NPCR or Chinese Made Easier

[Meiryousa]

I am just beginning to learn Chinese (Mandarin). I already self-taught myself Japanese so we'll see how much that helps. Hopefully my knowledge of chinese characters will help. I am curious as to whether I should get the books of

Chinese Made Easier by Martin Symonds and Tian Haohao

or

New Practical Chinese Reader by Liu Xun.

Both seem to have great reviews so I feel divided. It seems NPCR is more commonly used though. Which would you recommend? Thank you.

[Longfellow]

Both are good resources for learning Chinese. Anki and Yellowbridge have vocabulary flashcards for both. As to which one is a better choice for you, that depends upon your purpose in learning Chinese. Chinese Made Easier is very popular among expats who live and work in China. New Practical Chinese Reader seems to be used more in universities and academic settings. Martin Symonds, one of the CME authors, wrote about its intended purposes in another thread a few years back:

http://www.chinese-forums.com/index.php?/topic/17765-new-practical-chinese-reader-audio-chinese-made-easier-preliminary/

He also mentioned that he recommended NPCR for those students who wouldn't be served well by CME.

I bought a CME set a few years ago and have been happy with the books. My one complaint is that the workbooks (supplementing volumes 3 & 4) aren't too user-friendly. (Even Chinese friends have had trouble figuring out the questions' meaning on some occasions.) There were also some complaints about audio quality when they first came out. The CDs worked somewhat noisily on my computer but when I downloaded the mp3 files they sounded fine.

At any rate, I wish you well. Good studies!