I'm a non-native Chinese teacher at the high school level. Now that I am teaching higher levels, I am getting more questions about synonyms and why one word is used and not another. To my horror, I too often, don't know. I've been getting by with nciku, but am looking for something better, preferably in book form.

In my Internet searching I've come across, "Using Chinese Synonyms (Cambridge)". Has anybody used this book? What are your thoughts? Is there anything better out there?

One book that I would recommend is Chinese Synonyms Usage Dictionary (ISBN: 978-957-445-322-1) written by Teng Shou-hsin. Unlike many similar books (geared toward native speakers), this one takes the time to introduce why and when the words can be used and provides tons of examples in both English and Chinese. It goes beyond just giving you a chart with a few common examples. The book is written for non-native speakers and a wonderful addition to any intermediate/advanced learners bookshelf. The book is all in traditional Chinese, but all usage case examples have been drawn from both Mainland China and Taiwan.

The book you mentioned looks good but I've never used it. I plan on grabbing a copy when I get back to states for my summer break, in my opinion you can never have too many reference books, especially as a teacher! If you are looking for more info on that book I recommend you check out this review I found a while back.

http://hss.fullerton.edu/linguistics/cln/pdf/2011/W11%20PDF/Angus-ChinSyn.pdf

I have the same problem with some of my private students. I always carry a few reference books with me for class, so we just look up the information together (anything is better than giving them wrong info). Get a couple of these books and keep them in your classroom. When these questions come up, you and your students can explore the wonders of Chinese together.

You might also want to familiarize yourself with upcoming material, and predict the areas where students are going to ask questions. If you see "synonyms" that you are having a hard time explaining hop on one of the Chinese teacher forums and discuss the best ways to teach the differences with other teachers.

Best of luck!

Thank you for the detailed reply. I ordered both books, just to have them. Like you said, one can never have too many reference books. When the Cambridge comes in I'll let you know how it compares.