Chinese Learning Resources:
Resources for Beginners
Textbooks
Easy Chinese Mandarin, Level I (Includes Easy Chinese Tutor CD-ROM and Easy Chinese Basic Text and Workbook)
Description: Easy Chinese (Mandarin, Level 1) is a self-study course designed for anyone interested in learning the Chinese language using a step-by-step-approach. The program includes a book (Easy Chinese: Basic Text and Workbook) and a CD-ROM (Easy Chinese Tutor).
Dictionary
The Starter Oxford Chinese Dictionary
Description: It covers the vocabulary needed in the first years of study and gives unique guidance to the grammar and usage in simplified Chinese. There are thousands of example phrases drawn from real-life situations and full Romanization of the Chinese text with Chinese script.
Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary
Description: Every character entry includes a brief traditional Chinese etymology. Genealogical charts highlight the connections between characters, showing the creation of more than 4000 characters from less than 200 simple pictographs and ideographs. Simplified forms for each character are given. A stroke count index lists every character by number of strokes.
ABC Chinese-English Comprehensive Dictionary: Alphabetically Based Computerized
Description: It contains over 196,000 entries, making it the most comprehensive one-volume dictionary of Chinese. The single-sort alphabetic order of the entries provides by far the simplest and fastest way to look up a term whose pronunciation is known. Radical charts help locate characters when the pronunciation of a term is not known and facilitate access to traditional, simplified, and variant forms of characters
Tuttle Learner's Chinese English Dictionary
Description: It contains 3,051 vocabulary items with example sentences both in simplified and traditional form. Extensive notes on culture, grammar and meaning are included to enhance understanding and ensure correct usage. There are also many new things, like internet language, modern society examples, history, poetry, and everyday activities.
Reading & Writing Chinese: Simplified Character Edition
Description: More than 2,200 characters are included in this book. It first introduces the building blocks of each Chinese character -- the radicals -- and then explains to you how their sounds and meanings combine to form new, complex characters.
English Chinese Pinyin Dictionary
Description: It contains more than 23,000 entries commonly used in modern speech and communication. Entries are based on every day speech, with special emphasis on collocations and sentence usage. All Chinese characters are followed by Chinese pinyin phonetics.
Schaum's Outline of Chinese Vocabulary
Description: This companion volume to Schaum's Outline of Chinese Grammar features a clear, concise, and proven format to help students with any course in Chinese, plus 200 sets of practise exercises and Chinese glossaries.
Characters Learning Reference Books
Fun with Chinese Characters 1
Description: Every page contains all the information you need to learn a Chinese character: the origin (etymology) of a character, its description and an entertaining illustration, examples of how the character is used in compound phrases. First volume contains an in-depth introduction on the genesis of the characters. The characters are written in traditional and simplified characters and has Romanized pinyin pronunciation. Stroke orders, definition and example sentence make this book a valuable resource.
What's in a Chinese Character
Description: it is very clear and very insightful. It attempts to trace the lineage and reasons for each of the characters in this book. In Chinese each character is a word. It seems most characters are composites of 2 characters. He looks at the shapes to see if he can make pictographic sense of the characters and radicals. And he draws cartoons of what he sees, and adds explanations and even lists some similar words.
Chinese Characters for Beginners (Book & CD-ROM)
Description: It is a wonderful introduction to written characters in traditional and simplified forms. Includes writing exercises and pronunciation codes in Pinyin and Zhuyin for 100 basic characters and 500 words. This book and companion CD-Rom (for PCs only) present a self-learning method that incorporates games and listening comprehension tests.
250 Essential Chinese Characters for Everyday Use, Vol. 1
Description: Each character is shown in both simplified and traditional form, along with its pronunciation and meaning. Information is given about the radical (essential for finding it in a Chinese dictionary) and other components.
Flash Cards of Chinese Characters
Chinese Character Flashcards 888
Description: It is organized in the order of frequency of use of characters, radicals and stroke order are provided, helpful to know when the reader practices writing characters. It also mentions several character combinations, together with their pronunciation in pinyin and the meaning in English.
Chinese in a Flash, Vol. 1
Description: It includes meaning of the symbol; simplified and traditional Chinese symbol; stroke order; a proverb or an interesting sentence using the symbol; five character combinations; the radical of the symbol.
Chinese Grammar
Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition
Description: An up-to-date and concise reference guide to modern Chinese (Mandarin) grammar. Refreshingly jargon free, it presents an accessible description of the language, focusing on the real patterns of use today. This Grammar aims to serve as a reference source for the learner and user of Chinese, irrespective of level, setting out the complexities of the language in short, readable sections.
Newspaper Readings
Description: There are fourteen selections included in the reader showing how the U.S. was depicted in commentaries and essays in The People's Daily from 1990 through 1991. Each selection is presented in both traditional and simplified characters, with a copy of the actual newspaper article and a cartoon included: each is also accompanied by a vocabulary glossary, sentence patterns annotated in English, and suggested discussion topics. In addition to the fourteen glossed selections, eight unglossed essays are included for use as supplementary reading materials.
All Things Considered: Advanced Reader of Modern Chinese.
Description: This Chinese language text is appropriate for intermediate to advanced students. It contains 32 passages divided into two sections. The first part is a series of dialogues while the second part is a collection of newspaper articles. Each lesson is followed by grammar points used in the text, with additional examples, and by exercises based on grammar and vocabulary. Both vocabulary and passages are given in simplified and traditional characters. Chinese (pinyin) and English indexes with page references are also provided.