Beginner's Chinese Dictionary: [Fully Romanized]

This is a great beginners dictionary. We use it all at our Chinese class. Easy to find words from the radicals or pinyan. I can recommend it to anyone who is learning Chinese. The sample sentences are clear and understandable. There are more comprehensive dictionaries on the market but they are heavier to carry. The print could be a bit bigger. Its a trade off for a travel dictionary though.

I found the traditional way of going through a course book, making exercises, listening to the CD, writing the characters with the right stroke order, etc. much too frustrating: I could make beautifull set phrases, but never understood the often elaborate answer! People think you speak good chinese, when all you do is repeat the sentence from the Pimsleur CDs! So I decided to take one step back, and go for the combination of pointing and single-word "sentences". And try to pick up some words in the answer. Figured that vocab is much more important than grammar in Chinese (at my level at least). Anyway, it's working. That's why I write this review, my first one. If it works for me, maybe for some others too. Mind that I did not use this book as a dictionary, it is probably to basic for that. But it makes an excellent wordlist. What are the Pros? 1/ Most commonly used words are indeed very commonly used. 2/ Example sentences range from easy to difficult. And you really feel challenged to read and understand them. 3/ The cultural notes are limited, but usefull. 4/ Call me nerd, but this dictionary is fun! You will read it like a book. 5/ Because all words are arranged alphabetically (= by pinyin), you see words with similar pinyin, but with other tone marks grouped together. Makes it easier to remember the tones. 6/ You get a list with "Meaningfull Character Components" and they show you there's some logic in the characters. 7/ You get a list with "Measure Words", not all of them, but enough to recognize them when you read. 8/ You are given a list with "Usefull Words". Find the title rather strange for a basic dictionary, but basically you find a limited number of categories of words grouped together ex. colours, directions, animals, time, ... Would be nice if the whole book was like this. But then it wouldn't be a dictionary, would it? Cons 1/ well, it is boring to learn by the letter. Be it from Pinyin to English, or the other way around. 2/ characters are printed in black in the example sentences, pinyin in bold. So your eyes tend to go to the pinyin. 3/ Characters are difficult to read at times, because of the font. So you'll check the example sentences often. Since I bought this dictionary, I have bought a grammar book (Schaum's: recommended), a thematic vocab book (Schaum's: also recommended, but can not replace this dictionary), and the bigger dictionary of the same author (Tuttle Learner's Chinese-English Dictionary) because I am so happy with this one. Greetings from China,

This book is the best ever for getting down to what you actually need to know if you are learning Mandarin. The book uses pinyin and characters, both traditional and modern. It is a gold mine of the information a person actually needs and uses to pass the HSK Level A proficiency test. It also contains a wonderful variety of sentences that are in both pinyin, English, and characters that let you see real usages. The book is arranged alphabetically in pinyin transliteration. A snap to use. Not overwhelming. Makes you feel like maybe it really is possible to learn Chinese. Very enjoyable presentation. The first day I had it I sat down and read it for 4 straight hours, it was that enjoyable to study. And that is a lot to say for a dictionary. Very WOW! Koodos to the authors and publisher. Warning, there are words in here that only the English use, but you will recognize them immediately, you know, words like MUM. When's the last time you heard that one in the United States?