Intermediate Chinese with Audio CD, Second Edition

I came to this book with an intermediate level of Mandarin, so I was past all the greetings, numbers, basic conversation as I had used other resources. (Integrated Chinese Level 1 Part 1, Mastering Conversational Chinese for Beginners and a couple of phrasebooks). With that said, I'm not familiar with how the previous Hippocrene Chinese books were set and how this book builds upon previous knowledge.What I do know is, this book is extensive, clear, and I enjoy reading the dialogues so far. There is a glossary at the book that has vocabulary from the Beginner's Edition of this Chinese series so that's a big refresher for people coming from the beginner book to this book.First, this book starts off each chapter with a conversation in characters supplemented only by pinyin followed by a reading passage that is entirely all characters that talks summarizes said-conversation. The audio couldn't have been any clearer and is one of the strongest point of this book. It really helps to hear each conversation and reading passage in a native voice and enjoy just how fluidly it is spoken; not too fast, not too slow. (coming from somebody who doesn't like to hear the standard Beijing style of speech)The lessons then go into explaining new grammar points introduced in each new lesson then neatly ending with exercises to make sure you did understand the content. The amount of characters you will learn in this book is a little above average. Honestly, I feel this intermediate book should of been MUCH bigger because the format of this book just works sooo well, very organized and rare will be the times where you feel lost.Clearly, one of the best Chinese books I have the pleasure of learning from and I really hope this format is kept in the Hippocrene Chinese books, I'm ready for an "Advanced" Chinese or a much more expanded Hippocrene Intermediate Chinese book!

Great Book!! Love this Book!!!

This book is for after the training wheels come off and you are ready to make some good progress towards becoming intermediate. Excellent dialog examples, clear teaching of grammar and useful exercises. Also very good explanations of how and when and why Chinese people say something one way versus saying the same thing another way. Well done.

Useful book for the intermediate level Mandarin student.