Teach Yourself Mandarin Chinese Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) (Teach Yourself . . . Complete Courses)
by Elizabeth Scurfield
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List Price: $26.95
Our Price: $14.46
Your Save: $ 12.49 ( 46% )
Availability: Usually ships in 7 to 10 days
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
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Average Customer Rating:   
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 495.182421
EAN: 9780071430333
ISBN: 0071430334
Label: McGraw-Hill
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 368
Publication Date: 2004-04-14
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Studio: McGraw-Hill
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Disaster for learners
Comment: In this book, the translation for "Wang xiansheng" is /King/first-born/.The correct translation should be /Wang: a family name/Mr./
It seems the author used an online translator as a tool to write this book. It is a disaster for learners.
This book needs more qualified editing!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Reasonable text for casual learners
Comment: This book would be a reasonable resource for tourists or other casual learners of Chinese. It provides a good number of natural dialogues in a variety of situations, accompanied by simple and straight-forward grammatical explanation. Scurfield and Song's book - like many others in the Teach Yourself series - packs a lot of information into a compact and convenient format that is a reasonably solid introduction to the language. A lack of discussion about Chinese characters, and a tendency for only the most superficial analysis of grammar and language structure makes this book less than useful for more serious students of Chinese.
Nathan Dummitt
author of Chinese Through Tone & Color
Customer Rating:
Summary: Poorly Correlated
Comment: After reading several of the reviews, I purchased this product. I should have read more reviews. There is NO correlation between the text and the CD's. I would have preferred to learn from a class and teacher; failing that, a text and related CD's would be the next best thing. This book and audio CD set was useless. The text alone may be fine for those who do not need the audio component, but Chinese pronunciation is notoriously difficult for native speakers of English. As a linguist, a foreign language teacher, and a teacher of English as a foreign language, I would recommend students look elsewhere for a comprehensive Chinese language program.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A starting point, but not a solution
Comment: Teach Yourself Chinese is an introductory book for English speakers wanting to learn Mandarin. It covers a diverse set of words and situations; just enough to help get the reader acquainted with a small conversational vocabulary. Every chapter begins with a brief dialog in Chinese, followed by an English "walkthrough" describing the nuances and grammatical rules applied in the conversation. To help with pronunciation and listening, the accompanying CD's are handy.
While this book is a great starting place for beginners, it has many drawbacks. It is deficient in teaching how to read and write in Chinese. The first several chapters do not even make use of Chinese symbols, instead relying solely on pinyin spellings. When symbols are used, they are only the simplified set of characters and not the traditional characters used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. I believe that integrating reading and writing is essential for memorization of Chinese vocabulary.
Another drawback is despite all the author's efforts to teach pronunciation and tonal usage, using this book without a real Chinese tutor is not enough. Most of the setbacks of this book are not its fault, but the fact that the difficulty of Chinese pronunciation and learning how to write make it impossible to learn without a mentor. Perhaps the biggest problem is that "teaching yourself" Chinese using any method is extremely difficult. I recommend buying this if you are interested and very determined to learn Chinese, but make it only one tool in your arsenal of learning materials.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good resources for the beginner!
Comment: Although this course is designed to get you familiar with the character of the language, it is at best designed for the beginner or someone who needs the basics to refresh oneself. I highly recommend it!
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Disaster for learners
Comment: In this book, the translation for "Wang xiansheng" is /King/first-born/.The correct translation should be /Wang: a family name/Mr./
It seems the author used an online translator as a tool to write this book. It is a disaster for learners.
This book needs more qualified editing!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Reasonable text for casual learners
Comment: This book would be a reasonable resource for tourists or other casual learners of Chinese. It provides a good number of natural dialogues in a variety of situations, accompanied by simple and straight-forward grammatical explanation. Scurfield and Song's book - like many others in the Teach Yourself series - packs a lot of information into a compact and convenient format that is a reasonably solid introduction to the language. A lack of discussion about Chinese characters, and a tendency for only the most superficial analysis of grammar and language structure makes this book less than useful for more serious students of Chinese.
Nathan Dummitt
author of Chinese Through Tone & Color
Customer Rating:
Summary: Poorly Correlated
Comment: After reading several of the reviews, I purchased this product. I should have read more reviews. There is NO correlation between the text and the CD's. I would have preferred to learn from a class and teacher; failing that, a text and related CD's would be the next best thing. This book and audio CD set was useless. The text alone may be fine for those who do not need the audio component, but Chinese pronunciation is notoriously difficult for native speakers of English. As a linguist, a foreign language teacher, and a teacher of English as a foreign language, I would recommend students look elsewhere for a comprehensive Chinese language program.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A starting point, but not a solution
Comment: Teach Yourself Chinese is an introductory book for English speakers wanting to learn Mandarin. It covers a diverse set of words and situations; just enough to help get the reader acquainted with a small conversational vocabulary. Every chapter begins with a brief dialog in Chinese, followed by an English "walkthrough" describing the nuances and grammatical rules applied in the conversation. To help with pronunciation and listening, the accompanying CD's are handy.
While this book is a great starting place for beginners, it has many drawbacks. It is deficient in teaching how to read and write in Chinese. The first several chapters do not even make use of Chinese symbols, instead relying solely on pinyin spellings. When symbols are used, they are only the simplified set of characters and not the traditional characters used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. I believe that integrating reading and writing is essential for memorization of Chinese vocabulary.
Another drawback is despite all the author's efforts to teach pronunciation and tonal usage, using this book without a real Chinese tutor is not enough. Most of the setbacks of this book are not its fault, but the fact that the difficulty of Chinese pronunciation and learning how to write make it impossible to learn without a mentor. Perhaps the biggest problem is that "teaching yourself" Chinese using any method is extremely difficult. I recommend buying this if you are interested and very determined to learn Chinese, but make it only one tool in your arsenal of learning materials.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good resources for the beginner!
Comment: Although this course is designed to get you familiar with the character of the language, it is at best designed for the beginner or someone who needs the basics to refresh oneself. I highly recommend it!
You can use Teach Yourself Chinese Complete Course to learn at your own pace or as a supplement to your classwork. This complete course utilizes the very latest learning methods in an enjoyable and user-friendly format. The new edition also features: - Engaging visual materials such as menus, photographs, signs, and tickets
- Two CD recordings allowing quick and easy access to individual lessons and exercises
- A clear, accessible new page design
- Strong, striking cover photography
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