Schaum's Outline of Chinese Grammar,   ISBN:9780071377645

Customer Rating: 

The book uses simplified as well as traditional characters. I use it as a supplement to "Practical Audio-Visual Chinese" which is an outstanding text book.

Customer Rating: 

A very good grammar book for an unbeatable price. Practical and broad in scope, with exercises and examples in pinyin, traditional, and simplified characters. I have gotten more use of this grammar gem over the years than other chinese grammar books that cost 4x more.

The main drawback is that the formatting is not the best. Little use of whitespace between sections, and subheadings that don't always stand out, make it a challenge to scan for information.

If you are willing to spend a bit more, I highly recommend Claudia Ross' most recent work: Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar (Modern Grammars) and Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar Workbook (Modern Grammars). This set presents the content of 'Schaum's Outline of Chinese Grammar', and much more, in a more organized, logical and thorough manner.

Customer Rating: 

On the positive side, the book is comprehensive. However, the depth is lacking, and formatting and structure are quite terrible. In terms of formatting, sections literally run on each other without any white space in between; it's very claustrophobic! Important topics and subheading are not separated. You'll waste plenty of time just figuring out how to work with the book... How the chapters are structured is also less than logical. Examples are numerous which is good, but that means coverage of grammar is shallow for the short book as such.

Customer Rating: 

Dr. Ross has written a grammar guide that goes through basic sentence construction in Mandarin Chinese in a clear and systematic way. However, in an effort to be both accurate and exhaustive, the book occasionally gets bogged down in specialized grammar terminology such as "stative verb" and "aspectual suffix" that are sure to confuse younger learners of the language. As with most Schaum's outlines, the answers in the back of the book encourage self-study. Overall, a solid resource for adult learners who want a more thorough survey of technical grammar.

Nathan Dummitt
author of Chinese Through Tone & Color

Customer Rating: 

I'm currently living and studying in China. Although I'm a full-time Chinese student, all of my text books are written by Chinese educators. This is a great thing especially when I get more advanced in my study. However, right now I'm more toward the beginning and the English explanations in my textbooks are often mistranslated and confusing. For those of you who are toward the end of their first term of Chinese study (or if you have a general understanding of the language) this book will help you greatly.

I've found it written in a way that is easier to grasp than many of my own Chinese textbooks. The readability of Schaum's book is what really sold me into singing its praises.

I too am working my way through the Pimsleur series and this book does a great job of accompanying and clarifying some of the grammar points made in those lessons.

Some people have said that this book isn't for the beginner. Well maybe so and maybe not. I will say that after a term of study I have a lot of questions that this book has helped me answer. My only regret is not purchasing it sooner as it could have helped me after the first month.