[coupdejarnac]

I had a similar problem. While in China, I bought some Chinese books for kids that had pinyin. Even then, the Chinese is filled with colloquialisms or archaic language. Stuff that is the equivalent of "once upon a time" was very hard for me to understand. There is probably a big market now for books with Chinese and English that will help ease foreigners into the language.

[readme]

Honestly you've got to get a tutor if you want to learn a language with any sort of speed, preferably a native speaker. With a native speaker you could shred through those books fairly quickly.

I've been studying Arabic since April and have native instructors, and at this point I can easily pick up a children's book and read it. I can make out most of the news as well.

[rahimnathwani]

> With a native speaker you could shred through those books fairly quickly.

I'm not sure this applies equally to Chinese, as it's not a phonetic language. Extensive speaking/listening practice isn't totally transferrable to reading tasks. There are many things I can hear for which I might not recognise the characters (because I seldom see them written) and, equally, there are characters for which I know the meaning (because I read them when shopping online, and have seen them in context a lot) but not the sound.

[coupdejarnac]

I agree in principle- I was in an intensive Chinese program in Beijing, and I read the children's books with tutors. This was not like "See Spot Run" type of stuff. In regular class, you mostly learn everyday language, which only helps to scratch the surface of literature with a lot of background cultural context that is assumed of native speakers.

[readme]

Yeah, I'm in an intensive program as well. 6 hours a day M-F all Arabic, sometimes a 1-1 session with a teacher. Normal classes it's 5-1.