Rating: 
Summary: Geared towards linguists
Review: The book has a very strong emphasis on correct pronunciation of the basic sounds of the language. But it does this from a "first principles" approach -- they tell you the "t" sound is an alveolar plosive sound made by puffing out as much air as possible from the mouth with the tip of the tongue touched to your upper teeth (with diagram). But they never make any analogy to similar (in this case identical) sounds in english. For this reason alone, I cannot recommend this as a good way to start learning the language. The easiest way to start is to be told up front that while Chinese has many sounds you just don't hear in english, there are a lot that are identical and probably don't need any work on your part.In addition to using terms like "labio-dental fricative" it also makes refernces in the text to certain vowel sounds that are only described by strange squiggly lines and greek letters. I presume that these mean something to a linguist, but this book gives no explanation for them. To put the title in context, know that this book was last updated in 1971. They call the spelling system they use "Peking." It seems similar to pinyin, the standard that the rest of the world has settled on(even Chinese street signs), but I can't be sure that it is. This is another big black mark for the book -- I'm not sure that the way they spell things is the way everything else will. All this said, it has taught me to pronounce things well. It covers traditional writing a little as well. Overall, unless you're a linguistics major, you should be able to find a more modern easier to use book.
Rating:
Summary: Geared towards linguists
Review: The book has a very strong emphasis on correct pronunciation of the basic sounds of the language. But it does this from a "first principles" approach -- they tell you the "t" sound is an alveolar plosive sound made by puffing out as much air as possible from the mouth with the tip of the tongue touched to your upper teeth (with diagram). But they never make any analogy to similar (in this case identical) sounds in english. For this reason alone, I cannot recommend this as a good way to start learning the language. The easiest way to start is to be told up front that while Chinese has many sounds you just don't hear in english, there are a lot that are identical and probably don't need any work on your part. In addition to using terms like "labio-dental fricative" it also makes refernces in the text to certain vowel sounds that are only described by strange squiggly lines and greek letters. I presume that these mean something to a linguist, but this book gives no explanation for them. To put the title in context, know that this book was last updated in 1971. They call the spelling system they use "Peking." It seems similar to pinyin, the standard that the rest of the world has settled on(even Chinese street signs), but I can't be sure that it is. This is another big black mark for the book -- I'm not sure that the way they spell things is the way everything else will. All this said, it has taught me to pronounce things well. It covers traditional writing a little as well. Overall, unless you're a linguistics major, you should be able to find a more modern easier to use book.
Rating: 
Summary: value for money
Review: The book is a western adoption of the 1963 edition of a Basic Course of Chinese for Foreigners, English version. (I happen to own the further enhanced 1971 original edition) The Latin transscription, approved already in 1958, is called PinYin today. The explanation of sounds employs the International Phonetic Alphabet, generally used in dictionaries and in language teaching. There are a couple of Chinese Characters, however, that have been further simplified after 1963. If you use the book along with something more modern, it can be value for money.
| 
