Colloquial Chinese - Complete Course for Beginner

Colloquial Chinese by Kan Qian is exactly the resource I was seeking when I set out to learn Chinese. Vocabulary and points of grammar and usage are introduced in dialogues followed by clear explanatory notes. The dialogues are realistic and varied, starting with an appropriately slow and stilted first meeting at the airport and moving on to flirting, shopping and catching up with old friends. The notes give just enough information so that you can be comfortable with the material at hand, with further complications introduced gradually. Listening/reading exercises offer more practice and enhance the feeling of success. A psychological boost is provided by the fact that several dialogues feature Chinese natives chatting with people from English-speaking countries: if "Amy" and "David" can speak good Chinese, so can I! Pinyin (mainland China's official and logical romanization system) and Chinese characters are both used, with optional exercises in character writing. The CDs or tapes are essential for anyone learning on their own.

Cautions: There is little supplemental vocabulary, and the simplicity of the notes is frustrating for one with a deeper interest in the language; but these drawbacks are easily compensated by eventually taking on a more scholarly text. English translations are in colloquial British; for instance, as an American I was glad that my Chinese friend pointed out that the word translated as "smart" referred to attractiveness rather than intelligence before I had a chance to embarrass myself by giving the wrong compliment. There are a few typos: however picturesque the names of Chinese foods may be, I doubt that there's one called "Aunts Climbing a Tree," which makes me alert for errors in pinyin spelling that are harder to catch. In the set I bought, which included both CDs and cassettes, the recording quality on the cassettes is atrocious. And, as a San Francisco native I just have to note: Jiujinshan de xiatian bu hen re. Jiujinshan de xiatian feichang leng! By Chapter 6 you'll know what I mean. And you'll very likely enjoy the learning along the way.