Mandarin Phrasebook

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Worth taking with but don't rely on it - Rated
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!

Very good and handy - Rated
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. Small pocket book which you can carry this with you all the time when you go to China or read this when you are travelling. Love it!

revised edition - Rated
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.

A decent phrasebook with Pros and Cons - Rated
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.