Scarlet Posted June 4, 2007 at 12:05 AM Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 at 12:05 AM I know around 500-750 words and would like to build my vocabulary up. Are there any good elementary level books? I would prefer if they had pinyin & english translation too. I am not very good at looking up words in the dictionary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susanna Posted June 4, 2007 at 08:05 AM Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 at 08:05 AM 《elementary spoken chinese》2, for students about 500 words peking university press Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobAnt Posted June 5, 2007 at 10:11 AM Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 at 10:11 AM You can't get much more basic than Chinese for Dummies. There's even a companion phrasebook. I'm actually finding it quite useful. Oh yes, forgot to mention, the Chinese referred to here is Mandarin (putonghua). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gato Posted June 5, 2007 at 10:30 AM Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 at 10:30 AM That sounds like a ripoff of the Complete Idiot's Guide to Chinese. How about trying these joke books for beginners: http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?p=105714#post105714 Wit and Humor: An Easy Chinese Reading Series: A Simple But Difficult Problem (with CD) 简易汉语趣味阅读－简单的难题 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlet Posted June 5, 2007 at 08:56 PM Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 at 08:56 PM Thanks for the suggestions everyone. That Wit and Humor book looks quite interesting. I'm going to look into that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarlet Posted June 6, 2007 at 05:07 AM Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2007 at 05:07 AM I noticed it's alot easier to get books in simplified characters. I guess I should just study that instead? I been doing both traditional & simplified for now, but I have to go out of my way just to study traditional. While traditional is harder, I think it looks better Anyway, I decided to get this book http://www.chinabooks.com/cart/product.php?productid=18841&cat=140&page=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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