Recommendations for business Chinese books?

December 18, 2014 at 05:52 AM

I'd like to buy a business Chinese book, no idea where to start as until recently it wasn't something I was interested in.

It would need to use simplified characters and have English translations. Relatively recent, or at least not outdated. I'm not looking for something on a very beginner level, but not really super advanced either.

I see China Sprout sells these: http://www.chinasprout.com/shop/education/chinese-books/learn-chinese/business, but there are no reviews and at most you can only see a couple of pages. Amazon also sells quite a few, based on what I could tell from a quick search.

Any suggestions or information about specific books would be appreciated!

Trisha

December 18, 2014 at 07:00 AM

What's your current Chinese ability, and what are you trying to learn (business vocabulary, or China business practices)? Why do you need English translations?

December 18, 2014 at 07:25 AM

If your level of Chinese isn't that high (e.g. you need English translation) then I would probably concentrate on increasing your overall Chinese level first ... before you get into studying Business Chinese.

December 18, 2014 at 04:43 PM

Good questions! I'm more interested in business vocabulary. My Chinese isn't too bad, I could probably get by without translations, but really like them to make it go a bit faster and easier.

December 20, 2014 at 03:05 AM

I've been studying business Chinese here in China using private teachers and a business Chinese series of books. The only drawback is that they are in Chinese, but, all the vocabulary words are presented in English, pinyin, and Chinese (both simplified and traditional). When I first started, I could not read Chinese characters. Most of my training was using pinyin in the beginning, but, what I found was that using these books and a little bit of work, my reading comprehension is pretty good now. Since you are interested in learning vocabulary, this might work for you.

I don't know where you are located, but the Amazon website in China carries these books at a reduced price.

Title: Excel in Chinese: Better Chinese, Better Business (there are five books in the series)

ISBN No.: 978-7-5135-1133-9

Publisher: Foreign Language and Teaching Press (www.en.fltrp.com)

List Price: RMB 50

Amazon.cn Price: RMB 39

Good luck!

December 22, 2014 at 05:30 PM

Thanks! I'm in the US but have seen those books at China Sprout - http://www.chinasprout.com/shop/BLU008, they sell all five of them. They only show 2 sample pages though, so its hard to tell if they are really what I'm looking for or not. Do the 5 books increase in difficulty? Or do they just cover different topics on about the same level? Would you mind sharing what topics are covered in each book? One option would be for me to just buy the ones that cover the topics I care most about. I don't want to suddenly buy all 5, but then would hate to buy just the first one and maybe it doesn't cover the topics I'm most interested in.

Is anyone familiar with 'Everyday Business Chinese'? (http://www.chinasprout.com/shop/BLU020) It has two books and both are on Amazon too, but sold out.

Other ones I was looking at are here: http://www.chinasprout.com/shop/BLU007 ; http://www.chinasprout.com/shop/BLO039 ; http://www.chinasprout.com/shop/BLU002. Amazon sells them too, but there is no 'see inside this book' or reviews.

It's hard to know what to choose. I see some spend too much time on greetings, travel and hotels too, I've already have books that cover those topics, don't need to buy a business book with a large percent of the material just covering those things.

I would really like one that thoroughly covers internet and computer topics.

December 23, 2014 at 01:56 PM

I may come off sounding like a pessimist here... but here i go...

I think the idea of studying "business Chinese" is a bit of a sales ploy by publishers. What's the point of learning business terms if you don't have the basic foundation? To actually use business Chinese you need a strong basic foundation of Chinese, not just strong basic, you need really good Chinese. So strong in fact that any business Chinese book is not needed. If you can follow the conversation happening in Chinese, then you will quickly start to pick up on the business terms just by hearing them in conversation. The context of the sentence will let you know the term, and if you're not clear, just stop and ask (or if you're reading, then your reading level should be no problem to quickly understand the word).

This is my experience at least. I once was in search for a business Chinese book, but over the years I've started to realize that is not the solution. The solution to business Chinese is just really good overall Chinese. With really good overall Chinese the business terms will come through daily work, life, and reading (ex. read Chinese business magazines).

So my suggestion is to continue to focus on your current level, and continue to build that. Don't go for the silver bullet of "business Chinese".... Just my 2 mao.

January 8, 2015 at 03:52 AM

I asked China Sprout about the Better Chinese, Better Business books (http://www.chinasprout.com/shop/BLU008), here is the reply I got:

"The complexity of each volume is on the same level each covering
different aspects business. If you are planning on taking a business
trip to China, Vol.1 and Vol.2 would suffice. Vol.3 focuses on
marketing and finance. Vol.4 focuses on talent acquisition and
e-commerce while Vol.5 entails management techniques."

And they put the table of contents for all 5 books on their site now too:

http://www.chinasprout.com/store/media/BLU008Content.htm

Not sure what I'll do, not really interested in the first 2 as much, pretty much travel Chinese. Books 4 and 5 are of more interest to me.