Colloquial Cantonese. The Complete Course for Beginners

Colloquial Cantonese. The Complete Course for Beginners (book + 2 CDs)
PDF | mp3 192k | ~ 178 MB | by Keith S. Tong & Gregory James | Routledge | 1994 | 224 pages | ISBN 0415082021


Editorial review from amazon.com:

Learn to write and speak Cantonese as only native speakers can. Lively lessons are clear and free from jargon and are illustrated by examples in context. The book incorporates a variety of fluency exercises, supplemented by audio and visual materials, and uses a well-known transcription system throughout.

A short description from WordLanguage.com:

Cantonese is that variety of Chinese which is spoken in wide areas of the southern coastal provinces of Guangdong and Guanqxi, in Hong Kong and in Macao. It is also the dominant form of Chinese spoken in many families of the 'chinatowns' throughout the world.

Colloquial Cantonese features:

# dialogues of everyday encounters and situations
# exercises for regular practice
# a pronunciation guide
# clear, concise grammar notes
# a list of useful vocabulary
# a two-way glossary section of key words and phrases
# audio material to enhance pronunciation and listening skills
# an author introduction to the course

Colloquial Cantonese is easy to use and completely up-to-date! Specially written by an experienced teacher for self-study or class use, the course offers you a step-by-step approach to written and spoken Cantonese. No prior knowledge of the language is required. What makes Colloquial Cantonese your best choice in personal language learning?
* it's interactive - lots of exercises for regular practice
* it's clear - concise grammar notes
* it's practical - useful vocabulary and pronunciation guide
* it's complete - including answer key and special reference section.

CDs accompany the course to help you with listening and pronunciation skills. By the end of this rewarding course you will be able to communicate confidently and effectively in a broad range of situations

A customer review from amazon.com:

This is a good book if you really want to learn the language and have alot of time. It organizes everything by subject (time, shopping, etc.) with a list of vocabulary and dialogues. There are complete translations for any new phrases, plus they explain grammar so you really understand what you are saying and can apply it later on with new words you learn. The exercises are a little difficult until you really have a handle on the new words and phrases. You may not like this if you are going to Hong Kong and want to learn fast. This also teaches Hong Kong dialect, so there are some differences from Mainland Cantonese (my boyfriend's family is from Canton) but there is nothing that won't be understood anyway. It really explains the tones and I have been told by native speakers that my pronounciation is very good.

Wikipedia is informative on Cantonese language: http://www.answers.com/topic/cantonese-linguistics

More links at:

WordLanguage: http://www.worldlanguage.com/Products/31194.htm
amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0415306248 /104-8823995-7091164?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance
amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0415082021/203-0780347-0374306#product-details

At this latter site I've also read a negative review (after the many positive ones) saying that "for a difficult language like Chinese the approach used in this series is quite unsuitable for beginners." I just want to assure you that this is simply not true. I had learnt Mandarin Chinese from the manual of this series (you can download it at http://avaxhome.ru/ebooks/colloquial-chinese.html), and now I'm learning Cantonese from this book, and it has gone quite well.

I have earlier uploaded this book as a torrent file, and it is still seeding well, nevertheless I upload it here as well as a pair to my previous Colloquial Chinese.

Download (files of 40 MB each):

http://rapidshare.de/files/22405689/Colloquial_Cantonese.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/22407528/Colloquial_Cantonese.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/22409245/Colloquial_Cantonese.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/22410856/Colloquial_Cantonese.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.de/files/22411562/Colloquial_Cantonese.part5.rar

----------

Other good materials for learning Chinese (I do not include here the books linked to Avax from the excellent www.hanzi.ru and is predecessor www.polusharie.ru that are far above the level of "just learning", and are listed in their respective sites anyway. But I cannot miss to refer to chinesepod.com that is, in my opinion, the best on-line Chinese course.) Where I do not indicate the uploader, it was me:

• Colloquial Chinese. The complete course for beginners:
http://avaxhome.ru/ebooks/colloquial-chinese.html

• Rosetta Stone, Chinese Mandarin, parts I-II (Helden)
http://avaxhome.ru/software/rosetta_stone_module_chinese_mandarin_level-i_ii.html

• Dr. Eye 6.0 Chinese/Japanese/English Translation Software:
http://avaxhome.ru/software/dreye6.html

• Magic Translator v6.00.5777 Multilingual (Alexpal):
http://avaxhome.ru/software/magic_translator.html

• Oxford Talking Chinese English Dictionary and Instant Translator (biotop):
http://www.avaxhome.ru/ebooks/otc_dict.html

Hi biotop, I cannot find the avax pages of the other files you've commented at the end of my Colloquial Chinese post. I mean the rapidshare files do exist, but I'd like to link the pages themselves. Could you please give their url?

If anyone occurs anything else, please post it, and I will include its url in my next post of materials for learning Chinese.