Product Description

Be a part of the world's most widely spoken language with this essential language tool for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Includes Pinyin phonetic system to help travelers translate Chinese characters into English, pronunciation guide, extensive two-way dictionary, user-friendly sentence builder, and cultural tips.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #151618 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-01
• Original language: Chinese, English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781741042306
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"...Lonely Planet phrase books have long taken a hip, streetwise approach." -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 27, 2004

"Lonely Planet Phrasebooks. Portable, pocket-size, cheap, and available for almost any country you might want to visit..." -- National Geographic Traveler, September 2006

"...Lonely Planet phrase books have long taken a hip, streetwise approach." -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 27, 2004

"Lonely Planet Phrasebooks. Portable, pocket-size, cheap, and available for almost any country you might want to visit..." -- National Geographic Traveler, September 2006

National Geographic Traveler, September 2006
'Lonely Planet Phrasebooks. Portable, pocket-size, cheap, and available for almost any country you might want to visit...'

From the Publisher
Who We Are
At Lonely Planet, we see our job as inspiring and enabling travellers to connect with the world for their own benefit and for the benefit of the world at large.

What We Do
* We offer travellers the world's richest travel advice, informed by the collective wisdom of over 350 Lonely Planet authors living in 37 countries and fluent in 70 languages.
* We are relentless in finding the special, the unique and the different for travellers wherever they are.
* When we update our guidebooks, we check every listing, in person, every time.
* We always offer the trusted filter for those who are curious, open minded and independent.
* We challenge our growing community of travellers; leading debate and discussion about travel and the world.
* We tell it like it is without fear or favor in service of the travellers; not clouded by any other motive.

What We Believe
We believe that travel leads to a deeper cultural understanding and compassion and therefore a better world.

Customer Reviews

Very un-intuitive phonetic system used in this book
I want to add my voice to the chorus who have bemoaned the move away from Pinyin in this edition. This system is anything but better. Because it's so un-intuitive, I found myself constantly having to refer to the table of sounds and spellings at the beginning the book to decipher the correct pronunciation of a word or phrase.

In some cases, the transcriptions are inconsistent in that they don't follow the system described at the front of the book. For example, the spelling sequence 'ow' occurs several times throughout the book but is not in the reference table. Presumably, it represents the sound 'ao' as heard in the English word "couch", but that's only a guess. It could just as easily refer to the diphthong 'ou' as heard in the English word "dough".

That said, a book like this is a useful one to have along when traveling in China. It contains a 40-page grammar section with lots of information about how Chinese works. In typical phrasebook fashion, it also contains several sections organized by subject where one can quickly locate specific words or phrases. It also contains a two-way dictionary, the Chinese-English section being ordered by number of strokes in the character so as to allow Chinese speakers to find English translations.

But do get the previous edition if you can get your hands on it!

PINYIN IS BACK IN 6TH ED
Please note that the product sold on this page is the 6th edition September 2006. This edition marks REINTRODUCTION OF PINYIN.
Best phrasebook on the market though not perfect. Issues with format, not really with content.
Front grammar section is useful, but compartmentalized format in relatively newer editions makes it harder to follow. Questionable advice claims no tones are more understandable than bad tones.
Very thorough coverage of situations, including those never encountered (e.g. drugs, expressing interest in indigenous issues). As a 5 years student of Mandarin, I find the phrases accurate if sometimes stilted, but colloquial expressions given are still current.
I only wish the color coded category tabs were more effectively used. It is hard to find phrases quickly, as it is hard to find specific situations within the five categories of tools, practical, social, food, safe travel, and dictionary.
Anyhow, I will take this book along on upcoming trip to Beijing. (Have studied mostly modern literature and newspaper in Chinese, still don't know word for can opener!)

Surprisingly poor
Over the years I've been a strong advocate of the Lonely Planet series of books - they've usually been pitched at just the sort of level of travel that suits my budget and interests. This was the first phrase book I bought by them and found it to be very, very disappointing. Not only is their pronounciation system a waste of time learning, many of the translations were found to be incorrect by my chinese friends in terms of sentence structure and word order. A number of key phrases weren't provided and the "strokes" dictionary in the back is also a waste. Also many words used in the phrases were not the same as the ones provided in the dictionary. Basically a lack of consistency throughout...a very, very poor effort and a very disappointed customer. LP should offer a refund.