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Mandarin (Lonely Planet Phrasebook)
 
 
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Mandarin (Lonely Planet Phrasebook) (Paperback)

by Elizabeth Chong (Author), Anthony Garnaut (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 254 pages
  • Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications; 5th edition (1 Sep 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1740591798
  • ISBN-13: 978-1740591799
  • Product Dimensions: 13.8 x 9.2 x 1.4 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 369,478 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #38 in  Books > Languages > By Language > Chinese > Mandarin

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Product Description

Product Description
Containing essential words and phrases for effective communication with local people, this title is organized to help travellers find the right words at the right time with ease
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

4 Reviews
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 (2)
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 (2)
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Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A decent phrasebook with Pros and Cons, 24 Jan 2006
This phrasebook covers the fundamentals for a visitor to China with useful topics (directions, reservations, business, restaurants blah blah blah) and a very helpful local talk section which brought some laughs among my friends and work collegues here when I told them they were great kissers or that I wanted to be touched...although some of the slang is inaccurate and kinda not very cool. Its still a nice feature though. There are also some nice cultural points of information.

However, the author has attempted to replace Pinyin (the Romanised written form of Mandarin) with a pronounciation guide which is sadly, a little off the mark. There are also some mistakes in the written translations. Although some work, there are other examples that definatley do not work as some of the u, e and a sounds are a bit mixed up.

This book will however get you around in what is a challenging place to visit short or long term due to the complex language.

Great as a phrasebook (except for the small mistakes)...but to actually learn the language from, not overly useful.

I would actually recommend the previous edition of this very book if you can get your hands on a copy.

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Worth taking with but don't rely on it, 7 May 2008
By Mr. R. Wenman (Buckinghamshire, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Mandarin Phrasebook (Lonely Planet Phrasebook) (Paperback)
On a trip to China I ordered this phrasebook as I have absolutely no knowledge of Mandarin and was told China was quite difficult to get around in due to the low level of English spoken over there.

In truth, at places like airports staff there will speak English and signs will be written in English. In Beijing airport I was even able to ask a janitor a question in English and he understood me. In more rural China (specifically I went to Fujian province) it's very unlikely that you'll come across someone that can speak English, but places still have some signs in English.

Following on from my previous point, the writing system will pose a problem and is one this book cannot solve, not that it aims to. Rather you will just have to be adventurous and hope for the best. Restaurant menus are a good example. If you're not the adventurous type or you don't fancy risking it in a restaurant, don't rely on this book for getting around.

When it comes to speaking, however, this book does a fairly good job when taken into consideration how hard Mandarin pronunciation is for beginners. The phonetic pronunciation in the book is not too far off the correct pronunciation and if you do get misunderstood (which will happen) you can just point at the Chinese version of the phrase/word.

One problem the book has which I would not have known about is that the phrases and translations given are not exact. I had a Chinese native translator with me who told me the book was 'not very good'. Apparently the translations provided for each phrase in English/Chinese are not particularly accurate and could be misinterpreted.

Overall, it's a handy book to take with you and a starting point for people with no knowledge of the language. Thanks to the uniform writing system, it's good in Hong Kong too as you can still point at the Chinese!
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars revised edition, 26 Jul 2007
By Mark Anthony Larkin "Mark Larkin" (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Mandarin Phrasebook (Lonely Planet Phrasebook) (Paperback)
This edition (1 Sep 2006) has been revised to include pinyin. I think now that the pinyin has been put back in, it is a better choice than the rough guide one.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Very good and handy
I love this little book and I brought this when I went to Bejing. Very useful and very easy to find something to want to say. Read more
Published 17 months ago by Carol

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