Chinese Learning Books-10 Best Books to Learn Chinese

The correct Chinese learning book can help you learn Chinese quickly and effectively. Students, parents and teachers can use these types of books to enhance their lessons and understanding when learning Chinese. Chinese learning books are useful to review what you have previously learned and also to read aloud to practice your pronunciation and reading abilities.

Here are 10 of the best books to learn Chinese and why we think they are the best to help you in your Chinese language learning journey:

1) New Practical Chinese Reader

This Chinese learning book is great because it comes in multiple volumes that can be purchased separately. Therefore, you can choose the one that is most appropriate for you without having to purchase a whole set. It includes multiple areas of Chinese language learning areas such as structure, conversation and background information. It largely focuses on conversational knowledge.

2) Chinese Made Easier

This Chinese learning book is also beneficial because it focuses on commonly used vocabulary and conversation. It is a must have book for those Chinese language learners looking to be able to travel within China and get around with basic Chinese language conversation and sentences. The vocabulary and phrases are presented in an easy to understand format and can be practiced easily with others.

3) Colloquial Chinese

This Chinese learning book is useful for learning some of the most common Chinese characters and also provides pinyin pronunciation. The directions are concise and it assists by giving sentence examples. Early Chinese language and working professional learners can benefit from this because it will allow them to learn very common Chinese characters and pinyin. These basic skills can be useful when speaking with Native Chinese speakers in a casual setting or when traveling in China.   

4) Fundamentals of Chinese Characters

Speaking of Chinese character learning, this Chinese learning book also provides an overview of Chinese characters and is among the best out there. It helps the reader to understand the meaning of the characters and their construction. It gives anecdotes that lead the Chinese language learner to recall the meaning of characters easily.

5) Times

Newspaper Reading Course of Advanced Chinese: This Chinese learning book is more for the advanced Chinese language learner but contains a lot of useful information in order to read Chinese newspapers. The language contained in Chinese newspapers can be very different from spoken or other written forms of Chinese language. Therefore, the exercises and information contained in this Chinese learning book is especially useful for learning those differences.

6) 500 Common Chinese Idioms

An Annotated Frequency Dictionary: Chinese language idioms can confuse even the savviest of language learners and that makes this Chinese learning book a must have book for any Chinese language learner. It provides the most common Chinese idioms, their stories and other supplemental information that is useful in understanding them. It will allow you to use and discuss the idioms with others and provide background information on them which will undoubtedly impress others!

7) Niubi

The Real Chinese You Were Never Taught in School: This Chinese learning book is also useful in understanding some of the most common Chinese slang. Just like any other language, Chinese contains slang that can sometimes make Chinese language learning confusing but is important to understand to be able to speak fluently. This is one of the best books to learn Chinese slang and its use so that you can sound like a local.

8) Reading and Writing Chinese

This is a Chinese learning book that is helpful in understanding and mastering written Chinese. It focuses on the most commonly used pinyin as well as traditional Chinese characters. Pinyin is the modern written form of Chinese and can help beginning Chinese language learners to speak Chinese more easily. Understanding and being able to read Chinese characters is also extremely important to mastering Chinese. We highly recommend this book for very students learning Chinese in school to supplement their studies. For Chinese language learning students, this book will assist in preparing for the AP or HSK exams. These exams are two of the most common proficiency tests for Chinese language learners.

9) The Rise of the Monkey King

A Story in Simplified Chinese and Pinyin: We love this story and it is a very popular beginner book among Chinese language learners. Practicing by reading stories aloud in Chinese can be helpful to early Chinese language learners. We recommend this book to extend your reading abilities and highly recommend reading it aloud to a loved one to focus on your tones and pronunciation. Once you have mastered this book then you can brag that you are able to read over 600 vocabulary words in Chinese!

10) Oxford Beginner’s Chinese Dictionar

This is the must have Chinese learning book for the early Chinese language learner. It provides easy-to-use references to help you translate and understand Chinese language and grammar. It also includes information about China, culture, norms and common phrases. This Chinese dictionary can be used when traveling in China and is useful as a tool to unlock and learn Chinese words that may be stumping you.

Most of these books are relatively inexpensive and available on a variety of websites such as Amazon or at your local book store. We recommend supplementing your Chinese language learning with some of these great books so that you can immerse yourself even more in Chinese language nuances and culture.

While there are many Chinese learning books available, we believe these are some of the best Chinese learning books to help you in your Chinese language learning journey. No matter what level of Chinese you currently speak, these Chinese learning books will help to enhance your understanding and knowledge of Chinese. We hope that you find them useful in your Chinese language learning!

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