Oxford Beginner's Chinese Dictionary

I'm self-studying Mandarin Chinese in preparation for an upcoming trip to China and purchased this dictionary as a supplement to the excellent Pimsleur Conversational Mandarin Chinese audio course. As most reviewers have said, it is a good book: well organized, reasonably complete for a visitor, excellent format, easy to use. By this I mean English - Chinese translations are shown in both Pinyin and 2 character formats as well as usage in a sentence or phrase. Chinese - English words are listed alphabetically using Pinyin. There's also lots of supplemental material like measures, numbers, etc. and even a section on basic rules for writing Chinese characters.This is all great and I would rate the book 5 stars if the authors had included another section on basic rules for pronunciation and speaking Mandarin Chinese. All it would have taken is 3 or 4 pages on the phonetics and tonal inflections for the Pinyin system which is used to represent the sounds of Chinese characters with western-style letters. It's not enough being able to look up a word if, once found, you're not sure how to say it.For those of you with iPhones and iPads, there's a good free series by "trainchinese" in the iTunes store. The base module has a large dictionary where you can save words and phrases into flash cards and use a pretty accurate audio feature to hear pronunciation. There are also free Pinyin, Numbers and Writing modules as well as a Common Word and Phrase library. The dictionary allows unlimited lookups and 10 flash cards / week for free. You can buy the feature to create additional flash cards but in either case, whatever you save is yours to keep.

When I started the Spring term this year of college I was excited to see that Chinese 111 was being taught; which is unusual since a lot 111 classes tend to start in the Fall. In taking the course, my professor Dr. Lee encouraged us all to buy this dictionary, so we will have access to more words and phrases that are unavailable in our text book and work book.This book in his words is the best book for all Chinese students; and it really has proved useful to me already.The book provides the student not only the basic English to Pin Ying, but it also give you Traditional and Simplified characters which are so very important to learn.If you are planning a trip to China, wanting to take a class in Chinese, watch martial art films without subtitles -- buy this book and begin your studies ASAP!(Readers will not gain insight and knowledge right off the bat without study. Understanding that in going to China that the characters are what you need to learn to read will help you even further. This book will not make you as good at fighting as Bruce Lee or Jet Li. Eating excessive amounts of Chinese food and having this book will not make you any more ready to hold a full conversation than playing World of Warcraft makes you ready for dating.)

A truly nice fresh approach. Excellent use of color.It isn't simply a dictionary. In the English-Chinese section there are many useful tables and teaching aids.For example: under "expression", at the end of the "E" words, is a page and a half of "Useful everyday expressions". under "have" is a whole page on how English expressions using the word "have" correspond with similar Chinese expressions under "measure" there is a page long table of length and weight measurements Often there are many examples of usage. Just after the table on measurements we have the word "meet". Several example usages are given. e.g. "she met him on the street" "have you met tom?" "can we meet next week" "can this meet your requirements" etc. I also has a well presented index and an appendix called "Learning and lifestyle kit" on subjects like "Dictionary Know How" - Chinese characters don't have an alphabetical order like the one I am accustomed to, so how does one arrange them in sequence? Very helpful and nicely presented.All I want, is to be able to communicate in Chinese. The finer points of fancy grammatical constructs and terminology are for a different category of learner.What a really neat (in both colloquial and traditional senses of the word) balance this publication achieves.

I am dismayed that some people gave this book a poor score for not being something that it doesn't claim to be. It is not a comprehensive Chinese/English Dictionary. As the title and cover state, it is a beginner's dictionary for first-time learners. It is primarily designed for the student to look up an English word and find the pinyin and characters and how to use them. I have completed my first year of college Chinese classes and could not have survived without this dictionary. The font is a bit bigger than other dictionaries which makes it easier to see all the parts of the characters. The dictionary includes example phrases and sentences which are invaluable for getting the grammar right. My Chinese teacher commented on my correct use of grammar and vocabulary in my writing and asked how I was doing it. I gave all the credit to this dictionary and when she looked at it, she recommended it to her other classes. For a new student learning Chinese the way it's being taught at universities, this is the best there is. (I've purchased 6 Chinese/English dictionaries. Some of the others cover a lot more vocabulary but this is by far the best for a new learner)

I use this a lot, but quite often I can't find the word I'm looking for so it's not always my first go to. I also wish they had put in more simple sentence examples for more words to show context. I'm still a beginner but will probably buy another non-learner's dictionary and hope it has more words and examples. That said, it's still really useful, clear to read with words highlighted in blue.

This dictionary is great for learners/intermediate as it includes quite a few example phrases for each word. This is invaluable for a language like mandarin where word order can be daunting for first time learners, and has definitely helped me bulk out my essays and assignments to include phrases I wouldn't have otherwise used. The chinese-English half is ordered by pinyin, so this is only really useful when beginning chinese. You can also look up a completely unknown character using the short radical index, which is an excellent introduction into using a more advanced chinese dictionary. I'm now upgrading to a heftier dictionary but I think this book will still be well used as it's the perfect size to keep with you and reference easily.

This is a nice, chunky dictionary not a laugh-a-minute novel; it is very well presented with sky blue headers and pinyin translations supported by the Chinese characters which are very clearly printed. There is a useful section on the basic rules for writing those characters. However, for one or two, I could not find the English translation, and occasionally the reference to the additional section called Games and Sports in the case I was checking was not productive. The need to look up the Chinese Radicals may create inevitable eye strain....I am not qualified to comment on accuracy but I think this is an excellent product. The really scary bit is the awareness that this is 'just' for beginners......

I have been learning Mandarin at evening class for 3 years. We learn from 'Chinese in Steps', which is good for sentance structure and dialogue practice. However it does not give a good translation or explanation of characters and phrases. I carry this dictionary with me everywhere so I can study on the go. My shoulder is now aching from the extra weight so I have now ordered a copy for home and office. The radical list at the front is essential. What really sets this dictionary apart from others is its suggestion of phrases and how you might use a character within a sentance. If you want to learn Chinese, I recommend a course with a good teacher and get this dictionary! It is a slow process but it is satisfing when you can communicate when visiting China. Good luck!

This beginner's Chinese dictionary is quite thick and contains a lot of content, which is very helpful for beginners in Chinese, but the printing is a bit too dense. It would be better if the space between words can be larger.