Complete Mandarin Chinese (Learn Mandarin Chinese with Teach Yourself): Beginner to Intermediate Course: (Book and audio support)

Learning Mandarin is a completely new venture for me; initially, I approached it with some trepidation. However, a few weeks later, I am now feeling much more confident, the book is well organised and the explanations very clear.Online resources at library.teachyourself.comBeing able to view new vocabulary (Glossaries) on my computer screen has an unexpected advantage- the characters appear very bright and can be magnified at the touch of a button! Searching is super simple too. (As mentioned by a previous reviewer, the Chinese characters in the printed book are on the small side, so I have invested in a page magnifier: problem solved.)The online audio resources-vocabulary and conversations- are equally user friendly.An excellent book which I highly recommend. (All that is now needed to succeed? my own time and effort).

The app for the audio is particularly good. The book is very clearly laid out. It seems to me to be geared to learning to write as well as read and as such goes in pretty deep pretty quickly - in an academic/learning sense. The audio helps a lot with the pronunciation.

To answer the previous reviewer, the book was written by a native speaker. It teaches standard Mandarin. There is no issue with the vocabulary.

I speak already four languages well and I am a qualified modern languages teacher. The book is difficult to follow if this is the first attempt to learn a new language. My method is as follows:Day one: lesson 1Day two: Lesson 1Day three: Lesson 2Day four: Lesson 1Day five: lesson 2Day six: Lesson 3Day seven: Lesson 2Day eight: Lesson 3Day nine: Lesson 4Day ten: Lesson 3Day eleven: Lesson 4Day twelve: Lesson 5You can see the pattern. Every lesson done three times with steps ahead and backwards... you will need 75 days for the 24 chapters + introduction. Then you still will not be able to speak Chinese. Start again from the beginning for another 75 days, this time will be easier, specially the first chapters... and then go ahead and do it a third time for another 75 days! after 225 days you will be speaking Chinese intermediate level, Then go to China for six months and find a romantic partner... you will be speaking OK Chinese by then! Because I have time I do one lesson in the morning, one in the afternoon and one in the evening! I write everything, answer all questions, write the Chinese characters in every lesson tens of times... I hope to reach intermediate solid B1 level in three months! This is how I learnt Romanian. Do the listening many times not just once. Repeat after the recording, many times... with constant effort you will get there!

Dear Daft, thank you very much for your feedback. I am one of the authors and I have to buy a copy in order to reply your Qs. The vocabulary (from E-C + from C-E) and the English translation of texts are all available online. The English translation of texts are particular important after Unit 8 for selflearners. Due to the page number limit, they could not be included in the book itself; we had to make sure that all the basic vocab and grammar points leading to lower intermediate level to be covered in the book proper. The writing of characters was not included for the same reason (plenty resources online for this). About the prining, I agree, the words are not as clear/heavy as I expected, too! I can see that you are a serious learner and would like to learn all the 4 skills in a balanced way, which is great! I hope this book will help you progress efficiently and effectively in your journey of learning Chinese, one of the most challenging foreign languages for English native speakers. Best regards Zhaoxia

Since no one else has written any reviews I thought I would give a first impression. I have studied Chinese in evening classes and also used online courses but am no more than an advanced, and now quite rusty, beginner. My pleasure at seeing that TY have produced a larger 24x19 cm format rather than the old 20x13 cm format turned to disappointment when I saw that much of the print is very small and grey rather than black, although a fair amount of the Chinese characters and their pinyin equivalents is in heavier, darker print. The book feels quite substantial in your hand (362 pages). The paper is very white, and slightly transparent, allowing the text on the other side to show through, but not so much as to be distracting. The material covered amply meets the needs of the traveller and beginner learner. There is no vocabulary at the back. One very important advance on the old TY books is that you no longer need to buy the course CDs - the audio is available online free of charge. With Mandarin you definitely need the audio! I have attached pictures to give you some idea of the appearance of the book, with an old version for comparison. However I think the photos are slightly deceptive and make the faint text easier to read.

The book starts by telling you that mandarin is an easy language. I disagree, particularly if you are using the written language. It is a new skill. However, it deals with it well. The audio works well with the exercises. As with any language, books are not the magic solution to learning the language. It requires immersing yourself in the culture and speaking to the people regularly. This is a good place to start though to give the necessary background and I am pleased with the purchase. The price was amazingly low.

It is a very useful book. The app also gives you more vocabulary which is very useful. The only downfall is that some of the words in the book are not the same as a native speaker. I have been told that some of the words are different.