Book excerpt: The home of trusted Mandarin dictionaries for everyday language learning. A clear, modern Chinese to English and English to Chinese dictionary. The essential reference book for Chinese: an up-to-date dictionary and a user-friendly language supplement in one handy volume. Designed for learners of Chinese or English, from beginner up to university level, this is the ideal text for anyone who needs easy access to both a dictionary and a practical language supplement. Extensive coverage of today's English and Chinese, with thousands of phrases and examples guiding the user to the most appropriate translation. Help with the pronunciation of Chinese words, including Pinyin for all Chinese headwords, translations, phrases and examples. Pinyin is the official phonetic system for transcribing Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet, and is accepted in all Chinese-speaking countries. Includes both simplified and traditional Chinese characters. Simplified characters are generally used in mainland China and Singapore, while traditional characters are mainly used in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. The Language in Action supplement offers practical help with everyday language for both Chinese and English. The radical index is a clear guide to looking up Chinese characters, helping the user to navigate the dictionary and find Chinese characters without knowing their pronunciation.