 | Chinese (Mandarin), Basic: Learn to Speak and Understand Mandarin Chinese with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's Pimsleur) by Pimsleur
Buy new: $18.21 / Used from: $2.81 A Pimsleur program helped me a lot in gaining basic speaking ability and confidence before I came to China. The program is audio-only (not book-based), so you can learn while driving, exercising, etc. This is 5 hours of instruction.
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 | Chinese (Mandarin), Conversational: Learn to Speak and Understand Mandarin Chinese with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's) by Pimsleur
Buy new: $37.96 / Used from: $19.95 See the description for the other Pimsleur program. This program contains 8 hours of instruction. Choose this one or the 5-hour program, but not both.
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 | Reading & Writing Chinese: Simplified Character Edition by William McNaughton
Buy new: $16.47 / Used from: $10.00 This has been a textbook used in the US for decades. It teaches the most commonly-used 2000 Chinese characters in a logical, progressive sequence. Doesn't make learning to read Chinese easy, but certainly gives a helpful "plan of attack!" I haven't seen this in China, so bring it with you if you plan to learn to read.
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 | Concise English-Chinese Chinese-English Dictionary by Martin H. Manser
Buy used from: $5.24 This is a great all-around two-way dictionary that should be sufficient for your first 1 or 2 years of study. A pocket version is available in China, but the print gets hard on the eyes after a while!
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 | The Starter Oxford Chinese Dictionary
Buy used from: $2.84 This is a very helpful beginner's dictionary with example sentences and quite a few full-page grammar explanations.
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