A very good grammatical book

[happytaru]

Hi there,

Could anyone pls tell me which Chinese grammatical book is valuable and good for foreigners? It's quite urgent. THanks you guys.

happytaru.

[Jose]

I would recommend "A Chinese Comprehensive Grammar" by Yip Po-ching, published by Routledge

-> http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0415150329/qid=1123249441/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_10_3/026-3501210-2117260

Another good one is "Mandarin Chinese: A Functional Grammar", by Charles N. Li and Sandra A. Thompson, published by University of California Press

-> http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/1581.html

Yip Po-ching's book uses pinyin and simplified characters, while Li and Thompson, an older book, only uses pinyin.

[opper567]

"A Chinese Comprehensive Grammar" by Yip Po-ching, published by Routledge. Is an excellent grammar book, but the large amount of vocabulary they throw at you is too overwelming for a beginner.

I think the best beginner's textbook (and also the one I used in my Chinese 101 and 102 classes) is Kung Fu (I): An Elementary Chinese Text You probably can buy it on Amazon. Cds are availible, but their quality is poor. Although, the exercise manual is not very good for learning the individual characters it contains interesting real-life activities. Don't let the title fool you, it is a great book for learning beginner's Chinese grammar.

[Daan]

Personally I use "Schaum's Outine of Chinese Grammar" and I like that book very much. It contains lots of exercises, explains the grammar without giving you the feeling that you need a Ph. D. to understand this book. It shows phrases using both traditional and simplified characters, a pinyin transcription and then the sentence in English. It doesn't require a large knowledge of vocabulary since the example sentences are quite easy (I believe).

[Glenn]

The biggest problems I have with the Schaum's book is that they don't give all possible answers to the excersizes, which can make you feel that you've gotten them wrong at times, and there are some typos that I've noticed which make me wonder how many there are that I don't have the knowledge to notice. If they solve those two problems then I would say it's an excellent book.

[laohu489]

While Yip Po-Ching's Comprehensive Grammar might be too much for a beginner, his Basic Chinese is perfect. Either one will do you well for now, it is just that Comprehensive will last you forever.

[happytaru]

Actually, the person who need this book knows a few Chinese because his parents are both Chinese. And he could be able to speak Chinese like CHinese people before he moved to another country as a child.

Thank you guys, I would come over here sometimes and hope we could all enjoy Chinese.*.*

[beirne]

My favorite is A Practical Chinese Grammar by Sze-yun Liu, Li-lin Shih, and Samuel Hung-nin Cheung. It is full of examples to accompany its common-sense explanations. It was designed to accompany the Practical Chinese Reader series but it is still a good book without it.

[fenlan]

Yip Po-ching - 叶步青- is my former lecturer...

[nipponman]

I have Schuam's too, and sometimes I think they say some things that aren't right. For example, they say that 我喜欢他（只/足足）喜欢了一年 is incorrect. Which is strange.

[ophion]

My favorite is A Practical Chinese Grammar by Sze-yun Liu, Li-lin Shih, and Samuel Hung-nin Cheung. It is full of examples to accompany its common-sense explanations. It was designed to accompany the Practical Chinese Reader series but it is still a good book without it.

That is my favorite as well. I have Schaum's, and I like its layout. It does seem to have some mistakes or oddities. PCG is better for study; Schaum's is better for reference.

[pmateja]

Hello everybody,

I often use Yip Po-Ching and Don Rimmington's books. To learn something more about them, I was looking for their CVs (and other information). Do they have personal websites? And, basically, is Yip a HE or SHE?

Thanks!