Kindle content for a struggling beginner

[dementior]

Hi everyone!

I will try to be as specific as possible because I know this is nothing new: Ive been studying for 2,5 months 4 hours a day with a tutor plus 2-3 hours on my own. The hours on my own go mainly to writing again and again... I dont think heisig or similar books work for me really because Im not an English native speaker and I prefer to establish my own mental mnemonics so... I need ways to retain the characters. The way most logical way for me is to read whole texts almost every days which make sense as a whole and maybe write my own comments about those texts.

I dont find on amazon any Chinese breeze books I can purchase... does anyone know where I can purchase them in electronic format (azw or similar + mp3)? Or any other kindle-friendly content I can download suitable for my current level (about 300 words up to 500 words)

thanks a lot!

[character]

You may have to access the US Amazon store, but the Chinese Breeze books are there and available for purchase. They don't (or didn't when I purchased them) have the MP3 files like the print books do. There is a topic here on the Chinese Breeze books with more information on them and their ebook versions.

It's not a great ebook conversion, but there is also a kindle version of Chinese Demystified. Shaum's Chinese Grammar is also in Kindle format, as are a number of other Chinese texts.

[dementior]

thanks for the answer!

I found finally the way to find the books: its not about the store but your own country settings. I can access any store online but if they books are available only for US residents then I will not be able to find them... Its kind of tricky the way the make use of publishing rights online... because I am in China trying to access the US store but in order to do that I have to state that I am currently living in the US...

Anyway once you fool Amazon the books are available ;)

[lechuan]

@dementior, have you tried using Skritter.com ? It's a great SRS way to review character writing and reading.

Was your credit card a U.S. one? I'm also out of the U.S., but couldn't buy Kindle Chinesse Breeze, even after changing my region, because I didn't have a US credit card address.

[dementior]

thanks lechuan!

I had heard of Skritter but I have to consider if the monthly fee if worth for me at the moment ;)

Im going to check the demo they offer to see how it works...

You dont need a billing address in the U.S. I can guarantee you that. My card has a billing address which is located in my home country in Europe... nothing to do with the U.S.

Do you have the one-click shopping feature enabled? Did you try to shop from a web browser or the kindle device itself??

[lechuan]

Ah, I tried it from a web browser. I am using Kindle for iPad, and Apple made Amazon remove any in-app purchasing from the Kindle Store.

In the end, I ended up buying the paper copies of the ones I didn't have already from ChinaSprout. It was cheaper than the kindle version, even with shipping.