~by Adriano Lucchese

This is the book for those of us who are daunted by learning the characters and the spoken language simultaneously. It's a fun and easy to digest way for those who use at least some Chinese daily, and it's a way to start understanding the culture more.

Chinese Without Tears' structure and exercises were designed by waiguoren (foreigners) for waiguoren, which therefore prevents becoming bored by rote exercises. This is more like the Pimsleur approach. It uses different exercise methods to actually make the material stick. It's so effective that within minutes of learning the first series of symbols, useful for daily application, the implementation is instant. It may sound funny but another way to use the knowledge gleaned through this book is in those cases when the dialect isn't discernible. For instance, during those times of ultimate communication gap, simply write out your characters, like the Chinese often do, et voila! You've bridged the gap!

As you progress through the book you'll start to recognize characters through photo and written exercises, write complete sentences and even short stories, and then apply the characters to their pin yin equivalents.

The author, Brian Stewart, spent more than 20 years studying and practicing the Chinese language in China and over Southeast Asia. While teaching others he realized that the Western mind does not learn or retain material well through rote repetition, so he devised a series of exercises that stimulate different learning styles. The end result is that the book works.

A companion set is also available. It contains a CD to hear the sounds in a Chinese accent and easily portable flashcards for quick practice and reference.

Order the book and/or its companion online for 168RMB at www.lwpublishing.com, or ask for it at bookstores.