Chinese Primer: Character Text (Pinyin) (The Princeton Language Program: Modern Chinese Book 45)

The first half of the book is completely simplified characters and the second half of the book is the same material but in traditional characters and format. The content in this book (green book) are the same skits/plays presented in the blue Chinese primer book except the blue book has them in pinyin and English. So this is perfect for enhancing character vocabulary. The skits depict real life situations so it's good to see the Chinese language used as it is in everyday conversations. The vocabulary starts simple in the first skit and progresses with each one. Worth every penny. I use it for college and it will be good to review from time to time to keep it fresh in my mind.

The only downside is the lack of pinyin. Fortunately, I took a Chinese class where the Professor went over some of the new symbols. Includes equivalent simplified and traditional readings (Has both versions for one reading)

The book came in great condition and it arrived on time. Also, I got it for a good price.

I highly recommend this book for beginning and intermediate students of Chinese. The dialogues present everyday situations and each dialog is written in simplified characters and traditional characters. The book is a companion to the red and blue Chinese Primer books which provide lecture notes and the pinyin pronunciation of the characters. Note: This book only contains characters. As a low advanced student of Mandarin, I enjoy reading the witty dialogs in this book for fun without any aids. if you are a beginner, you will certainly need to order the whole set (eg. red and blue books) to understand the dialogs.

I asked my Chinese friend about this book and he says no one talks like this anymore.

Ch'en and Link's Chinese Primer series is an excellent introduction to the language. Detailed and clear grammatical explanations complement texts that give individual attention to each of the four areas of foreign language learning: reading, writing, listening and speaking. However, the best feature of Princeton's texts is the dialogues: rather than tread through the same-old tired sequence of "greetings", "where are you from?", "how old are you" etc., the authors creatively use the most basic vocabulary and sentence patterns to create conversations that are humorous and full of life.Nathan Dummittauthor of  Chinese Through Tone & Color

This book fills a void. The grammar is straightforward, the examples clear, and there are plenty of exercises. It's excellent for students of chinese who have some foundation already and are looking vastly and quickly improve upon it.