250 Essential Chinese Characters for Everyday Use, Vol. 1 »

A native speaker of Chinese, Philip Yungkin Lee, is a Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He has published several language learning titles and has received a Teaching Excellence award from his university. He is also the author of the Pocket Mandarin Chinese Dictionary, Pocket Cantonese Dictionary, Essential Chinese Mandarin Phrase Book and Essential Cantonese Phrase Book.

Whether you live in China or are a student of the language, even simple tasks like finding an address, buying a train ticket, or banking can be difficult to accomplish if you can't read Chinese characters. 250 Essential Chinese Characters for Everyday Use is the perfect primer for anyone who needs to recognize common Chinese characters. Each character is presented in both its simplified and traditional form, along with notes on pronunciation and meaning. Vocabulary reviews, practice exercises, and quizzes guide you through a course of self-study where each lesson builds on the previous one. Configuration and stroke order are clearly shown, along with tips for forming characters correctly. A grid of practice squares for each character helps the user build confidence in writing Chinese. All compounds are listed in an alphabetical index at the end of the book for ready reference.

Author Bio:

A native speaker of Chinese, Philip Yungkin Lee, is a Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. He has published several language learning titles and has received a Teaching Excellence award from his university. He is also the author of the Pocket Mandarin Chinese Dictionary, Pocket Cantonese Dictionary, Essential Chinese Mandarin Phrase Book and Essential Cantonese Phrase Book, all of which are published by Periplus Editions.