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Mandarin textbooks, workbooks | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| JayR9 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4700 days ago 155 posts - 162 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 11 03 February 2015 at 7:51am | IP Logged | ||
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Hello, what is a good textbook to help a beginner learning mandarin? Should they also buy a workbook? I've
heard of the new practical Chinese readers but do you have to get the audio as well? I want some books that I can take around with me so when I get spare time I can work on them. Something to learn and do alongside my other learning material such as assimil, pimsleur and Michael Thomas. If you can help, can you let me know if I need the audio with it as well as the workbook or if I can just get the textbook. Thank you Edited by JayR9 on 03 February 2015 at 7:52am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| day1 Groupie Latvia Joined 3892 days ago 93 posts - 158 votes Speaks: English | Message 2 of 11 04 February 2015 at 8:16am | IP Logged | ||
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Integrated Chinese is, in my opinion, a great textbook which is also suited for self study.
It has: textbook workbook (with answer booklet) character workbook (optional, i'd say) CDs DVDs a lot of supplementary stuff all around internet, including extra reading, sample quizzes and tests, additional listening exercises, additional videos, word lists, flashcards, grammar wiki, and what not. I have worked with many Chinese textbooks, and I find this one to be one of the very best. It's widely used in universities and high-schools outside China. Just google it for sample chapters, sample audios (and more) and reviews. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| lorinth Tetraglot Senior Member Belgium Joined 4274 days ago 443 posts - 581 votes Speaks: French*, English, Spanish, Latin Studies: Mandarin, Finnish | Message 3 of 11 04 February 2015 at 10:57am | IP Logged | ||
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This thread as some useful info:
Link To quote myself:
Both have audio of course. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| day1 Groupie Latvia Joined 3892 days ago 93 posts - 158 votes Speaks: English | Message 4 of 11 04 February 2015 at 1:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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"Chinese Made Easier" is a very good book, I like it that the approach taken to introducing characters and, on occasion, grammar concepts, is so different from most other books. The only negative comment from me would be the choice of vocabulary/topics. This book deals with daily stuff - shopping, finding your way, complaining to your landlord, etc. It is all great, if you live in China (perfect even in that case), but not so great for someone studying abroad.
"New Practical Chinese Reader", well, it is a decent book, but I find it boring. Also, the vocabulary choices are not to my liking. They go too much into topics such as "watching the red autumn leaves up the mount whichever", and that in volume one of the book. There is a lot of supplementary stuff out there, though. Also, book has 6 volumes, which is great if you decide to not drop the language any time soon. There is also "Contemporary Chinese", a decent 4 volume book from china. They give dialog translations all the way through all 4 volumes (important for self study). Most topics are good, not all of them though. DVD1 can be found on youtube. If you want traditional characters, then there's Practical Audio Visual Chinese (from Taiwan), 6 volumes, this is the one that will bring you the furthest in your studies. Colloquial Chinese (both editions, either by Pollard or Qian) are supposed to be good books, though I never used them much myself. I would recommend having audio CDs from which ever book you choose. For Chinese, you need good tones to be understood. I would also recommend a learner's dictionary from Tuttle: Tuttle Learner's Chinese-English Dictionary. It gives explanations and sample sentences to everything. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| JayR9 Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4700 days ago 155 posts - 162 votes Speaks: English* | Message 5 of 11 05 February 2015 at 9:52am | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you to you both for your replies. I like the sound of these books and will definitely be getting one or
two. Can these be used without audio? I've seen some of these books being sold without audio and just wondering. I've seen the videos on YouTube but wondering if I can use the books whilst I'm at work on my break so I'm still learning. So if I buy the book without audio, will that be a problem or can they still be used? Thanks again 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| day1 Groupie Latvia Joined 3892 days ago 93 posts - 158 votes Speaks: English | Message 6 of 11 05 February 2015 at 11:32am | IP Logged | ||
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Well, workbooks tend to have several listening exercises for each chapter; you wouldn't be able to do those.
I would recommend you get the audio CDs as well. Though if you find another way to do listening practice - you really might skip the CDs. If cost is the main issue, what about borrowing CDs from a library or some other way? A lovely podcast for listening practice: https://podcasts.coerll.utexas.edu/collection/chinese-dialog ues/ I have compared these audios with Integrated Chinese, and they match quite well with Level 1 part 1 in terms of vocabulary, grammar and topics. A very suitable listening practice. http://community.wvu.edu/~hhl001/Listening/Listening.html same like this https://www.youtube.com/user/ProjectGOLDChinese/videos videos with supplementary dialogs This is a supplement for Contemporary Chinese: https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/dang-dai-zhong-wen/id48 7098133?mt=10 free on your iPhone Contemporary Chinese and New Practical Chinese reader student websites: http://www.hanyu.com.cn/ddzw/index.aspx New Practical Chinese Reader - unfortunately they have had only 1 lesson done since last autumn, but maybe one day.... http://edu.chinese.cn/onlinelearning/Learningthree.aspx PS never get workbooks, if you can't get the answers as well. Edited by day1 on 05 February 2015 at 12:03pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 5009 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 7 of 11 05 February 2015 at 2:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've recently seen Great Wall Chinese in a second hand bookstore. Would you happen to
know whether it's good? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| day1 Groupie Latvia Joined 3892 days ago 93 posts - 158 votes Speaks: English | Message 8 of 11 06 February 2015 at 5:35am | IP Logged | ||
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Great Wall Chinese is not bad, I'd use the word average. Pretty pictures, though :) Workbook has some nice exercises, there's a lot of repetition (lots of small dialogs talking about the same thing), you'll learn, but not so terribly much. A good supplement for some other book.
1 person has voted this message useful |
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