{"id":5305,"date":"2011-12-09T18:30:54","date_gmt":"2011-12-09T10:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/?p=5305"},"modified":"2011-12-10T09:23:36","modified_gmt":"2011-12-10T01:23:36","slug":"gift-ideas-for-mandarin-learners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pinyin.info\/news\/2011\/gift-ideas-for-mandarin-learners\/","title":{"rendered":"Gift ideas for Mandarin learners"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here are some books I recommend. You may still have time to buy some of these for others (or persuade others to buy for you) before Christmas. <\/p>\n

In a departure from my usual practice, all of the images below are linked to Amazon — in part to make things easier for most readers of this site but also because I’m a bit curious to see if the potential kickbacks from that site would ever add up to enough to buy myself some books I’ve been wanting. Mainly, though, I’d like to see these books make it into the hands of more readers. This isn’t meant to be a complete list; but it’s a good start. <\/p>\n

One of these days I’ll post about the works below I haven’t written about previously. <\/p>\n

Dictionaries<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a>\"\"ABC English-Chinese, Chinese-English Dictionary<\/em>, edited by John DeFrancis and Zhang Yanyin. This is the Mandarin-English\/English-Mandarin dictionary that every student needs. Suitable for all ages and levels. It’s small enough to carry with you. And at US$20 or even less it’s a bargain too. For an e-edition, get Wenlin (see below). Description<\/a>. Excerpt from Mandarin –> English half<\/a>. Excerpt from English –> Mandarin half<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\"\"ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary<\/em>, edited by John DeFrancis. The best large Mandarin-English dictionary. Entries are arranged alphabetically, by words, rather than head Chinese characters. Note: This is a Mandarin –> English dictionary and does not offer an English –> Mandarin section. For an e-edition (which does allow for the lookup of English words), get Wenlin (see below). Sample of what entries in this dictionary look like<\/a>.<\/div>\n
Readers<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/a>\"\"Chinese Biographies: Lang Lang<\/em>, by Grace Wu. Pinyin-annotated biography of pianist Lang Lang, with English notes. There’s also a helpful Web site with additional resources<\/a>. Ideal for beginning and intermediate students.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\"\"Chinese Biographies: Yao Ming<\/em>, by Grace Wu. Pinyin-annotated biography of basketball star Yao Ming, with English notes. There’s also a helpful Web site with additional resources<\/a>. Ideal for beginning and intermediate students.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\"\"The Besieged City (Abridged Chinese Classic Series)<\/em>, by Qian Zhongshu. Pinyin-annotated abridged version of a terrific Chinese novel<\/a>\"\". With notes in English, proper word-parsed Hanyu Pinyin for the entire text, simplified Chinese characters, and a CD with MP3 files of the entire book being read aloud. Excerpt<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\"\"Family<\/em> (abridged and annotated edition, with full Hanyu Pinyin), by Ba Jin. With notes in English, proper word-parsed Hanyu Pinyin for the entire text, simplified Chinese characters, and a CD with MP3 files of the entire book being read aloud. Excerpt<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\"\"Spring<\/em> (abridged and annotated edition, with full Hanyu Pinyin), by Ba Jin. With notes in English, proper word-parsed Hanyu Pinyin for the entire text, simplified Chinese characters, and a CD with MP3 files of the entire book being read aloud. Excerpt<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\"\"Autumn<\/em>, (abridged and annotated edition, with full Hanyu Pinyin), by Ba Jin. With notes in English, proper word-parsed Hanyu Pinyin for the entire text, simplified Chinese characters, and a CD with MP3 files of the entire book being read aloud. Excerpts<\/a>.<\/div>\n
Textbooks<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/a>\"\"Basic Spoken Chinese: An Introduction to Speaking and Listening for Beginners<\/em>, by Cornelius C. Kubler. Although this book is not in orthographically standard Pinyin, it’s nonetheless strong. A practical, real-world textbook that focuses on learning the language, not getting beginners bogged down memorizing character after character.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\"\"Fundamental Spoken Chinese<\/em>, by Robert Sanders. Another excellent textbook. Audio files are available online. Excerpt<\/a>.<\/div>\n
Background<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/a>\"\"The Chinese Language: Fact and Fantasy<\/em>, by John DeFrancis. Essential reading. This book will inoculate you against the absolute nonsense that many people — including all too many teachers — believe about Chinese characters. Excerpt<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\"\"Asia’s Orthographic Dilemma<\/em>, by William C. Hannas. A wide-ranging, detailed book that discusses some of the drawbacks of the continued use of Chinese characters. Excerpt<\/a>.<\/div>\n
<\/a>\"\"Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Reference Grammar<\/em>, by Li and Thompson. Good for the linguistically inclined. Just about the only Chinese characters in this book are on the cover, which, yes, I consider to be a good<\/em> thing. <\/div>\n
Software<\/strong><\/div>\n
<\/a>\"\"Wenlin software for learning Chinese, version 4. I use this on a daily basis. This incorporates both dictionaries listed above.<\/div>\n
Beyond This List<\/strong><\/div>\n

Here are some things not listed above, in most cases because Amazon doesn’t stock them. <\/p>\n