Communicating in Chinese: An Interactive Approach to Beginning Chinese: Student's Book for Listening and Speaking [With CDROM]

by Cynthia Y. Ning

Book Overview

Communicating in Chinese is for the beginning learner. The series now includes three student books and two teacher activity books (available online as PDFs), and provides the framework for a... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887101755
• ISBN13: 9780887101755
• Release Date: March 1993
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 243 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.4" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

Good beginning text but ....

For a beginning text, this provides a reasonably quick start for the beginning western learner. There are many frequently used phrases which you can just memorize and then later substitute different words. There are two flaws for the beginner in purchasing this book. First, the edition I have is all in pinyin with no introduction to Chinese characters. Some introduction to the characters is needed to add richness to the learning as well as to move on after completing the book. In this latest edition I see a reference in the description that some introduction to characters may now be included. The second flaw is more significant for the serious learner. After completing the book there is no migration path to the elementary and intermediate level. This is the situation I experienced. If you are serious about the Chinese language, then I would consider the Integrated Chinese series or the Ni Hao series which will take you from the beginning all the way through intermediate levels. Overall though, it is a good starting book for the beginning learner of Mandarin Chinese.

Great!

This book is very informative and a great learning tool for those just beginning to learn Chinese. The text is organized well and there is a handy dictionary in the back of the textbook.

Great textbook

The book is very down to earth and helpful for learning Chinese . The author approached Chinese via Communicative Learning Approach, which is very crucial for people who want to acquire Chinese oral/aural skills.

Communicating in just a short while...

This text is well-formatted to give useful phrases for common dialogue. It has focused, short lessons that lead you through an idea and get you communicating quickly. It also includes cultural notes and some more important linguistic notes, (though it is not a heavy-duty linguistics book). It really delivers quickly with phrases you can use and understand right away. For pronunciation, though, I would recommend the tapes as well.