Colloquial Chinese: A Complete Language Course (Colloquial Series)

Rating:
Summary: Really good for the beginner.
Review: I'm a complete beginner in chinese. This book with its accompanying Audio-CD's give's the beginner a good base in chinese llanguage. As soon as someone finishes this book, he will be able to understand basic written and spoken chinese and move conveniently around china as a tourist or even bussiness traveler (the book's text are based on business traveling). It is good for those who wish to have a basic knowledge of the language. Then they can move on a more academic book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for the traveller
Review: While this is not an academic text (as the reviewer from London - living in Beijing - notes), it is excellent for the independent traveller who might be going to Singapore, PRC, or ROC. Along with the tapes that accompany it, I found that 6 weeks of study prior to my trip to Taiwan gave me the basics for getting around solo. The course is a good balance of grammar notes and practical vocabulary. If I wanted to learn how to read Chinese newspapers, I'd certainly enroll in a language school and not try to learn the language all on my lonesome. I highly recommend any of the Routledge series books for Southeast Asian languages as well. These books and tapes are far superior to any others I have used for self-study in preparation for a trip.

Rating:
Summary: Not an improvement on the Tung and Pollard version
Review: You may be wondering why Routledge have two books on their catalogue with the same title? The earlier work (1982) is by two of the staff at London's University's SOAS. The newer, by Ken Qian, seeks a less academic approach and is clearly targetted more at the unaccompanied beginner. While the publisher's decision to issue an easier and more 'popular' textbook is understandable the old Tung and Pollard version is being kept in print due to its popularity as a university text and the fact that the Chinese character texts are available separately. If you want to really learn Chinese to the level of being able to read newspapers and novels one day then you'd be better off with Tung and Pollard.