Her questions about and struggles with the language, as well as her daily experiences in China, lead her on an investigative journey that gives her (and the reader) insights into Chinese culture and helps her improve her communication skills. who studied Mandarin for an extended assignment in China, introduces the language and the culture in an engaging way by recounting some of the experiences she had as a student of the language while living in China. Booksĭreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, and Language (Deborah Fallows): Fallows, a PEW researcher from the U.S. The resources above are handy guides focusing on practical expressions and vocabulary, with contextual information and supplementary notes to enhance their usefulness they are not the equivalent of a Mandarin textbook (i.e., with a complete, systematic learning curriculum).

Also see Lonely Planet’s China Phrasebook page, which sells phrasebooks for various dialects in PDF and book formats. Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook: A compilation of useful phrases from one of the most popular publishers of tour guides.Essential Chinese for Travelers (Zhilong Fan): An introduction to the language with a concise dictionary included.The free eTicket Chinese guide by Living Language: A downloadable/printable PDF with practical vocabulary, phrases, and sentences organized by topic.The following books and documents are particularly useful for travelers who aren’t necessarily serious students of Chinese but hope to actively engage with the language and the culture while in China:

Get talking chinese pdf