Colloquial Chinese: A Complete Language Course (Book & Cassettes)
by Kan Qian
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List Price: $50.95
Our Price: $32.99
Your Save: $ 17.96 ( 35% )
Availability: Usually ships in 1 to 2 months
Manufacturer: Routledge
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 495.183421
EAN: 9780415113885
Format: Box set
ISBN: 0415113881
Label: Routledge
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 355
Publication Date: 1995-11-09
Publisher: Routledge
Studio: Routledge
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent for the motivated self starter & beginner.
Comment: The CDs are a must, along with the book. Without which you are wasting your time IMHO. The dialogs I find are well thought out. The introduction to writing is actually what got me started with Hanzi and I recommend . One of the commentators talks about the translation into colloquial English which is correct. Also the teaching of sounds is not a bad best guess for the standard English speaker. But note if you are not a standard English speaker don't waste too much time, look else where (ideally with a native speaker, or some technicla white paper on tongue postions relative to pallete etc). Like another commentator said "Aunts Climbing a Tree" (Chaper 9) made me focus on other possible errors - But of course I am not Chinese so I wouldn't really know. Please post if you find any.
Gets 4 stars because of lack of some explainations and the odd error. But definately one of the best products out there to start with. You really wont be making a mistake using this. Which isn't bad since it was first written in 1995 !
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Next Best Thing To Formal Lessons for Beginners!
Comment: I got the audio cassette version just before cds became ubiquitous in my country and also because the cd versions were not available at the time and given my vast experience with tons of tapes over the years, I knew it was only a matter of time before the oxide layer would fall off and the sound quality would slowly but slowly degrade. I hence got a techie friend to immediately burn the tapes onto cds for me; he managed to squeeze everything onto 2 discs.
Why this long intro? I just wanted to explain why this product got 4 instead of 5 stars from me and I'd recommend getting the cd version immediately unless you absolutely have to listen to cassettes. The sound quality of cassettes is limited and you'll have to put up with the irritating hissing sounds that we in this modern day and age have become totally unaccustomed to.
That aside, this is a very good resource for beginners who cannot afford the time and expense of personal tutoring or attending formal classes; this is by no means a substitute for these but may well be the next best thing. The book is very comprehensive and explains what's probably the hardest part to grasp of the language which is mastering the 4 basic tones. Once you can get these down pat and the relatively simple grammar rules, the rest is all about adding to your vocabulary.
Of course if you want to go further than this spoken, beginners' course, you'll need to look for more advanced courses that teach the other headache of writing and reading the characters! As they say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step and so this is a worthy first step indeed. Just try and get the cd version instead of this cassette version.
Customer Rating:
Summary: not a book
Comment: Please be aware if you think you are buying both the book (as others indicate in their reviews) that you are only purchasing the audio CD
Customer Rating:
Summary: An excellent way to start
Comment: Colloquial Chinese by Kan Qian is exactly the resource I was seeking when I set out to learn Chinese. Vocabulary and points of grammar and usage are introduced in dialogues followed by clear explanatory notes. The dialogues are realistic and varied, starting with an appropriately slow and stilted first meeting at the airport and moving on to flirting, shopping and catching up with old friends. The notes give just enough information so that you can be comfortable with the material at hand, with further complications introduced gradually. Listening/reading exercises offer more practice and enhance the feeling of success. A psychological boost is provided by the fact that several dialogues feature Chinese natives chatting with people from English-speaking countries: if "Amy" and "David" can speak good Chinese, so can I! Pinyin (mainland China's official and logical romanization system) and Chinese characters are both used, with optional exercises in character writing. The CDs or tapes are essential for anyone learning on their own.
Cautions: There is little supplemental vocabulary, and the simplicity of the notes is frustrating for one with a deeper interest in the language; but these drawbacks are easily compensated by eventually taking on a more scholarly text. English translations are in colloquial British; for instance, as an American I was glad that my Chinese friend pointed out that the word translated as "smart" referred to attractiveness rather than intelligence before I had a chance to embarrass myself by giving the wrong compliment. There are a few typos: however picturesque the names of Chinese foods may be, I doubt that there's one called "Aunts Climbing a Tree," which makes me alert for errors in pinyin spelling that are harder to catch. In the set I bought, which included both CDs and cassettes, the recording quality on the cassettes is atrocious. And, as a San Francisco native I just have to note: Jiujinshan de xiatian bu hen re. Jiujinshan de xiatian feichang leng! By Chapter 6 you'll know what I mean. And you'll very likely enjoy the learning along the way.
Customer Rating:
Summary: fair or good for beginners like me.
Comment: The grammar is clear and enough for beginners like me. The sentences are simple enough. I like the quizz/question parts, they made your brain work.1-I wish they had both simplified and traditional characters like Tung's books, but I know that's impossible. 2-the CD sound was hissing and not digital-like.3- It seems that the chinese speakers in the CD had been away from the mainland many many years so their accent were not quite beijing's.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent for the motivated self starter & beginner.
Comment: The CDs are a must, along with the book. Without which you are wasting your time IMHO. The dialogs I find are well thought out. The introduction to writing is actually what got me started with Hanzi and I recommend . One of the commentators talks about the translation into colloquial English which is correct. Also the teaching of sounds is not a bad best guess for the standard English speaker. But note if you are not a standard English speaker don't waste too much time, look else where (ideally with a native speaker, or some technicla white paper on tongue postions relative to pallete etc). Like another commentator said "Aunts Climbing a Tree" (Chaper 9) made me focus on other possible errors - But of course I am not Chinese so I wouldn't really know. Please post if you find any.
Gets 4 stars because of lack of some explainations and the odd error. But definately one of the best products out there to start with. You really wont be making a mistake using this. Which isn't bad since it was first written in 1995 !
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Next Best Thing To Formal Lessons for Beginners!
Comment: I got the audio cassette version just before cds became ubiquitous in my country and also because the cd versions were not available at the time and given my vast experience with tons of tapes over the years, I knew it was only a matter of time before the oxide layer would fall off and the sound quality would slowly but slowly degrade. I hence got a techie friend to immediately burn the tapes onto cds for me; he managed to squeeze everything onto 2 discs.
Why this long intro? I just wanted to explain why this product got 4 instead of 5 stars from me and I'd recommend getting the cd version immediately unless you absolutely have to listen to cassettes. The sound quality of cassettes is limited and you'll have to put up with the irritating hissing sounds that we in this modern day and age have become totally unaccustomed to.
That aside, this is a very good resource for beginners who cannot afford the time and expense of personal tutoring or attending formal classes; this is by no means a substitute for these but may well be the next best thing. The book is very comprehensive and explains what's probably the hardest part to grasp of the language which is mastering the 4 basic tones. Once you can get these down pat and the relatively simple grammar rules, the rest is all about adding to your vocabulary.
Of course if you want to go further than this spoken, beginners' course, you'll need to look for more advanced courses that teach the other headache of writing and reading the characters! As they say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step and so this is a worthy first step indeed. Just try and get the cd version instead of this cassette version.
Customer Rating:
Summary: not a book
Comment: Please be aware if you think you are buying both the book (as others indicate in their reviews) that you are only purchasing the audio CD
Customer Rating:
Summary: An excellent way to start
Comment: Colloquial Chinese by Kan Qian is exactly the resource I was seeking when I set out to learn Chinese. Vocabulary and points of grammar and usage are introduced in dialogues followed by clear explanatory notes. The dialogues are realistic and varied, starting with an appropriately slow and stilted first meeting at the airport and moving on to flirting, shopping and catching up with old friends. The notes give just enough information so that you can be comfortable with the material at hand, with further complications introduced gradually. Listening/reading exercises offer more practice and enhance the feeling of success. A psychological boost is provided by the fact that several dialogues feature Chinese natives chatting with people from English-speaking countries: if "Amy" and "David" can speak good Chinese, so can I! Pinyin (mainland China's official and logical romanization system) and Chinese characters are both used, with optional exercises in character writing. The CDs or tapes are essential for anyone learning on their own.
Cautions: There is little supplemental vocabulary, and the simplicity of the notes is frustrating for one with a deeper interest in the language; but these drawbacks are easily compensated by eventually taking on a more scholarly text. English translations are in colloquial British; for instance, as an American I was glad that my Chinese friend pointed out that the word translated as "smart" referred to attractiveness rather than intelligence before I had a chance to embarrass myself by giving the wrong compliment. There are a few typos: however picturesque the names of Chinese foods may be, I doubt that there's one called "Aunts Climbing a Tree," which makes me alert for errors in pinyin spelling that are harder to catch. In the set I bought, which included both CDs and cassettes, the recording quality on the cassettes is atrocious. And, as a San Francisco native I just have to note: Jiujinshan de xiatian bu hen re. Jiujinshan de xiatian feichang leng! By Chapter 6 you'll know what I mean. And you'll very likely enjoy the learning along the way.
Customer Rating:
Summary: fair or good for beginners like me.
Comment: The grammar is clear and enough for beginners like me. The sentences are simple enough. I like the quizz/question parts, they made your brain work.1-I wish they had both simplified and traditional characters like Tung's books, but I know that's impossible. 2-the CD sound was hissing and not digital-like.3- It seems that the chinese speakers in the CD had been away from the mainland many many years so their accent were not quite beijing's.
A major title for a language spoken by 70% of the Chinese population. The official language of Taiwan and Hong Kong, and known as "Mandarin Chinese" in English-speaking countries, Colloquial Chinese has been specially written by an experienced teacher for self-study or class use.
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