My chinese friend wants to learn english

[Carl the Llama]

so I told her that she should read books, so what im looking for is a book that can help her learn english, a story book and not the english dictionary lol.

xiexie for your help =D

[louby_4eva]

Does she actually know any English? If someone handed me a chinese book and expected me to be able to learn Chinese from it, I think my head would implode.

Smile and Be happy

[Bahamut2000X]

Get a text book teaching English. There's loads of books/websites dedicated to just learning languages.

I myself self taught myself a little German from an old textbook my mom had from college. And I taught myself one of the Japanese alphabets and a good bit of vocabulary just from an English to Japanese dictionary.

I'd say if their starting from scratch then get a text book or a dictionary and build up some understanding of vocabulary, context, and basic grammar before trying to read story books and such.

[rubah]

Children's dictionaries (with pictures) should be helpful. I have a copy of 'mini debutants', which is a french dictionary for children, and not only does it teach me words i don't know, but it is adorable xD

[Tallulah]

I had a Chinese friend in primary school who joined in year 2 unable to speak any English, and by the time she finished Year 4 she was almost word perfect. Luckily there were two Chinese girls I had known since kindergarten who were able to help her out.

Also, when my dad was based in Hong Kong in the RAF, he knew a lot of the officers who had their families with them, had 5-6 year-old children who could only speak Cantonese, because they had been mainly around housekeepers, who were mostly Chinese nationals. Months after their fathers had been stationed back in the UK, they had picked up English really quickly, and had sadly forgotten most of the Chinese language.

So if your friend is exposed to English a lot of the time, not just through reading, this will help, too. Good luck to your friend

[Mirage]

I think he should take english classes. If he is really determined, it might be enough to just get the textbooks you'd use in those english classes.

[Roto13]

I'm assuming your friend already knows some English or you wouldn't be looking for a book to help them improve it. My husband consulted an English language teacher about the same thing. She recommended The Chronicles of Narnia. Right now he's reading Anne of Green Gables.

[Carl the Llama]

She can speak english to a reasonable degree on MSN but her wording is off, she and I speak all the time but she said she wanted to learn english fluently but she lives in Beijing and not many people she knows speak english, and not to the degree she wants.

Sorry if I was unclear on this.

[Mirage]

Even if there is just a low percentage of english speakers in beijing, she should be able to get in touch with a few, just cause the city is so enormous.

[Kanshisha]

Get a text book teaching English. There's loads of books/websites dedicated to just learning languages.

I myself self taught myself a little German from an old textbook my mom had from college. And I taught myself one of the Japanese alphabets and a good bit of vocabulary just from an English to Japanese dictionary.

I'd say if their starting from scratch then get a text book or a dictionary and build up some understanding of vocabulary, context, and basic grammar before trying to read story books and such.

This would probably work.. it's like learning a language at school, they usually give you a book to read and before you know it.. you can speak a language that can make your life different^^!

wo jia you ni ge ren ?
if you understand that lol, good!

I also suggest you start her on the pronunciation of things.. vowels, items and alphabet.

Goodluck!