The Usborne Internet-Linked First Thousand Words in Chinese (Chinese Edition) Hardcover – January 1, 2007

As mentioned by other reviewers, this book is a beautiful and colorful addition to one's language library and is particularly fun to read as a "find the object in the picture" book. I like that the book is a durable hardback and uses the terms most often used in Mainland China (as opposed to those with greater currency in Taiwan, which appear in the Berlitz version of  1000 Mandarin Chinese Words (1000 Words) (English and Chinese Edition) ). Still, this book has a few setbacks:1. Each picture is only accompanied by pinyin and Chinese characters, relegating the English glosses to the back. While the English meanings of most of the illustrations are self-evident, this isn't always the case. Without a speaker of Chinese going through the book with you, you'll find yourself flipping back to the appended glossary a lot. This is the biggest drawback of the book.2. There are some errors with characters/tones. For example, the word "fei xing" (verb 'to fly') is listed under a picture of a small insect that appears to be a fly rather than the noun "cangying," which refers to the bug. There are a number of other small errors like this, several dealing with tones.Despite these shortcomings, the book is really quite wonderful and I'm glad to have it in my home. I think this will be a great tool for teaching Chinese to children. Even though this book and the Berlitz book deal with much of the same subject matter, they present the information differently and sometimes present different words (PRC and ROC difference) for the same objects, so I think it's worthwhile to purchase both.UPDATE: After having this book for about a year, I can say that kids LOVE it (even those who aren't interested in Chinese), in large part because there is a little duck hidden on every two-page spread and it's fun for children to find.

If you have Mandarin speakers in your house and are trying to teach a child Mandarin, this is an excellent book. It's pretty enough to hold my two-year-old's attention. I've found a few incorrect tones and several odd translations, but it's mostly high quality. I'm very pleased.If you don't have Mandarin speakers, this book poses several challenges. First, you'll have to learn how to correctly pronounce the words. I haven't visited the associated website which apparently lets you hear the words. But if you don't speak Mandarin, you'll need to invest substantial time learning how to pronounce pinyin before you can use this book effectively. And, second, this book doesn't display English alongside the Chinese characters and pinyin. It's usually obvious what the word means, but the pictures aren't always obvious. If you already know Mandarin and are teaching a child, that's no problem. But if you don't know Chinese, you may scratch your head looking at 10% or 20% of the words and associated pictures.

We are a multicultural family including three cultures and religions. Bought this little book to help teach grandchildren some Chinese vocabulary. The format is used for many languages and is thus a well developed format of pictures, settings, and words. The yard, kitchen, and such settings include many appropriate words a child is learning in English and can thus relate to when we teach the Chinese (or Spanish or whichever other language you want to teach!)We were happy with quick deliver as well. Book was in pristine condition as well.I would put this book, and format as a 'go to' format if one wanted to teach vocabulary on a foreign language to youngsters (or those not so young)

My two-year-old son really likes this pictionary. He prefers pictionary over the flashcards, so this book is great in value and a rare find. I haven't found anything else that comes close to this. Even though they are all drawings, they are realistic and very clear. All the other pictionaries I have seen in Asia nowadays are too abstract and cartoonish, while aesthetically pleasing, I doubt if they are truly educational. I also like how the items are shown on the side and he can search for them in the big themed picture in the center. It is a fun game for a toddler and we really love playing this game. The presentation is not uniform but I think it gets the points across.There is however, one thing that stood out for me in the Antonym section. They are trying to illustrate the concept of "dead" and "alive" so they illustrated a dead flower and a live flower. When they translated it into Mandarin, they translated the term "dead" literally as "died, or death" in Mandarin. It really struck me as weird, I guess b/c in Chinese culture, we found it difficult/inauspicious to talk about death and it is simply not a word we used lightly, or as a description for an object, especially around children. I don't think I would ever described a withered flower as dead in Mandarin though technically it is correct to say so. This is more a philosophical observation about cultural differences, and I wouldn't count it against the value of the book.

This is a great resource. I have used the all English version for many years to tutor kids who are beginning to learn English. Now my family are preparing to move to China and my grandsons (4 & 6) are equally enthusiastic when working with the Mandarin version. The illustrations are engaging and humorous and cover scenarios that the kids can relate to. They love searching for the yellow duck! The outstanding feature for me, however, is the internet link to vocalized pronunciation by a native speaker so we don't have to rely on my inadequate pinyin. It is very easy to use it in conjunction with an iPad or computer and we are greatly expanding our vocabulary.

Wow, each page is very detailed with so much to learn and teach! The only issue I have is the Chinese characters. Didn't realized it is simplified Chinese and not traditional. Quite disappointed there so four stars.

le livre sent beaucoup la cigarette. ce n est pas plaisant

We bought First Thousand Words in Chinese for our 7 year old granddaughter as she has shown interest in the Chinese language and we had enjoyed reading the versión of the series for Spanish. It gives a light hearted and accesible introduction to written Chinese and she loves the book,

Das großformatige Heft ist genau gleich wie die anderen der Serie angelegt (was übrigens das kontrastive Lernen erleichtert). Natürlich kann man damit nicht Chinesisch lernen, aber es eignet sich hervorragend zur Wiederholung und Festigung des grundlegenden Sachwortschatzes. Zum Nachschlagen gibt es ein alphabetisches Register. Alle Wörter werden in chinesischen Zeichen sowie in Pinyin dargeboten.

Ce livre destiné aux enfants comporte une planche par sujet avec des personnages en situation : vie de l'enfant, vie quotidienne, environnement soit par des scènes, des payasages soit par des planches de personnages et d'objets. Sous le dessin se trouve le mot en caractères chinois et en dessous la transcription en pin yin. Il faut aller à la fin chercher la traduction. Permet d'excercer sa mémoire. Illustrations pour enfants peut-être mais aussi tout public car facile d'accès et mémorisable facilement. Guide de prononciation au début, lien internet pas essayé. Ludique en complément d'autre chose ou en initiation. Le livre se décline avec les mêmes illustrations en d'autres langues dont le français (utilisable en FLE... c'est une bonne astuce car c'est apprendre en s'amusant) et arabe, hébreu, latin , polonais, russe, italien, allemand, japonais, portuguais et espagnol.

This book is great for children (and adults) wanting to learn the basics of Mandarin Chinese. The fun cartoon pictures make it interesting and fun for children and the fact it has characters as well as pin-yin makes it easy to learn from. As an adult with an already basic level of Chinese it's been a great way for me to flick through and learn new vocab.