What textbook did you use when you learned Mandarin?

Question

What textbook did you use when you learned Mandarin?

Answer 1

Lonely Planet.It's pocket size so you can take it anywhere.Google it.If you;re In hk, you can buy it Dymocks bookstore or any other boookstore near you.Precise and informative and cheap 90HK$.Happy learning!

Answer 2

Not a textbook, but I really like using the Pimsleur method for learning Mandarin.  The Pimsleur method is widely regarded as the best way to learn a language.  It's very interactive and it makes you think and speak in the language, and also teaches you to understand it, rather than memorize a bunch of vocabulary.  Plus you can learn to speak it first and avoid the huge hurdle of the written language.

It comes on CDs--you can find them on Amazon or eBay.  I love listening to them when I drive and it really gets fun when you can understand the conversation at the beginning of each section.

It can be a little pricey: $100-250 per CD set--but it's more important to speak and understand Mandarin than it is to be able to read it.

For free you could check out http://www.nciku.com/ and the ChinesePod podcast http://chinesepod.com/.