A Textbook and Explanations Series?

[Supervin]

Hi all,

I'm trying to help out a friend who is intent on studying Mandarin Chinese. However, I don't know what series to recommend as I speak the language myself and am unfamiliar with the learning materials.

I'm hoping to find a series that would be helpful if it is in the format of:

* Textbook - in Chinese (simplified if possible)

* Explanations book, that accompanies the textbook - with many language versions (not just English)

* Audio CDs for the vocabulary and dialogue in the textbook

Mainstream textbooks or situational-oriented ones are fine and they don't have to be tailored for HSK - just not those for survival or crash course ones.

Thank you!

[onebir]

What language does your friend speak? Although they generally don't have the chinese in a separate book from the explanations, quite a lot of the popular materials have versions in French/German/Japanese/Korean as well as English...