Travel to China

Lonely Planet Mandarin Phrasebook

Format: Paperback
Author: Anthony Garnaut
ReleaseDate: 15 September, 2006
Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
Rating:

Look for 6th Edition (Published September 2006)
Of couse, if you are remotely interested in learning Chinese this 2004 edition is just useless since they come up with their own translation guide and does not include any Pinyin. I was unfortunately one of those unfortunate people who purchased the 2004 edition without reading any reviews. While this is OK for the person who may go to China just one time, not knowing Pinyin, the romanization system they actually use in China, is going to put anyone at a serious disadvantage. Also, you need to know how to write Pinyin in order to utilize any computer program that creates Chinese written characters. And, frankly speaking, it's not that hard to pick up the pronunciation of Pinyin once you hear it a few times.

The 6th edition was released in September 2006 and now contains Pinyin throughout. I just purchased it and think this new edition is well worth it. I've traveled to Beijing now three times in the past two months and while I did not bring the useless 2004 edition, this one will be in my bag.

Just be careful as to the edition you are purchasing as I suspect the old edition is still widely circulated and, confusingly, the cover design is identical. However, one small difference is that you wll see on the bottom of the front cover the words "contains Pinyin throughout".
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I couldn't have survived without it!
Honestly, in 2 weeks I wasn't going to learn to write or speak Chinese well enough to hold a conversation. I think for the tourist, this phrasebook is invaluable. I used this book as a rudimentary way of communicating, by looking up phrases or words, then pointing to the characters. It really helped me in quite a few different situations. Also made a nice conversation piece on a long distance train ride--the staff were looking up words and trying their English! I can see how this would be useless if you are trying to navigate street signs, or learn to speak the language. But for a tourist who will be in and out of the country, I thought it was great! .

I wished I read the reviews first
I don't plan on learning any pinyin. So I'm out 7 bucks. I would just be satisfied with pronouncing some nouns and basic phrases. The pronunciation system they have in the rough guide seems closer and the food section is much more complete. In LP, they don't seem to be in tune with the culture and many of the phrases are not useful - are you going ask in a chinese restaurant if it is "free of animal produce", "free range", "genetically modified", "gluten free"?.

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	Lonely Planet China
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