New Editions of Popular Chinese Study Guides!

For students studying Chinese and looking for new materials beyond their textbook, we have two updated releases which are profoundly useful: Concise Chinese-English Usage Dictionary and Dictionary of 1,000 Chinese Proverbs: Revised Edition. Mandarin Chinese is the most spoken language in the world, with over two billion speakers worldwide. These books provide informative material that will enrich the student's knowledge of Chinese.

The updated Concise Chinese-English Usage Dictionary by Yong Ho now incorporates new words and usage changes which have occurred in the language since the original (Chinese-English Frequency Dictionary) was published, ten years ago. The dictionary is listed with the pinyin transcription (pronunciation), English translation, and examples of its usage within common Chinese words and phrases. In addition, there are also two indices which list the 500 characters in order of frequency and stroke count. It is meant to serve as a concise dictionary and a study guide, making it helpful for both advanced and beginning students. It is presented in a way that is easy for students to understand recall the characters’ unique spread in meaning by seeing how they are most often used to build Chinese words.

The new edition of Dictionary of 1,000 Chinese Proverbs by Marjorie Lin and Schalk Leonard now includes simplified and traditional character renderings of each proverb, a new introduction from the authors, an English index of key terms, and a key of Chinese characters. This book is a valuable tool for students interested in mastering the Chinese language, as recognizing these common sayings will aid in fluency. A compilation of 1,000 of the most popular Mandarin proverbs are organized alphabetically in pinyin order into English. A knowledge of common sayings will aid in fluency. One can learn proverbs such as:

‘Man does not see his own ugliness, and horses are unaware of the length of their heads,’ and

‘Success is three parts genius and seven parts hard work.’

These great assets are available in bookstores, as well as online through our website, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble.

Dictionary of 1,000 Chinese Idioms

We're pleased to announce that Dictionary of 1,000 Chinese Idioms: Revised Edition is now in stock! In this new edition, each entry has both traditional simplified Chinese characters, pinyin transliterations with tone marks, and a new introduction by the authors.


Four-character idioms, or chengyu, are a unique part of the Chinese language, and many incorporate value and myths that have been a part of Chinese culture for over 3,000 years. The revised edition selects the 1,000 most frequently used idioms, and arranges them alphabetically by their pinyin pronunciation. It is a vital book for any student of Chinese who wishes to understand the important nuances of meaning that pervade the language and the culture. 

Marjorie Lin is a graduate of Providence University in Taichung, Taiwan and works as a professional Chinese-English translator. Schalk Leonard is a professional Chinese-English translator. They reside in the Pacific Northwest.

Available on our website, Amazon.com, and at your local bookstore!

Audio Accompaniments for Intermediate Chinese

Has watching too many Olympic sports broadcasts made you quick to pick up the basics of the language? Now you can test your listening at an intermediate level with the tracks to the audio accompaniment for our Intermediate Chinese!

You can download tracks using your web browser or subscribe to the podcast on Apple iTunes. For more information, please refer to our previous posting on the release of the tracks to Beginner's Chinese.

A Revolutionary Way to Learn Chinese Tones

Today we feature a special method for mastering one of the most challenging parts of the Chinese language--the four tones--written by Nathan Dummitt, also author of Chinese Through Tone and Color, which was recently published by Hippocrene. Use this simple technique to help yourself sound like a native before you head off to Beijing!

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When beginning to study any foreign language, one of the most important things to remember is that you will almost certainly be required to master sounds that do not exist in English. The rolled 'r' of Spanish, the high 'u' of German and French, and the aspirated 't' of Hindi are all sounds that do not have corresponding equivalents in English. Mandarin Chinese is a language that contains many such sounds, and it is especially important to be careful when recognizing and producing these foreign sounds because Mandarin Chinese is a tonal language. This means that a single syllable, such as "bao", can have several different meanings depending on the tone in which it is pronounced. There are four tones in standard Mandarin Chinese.

The first tone is high and flat, with no change in pitch.

包 bao - "to wrap"

The second tone starts low and rises to the top of the vocal range.

薄 bao - "thin"

The third tone starts high, but dips to the bottom of the vocal range, and then comes back to the top.

饱 bao - "full"

The fourth tone starts high and falls sharply.

爆 bao - "explode"

Many foreign learners of Chinese find that recognizing, producing, and especially remembering the correct tone for individual words is one of the most challenging parts of learning the language. While many introductory books seem to overlook this aspect of Chinese, correct tone usage is extremely important in order to be understood. Speaking Chinese without proper tone is akin to speaking English with only one vowel. While context and word order may occasionally allow you to make yourself understood, without a solid command of the four tones even a modest fluency with the language will continue to elude you.

In my book Chinese through Tone and Color, I have assigned a color to each of the four tones to assist the learner in accurately and consistently remembering the correct tone for over 100 of the most common words and characters. This mnemonic system has been successfully tested in high school classrooms and even non-visual learners have found that this basic association helps them remember to distinguish between the dozens of homophones in modern Mandarin. The book contains commentary and several example sentences for each major entry as also includes an mp3 CD with images attached to the files for portable learning.

Get a taste for what's in the book here.

Beginner's Chinese Audio Accompaniments & Pinyin Practice

Many years back, Hippocrene began adding audio accompaniment CDs to our line of "Beginner's" books, so that students of these languages could hear and repeat the books dialogues along with native speakers.

Recently, we decided to digitize these accompaniment tracks and make them available online. The first audio accompaniment on the list, falling in line with this blog's focus on preparing travelers for the Beijing Olympics, is Beginner's Chinese, by Yong Ho. Give it a try! You can download tracks using your web browser or subscribe to the podcast on Apple iTunes.

The audio tracks, of course, weren't created to be stand-alone learning tools, and listeners trying to learn the language from scratch may be a bit baffled without a copy of Beginner's Chinese in hand. For those who know some Chinese, however, the dialogues certainly provide a good refresher course in the basics of Chinese conversation and can serve a good indicator (for those scratching their heads about whether they should buy Beginner's Chinese or our more advanced Intermediate Chinese) of just how advanced your Chinese level may be.

That's not to say that there isn't something here for the traveler, casual learner, or person simply curious to learn a few Chinese phrases, though! If you have trouble figuring out how to pronounce the Chinese phonetics in our last entry, on Zhujiajiao, try listening to the pinyin practice track while looking at the chart below--this will not only give you a sense of how to read and pronounce the Chinese Romanization system, but also provide an introduction to Mandarin's four tones.

If you have questions about the podcast tracks, or about pinyin or learning Chinese in general, feel free to leave comments and we'll find an expert in the language to respond!

Chinese Language and Travel

For the launch of the Language & Travel blog, Hippocrene has a special treat: from now until the middle of August, we'll be focusing exclusively on Chinese language and destinations, presenting some of China's rarest gems while also giving a few insights into the language that will be useful for everybody, from first-time tourists to "old China-hands".

School kids in China think their country looks like a rooster.

Why the prolonged focus on China? Well, aside from Mandarin Chinese being the language with the most native speakers in the world (873 million - 1.1 billion speakers, depending on how you count), Beijing will also host the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympics and we know that a few key Mandarin phrases and tips about the country's most stunning tourist gems can really go a long way.

So, while you pack your bags for Beijing, stay tuned to this blog over the next two months to learn the things you'll want to know before you go.

How do you say "open sesame" in Chinese?