Chinese books with interactive Chinese learning software attracted a lot of attention at the 58th Frankfurt Book Fair that opened on Wednesday, wrote Xinhua Friday.

Reading China: A German attendee peruses a Chinese book at the 58th Frankfurt Book Fair, which opened on Wednesday. Publishers from 113 countries and regions attended the show. [Xinhua]

Peter, a Frankfurt University freshman, tested his pronunciation prowess using a computer program. 'Ni hao!' he said, but troubled emoticons on the computer screen showed his pronunciation of the traditional Chinese greeting to be inaccurate.

The amusing grading system interested many at the fair, and some of them wanted to try it out for themselves.

" The interactive multimedia system is programmed to facilitate foreign readers' learning of 'Experiencing Chinese', a teaching material newly published by the Higher Education Press," Xu Qunsen, an editor with Higher Education Press told Xinhua.

The material is broken down into chapters on business, life, tours and overseas study, which approach readers at different language levels and take their practical needs into consideration, according to Xu.

Learning Chinese is just like climbing the Himalayas for many foreign learners who speak Indo-European languages. Chinese characters often have little connection to their pronunciations and are very different from the Roman alphabet.

The old rote memorization teaching methods weren't helping foreign learners, Xu said. " Now they are able to learn Chinese themselves easily by using this users-friendly software."

The Chinese Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press launched its new edition of the real-life communication context book 'Everyday Chinese' on August 30, under the slogan 'It's simple and fun to learn Chinese.'

Everyday Chinese, a Chinese language study book published by the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. [File]

The new book, available in 14 languages and published in 50 countries, is reportedly the most commonly used Chinese study book worldwide.

According to a recent survey conducted by China's Ministry of Education, there are 30 million foreign Mandarin students worldwide and 2,500 universities in 100 countries have set up Mandarin courses.

More and more primary and middle schools in Germany are establishing Mandarin courses. More than 40 schools in Germany have filed applications to add Mandarin courses to their schedules this year, according to the report.