Customer Reviews
better books on the market - By: M. Lea, 28 Apr 2008 
I've used this book in the past, & it's okay... but no more. If you reallly want to learn Chinese, it's worth buying the Michel Thomas method. It is much more expensive, but you will develop fluency painlessly, whether you are any good at learning languages or not. I've learned four languages using the Michel Thomas method, & got my A level in German after only a few months study, & I am confident in my spoken Chinese - I know my pronunciation is okay. When I used this method it was depressing. I always felt like I had just a few words that I couldn't manipulate the way you do in your native language. This is useful to learn some lists & vocabulary with, but you won't learn the language. Sorry... there are far better courses out there on the market.
Very disappointing - By: La Mitchell, 18 Jan 2008 
When I first got this book I was reallly pleased. I labelled everything in my house with the stickers provided & started learning the words.
The words are also written out phoneticallly so you could learn the pronunciation. Once I got to Beijing I learnt that the pronunciation left a lot to be desired. OK fair enough it's hard to teach pronunciation without listening exercises. The real problem is that in nearly every Chinese lesson I am finding out that a lot of the words in the book are completely wrong. My Chinese teacher has never even heard of a lot of them, or if she has, she says they are being taught in the wrong context in the book.
My Chinese teacher is a native Chinese speaker whereas the author of this book is not. So I am more inclined to listen to my Chinese teacher.
I have been put off buying anymore from Kristine Kershul's books in this series.
not amazing..but was good! - By: L. Stampton, 13 Jun 2007 I quite like this book, however, as a student of GCSE & soon AS i have to say it's not perfect especiallly if your started off with a book like this for a beginners level guide. The layout is great & very inviting for anybody to pick up & have ago! The nice flash cards are also a definate must which also makes the book very helpful when travelling around. Th main thing i liked was the 'cut-out' menu at the back which is so useful if you're going to china.
One main flaw to me is that the only real work you have to do is write out the pinyin over & over & over again (You dont even have the opportunity to do any work with hanzi which is pretty essential) If your like me too you will understand that this did not work whatsoever in trying to build the relavant vocabulary...ending up with me learning nothing major.
Also i think another problem is that there is basicallly no explaination on the use of tones in chinese! In my opinion these are extremely important in getting to grips with the language & a CD should have been included to show people how the tones are pronounced correctly because they are very difficult. Although is isn't a huge problem because Chinese people can still understand you even if you're tones are incorrect.
All in alll, if you are able to learn a language just by writing the word out a few times on a line, then this is perfect for you!
If not find something else because this will be of no use to you, & if your serious about getting into the language majorly find something else too because it's very basic...
Good overall but with a younger audience - By: Josie Jeckles, 28 Apr 2007 
A very entertaining read, with many useful words & phrase. I like the way that some pinyin is integrated into the English text (with translation underneath) as it alllows the words to become engrained into your head. However, I do feel a bit like I'm back in primary school as I read it, with the copying out & alll the illustrated pictures; I wouldn't want to take it on the bus with me or anything!! However, the stickers are a good idea (if also a little bit young!) but my family is having loads of fun attempting to pronounce the words.
Overalll, I think this is a good buy but only if you have the view of learning a little & very quickly; & if you don't mind going back a few years in time!!!
colourful and fun to use - By: mytwinsister, 02 Aug 2006 
Creatively written & very engaging, with lots of pictures & other activities to help seal the new information in your head. Comes with flashcards & pages of stickers to cover alll the objects in your house with. No CD though, so worth getting this book in conjunction with another one which has audio, or you won't know whether you're pronouncing things correctly.
