Best children chinese language books according to redditors

New Practical Chinese Reader is a popular choice for a lot of Mandarin courses. The Colloquial (T'ung & Pollard/Qian) and Teach Yourself (Scurfield 1, 2) books are both pretty popular for beginners.

I've heard good things about Lingodeer as an app for Mandarin/Korean/Japanese but haven't had a chance to go through it seriously yet.

Happy language learning!

I learned to do this my first semester of Chinese. It's actually incredibly easy and nowhere near as complex as one might think it would be. The computer is really accurate about guessing which character you want to use based on context so as long as you input the pinyin correctly you generally get the correct character.

This is the one we used for class, but windows also comes with its own version which you can access by simply going to keyboard settings and adding Chinese (simplified or traditional) as an input method. From there switching between languages is as simple as hitting alt+shift!

If you're interesting in learning, we used this textbook series which I found to be really awesome. And it can be found online for free, of course.

I came from a beginner/intermediate level of Japanese fluency to Mandarin a year and a half ago. I have been using the New Practical Chinese Reader series (here) and have been very pleased with it. I think it will work well for you because 1) the vocabulary seems pretty accelerated to me and 2) there is a good amount of audio content with the texts. Hope that helps.

I actually enrolled in local university course. I'm old enough to know that unless I have external pressure and schedule I tend to wander off, break the schedule, postpone things and generally grow more lax about things. To avoid that I decided to make it official so that I'd feel some sort of obligation to keep going. I can effectively teach myself things that take few weeks or monhts to master, but this project is much more serious so I need someone else to push me along too.

We're using New Practical Chinese Reader which is not exactly a fast paced textbook, but it seems to be a standard. There's a series of them, all with workbooks and audio.

Come join us over at /r/ChineseLanguage for starters! Look into chinese pod for listening, anki deck for learning vocab. And then try a book like New Practical Chinese Reader as a textbook. But to be honest, without some tutoring, or preferably time in China, it will be a massive uphill struggle at the best of times.

We're a US publisher called ThunderStone Books, and we've published Monkey Gains His Powers and Picturing Chinese, with more on the way! We are actually seeing a lot of success in the UK as well.

If you're interested, drop us a line at http://thunderstonebooks.com/submissions/ or reply to me directly.

As another commenter said, publishing in China is pretty difficult, and you'd want to go with someone in-country if you want to sell there.

yes I know that Japan borrowed Chinese characters for their writing system but that doesn't make the languages related. just like koreans used the chinese writing system to express their language, and the vietnamese also. however, neither of those languages are related to chinese except that there is a great deal of vocabulary that is borrowed.

that would be like saying that because my friend borrowed my clothes to wear, he is my brother, which isn't true either.

chinese and japanese are from different language families and have evolved independently of each other.

I honestly don't know why you made this thread because you seem to think you know more than you really do. I have been taking chinese for almost two years and am in china RIGHT NOW studying chinese.

it is my opinion that if you actually want to learn chinese and not flex your intellectual penis on reddit you should do it from the standpoint that you don't have any experience with chinese, because in reality you don't.

edit:

also, just so I can feel like I'm being more helpful rather than feel like I'm berating you here is the book I used in "chinese 101"

http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Chinese-Reader-Textbook-Vol/dp/7561910401/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262081421&sr=8-2

it has dialogues in chinese characters subtitled with the pinyin. and the vocab lists are the same way. and until you get to an intermediate chinese course all beginning level chinese text books will have pinyin. it is necessary to learning the language.

http://www.chinabooks.com.au/ChinaBooks/search.cfm?UR=14071&search_stage=details&records_to_display=5

THIS is the book they use for entry level courses here at BLCU for people learning Chinese. it is in much the same format as the other book (dialogues in chinese characters subtitled with pinyin).

I think you will find this to be the most common format and also the most logically designed for learning chinese.

no, its xin shiyong hanyu keben， 新实用汉语课本

https://www.amazon.de/Practical-Chinese-Reader-shiyong-hanyu/dp/7561910401

its a good textbooks series for learning, the first volume still has pinyin under the characters and the second one still has tone markers over them , easing you into reading over time.

i recommend getting each together with its workbook, since you get a lot of practice examples in the workbook. I`m currently in book 5 out of 6 but im looking at switching since ive heard that for advanced level theres better textbooks available, im just used to the format by now :)

This textbook and workbook was used for CHNS 101 and 102 for Spring and Fall 2018:

https://amazon.com/gp/product/7561926235/

https://amazon.com/gp/product/7561926227/

CHNS 101 went half way, while 102 finished the textbook. So if you are going for upper level chinese, you probably would need something else.

i don't feel strongly toward either one; they're both good, but if you feel they are starting to feel too easy, the Intermediate Reader of Modern Chinese is an excellent series. The passages are much longer, and each section has 30-50 new vocab words. I felt I learned a lot with that one. Also supplement with some graded readers. I wish reading, outside of class, was emphasized more in chinese schools; it really helps a ton.

edit. don't buy the one i linked. 70 bucks is way too much. it's only because that's the old revision of the book, which came in 2 volumes (one for passages and one for grammar/vocab). newer version is 1 book and it should probably be just as good and much cheaper.

You can ask this Amazon reviewer: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chow-Chinese-Paperback-Little-Linguists/dp/0635024357

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sherlock-Holmes-Curly-Haired-Company-ebook/dp/B00HFXR6W0

I bought this for myself after about 4-5 months of study, they are basic stories in Chinese with the Enlighs translations for difficult words at the foot of the page, there is a whole series of them, fairly cheap and very good practice.

Would make a great gift imo.

Does this help?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00HFXR6W0?ie=UTF8&redirectFromSS=1&pc_redir=T1&noEncodingTag=1&robot_redir=1

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

You can preview it on the Amazon page. Seems like it's the same.

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https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Grammar-Wiki-BOOK-Elementary-ebook/dp/B01CHNZ75A/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1503307962&sr=8-1&keywords=grammar+wiki&linkCode=sl1&tag=allset-20&linkId=29d8e8f51e1c1697fe3b66207d609c1f

In addition to the Chinese Breeze series already recommended, you can't go wrong with a text book.

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Try New Practical Chinese Reader (comes with CD). Basically, each chapter is a reading/dialogue that lists the vocab and defines grammar structures used in the chapter. Working your way through the book will give you a really solid foundation in the language, which will pair nicely with your other methods.

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The NPCR series goes up through level 6 btw. 加油！

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*Edit: Also, check out /r/ChineseLanguage for other Mandarin learners

looking for

https://www.amazon.com/Sherlock-Holmes-Curly-Haired-Company-ebook/dp/B00HFXR6W0

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or anything by mandarin companion level 1/2

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paying for the lowest offer via paypal!

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edit: still looking

I bought some great material the other day on Amazon.

[This is the book](
http://www.amazon.com/New-Practical-Chinese-Reader-Textbook/dp/7561910401/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334379917&sr=8-1)

And here are the CDs

You'll see that both things are available used for very reasonable prices. It's the best language learning self-teaching system I've seen out there in a long time. It seems to be thorough, and the student is expected to learn and use that knowledge in the exercises - just like a student would with a real elementary school lesson book.

It's a refreshing departure from most language learning materials I've found out there in bookstores and on the net, which are woefully inadequate.

Not free or online, but fairly cheap. I picked up Easy Peasy Chinese and the workbook for my 14 year old sister. It is very much aimed at a younger learner and focuses more on basic conversations ("Where are you from?", "When is the next train to Shanghai?", etc) than any in depth grammar, but it does teach some basic characters. Depending on what your daughter is looking for it may be a bit basic, but is also a little introduction that isn't very intimidating.

There are several courses on Coursera for Mandarin for beginners.

As others have said, HelloChinese and ChineseSkill are decent.

Vigernere1 gave you some pretty solid advice. It sounds like you are focusing on reading more than speaking, correct?

I have studied for a few years, and I am probably around 2000 characters. I bounced around with a few textbooks, but if I were to start over, I'd use New Practical Chinese Reader books 1-4. The videos from the lessons are on youtube as well. Then move to All Things Considered (put out by Princeton). I have 4 of the books from their series. They are all good, but All Things Considered is fabulous. They have a few books that are higher level than that as well. It also has simplified and traditional characters.

Buy Pleco if you haven't already and make flashcards. Do quizzes and quiz yourself to you go blind and you should be good to go.

[New Practical Chinese Reader] (https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Chinese-Reader-Vol-2nd-Ed/dp/7561926235/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501086151&sr=8-1&keywords=new+practical+chinese+reader)

[All Things Considered] (https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=all+things+considered)

Recommended Textbooks
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Integrated Chinese - This is used in many university classes in the US. The companion CD is definitely recommended. The workbook wont be much use if you don't have someone to check your answers, as the company is pretty strict about not letting out the answer keys.

New Practical Chinese Reader - This is a great alternative to Integrated Chinese. There are also PDFs and mp3s of all materials floating around on the internet if you look.

Character Practice
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Skritter - Seriously awesome. It does have a monthly subscription though.

Oral Practice
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Pimsleur, Assimil, or the FSI course (free). I've only used Pimselur, but I've heard good things about the others. These are good for practicing your tones.

Online Resources
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Chinese-forums

nciku - A Chinese - English dictionary. You can draw out unknown characters, which can be much easier than going by radical like in other dictionaries.

You should also set up Windows (or whatever OS you use) to be able to type in Chinese (usually through pinyin).

Once you're good enough, you can find easy books called "Graded Chinese Readers" that often have a companion CD to help with pronunciation. They're pretty cheap as well if you import them from China.

Good luck, Mandarin is a difficult language, but it's also really fun. It might take a long time to see progress (I still can't read newspapers), but as long as you keep at it you'll probably be happy with your results.

Why do you need this for college? I'm not trying to be mean but most colleges don't care if you know a language unless you're fluent. And I'm not sure how much you mean by "a bit".

The textbooks my Mandarin class in college is using are the New Practical Chinese Reader Series They're pretty cheap as far as textbooks go and you can watch video clips of their conversations on youtube.

Here is a website that has a lot of links for how to learn Chinese. I know not all of the links work, but a couple of them looked pretty good.

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain is a great book.
Penmanship is technically drawing.
Another fun exercise is using a children's kanji book regarding Japanese calligraphy.
Some random choices arbitrarily picked as examples.
http://www.amazon.com/Kanji-Pict-O-Graphix-Over-Japanese-Mnemonics/dp/0962813702
....http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Learn-Kanji-Introduction-Components/dp/156836394X
....http://www.amazon.com/My-First-Japanese-Kanji-Book/dp/4805310375
The more you draw, the better you get at drawing.
Chinese traditional drawing books are also helpful.
http://www.amazon.com/Blossoms-Orchid-Chrysanthemum-Drawing-Chinese/dp/7115268126/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408974775&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=chrysanthemums+and+grasses+drawing

This is the best book https://www.amazon.com/Colloquial-Chinese-Complete-Course-Beginners/dp/1138958271

HSK is China's standardised test of language proficiency for non-native speakers. It's the equivalent of TOEFL or IELTS for English learners. You can take an official test and get graded if you wish. I haven't taken the test but I've used the provided vocabulary lists.

For grammar, I've mainly used Chinese Primer and its accompanying character book. It's quite complete and the character book teach you both traditional and simplified characters.

The ChineseSkill and HelloChinese apps also teach you some basic grammar.

I'd second the recommendation for ChinesePod - it has plenty of spoken audio examples and dialogue, take advantage of the free trial.

If you have a smartphone or tablet, there are many apps that can help, like Pleco, Nciku, Anki (Spaced Repetition Software - efficient way of memorizing), all offer audio options. Also you can record yourself if your device has a microphone.

I found these books useful:

http://www.amazon.com/Basic-Chinese-Grammar-Workbook-Workbooks/dp/0415472164

http://www.amazon.com/Intermediate-Chinese-Grammar-Workbook-Workbooks/dp/0415160383/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322668412&sr=1-1

Also a similar question asked on Quora:

http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-tool-book-to-learn-Mandarin-Chinese?q=best+learn+chinese

Also try hiring an tutor for an hour and ask questions you came up with while learning yourself - cheaper than classes if you spread out your lessons and more flexible w/respect to time commitment.

There are websites that let you talk with fluent speakers via webcam, but I haven't tried those.

And I'd stick with pinyin (拼音), that's what most people use. Plenty of pinyin pronunciation websites and apps for smartphones.

Thanks! Basic Chinese looks better suited for my specific needs. Thank you nonetheless.

Do yourself a favor and start learning the characters in parallel. The reasons for this have been reiterated time and time again, and you can find plenty of articles discussing it on google. Succinctly:

• Chinese has tons of homophones (words that sound exactly the same). Learning the characters will help you separate them.
  
• Characters contain components that often reveal parts of the meaning or sound, and will help you remember the word. Learning the sound patterns alone is usually harder in the long run.
  
• You won't be able to use Chinese-English dictionaries, or comprehensive Chinese-Chinese dictionaries. The people who need dictionaries the most are precisely learners of Chinese.
  
• You will get access to more learning materials. Material for pinyin learners is limited to a few books for beginners. After that you are on your own, and will find that there is nothing that will take you to the next level unless you go back and learn to read (which is tedious and much more time consuming than learning to read from the start). Your only options will be to try to learn the language by listening to others or to TV/radio. If you are a 3 year old child, your brain is wired to do that, but as an adult learner you will consciously have to decipher everything. That will be hampered by all the dialectical differences and idiosyncrasies of individual speakers. The only way you have to find out if the person on TV said zhi-shao, shi-zhao, si-chao... might be to look at the subtitles and check the dictionary, and if you can't read that will not be possible.
  
  
  As for where to start: Amazon has a great selection of teach-yourself books. Just stay away from the ones that promise you "fluency in 10 minutes a day" (they lie) and especially programs like Rosetta Stone which try to make too much of a game out of the learning process, do not focus on teaching you semantic content in context and have no grammatical content. They are the most ineffective learning methods out there. This is a good starting point that will have you conversing from lesson 1.