaning and are used to represent a particular sound and tone. You must learn what sound goes with which character since characters are written individually with equal spacing- when reading Chinese, you need to pronounce each sound as you go along since characters are not grouped together to signal they are being used to build a particular word. Thus, each character needs to be learned individually since it can be used with many different characters to build different words. For example, "pengyou", meaning "friend", is written with two characters: one representing the sound "peng" (which means friend) and one representing "you" (which also means friend). But the character for "you" can also be combined with the character for "yi" which result in "youyi", meaning "friendship".
As far as the samples sentences go, they may potentially be confusing since they do not provide an exact word-for-word translation, but for someone with moderate experience (I've been studying Mandarin for 3 months now) they are very easy to understand. An exact translation wouldn't be very comprehensible anyway. I rarely find myself confused over which word represents which meaning, and if uncertain, it's easy enough to look up a troublesome word in the dictionary. It's all part of the learning process.


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Whether on a train from Beijing to Shanghai or sitting under a tree in Berkeley, you can be practicing your Chinese with this quick and easy-to-use set of flashcards. Chinese in a Flash Volume 1 has a full range of features to help beginners and intermediate learners through character recognition, vocabulary recognition, revision, and testing.It includes indexes by radical, stroke count, and alphabetically by pinyin romanization.

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Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 1 (Simplified & Traditional Character) Character Workbook (Chinese Edition) Review

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(More customer reviews)...but quality is very poor. Volume of the speakers fluctuates, sound quality is very poor, and the occasional vocabulary word being read by a different speaker lead to my dissappointment. It is far too expensive considering these quality flaws. But, this CD is necessary if you are using the Integrated Chinese textbook to study on your own, as it will provide the proper pronounciation using the words and dialogues in the textbook (the textbook itself is excellent). There are home-made podcasts for Chinese language students that are far better quality...and free.

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The Character Workbooks are designed to help the student learn Chinese characters in their correct stroke order. In the Level 1 workbooks, stroke order for each new character is displayed, along with its pinyin pronunciation and English translation. Character boxes allow students to practice writing the characters. The Level 2 Character workbook, in addition to stroke order, presents example sentences to illustrate word usage in context. The Level 2 Character workbook includes both simplified and traditional character forms. Four useful appendices are included in the Level 2 Character workbook: A list of proper nouns and measure words; an English-Chinese glossary that includes all vocabulary in Levels 1 and 2; a Chinese character index that lists all characters appearing in Levels 1 and 2; and the simplified-form example sentences that appear in traditional characters throughout the bookÂ's text.--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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The Art of Public Speaking with Connect Lucas Review

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(More customer reviews)this is a great book, i've really enjoyed reading it. i had to buy this for my public speaking class, but its not like a textbook. it reads like a regular informational book, and has a lot of useful information. recommended for anyone who wants some professional advise on how to improve on your public speaking.

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By far the leading speech textbook of our time, The Art of Public Speaking has defined the art of being the best for more than 10 million students and instructors. Whether a novice or an experienced speaker, every student will learn how to be a better public speaker through Lucas' clear explanations of classical and contemporary theory and thorough coverage of practical applications.

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Beginning Chinese Reader (Beginning Chinese Reader, Part I) Review

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(More customer reviews)Excellent book to learn how to read Chinese characters. The excellence stems from several features: 1) the emphasis on combinations rather than characters alone - during every lesson you learn about ten characters but many more words (combinations of two or more characters); 2) large size of the characters - very, very useful for the beginner; 3) systematic repetition -- characters from one lesson are used in the following lessons in a systematic way that helps to build and keep your vocabulary. I can't think of any other book available on Amazon that shares these features. If you get the book, I suggest you buy both volumes together because the appendices with stroke order and simplified characters are at the end of the second volume.

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This second edition, like the earlier first edition, introduces some of the main varieties of Chinese as found before and after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.While continuing to stress the basic importance of the traditional usages, such as the regular characters to be found in all materials published before the adoption of the simplified forms in 1956 and still in use in some areas, the present revision goes further in contrasting variant usages and in providing additional material relevent to the PRC.--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Chinese (Mandarin) I Review

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(More customer reviews)I've gone through all 3 full sets of Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese. If you'd have asked me immediately after I'd finished them what I thought of the series, I'd have given it 5 stars without hesitation. However, after spending the past year trying to advance past what I've learned via the Pimsleur series, I've come across some reservations which prevent me from giving it a 5 star review anymore. While I do feel the Pimsleur method is incredibly useful and (despite its seeming simplicity) very innovative, I think their Mandarin Chinese series also suffers from simply being "plugged in" to the standard Pimsleur format, rather than receiving the customization that would help users truly understand the Chinese language, which has many quirks unique to it.
My reservations:
1) Pimsleur Chinese teaches the Beijing version of Mandarin, which is understandable considering it is the "official" Mandarin dialect according to the Chinese government, but the fact is that the vast majority of overseas Mandarin speakers do not speak Beijing Chinese and may give you puzzled looks when you use the phrases taught in this series. For example, in Beijing the word 'where' is said 'nar', while just about everywhere else (Taiwan, Singapore, and other parts of China) they say 'na-li'. Sure, 90% is probably the same, but that 10% that is different can be very confusing. Occasionally they give alternate ways of saying words, but more often they do not. Native Mandarin speakers may understand your Beijing usage and pronunciation, but you will definitely need to re-learn several key words in order to understand when they speak to you.
2) Classical Chinese, I believe, was basically mono-syballic, but Modern Chinese is heavily composed of compound words which can be broken down to their individual components as a mnemonic and as a way of better understanding the language. However, Pimsleur rarely does this. For example, I noticed they gave several words that began with dian (which, via other means of study, I learned means 'electronic'), such as dian nao (electronic + brain = computer) and dian hoa (electronic + speech = telephone), but I had to look elsewhere to understand the individual components. Pimsleur breaks down a compound word maybe a quarter of the time, but it should have been done EVERY time.
3) Although I still believe Pimsleur is a great introduction to the language, you ultimately only learn a VERY limited vocabulary from the entire 3 sets -- maybe a few hundred words -- not nearly enough to understand a TV show or movie (again, especially when you consider you are only learning how to say things in Beijing Mandarin).
Don't get me wrong, Pimsleur does an excellent job of getting the listener to memorize key words and phrases using good pronunciation (my Mandarin speaking friends were quite surprised by my "clear, classical accent"), but it is only a first step. To continue learning Mandarin, you definitely should learn Pinyin (i.e. the method used to translate Chinese characters into English/Romanized spellings -- it takes some time to learn as it is not very intuitive) in order to use a dictionary and other instruction books, and as a stepping stone to learning how to read & write Chinese characters (a massive undertaking in itself).

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Mandarin is the official language in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore. The Mandarin dialect is used in most Chinese schools, colleges, and universities, and in most TV programs, movies, and radio stations throughout the country. Mandarin is one of the five official languages of the UN.ComprehensiveMandarin ChineseI includes 30 lessons of essential grammar and vocabulary -- 16 hours of real-life spoken practice sessions -- plus a Culture Booklet. Upon completion of this Level I program, you will have functional spoken proficiency with the most-frequently-used vocabulary and grammatical structures. In the first 10 lessons, you'll cover the basics: saying hello, asking for or giving information, scheduling a meal or a meeting, asking for or giving basic directions, and much more. You'll be able to handle minimum courtesy requirements, understand much of what you hear, and be understood at a beginning level, but with near-native pronunciation skills. In the next 10 lessons, you'll build on what you've learned. Expand your menu, increase your scheduling abilities from general to specific, start to deal with currency and exchanging money, refine your conversations and add over a hundred new vocabulary items. You'll understand more of what you hear, and be able to participate with speech that is smoother and more confident. In the final 10 lessons, you'll be speaking and understanding at an intermediate level.More directions are given in the target language, which moves your learning to a whole new plane. Lessons include shopping, visiting friends, going to a restaurant, plans for the evening, car trips, and talking about family. One hour of recorded Cultural Notes are included at the end of Unit 30. These notes are designed to provide you with some insight into Chinese culture. A Notes Booklet is also included in PDF format.

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Ultimate Chinese (Mandarin) Beginner-Intermediate (CD/Book) (Ultimate Beginner-Intermediate) Review

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(More customer reviews)The only portion this series misses is the written, but that's not what they were aiming for. I have lived in Shanghai and traveled to various parts of China. The voices on CD are very realistic and relaxed, helping the student to understand ordinary speakers - rather than the "standard" Beijing pronunciation. I urge students to use the CD's alot along with the instructions. I found the grammar explanations far superior to any other text I have seen out there- and through 2 years of formal training and 2 practical (in the street) I have not seen a more balanced approach to subject and grammar (Much better than Pimsleur). My wife is Chinese and agrees with the points I have made here. She said there was a definite improvement after I studied these CD's (as opposed to my classroom instruction - not the teacher's fault though, in case she reads this).
Hope this helps!

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Ultimate Mandarin Chinese has everything you need to learn Chinese from scratch or to revive the Chinese that you learned years ago. This course combines conversation and culture in an easy-to-follow, enjoyable, and effective format. It's the perfect way to learn Chinese for school, travel, work, or personal enrichment. Ultimate Chinese Beginner-Intermediate includes:•40 lessons in a comprehensive 416-page textbook:Each lesson contains a lively and authentic dialogue, vocabulary, grammar and usage, step-by-step character writing, cultural highlights, and plenty of practice. The first ten lessons also include special pronunciation sections that will have you speaking right from the beginning. The book also contains review sections, readings, supplemental vocabulary sections, appendixes on essential Chinese grammar, and a Chinese-English/English-Chinese glossary.•8 hours of recordings with an ingenious two-step approach:Learn at home: Listen to the first set of recordings as you follow along in your textbook. Immerse yourself in Chinese while you listen and repeat with the all-Chinese recordings, and learn conversation, grammar, vocabulary, and moreLearn on the go: Then practice, review, and expand upon what you've learned with the second set of recordings. An instructor will guide you through each lesson, and since no reading is required, you can listen in the car, on the train, at the gym…anywhere!

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Learn to Write Chinese Characters (Yale Language Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book teaches the principles of sound and beautiful writing - the names of the strokes, the order in which they are written, aesthetic principles, and the common radicals. Then it provides a famous poem to practice with, and a list of a hundred common characters, sorted by frequency of usage. When the simplified character differs from the traditional, both are given. Transliterations are in pin-yin. This is far and away the best book I've found for learning to write the characters. I regretted the transition away from this book to other resources, principally because other resources usually use the printed form that ignores the aesthetic principles and turns beauty into ugliness. That sounds harsh, doesn't it? But it's true! If you're going to learn to write, start with this book, so you won't have to go back later to correct bad habits.

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An introductory manual for writing Chinese characters specifically designed for English-speaking readers. The author guides the reader through the fundamentals of writing, introduces the various scripts used in China and demonstrates how to write with a fountain pen rather than a brush.

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Barron's AP Chinese Language and Culture: with Audio CDs (Barron's AP Chinese Language & Culture) Review

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(More customer reviews)So far, I think this is the only AP Chinese and Culture book out there. I have been taking Chinese for 10 years (born in states, Chinese American), and I can speak Chinese pretty fluently. This book gives a good overview of the exam, but even for me, the culture paragraphs towards the end of the book are a little hard to understand. However, if you have been taking Chinese for a while and pretty good at it, this book will give you a great cultural overview of China (and my mom makes me read this book in my spare time, lol.) The culture part on the real AP exam though, is definetly not that hard. I barely did the listening and writing parts (just skimmed and did the practice tests), and I'd say that the difficulty level is just right. They also have word lists, so if you need to brush up on your vocab, get this. I think everyone who is looking for a review for Chinese (AP or not), should get this book. Very well written!

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This brand-new manual prepares students for a subject that has just been added to the Advanced Placement program. Separate sections review all parts of the new exam: Listening, Reading, Grammar, Speaking, and Culture. Each section also includes exercises, and the listening and reading sections include practice questions with answer keys and answer explanations. The book reflects the AP exam's standards, presenting questions in bothtraditional and simplified Chinese characters. Two full-length practice exams are presented with answer keys. Enclosed with the manual are three audio compact discs, which present spoken material covering the exam's Listening and Speaking sections.

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The First 100 Chinese Characters: Simplified Character Edition: The Quick and Easy Method to Learn the 100 Most Basic Chinese Characters (Tuttle Language Library) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am learning to speak Mandarin but felt I needed more knowledge of the written language to get a more comprehensive feel for the language. I looked around and settled on this one and it was a good choice. It has just enough information for me to learn the character and its meaning as well as some commonly used phrases in which each character appears. It gives ample space to practice the strokes of the character. The characters are also in a type size that makes it easier to read than some other books I've looked at.

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The major struggle facing all beginning Chinese language students is to learn to recognize, read and write hundreds of Chinese characters. This book adopt a structural approach that helps students overcome this initial difficulty and quickly master the basic Chinese characters fundamental to this language. Intended for beginning students, The First 100 Chinese Characters: Simplified Character Edition contains carefully selected and sequenced characters for rapid and effective learning. Each Chinese character is shown separately on a single page, along with its English definitions, hanyu pinyin romanization, alternate form, a stroke-order guide and ample writing space.Two indexes--alphabetical by the English meanings and by pinyin romanizationùare provided at the back of each book for quick and easy reference, along with extra sheets of blank boxes for writing practice.

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