Penguin Books Australia

This pack will appeal to both casual and serious students of the Chinese language.

Learning Chinese idioms have never been easier!

Revised edition includes four additional lessons for the learner to revise and build upon all that s/he has learnt in the previous 3 weeks.  

A handy collection of Chinese idioms, for you to appreciate the meaning behind the different terms and to put them into use.

The radicals in a Chinese character serve to categorize words according to their meaning and act as common denominators which the mind commits to memory when sizing up the character. There are altogether 214 radicals in the Chinese language and every Chinese character is composed of one or more radicals. In this book, the more fundamental radicals are analysed and explained with carefully chosen examples...

A Chinese script of one form or another has been in existence for over 5,000 years. Although it has continued to developed, the basic form of the writing was already established by 200 A. D. This makes it not only a very interesting aspect of Chinese life, but also one of mankind's greatest early achievements.

Do you know

'It's dog eat dog in this rat race.'
'We'll burn that bridge when we come to it.'
'I hope to come first or second, or at least win it.'

The information superhighway brings more text to our door than ever before.  It's just that most of it gets mangled along the way.

Twenty years ago, Harold Scruby's Manglish became an instant bestseller.  This version expands on the consummate mangles of...

We live in a torrent of words - from radio and television, books and newspapers, and now from the internet. But, as Julian Burnside reminds us in this new edition of the best-selling Wordwatching , words are a source both of pleasure and power, and can be deployed for good or for ill.

'Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat...

Do you know what a Vic-wit is? Have you ever had a nibble pie? Now in it's third edition, The Dinkum Dictionary , is even better than ever. This fascinating book describes the origins and usage of words ranging from 'mulga' to 'anzac', from 'furphy' to 'blue', and this edition includes even more words and terms.

Butler reveals little-known facts about our ways of communicating with each other. She...

Why does language move some of us to anxiety or even rage?

For centuries, sticklers have donned the cloak of authority to control how people use words. In this sensational new book, Robert Lane Greene strikes back to defend the fascinating, real-life diversity of this most basic human faculty. Along the way, he corrects Bill Bryson's 'facts' about words, challenges the rhetoric of Lynne Truss's bestselling...

The Rough Guide German Phrasebook is the definitive phrasebook to help you make the most of your time in Germany. Whether you want to book a hotel room, ask what time the train leaves or buy a drink from the bar, this new phrasebook has a dictionary of over 5,000 words and will help you communicate with the locals in no time. The free audio downloads, recorded by native German speakers, can be downloaded...

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The Rough Guide Greek Phrasebook is the definitive phrasebook to help you make the most of your time in Greece. Whether you want to book a hotel room, ask what time the train leaves or buy a drink from the bar, this new phrasebook has a dictionary of over 5,000 words and will help you communicate with the locals in no time. The free audio downloads, recorded by native Greek speakers, can be downloaded...

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The Rough Guide Russian Phrasebook is the definitive phrasebook to help you make the most of your time in Russia. Whether you want to book a hotel room, ask what time the train leaves or buy a drink from the bar, this new phrasebook has a dictionary of over 5,000 words and will help you communicate with the locals in no time. The free audio downloads, recorded by native Russian speakers, can be downloaded...

The Rough Guide French Phrasebook is the definitive phrasebook to help you make the most of your time in France. Whether you want to book a hotel room, ask what time the train leaves or buy a drink from the bar, this new phrasebook has a dictionary of over 5,000 words and will help you communicate with the locals in no time. The free audio downloads, recorded by native French speakers, can be downloaded...

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