Instant Chinese

Singapore: Tuttle Publishing, 2015. — 191 p. (Revised edition) — ISBN 9780804845373How to express over 1,000 different ideas with just 100 key words and phrases. A Mandarin Chinese language phrase book.This book uses English phonetics to represent the syllables making up Mandarin Chinese, making it possible for total newcomers to the language to communicate quickly and easily on a basic level without any previous introduction to the language. In addition, each Chinese word is given its tone in pinyin - this is to enable those with a basic knowledge of Spoken Chinese to say the words more accurately, if they wish. However, for those who
know nothing about tones, the phonetic versions presented here are close enough to the “correct” pronunciation that the meaning is generally understandable. With eight major “dialects” in China [some are actually different enough to be called languages!], the Chinese are used to coping with a variety of accents and variations in the tonal quality of speakers. They are especially tolerant of foreigners who make an effort to speak Chinese, and go out of their way to help them.