A Chinese-English Measure Words Dictionary (Chinese and English Edition)

by Jiao Fan

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 7800525686
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Sinolingua Press
• Length: 225 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Meets the need!

As you'll see from the dimensions, this is a fairly small, compact paperback--and among the less expensive offerings on the topc--issued by Sinolingua Press of Beijing. Being published by Sinolingua is both the source of the volume's more attractive features--and its lesser. The measure words--an extensive set--are listed in Pinyin alphabetical order, with the simplified characters used in the PRC, accompanying. Although English synonyms for the measure words are not presented in a handy way, each measure word is nevertheless "defined" by a description of how it is used (including whether it's more common in speech or writing). Numerous examples (often, a dozen or so phrases) are also provided as (1) simplified characters, (2) pinyin, and (3) English translation. Understandably, the Mandarin is authentic, reliable, and well chosen; the English translations . . . eh, sometimes, not so much. (Take the measure word "zhou(2)" to count out things on a spindle like: "a spool of thread" or "a spool of landscape painting." For the latter, an English speaker would more likely translate as "scroll.") But overall, this is a very useful addition to Mandarin-study resources.