Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook

Even though this book is over a decade old, it is one of the few pocket sized guides you can keep on hand while you travel that contains more modern Mandarin usage. For example, who else is going to tell you that the term Comrade that Mao encouraged everyone to use in reference to fellow patriots, now is used almost exclusively by the Chinese [...] community and means [...]? Disturbing is the liberty the author takes with his bastardization of the pinyin that is the world standard for Mandarin and his thorough conversations for communication with hookers.

This is an excellent little phrasebook. I'd have to say I like the Rough Guide one a little more, but that is somewhat personal preference. LP gives you a great grammar introduction and gives practical phrases for a lot of situations. The "vocabulary" section is a poor substitute for a little dictionary and this is my biggest complaint.

Anyone who has gotten this far to check the reviews and knows LP for their work, knows that you can't consider travelling in China without the LP China book. It is to those people I speak when I say, I would not return to China without the phrasebook as well. Unlike the rest of SE Asia, having the phrasebook for Mandarin REALLY makes your life easier in mainland China. The 'meals' catagory alone pays for itself. (You can point to something and they can tell you if they have it). Some phrasebooks only have the pin-yin not the characters ! USELESS ! You need this book as much as the LP China. It is a great conversation starter on the train when you pass it around (much safer and easier than passing around your invaluable LP China bible). You will find the locals love to point at characters and then have you figure out what they mean. (Also bring a picture phrasebook if you can find one at a Travel store...usually a brochure sized card).