Reading in a foreign language offers countless benefits, from expanding your vocabulary and seeing new words used in context to connecting with the culture. In this blog we share 5 books aimed at Beginner and lower-level learners wanting to improve their Mandarin and build up their confidence.

Conversational Chinese Dialogues

Are you still feeling a little rusty and struggling to hold a proper conversation in Mandarin? Well fear not as we have the perfect solution for you! Why don’t you try reading Conversational Chinese Dialogues on Kindle for 100 short Mandarin stories and conversations. Each chapter has a new, easy-to-follow story, accompanied by an English translation to help you understand. You’ll learn a bunch of useful, day-to-day phrases and vocabulary that you might not necessarily learn in a classroom setting, so it will do your Mandarin the world of good and help boost your confidence in no time.

500 Common Chinese Idioms

Weaving idioms into your Mandarin will make you sound like a native and undoubtedly impress your teacher. With this in mind, why not buy the 500 Common Chinese Idioms book for a unique guide to help you discover new expressions to transform your Mandarin. In no time, you will recognize and get to grips with 500 of the most essential day-to-day idioms along with plenty of synonyms. Trust us when we say that this book will be worth every penny!

Chinese Made Easier

Alongside your Mandarin course, having extra resources and materials at your disposal will really reinforce what you’ve been learning in the classroom. The Chinese Made Easier textbooks are a great place to start as the content is very practical and teaches you to speak about day-to-day topics, such as making a phone call, buying groceries and tons of other relevant scenarios. These handy textbooks would be a shrewd purchase for any lower-level student.

Slanguage Chinese

Struggling with your spoken Mandarin? Slanguage Chinese is a fun visual guide with illustrated prompts, where you can read the English words out loud, and soon be able to pronounce the actual Mandarin word immaculately. This handy guide is easy to carry around with you and provides you with the basic phrases you need while traveling, asking directions, or ordering food at a restaurant. It also teaches you to say essential phrases for medical or legal emergencies, as well as terminology for hotels, airports, and so on.

Short Stories in Chinese

These parallel text books are fantastic for learners as you can read in Mandarin and then look across at the next page for a direct translation of any words or characters you’re unfamiliar with. Sometimes jumping straight into a Chinese book can be a bit overwhelming for students, but the Parallel Text Short Stories in Mandarin book by Penguin is a fantastic collection of interesting stories and a great stepping stone for learners.

Find out more about our online and face-to-face Mandarin courses here.