Chinese for Beginners: The Best Handbook for Learning to Speak Chinese Paperback – Illustrated, April 18, 2015

This book is a very good starting point for the basics of Chinese conversation. I'm studying to take the hsk1, so a lot of this I was already familiar with. However it teaches you what to say in formal and informal situations which I liked as well. It also shares some history of China and chinese cultural interests. After studying I can definitely see how this could help those who are looking to strengthen their beginners knowledge. It helps to be familiar with tones before reading (although it does go over it) because some terms are no written with accent marks (for example hao in the 3rd tone was sometimes written as haov to indicate the accent mark above the 'a')

I have been always interested in learning chinese, and since i bought this book i have been able to understand the differents dialects of chinese, and i'm very happy because this book is very helpful and include a big glossary of common terms and most used words to help you basicly to comunicate with other chinese persons and the most important thing is that introduce you to how to pronounce words in differents dialects like mandarin and knowing the sound of some vowels and words. I really recommend this book if you are thinking to make a trip to chinese and want to learn the basics of language.

This was an amazing book by Gateway Guides on learning chinese for beginners. I myself have always wanted to learn Mandarin and Cantonese and this great pocket book really sold me on how to learn all the basics and get me around China!Hopefully these guys print a second edition!

This book contains some proven strategies to learn chinese in the fastest and easiest way. Officially recognized Chinese language is called Mandarin Chinese. It is the world's top language based on number of native speakers. So, learning Chinese will be very useful in our life. The book also contains Chinese words for the most used words, mostly used conversation notes, Chinese grammar, tips to improve Chinese-Speaking skills and Chinese idioms. I am sure once we covered all these parts, we will become experts in Chinese language.

Hubby was motivated to learn Chinese. So we got him this book. We thought it looked handy and should be easy to manage. OMG!!! How many mistakes can you find in this little book? COUNTLESS! Many of the mistakes are just careless mistakes rather than language habit differences. Is it the same to say "Can you help me?" and " Can you help me to make a copy of this document?" They appeared to be the Chinese and English translation for the same sentence. Is it the same to say "back and forth" and" back and forth from Beijing"? Of course not! If you want to understand the many careless mistakes made in this book, buy it!

Since I am in sales and make cold calls all day long some times I run into people who speak Chinese and the cultural barrier is tough. This book has all of the basics which has been really helpful because I am able to at least able to say hello to people in their language. I can't wait to keep reading and learn more advanced words and phrases.

This beginners book is geared towards speaking Chinese and it is good for tgat. Thank you!

Great book for beginning to learn Chinese. It includes a glossary with some basic words used. I can’t wait to start using these to understand what people are saying when I go to my local Chinese market. Excellent book.

The typeface used is tricky for a couple of vowels. Also, unless you have already learnt, it does not help pronunciation of words as written down for instance the difference in how an "I" sounds after "s" or "y"'. But, every little helps and the more you read about another language, the more little tips and insights you pick up. I wish it was longer, perhaps more everyday words & phrases and leave out the confusing idiom section?

good book

good