| 35 of 35 people found the following review
helpful:
This is the only book you need to start learning Chinese., October
12, 1998
Reviewer: A reader
I put 5 stars because it's worth nothing less. This book has more
information in it than most of my $30-50 books.
This book has some really useful phrases, which are all written out in
3 different ways. English translation, followed by standard PinYin, and
last in line, Chinese characters for Mandarin. A final column on the
phrase pages has a handfull of key, (useful) words, and small phrases
labelled 'what you may hear'.
The four basic tones or inflections are explained simply. The
pronunciation guide in this book is a little abstract but sufficient. As
for pronuciation of Chinese, NO BOOK will be able to teach the inflections
and pronunciations accurately. However, if you've practiced Chinese with
an experienced or native speaker, the book will give enough information to
help you recall accurate pronunciation.
This book is about half E-C / C-E dictionary with 3,500 entries,
according to the cover. I've been looking at this book for about three
years now, still I find new information in it all the time.
The print quality is crisp black on @24lb. white paper, not thin paper.
There are 2 different fonts used for the Chinese characters in the book.
Unstylized strokes for the phrases, and stylized for addtional words, and
dictionary entries. The illustrations are kinda cheezy, as it goes in
language books. They're funny at least. |
based on 3 reviews.
Good for basic words, March 11, 2002