What We Liked About Chinese For Beginners
Easy-to-follow structure
The book is split into 16 chapters with a couple of dialogues for each. The situations given are typical for a beginner course, ranging from greeting a new person in Chinese to eating in a restaurant.
Full of interesting cultural information
I really liked how the book is packed with cultural details. It’s a nice touch that gives you some background knowledge about Chinese culture. Indeed, I was impressed to see Chinese poems from the Tang dynasty appearing at the end of most chapters! The below is a famous example from chapter 1 of the book:
Thoughts for a Quiet Night – Li Bai
The bright beams shine
across my coverlet,
Reminding me of frost
covering the ground.
I gaze up at the bright moon,
then bow my head,
And suddenly think of home.
Of course, the book includes the Chinese for the poem. The audio for is also included on the attached CD. Very cool.
Basic grammar notes
There are also some notes explaining new language points, but I thought these could have been a little more detailed. It’s a little bit curious that while the cultural sections are packed with information, the authors are relatively silent regarding explanations of the various linguistic patterns. That said, this may be a positive point for newbies who are easily overwhelmed by technical explanations and who would prefer a simpler book.
CD / Audio Files Included
Chinese for Beginners retails at $12 on Amazon and comes with a CD with 190 audio files included – very reasonable as language books go. Interestingly, there is also a Kindle version available with the audio available for download online. Up until now, not many publishers of language resources have gone the e-book route, but perhaps this is a sign of more to come. My long-suffering bookshelf certainly hopes so.
Conclusion: Great Intro Level Textbook
If you want something a little more challenging, I recommend picking up the excellent Assimil Chinese course. That’s all for now. Watch this space for more reviews of Chinese learning materials in future!
Full disclosure: We received a free review copy of Chinese for Beginners from Tuttle Publishing. If you have also used this resource, why not leave your review in the comments below? We’d love to hear your opinions!
Also check out our other recommendations for Chinese textbooks.
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Rohan has spent years studying Japanese, Chinese and Korean, and currently lives in Japan. He created the perapera pop-up dictionary plugins to help other learners of Chinese and Japanese.
