"This book gives you : An excellent introduction to the basics of Chinese (if you are a beginner) or a quick, thorough refresher (if you already have experience with the language) ... Essential information on the Chinese language -- its history, varieties, tonal features, character writing system, and lean grammatical structure ... Numerous examples presented in Chinese characters, Pinyin transcription, word-for-word and idiomatic translations."--Back cover.

"A practical guide to learning Chinese"--Cover.

Background -- Representing pronunciation -- The writing system -- Sentences and sentence processes -- Words -- Nouns -- Verbs in general -- Adjectives and adverbs -- Complex verbs -- After the verb -- Verbs and prepositions -- Miscellaneous -- Appendix : Common verbs organized by semantic area.