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learn to speak, understand and write chinese
progress quickly beyond the basics
explore the language in depth

This is a truly self-access course that will appeal to anyone who is learning alone or who needs extra material to supplement a course. The reader decides whether or not to learn the script; if it's not needed, the book makes it easy to follow the pinyin transcriptions (rendering the Chinese in English spelling). There is comprehensive teaching of the Chinese script and the pinyin transcriptions will help you speak and understand. The spoken language taught in this course is Mandarin.

The new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated, and now includes extra audio material, which is available separately or in a book plus CD or book plus cassette pack.

Elizabeth Scurfield, the author, was until recently Chair of Modern Languages at the University of Westminster, where she was a founder member of the Chinese section.