Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook & Dictionary

I gifted this to a friend who is learning mandarin. They enjoy it.

The phrasebook is well organized around the most common communication needs that a traveller can meet. It is not complete, but the slim size of the book prevents it from being so. For example, there is no phrase to ask for a 'collect call' (or reverse charge); but there is a translation in the dictionary part. Alas, the concept seem foreign to most chinese telephone operators and travel info helpers. The pronunciation of chines words (transliterated into pidgin) is american english; anyone with a different native language is bound (like me) to mispronounce and sound 'odd' to the chinese interlocutor. Make sure to bookmark the page with "I do not understand", as you will use this sentence over and over.

1st-know that very few Chinese people speak or understand English. At least, that was my experience during 9 days in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou. Would have been good if I’d had a chance to use it. I only learned basic words. Improvement would be to explain the Chinese “alphabet” characters, as they are used most of the time, even in large cities.

This is such an amazingly helpful guide. It literally features everything a traveler would need to know including an introduction to the tonal language and how to correctly pronounce them. Easy to find, color coded sections for health, safety, dining out, etc. What I loved most was the health and safety and dining out sections. They have translated certain medical allergies which for me is really important since I am allergic to the two most commonly prescribed antibiotics. I've never seen that before in a phrasebook. Also how to ask for vegetarian foods. Well worth the money.

One word of advice is go to youtube and watch yoyochinese to learn about pinyin and tones. That makes these book easier to use as you need to understand the tones and how they are written in the book. They discuss it in the book but hearing is a must for tonal languages and it gets you used to the accents used to display which tone.

The ink needs to be darker when it shows the Chinese symbols

I studied abroad in Beijing, China for 6 months at Tsinghua University and this dictionary saved me on numerous situations in Beijing from asking where the bathroom, to saying 我不喜欢 (I don't like blah blah) great for beginners and small enough to use in public situations

I loved this. The cross-dictionary sections in the back were excellent at allowing communication in some of the factories I was visiting on a recent trip to Shenzhen. The people I was working with used it as much or more than I did and made it a fun visit.

Todo según anunció. Envío rápido y todo correcto. Es tamaño bolsillo y letras un pelín pequeñas para mi gusto. Ok.

I found this really useful during my journey to China, more for the travel tips than the language, but it was useful to have when trying to be understood, pointing to words.

Great survival guide :) helped lots when I got started in China

Very compact. Handy. Easy to carry. Covers practically all situations which one can come across when in China. Hope to make good use of it during my forthcoming visit.

Bought as a gift. Hopefully will be useful for a friend traveling. Small size, small text, but generally seemed well organized and easy to use.