Chinese Conversations for Beginners: Mandarin Learning with Conversational Dialogues (Free Audio) - Chinese Short Stories Bilingual Book (Chinese Conversation Series) Paperback – 1 Jan. 2022

This is a terrific book with great, practical and interesting conversations on a variety of topics, with key learning points and vocabulary for each conversation. I really like that there is a Chinese character version with pinyin for each conversation as well as a version with just the Chinese characters as this is great for reading practice. It’s so well laid out and there is a lot in this book too so it is terrific value for the price. I can also recommend ‘Chinese Stories: Elementary Level’ by the same author too.

I've been learning Chinese for a while and a lot of the books aimed at beginners feature the same discussions in quite formal, outdated language - the sort of dialogue you'd hear taught in a university 30 years ago.I've gone through quite a few of the conversations presented in this book and the focus on modern, conversational Chinese is refreshing and very useful for someone whose primary focus for learning Chinese is to be able to understand and be understood by Chinese people in everyday conversation.The audio clips and learning guidelines presented in the book are useful for internalising the dialogue structures and vocabulary, and building up the oral muscle memory required to sound natural when speaking.

I've found this to be a great book for supplementing my efforts to improve my rather basic Chinese.Each chapter gives a dialog in Chinese - first with pinyin and English translation and then with just the Chinese characters. This way of presenting material makes it much easier to focus on reading real Chinese rather than succumbing to the inevitable temptation to lean on the pinyin.The material is colloquial and everyday - conversations you might actually have in real life - and is supplemented with explanations of some of the nuances of Chinese life and culture that are touched on.

This book seems to fill a gap in the market for conversational mandarin at about GCSE level. Characters, Pin Yin and English translation are given, with a character only version for once you’re ready.I downloaded the audio from you tube so I have to listen to 5 seconds adverts intermittently but I think there’s an mp3 version? Hence the 4 stars.I’m about to order the next book.

Bought as a birthday present for my ten year old granddaughter who is teaching herself Mandarin and found the online course a bit formal. I thought it a rather unusual request but she was absolutely delighted and has been using the book daily since receiving it. Apparently it is a great book!

We bought it to help my daughter who is studying Mandarin for GCSE. Great book, well thought out and planned, good exercises and written by someone with a deep understanding of Mandarin and English.‘Must have’ study aid for anyone learning Mandarin Chinese

Fantastic way to familiarise with everyday conversations and scenarios in this book. Very simple yet stimulating layout. Highly recommend!

These stories are such a great way to learn Mandarin as they are really entertaining which helps memorising new vocabulary as well as cementing familiarity with the general flow of the language. I really like that they use contemporary language compared to some older texts. I can't wait for book 2 to be released!