Rough Guide Phrase Book Mandarin 2e: Amazon.ca: Rough Guide: Books

Product Description

Book Description

Includes clear grammar and phonetic pronunciation guidelines, etiquette and cultural tips and a menu reader. The most user-friendly phrasebooks on the market.

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First Sentence
The Rough Guide Mandarin Chinese dictionary phrasebook is a highly practical introduction to the contemporary language. Read the first page

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Concordance

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

6 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple, Catchy, Extremely Helpful!, Jun 9 2004

By

lh "-lh-" (california) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rough Guide Phrase Book Mandarin 2e (Paperback)

I've been to Taiwan 5 times and learned Mandarin for 3 years. This book teaches beginners to learn the PinYin system and learn how to utilize it immediately. It even has helpful tips for touring China.

EX: Do not take pictures of strategic buildings or bridges or structures. The government is very protective of these and will consider you a spy.

Anyhow, it does the English-Chinese and Chinese-English deal so you can look up either one. If you are an intermediate to advanced user I would buy this along with the "Langenscheidt Pocket Chinese Dictionary" which is a complete 40,000 word dictionary. I find the Rough Guide more than rough. It is helpful, fun, and very unique. A definate KEEPER!

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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent help for the beginner, needs to add entries!, Jan 4 2003

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TCT328 (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rough Guide Phrase Book Mandarin 2e (Paperback)

I was weary of buying this book after reading some of the reviews, but I did it anyway, and I am glad I listened to myself. This book's greatest attribute is that, after each entry it shows pronunciation. Which as you may know, chinese letters are usually not prenounced as english speakers would like. It has all the necessities, although I would recommend buying a companion dictionary like the oxford chinese starter. This book would be best if it was unabridged and too heavy to carry! I love it, just make it bigger!

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5.0 out of 5 stars A very useful, nearly indispensible, guide to Mandarin, Sep 2 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Rough Guide Phrase Book Mandarin 2e (Paperback)

This book was the handiest thing and I got my friends and I out of a bind more than once with it. By looking up words and showing the characters to taxi drivers, waitresses, people on the street, I navigated through a large chunk of China. It was particularly indispensible ordering in restaurants, the majority of which (even in Beijing) housed no English speakers. I managed to set up a day tour (including date and time) with a random taxi driver by using the main dictionary and the special section on public transportation. A number of the larger tourist attractions are listed in the dictionary too, and as I encountered nearly no one who could read pinyin, the Chinese characters were crucial.
Although, as one reviewer noted, the dialogs seem to be laid out in odd places, with a little observation it can be seen that they are inserted where one would look up the verb (usually) or major noun. So "how do you do?" is under "do." But I hardly used this book as a phrase book as practially no one will understand your pronunciation anyway, especially outside of Beijing (if you haven't already had heaps of practice listening and speaking Mandarin).

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A well set out, easy to use phrase book
I was inspired to write this review by the rather negative review I saw displayed. Contrary to that reviewer's opinion my experience with this book is that it is well set out and... Read more

Published on May 20 2001

1.0 out of 5 stars A big disappointment
If I could find the receipt, I would return this book. I can speak a fair amount of Mandarin, and I find this book a mystery. Read more

Published on Mar 31 2001