<p>I have some, but they're not very good (not very hard, just not very good). What are the best books for learning it in general, and preparing for the AP/SAT in Mandarin Chinese?</p>
<p>Thanks :).</p>
<p>I think there’s a speaking section for AP Chinese. I didn’t even know that had SAT subject test in Mandarin. It’s extremely hard to self-study for it. I’m not sure if that’s what you’re trying to do. I recommend the Integrated Chinese books.</p>
<p>I’m trying to self-study till I move house, which is when I’ll try and get a class of some sort (I’m homeschooled).</p>
<p>I actually took the Chinese AP and the Chinese SAT 2 earlier this year…</p>
<p>I’ve taken Chinese 1-4AP at my high school, but I do have to say that the integrated textbooks did not quite help me in preparation for the Chinese AP.</p>
<p>To help with reading comprehension, try reading chinese newspapers – world journal (shi jie ri bao). Then, try writing summaries or something so you can practice writing. :)</p>
<p>To practice speaking, I suggest you find a Chinese friend or teacher who is willing to talk to you in Chinese.</p>
<p>To practice listening, I suggest you watch chinese dramas/tv shows/movies. Yes, they take up a lot of time and it sounds silly, but they helped me.</p>
<p>Another thing that helped me was actually translating some of the Chinese songs I started listening to. </p>
<p>Important things to study for these two tests: Chinese culture/art/sports (I think just reading up and understanding the Beijing Olympics would help quite a lot), conjunctions…</p>
<p>Hmm…as for which books are best…I’ll ask my mom – she’s a Chinese teacher…but I guess it really depends on your level and if you’re learning simplified or traditional Chinese.</p>
<p>But, if you want to give it a shot, try IQ Chinese. The company sells sets of cds – try to get the “quiz” cds. On the cds, there are about 10 lessons…and I think that it could definitely help you with reading, writing, and typing.</p>
<p>Good luck :)</p>
<p>If your Chinese, dont bother preparing. its ridiculously easy to get a 5 if native. U will on average have a 80- some percent change of getting a 5. See wiki. See released collegeboard stats if you dont trust wiki.</p>
<p>I’m afraid I’m not Chinese; I just thought it would be the most useful language to learn. I’m not sure what the difference between simplified and traditional Chinese is - I just want to learn the “standard” version of Mandarin, if there is any :).</p>
<p>Do I need to get two books, one for learning characters and the other for learning spoken Chinese? Or are there books which will teach me a comprehensive version of everything?</p>
<p>Rosetta Stone program. Seriously. Get it.</p>
<p>From Rosetta Stone, I have learned: Italian, French, Spanish, and level one of Turkish.</p>
<p>Forget the books. There is no WAY you can learn from vocabulary lists. Rosetta Stone will tackle every facet of the language learning process and in a pretty quick amount of time.</p>
<p>Except I don’t know if Rosetta Stone will prepare you for the AP Chinese exam, which is what the OP wants to take. A teacher can correct your pronunciation, and it’s hard to learn good pronunciation of Chinese using a program like Rosetta Stone. You definitely can learn vocab from vocab lists. I did it for several years. It’s just extremely difficult and time-consuming and frustrating. Traditional Chinese is what everyone used to use in China; then they put in simplified, which is just easier to write, because they’re usually less complicated. Simplified is usually used more in Beijing and Shanghai and in northern China; traditional is predominantly used in the south, like in Hong Kong. It’s just so difficult to learn Chinese without a class, that I don’t really recommend that you try. If you want to learn Chinese for fun, then I think either Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur (which is too expensive; see if they have it at the library) is fine.</p>
<p>Here are all the resources you need to learn Chinese:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062642138-post7.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1062642138-post7.html</a></p>
<p>All free (and all legal).</p>