Behind the Wheel Chinese (Mandarin), Level 1: Learn to Speak Mandarin Chinese Quickly and Easily! (8 One Hour CDs)

Behind the Wheel Chinese (Mandarin), Level 1: Learn to Speak Mandarin Chinese Quickly and Easily! (8 One Hour CDs)
Average customer rating:

Excellent Supplement

Excellent! CD 1 and Beyond

Good for listening comprehension and practice

Great vocabulary but very disorganized

Great Course - Multi-Track - 2 Native Speakers
Behind the Wheel Chinese (Mandarin), Level 1: Learn to Speak Mandarin Chinese Quickly and Easily! (8 One Hour CDs)
Mark A. Frobose
Manufacturer: Language Dynamics Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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Conversational Mandarin Chinese: Learn to Speak and Understand Mandarin with Pimsleur Language Programs (Simon & Schuster's)

ASIN: 1893564452

Book Description

At last a Mandarin CD course which requires no reading and which teaches you to actually speak Mandarin Chinese in a minimum of time and effort. Designed by the experts at Language Dynamics, 'Behind The Wheel Chinese For Your Car' takes the learner from basic to intermediate level Mandarin without the guesswork and pain usually associated with language learning. An expert English speaking instructor talks you through these tapes in English while 2 trained professional native Mandarin speakers teach you Chinese the way it is really spoken! Behind The Wheel Chinese For Your Car is the ideal way to learn Mandarin Chinese while you drive because there is no confusion, no reading, no looking up meanings, and no guessing. It's all on the CDs. Use your commute time to effectively learn Chinese with this delightful course whose method will have you speaking your first words in Mandarin within minutes of receiving your course, and enjoying it. The product has superb clarity of voices and exudes a spontaneity which makes learning Chinese fun. You'll be thrilled with the fast and easy to learn design of the course, beginning with the immediate gratification you feel when you conclude your first one half hour session with the CDs speaking sentences in Mandarin that Chinese speakers understand 10 minutes later on the street. You'll be amazed at the 'natural' way you just seem to pick up Chinese without having to learn grammar or reviewing. No need to go back. It's all 'built in' the course. Just imagine the thrill of being able to express what you really feel in Mandarin in 100 different ways because you know own a Chinese linguistic blueprint, a template that you can manipulate over and over again in different and personal ways while increasing your fluency in Mandarin. What' s more, you will also learn to speak in the past, present and future along with idioms all in the same course.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Supplement.......2007-05-16

The most important thing to remember when purchasing this pack is that these CDs are for beginners, NOT novice speakers. People who have had some training with Chinese in the classroom or self-study may be able to pick up and use this CD pack, but the information is presented too rapidly (and there is too much presented at once) to be good for initial acquisition.

I would give it 5 stars, but there is no clear advertising about this product. If I had some information about the rapid pace and the target audience, I probably would not have purchased this set. It will, however, be a useful set once I've mastered some basic phrases.

Excellent! CD 1 and Beyond.......2006-06-16

The 'good' doesn't stop with CD1. It's just beginning.
I notice no difference between the approach used in 'Behind the Wheel Chinese/Mandarin' and other Behind the Wheel courses I have used.
CD 2 and beyond evolve sentence building, tenses, expressions,
and tons of vocabulary that they teach you how to assemble.
Great course.

Good for listening comprehension and practice.......2006-05-06

This audio set is very useful for getting an idea of how things are pronounced natively, and some slight variations on those pronunciations. However, it would not be a good idea to start here, as it relies heavily on memory. However, a good accompanying set to any books and courses.

Meant to be listened to, not to replace study while not driving.

Great vocabulary but very disorganized.......2006-04-02

I recently bought the BHTW Chinese and honestly, I was disappointed. Let me say that I am a translator/intrepreter for some Western languages, teach languages, including at an Ivy League university - so language-learning is an important part of my life.
Before I start with the specific comments, I just want to say a few words about all-audio courses in general. They are NOT for everyone. People learn in different ways and to learn a language, you generally have to inundate yourself in all ways, through visual AND audio stimuli. If you are very busy and spend a lot of time commuting, this obviously has value but I question how much you are actually retaining and more importantly able to reproduce in a different situation when you just listen. It can take longer when just having the audio stimulus. [...] they say right on the cover it can also be for home use, say on the computer while you are working, laying in bed etc. When I teach my language classes, I tell the students the audio materials are very important but ALWAYS review the text first before just listening. If this is such a nutty idea, why does Language Dimensions offer a script for some of its Spanish courses? Obviously, some people would like this.

The good points: This is the opposite of Pimsleur were they just take 4-5 dialogues and repeat everything a million times, exposing you to very little vocabulary and very few situations. Here you get lots of good vocabulary. Also, they start out CD 1 just the right way, you start building simple sentences - you learn I, you - then some verbs work, eat etc. Then you make sentences "I want to eat", "I have to go" etc. Very good.

The bad points: 1) After CD 1, any real efforts to build sentences in a systematic way stop. Yes, there are some attempts to have structure - changing to different pronouns, negative verbs etc. but these instances often have no rhyme or reason. We often get lists and lists of expressions, with only the occasional question by the English native, "How do you say that?", "Wonderful", "Let's have some fun.." He will ask for the pronunciation of some word he finds interesting but ignore structures etc. which are much more complicated
2) Generally, the focus of the course is focusing on the ENGLISH and translating it to Chinese. Thus, you will get a whole series of things in English that sound alike, "I'm going to".... etc. but in Chinese the structures can be very different, "Wo qu...", other times "Wo dasuan" (I'm planning to), I give to/he gives to, sometimes "wei ta" sometimes "gei ta" - yet no explanation is ever given on why these things are different. You have the male and female speaker translating "I'm afraid" in 2 different ways, no explanation. This becomes a HUGE problem if you want to suddenly apply the Chinese vocabulary. One English sentence can be translated many ways, and it is, and no explanation is given why. It would be better to have a bit less vocabular and a but more instruction on how to use structure. This happens sometimes in the series but there is no rhyme or reason.
3) Not only do they make it oriented to the English words instead of the Chinese words, I am 99% sure that they used their original Spanish course as a basis and just translated everything into Chinese, based on the grammar objectives of the Spanish course. For example, there is a whole section on "indirect object pronouns" - an important issue in Spanish but in Chinese, the output can be very different, involving different ways for saying "to" - wei/gei, different verbs etc. Another section has "time and weather" - Why would they keep putting this together in one phrase in Chinese, I wondered. But in Spanish, the same word, tiempo does double duty. So in Chinese we get "tianqi haishi shijian" or "tianqi huo shijian" (neglecting to mention the important difference between "haishi" and "huo". When you look at it from this perspective, you see how the objectives for translating into Spanish work, but they don't for Chinese. For example, a lot of time is spent negating present tense verbs. In Chinese, for most present tense situations, you just use "bu" in front of the verb, that's it. But so much time is spent on this. Or changing from person to person - the speaker keeps stressing he wants this "formal" - well, if you are talking about tu/usted in Spanish, this is an issue. In Chinese, it's just ni versus nin, the verb form itself never changes for person. Sometimes, they are even sloppy enough to say formal and the Chinese speaker still uses "ni" instead of "nin"!
At another point, the speaker tries to make the Chinese shi/zai constructions into something like Spanish ser/estar. There are similarities but the attempts of the English native to do this is not productive and misleading.
So much time is wasted on this stuff while other stuff, like say particles zhe, guo etc. are ignored. Word order issues in Chinese are ignored. The point is, if you try to reproduce these structures on your own, you will have a lot of problems unless you do it exactly as was said.
4) Part of the problems lies in the fact that, while there is a ton of useful vocabulary, there are many, many things which you are unlikely to say - "Every child is a gift from God", "I never ate there, not even once" - things that are nice to know but it is at the expense of reinforcing sentences that are more standard. Vocab is not reviewed in a consistent way. They will throw in a word like "cai", guess, but never really do anything with it. The stories are just heaped on without any real hope of actively reproducing the vocab - like so-and-so "speaks with a thick accent" - just thrown in. I'd say they do nothing with 50% of the vocab or mention something only once.
5) Fully devoid of any cultural context outside of the language commentary. They mentioned chop sticks once. Beyond that, this could be the Arabic course or French course. No mention of famous sites in China. In their numerous examples, they never ONCE have a Chinese name! Always Bob, Maria etc., never Miss Li or Mr. Wang. So the course is oriented to the English key words and seems also to be based on the original Spanish AND it lacks any real cultural context for China.
6) The English-speaker. His role in this is very strange. As stated above, he will often go for pages reading phrases. Then through in a "wonderful". He will ask about an occasional word or pronunciation but it is worse when he makes his observations about grammar. Many things are just wrong or absurd. He asks the speaker if there is a way to say "I give to him" (Um, what language in the world doesn't have a way to say that?). At one point, he starts referring to the PAST TENSE in Chinese with LE. This is deceptive and incorrect. LE can happen in the present tense too, Wo bing le - but they translate this as "I'm sick", no explanation. At one point, he wants to review the subject pronouns, after 15 minutes of sentences using the subject pronouns. In CD 7, he is surprised to learn that there are no specific object pronouns in Chinese - they are the same as the subject ones - um, wouldn't it be a good idea to talk about that in CD 1? At another point, he says, "Chinese does not distinguish plural" um no, that is not accurate either. There are many cases when you can use "penyoumen" (friends) etc. No one says the person has to be a walking linguistics professor but what he says should be accurate. And, as I said above, he says many structures which sound alike in English but product different structures in Chinese, so this does not help you to reproduce the structures.
7) Attempts are made to address certain subjects, clothes, ordering food etc. Yet there is often no real attempt to speak about a certain topic. You'll get 5-6 sentences on a restaurant and then something completely different. It would be better if they could have more of a topic focus.

In summary: Yes, it has value. If you can learn the many phrases, you can say some very intesting things in Chinese. The problem arises, however, if you try to USE the structures beyond CD 1. You are given very little guidance for a whole mass of vocabulary, English structures that translate into many Chinese structures, vocabulary that many not be suitable for everyday situations. Buy it for the car, but something else for more comprehensive study at home.

Great Course - Multi-Track - 2 Native Speakers.......2006-03-24

I tried Pimsleur's Chinese (Mandarin) (Instant Conversation) and returned it because it didn't have multi-tracks, they presented too little vocabulary and the the course was 'rigid'.
I prefer the method in Behind the Wheel Chinese because there are multi-tracks
(very important for in-car language learning), a good memory technique and great original sentence formation exercises that get you speaking Mandarin from the get-go.

Ultimate Chinese (Mandarin) Beginner-Intermediate (CD/Book) (LL(R) Ultimate Basic-Intermed)

Average customer rating:

Stimulating and fun way to review conversational Chinese
10 X Better Than Last Version
A very good book
Great program with some minor drawbacks
Extremely helpful

Ultimate Chinese (Mandarin) Beginner-Intermediate (CD/Book) (LL(R) Ultimate Basic-Intermed)
Living Language
Manufacturer: Living Language
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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250 Essential Chinese Characters for Everyday Use, Vol. 1

ASIN: 1400021030
Release Date: 2004-08-24

Customer Reviews:

Stimulating and fun way to review conversational Chinese.......2007-10-08

This package of Text Book and CDs for use at home and in car, bus, train, jet, boat - wherever you can play CDs - is clean, fun and efficient. You'll get warmed up on conversational topics painlessly and effectively.

Not a great way to get Character review, but a good package for speaking fluently and idiomatically.

10 X Better Than Last Version.......2007-09-26

For students who tried the first version of LL Mandarin, this latest is far superior (both to the original LL and competitors).

First, it now had grammar fully integrated into the course. So, as you proceed thru the course, you get a clear understanding of basic Chinese grammatical constructs.

Second, it now has a separate set of CD's that are designed for book-free learning - i.e. listen while you drive. It would be helpful if the publisher included the text for this section, but it is fairly easy to follow without one.

Worth the money - better than anything else I've seen on the market...

A very good book.......2007-09-15

A very good book for a beginner. You'll get to know some useful phrases and the grammar behind it.

Great program with some minor drawbacks.......2007-08-03

I've been using Ultimate Mandarin Chinese for about three months now, and have gotten through about two-thirds of the course. The recordings are very clear, the book is very simple (no graphics or fancy stuff), but with comprehensive grammar explanations, some homework, and lots of useful dialogs and vocabulary.

If you complete the book and learn every lesson well, you can expect to be at the mid-intermediate level of speaking/understanding. You will know about 1500-2000 words, and you will be able to discuss pretty much any subject, although nothing in much depth. You'll also have a slight Beijing accent, and you'll have some brief exposure to Chinese daily life customs, and mainland Chinese culture. The book does not cover the southern accent or Taiwanese/Singaporean/etc. culture.

Although the book is marketed as beginner-intermediate, it moves very quickly. By lesson 15, the dialogs are spoken at a very fast, conversational pace, and the vocabulary starts to become specialized far beyond the standard tourist fare. The dialogs are excellent for listening comprehension because of the speed, while the vocabulary is pretty extensive. The book is also very grammar heavy, which serves as an excellent complement to Pimsleur Comprehensive Mandarin, which is heavy on speaking skills, but not grammar.

Where the course suffers, however, is in the voice actors, the editing, and the lack of writing. One of the male voice actors has a terrible, nearly incomprehensible accent that sounds awkward and foreign (he is the male speaker in Lesson 15), and each of the lessons that he's featured on is rather painful to the ear. I suspect that is not a native speaker of Mandarin and that, moreover, he is not a trained voice actor. Secondly, the editing of the text is rather poor--there are a number of typos, mostly with tone marks. Thirdly, the course is written almost entirely in pinyin, with only about 200-300 characters in the whole book. I have gotten around this problem by transcribing the pinyin into MSWord IME with the appropriate Simplified Characters, but this is a bit of a hassle, especially given the number of Chinese homonyms.

Overall, I think this is a great course, especially when used in conjunction with other materials (i.e., Pimsleur, Chinese in a Flash cards). With the inclusion of Hanzi and some edits, I think it could be even better. I don't think that it's the ultimate one-stop-shop for Mandarin language learning, but it is certainly worth the price and more.

Extremely helpful.......2007-03-18

I bought this product a few months ago and started learning on my own. I wanted to up the amount I was learning, so I began taking weekly lessons with a Chinese instructor. She was amazed at how much I had learned in such a short time. It helped with the vocabulary and pronounciation. I now use both and have doubled my learning ability. I needed to do this, as I only have a short time to learn. For someone who is not in such a hurry, this product is perfect!

Teach Yourself Mandarin Chinese Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) (Teach Yourself . . . Complete Courses)

Average customer rating:

A starting point, but not a solution
Good resources for the beginner!
Disappointed
Excellent and very affordable language Course
For the chinese student

Teach Yourself Mandarin Chinese Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) (Teach Yourself . . . Complete Courses)
Elizabeth Scurfield , and Song Lianyi
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese Script
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ASIN: 0071430334

Book Description

Business in Bejing? Teach yourself Chinese!

With Teach Yourself it's possible for virtually anyone to learn and experience the languages of the world, from Afrikaans to Zulu; Ancient Greek to Modern Persian; Beginner's Latin to Biblical Hebrew. Follow any of the Teach Yourself Language Courses Audiopackages at your own pace or use them as a supplement to formal courses. These complete courses are professionally designed for self-guided study, making them one of the most enjoyable and easy to use language courses you can find. Audiopackages include an instructional paperback book and two companion 60-minute audio CDs.

Prepared by experts in the language, each course begins with the basics and gradually promotes the student to a level of smooth and confident communication, including:

Step-by-step guide to pronunciation and grammar
Regular and irregular verb tables
Plenty of practice exercises and answers
Practical vocabulary and a bilingual glossary
Clear, uncluttered, and user-friendly layout
An exploration of the culture
And much more

Customer Reviews:

A starting point, but not a solution.......2007-03-04

Teach Yourself Chinese is an introductory book for English speakers wanting to learn Mandarin. It covers a diverse set of words and situations; just enough to help get the reader acquainted with a small conversational vocabulary. Every chapter begins with a brief dialog in Chinese, followed by an English "walkthrough" describing the nuances and grammatical rules applied in the conversation. To help with pronunciation and listening, the accompanying CD's are handy.

While this book is a great starting place for beginners, it has many drawbacks. It is deficient in teaching how to read and write in Chinese. The first several chapters do not even make use of Chinese symbols, instead relying solely on pinyin spellings. When symbols are used, they are only the simplified set of characters and not the traditional characters used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. I believe that integrating reading and writing is essential for memorization of Chinese vocabulary.

Another drawback is despite all the author's efforts to teach pronunciation and tonal usage, using this book without a real Chinese tutor is not enough. Most of the setbacks of this book are not its fault, but the fact that the difficulty of Chinese pronunciation and learning how to write make it impossible to learn without a mentor. Perhaps the biggest problem is that "teaching yourself" Chinese using any method is extremely difficult. I recommend buying this if you are interested and very determined to learn Chinese, but make it only one tool in your arsenal of learning materials.

Good resources for the beginner!.......2006-11-06

Although this course is designed to get you familiar with the character of the language, it is at best designed for the beginner or someone who needs the basics to refresh oneself. I highly recommend it!

Disappointed.......2006-09-11

This book is designed for a student in sinology and not for a businessman or for a tourist. Some remarks:
a) The sentences to learn are not always useful. Examples:
"you are really great. Your pronunciation is very clear with no foreign overtones"
"I want to buy a train ticket to Moscow"
"My fiancé likes to recite Tang poems"...
b) No chapters about airport, computer of internet.
c) The first Chinese character is taught page... 133!
d) Advices are not up to date (Examples: "although the word comrade is still used", "always buy whenever you see something you like you may never see it again" ...)

This book is not a good choice.

Excellent and very affordable language Course.......2005-12-27

I own this precious guide with its two tape cassettes. And various other materials. They do HELP in learning Chinese. They do HELP!... Help is simply a term. Make it alive. YOU actually have to do the very HARD WORK of Teaching YOUrself and welcome other people to teach YOU. Do YOU allow people to correct YOUr pronunciation, YOUr own made-up sentences? Ask for it, welcome it and enjoy YOUr new language. The serious and passionate learner seeks any opportunity to practice -even for a few seconds. Waiting for the elevator,... during the ride,... YOU know this. Native speakers and advanced non-native helpers are great. In the absence of these live people, TV, Radio, various recordings, comics, newspapers, etc... are mandatory, not optional. Even if YOU are lucky to have tutors, friends or a spouse, YOU still need these accessories. A language cannot be acquired with a fist of dollars. Put YOUr heart into YOUr hard work. Language = Love in action. It's all about what YOU intend to do with it. It's all about YOU. CHARGE YOUr plastic for this EXCELLENT course NOW!

For the chinese student.......2005-11-28

I am a student of multiple languages and have recently purchased this book. Now there are divided opinions about the "teach yourself (insert language)" series of books. Well, I like some of them, especially this one. One must realize that each of these books is written by a different person and that the entire serires is not written by the same people. This particuliar book is invaluable to me in my study of chinese. The one bit of advice I have is this: if you are not good at picking up foreign pronunciation, especially non enlgish/non romance languages, then this is not for you. THis book has a very small section on pronunciation so this is your book only f you can grasp the sound of Chinese easily. OVerall, I REALLY reccomend this bok for the beginnin Mandarin student.

Pimsleur Language Program: Chinese Mandarin I

Average customer rating:

There's nothing in second place
effective, but with a drawback
Excelent product!
Excelent
Painless way for busy people to learn a new language

Pimsleur Language Program: Chinese Mandarin I
Pimsleur , and Pimsleur Language Programs
Manufacturer: Pimsleur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

General | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books

Behind the Wheel Chinese (Mandarin), Level 1: Learn to Speak Mandarin Chinese Quickly and Easily! (8 One Hour CDs)
Langenscheidt's Pocket Dictionary Chinese/English English/Chinese

ASIN: 0671045849

Book Description

With Pimsleur Language Programs you don't just study a language, you learn it -- the same way you mastered English! And because the technique relies on interactive spoken language training, the Pimsleur Language Programs are totally audio -- no book is needed!

The Pimsleur programs provide a method of self-practice with an expert teacher and native speakers in lessons specially designed to work with the way the mind naturally acquires language information. The various components of language -- vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar -- are all learned together without rote memorization and drills. Using a unique method of memory recall developed by renowned linguist, Dr. Paul Pimsleur, the programs teach listeners to combine words and phrases to express themselves the way native speakers do. By listening and responding to thirty minute recorded lessons, students easily and effectively achieve spoken proficiency.

No other language program or school is as quick, convenient, and effective as the Pimsleur Language Programs.

The Comprehensive Program is the ultimate in spoken language learning. For those who want to become proficient in the language of their choice, the Comprehensive programs go beyond the Basic Programs to offer spoken-language fluency. Using the same simple method of interactive self-practice with native speakers, these comprehensive programs provide a complete language learning course. The Comprehensive Program is available in a wide variety of languages and runs through three levels (thirty lessons each) in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. At the end of a full Comprehensive Program listeners will be conducting complete conversations and be well on their way to mastering the language. The Comprehensive Programs are all available on cassettes and are also on CD in the six languages in which we offer the Basic Program on CD.

Customer Reviews:

There's nothing in second place.......2005-02-03

Recommend Mandarin I, II and III absolutely.

I had always thought Pimsleur was too expensive. I still think it's expensive, but everything else seems to be a waste of time. If you want to learn to speak Chinese as well and as quickly as possible, use the Pimsleur full audio courses. Your pronunciation will be quite good, and your usage will be natural and idiomatic. You will have one problem: Chinese listeners will think you know more Chinese than you do because you sound so believable. You have to explain to them that once you get outside the material you know, you're like a new-born babe. (That's where live tutors and textbooks come in).

I studied several European languages successfully (wihtout Pimsleur) before attempting Chinese. Before finding Pimsleur, I tried two other audio courses with no success. Now I have worked through Pimsleur Mandarin I, II and half of III all in the car. My next language will be learned with Pimsleur, too. I have found no other audio language courses that are satisfactory.

The speakers on the CDs have very standard pronunciation and very pleasant voices. A pleasant voice is very important if you have to listen to if for many hours!

effective, but with a drawback.......2004-08-15

This is a solid program. After repeated listenings, you will most certainly be able to converse in the language . . . though only at a basic level. My biggest problem with this project is the sound quality. In this age of CDs, why the stubborn allegiance to cassettes? I left cassettes behind ages ago and found the exposure to tape hiss to be unpleasantly retro and interferring. Still, my training got me around Xian and other spots in China with non-English speaking locals. When I finally ran into a bilingual fellow, he commented on my Mandarin: "not bad for a round eyes!"

Excelent product!.......2004-02-18

I used this course to try to learn mandarin after several (failed) tries with other profucts. This one works very well and you will remember everything. I think it could use a word list though.

Excelent.......2004-01-31

This course works very well! Although you don't learn very much vocabulary, what you do learn you learn well.I realy wish the comprehensive version was less expensive though. The program leaves you with an excelent accent (or so I've been told)

Painless way for busy people to learn a new language.......2002-11-03

I would thoroughly recommend this method of learning for busy people with no time to attend a class or to sit for hours pouring over a book.It's especially suitable for those with car journeys to and from work.It strikes me as the most natural way for our brains to learn a language - listening and repeating - exactly the way we all learned to speak as babies. This is particularly relevent to learning Chinese, as the correct intonation of each word is vital to being understood. I've just come back from my first holiday to China. I was determined to learn a bit of the language, so I spent 3 months beforehand working my way through Pimsleur's Mandarin 1. I did an average of one to two tapes a week in the car on my way to work, repeating difficult bits until I was sure the words had stuck. Thanks to this seemingly little effort, by the end of the course I had the building blocks to make my own sentences and could make myself understood in most everyday situations,such as airports,hotels,shops and restaurants, asking for directions, saying a little about myself and the make up of my family. We visited Shanghai, where very few people outside the hotels spoke English. It was great fun to be able to have basic conversations with the people we met and they were always delighted that we'd made an effort to learn some Chinese.

Chinese (Mandarin): Learn to Speak and Understand Mandarin with Pimsleur Language Programs (Pimsleur Quick and Simple)

Average customer rating:

Very good. You must be disciplined and really practice.
Don't Waste Your Money - Behind The Wheel Chinese is Far Better
The best and cheapest way to learn Chinese Mandarin
interesting, useful introduction
Good for the price, but it has it's problems!

Chinese (Mandarin): Learn to Speak and Understand Mandarin with Pimsleur Language Programs (Pimsleur Quick and Simple)
Pimsleur
Manufacturer: Pimsleur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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Pimsleur Quick & Simple Spanish 2nd Revised Edition

ASIN: 0671790331

Book Description

Q&S Mandarin Chinese includes the first 8 lessons from the Pimsleur Comprehensive Level I. 4 hours, audio-only, effective language learning with real-life spoken practice sessions.

Customer Reviews:

Very good. You must be disciplined and really practice........2006-03-04

The Pimsleur method is quite effective. A Chinese-American friend said this is a good program. I used it for about a month before traveling to Shanghai and Xian China. The bits I did learn were dead-on. Native Chinese were impressed with the quality of the Mandarin that I did know.
I did also get a phrase book so I could see the actual words, but I didn't look them up until I had practiced them with the CD. Sometimes it is difficult to tell if the speaker is starting a word with a b or d or p sound. This is an excellent program.

Don't Waste Your Money - Behind The Wheel Chinese is Far Better.......2006-03-02

Don't waste your money on this rigid method. You'll find yourself limited for time like I did and have to review the same 10-15 minute segment over and over.
There are no tracks and no flexibility.
I returned this course and bought Behind the Wheel Chinese 8 mulit-track CDs instead.
Far better course and I LOVE the way the interviewer gets right down to getting you to speak the basics in Chinese.
Amazing how quickly I am learning to speak Chinese with Behind the Wheel Chinese and unfortunately how little vocabulary I liearned with the trackless Pimsleur Chinese course.

The best and cheapest way to learn Chinese Mandarin .......2006-01-30

The CDs are well prepared, practical and logical in sequence and are easy to listen to; they give the impression of a patient language teacher that not only teaches you Mandarin, but ensures that your pronounciation is accurate. Even current non-native Mandarin speakers can use the lessons on the CDs to brush up on pronounciation and style. This has to be one of the very best, if not the best way to learn Mandarin at home.

interesting, useful introduction.......2005-05-03

This is from a perspective of a person who has better linguistic aptitude than most people around, but who certainly isn't a language genius.

I join reviewers who find this CD set a useful sampling of Pimsleur method. It teaches very little Chinese, no way near making you able to maintain open end conversation (even if by sheer luck you manage to agree on tea/beer in Collage Rd/Long Pea st, and no one suggested orange juice in Short University Lane - what will you talk about while at it?)

From my experience: A, there is no magic, it is not like storing it under the pillow and the next day - boom. The method takes concentration and patience. B. It helps if you go every now and then to a library and peep into a more comprehensive Chinese language book to check specific points. For example, M and N sound very similar, you may want to make sure which it is. Or look for a more thorough description of the tones, and be reassured that the fact it sound different than described is because it is - the tones are context dependent and also intention sensitive (words my sound somewhat different if you make a statement, ask a question or try to flirt). C, you are likely to feel occasionally that the time you have to retrieve the requested word/phrase/sentence and say it is not enough. Join the club! D. I'm not sure about hearing each CD once. I hear most of them two to five times. This is for fear of accumulating uncertainties, until eventually it will all sound like Chinese to me. Maybe you won't need that. But if you will, you're not the only one.

But! I, for one, did go on to the more comprehensive course. There maybe something to this method, especially if your primary goal is to be able to converse.

Good for the price, but it has it's problems!.......2005-03-14

I have had this Pimsleur product for some time now, and have tried to use in conjunction with assistance from my wife who is a native Mandarin speaker and teacher. It starts well, with lessons 1,2, and 3 teaching you useful greeting, and phrases, but when you get to lesson 4, it goes of at a tangent and starts to teach you how to ask directions to college rd, and longpeace street!This continues until lesson 5, by which time you are thoroughly bored stiff!Then in lesson 6 the pace rapidly speeds up, to a point where you are completely confused.
Many of the phrases are only spoken once, and at normal conversational speed, this is far to fast to be able to comprehend, and to get the pronunciation right, which is very important in Chinese. Some of the phrases are repeated slowly starting at the end of the sentence, word by word, but this is not useful. It would be far better if the phrases were just spoken very slowly, and then again at normal speed.
Personally I do not recommend this product, save your money and put it towards a course that will teach you useful phrases at a more sensible speed, so that you can learn to speak accurately in pronunciation and tone quality. When you live amongst Chinese people as I do, you realise very quickly how important tonal accuracy is!

Average customer rating:

English for Mandarin Speakers
Pimsleur
Manufacturer: Pimsleur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

Nonfiction | Books on CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books

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Speak English Like an American for Native Chinese Speakers: Learn the Idioms & Expressions You Need to Sound Like a Native!
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The Oxford Picture Dictionary English/Chinese: English-Chinese Edition
English for Speakers of Mandarin (Quick & Simple)
Speak in a Week English for Chinese 1: See, Hear, Say & Learn (Speak in a Week)

ASIN: 0743508777

Book Description

Comprehensive ESL Chinese (Mandarin) I includes 30 lessons of essential grammar and vocabulary -- 16 hours of real-life spoken practice sessions -- plus an introduction to reading.

Upon completion of this Level I program, you will have functional spoken proficiency with the most-frequently-used vocabulary and grammatical structures. You will be able to:

* initiate and maintain face-to-face conversations,

* deal with every day situations -- ask for information, directions, and give basic information about yourself and family,

* communicate basic information on informal topics and participate in casual conversations,

* avoid basic cultural errors and handle minimum courtesy and travel requirements,

* satisfy personal needs and limited social demands,

* establish rapport with strangers in foreign countries,

* begin reading and sounding out items with native-like pronunciation.

Conversational Chinese (Mandarin) in Nothing Flat (8 Multi-Track CDs)
Average customer rating:

Makes Speaking Mandarin Easy

How To Speak Mandarin Easily in One Simple Step

How to become demoralised in one easy lesson!
Conversational Chinese (Mandarin) in Nothing Flat (8 Multi-Track CDs)
Mark Frobose
Manufacturer: Language Dynamics Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

Chinese | Instruction | Foreign Languages | Reference | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1893564460

Book Description

At last! A truly complete multi-track 8 CD course that includes Language Dynamics famous language learning system. Developed by the experts at Language Dynamics Inc. to teach you a maximum of Mandarin in a minimum of time, Conversational Chinese in Nothing Flat is unquestionably the fastest and easiest Mandarin Chinese course on the market.

More language learners spend over 50% of their time looking up meanings instead of learning the language. With Conversational Chinese in Nothing Flat the language learning process is speeded up by giving you English translations, dynamic sentence building techniques, and high frequency vocabulary that take you from beginning to high intermediate level Chinese quickly and easily, learning to speak and understand the language naturally like you learned English as a child.

Customer Reviews:

Makes Speaking Mandarin Easy.......2005-09-17

I have successfullly used Language Dynamics Japanese with great results.
I turned to them for help when deciding to 'move on' to Mandarin Chinese.
I was frankly amazed at how simple it was for me to become conversational in basic Mandarin through my use of Language Dynamics' Conversational Chinese in Nothing Flat.
The two native speakers (the female was a radio announcer for the People's Republic and both teach conversational Mandarin at a prestigious university) and the other male voice were incredibly clear and easy to duplicate.
The learning system is fantastic. Imagine sentence building in Mandarin with no grammar and no college coursework and then going out and speaking with natives like I did and being understood.
Sure. I am far from fluency. But I am so encouraged by my progress and the comments I get from Chinese friends who tell me they can't believe how far I have come in so little time.
Fast and VERY EASY way to learn on heck of a lot of a very difficult language.

How To Speak Mandarin Easily in One Simple Step.......2005-03-29

I purchased this product thinking it would be the answer to my prayers and I am delighted to say that it has exceeded my expectations in every way.
I have traveled and done business in China for a number of years, but I never got serious about learning to speak this difficult and challenging language until I heard about the Language Dynamics method.
Neither my wife nor anyone in my family is Chinese. I am 100% American and so my perspective is that of someone with no cultural or linguistic advantages or biases.
Conversational Chinese have proven to be a godsend for the following reasons:
1. Easy to learn. Unlike my experience with other courses, I was actually speaking real
and original sentences IN MANDARIN within the first couple of hours with the course and was UNDERSTOOD by native speakers in China. Wow.
2. Two voices are on the CDs. The female voice (according to the article I read) used to work as a radio voice for the Chinese government. The male voice is also very clear and easy to understand. Both (of course) are native speakers of Mandarin.
3. I found the periodic retrieval method of review in this course to be most effective in assisting me in remembering what I was learning.
4. Great vocabulary, which I must emphasize again, was taught in a communicative context where you learned to use it naturally and not just 'parrot' the native speakers.
Believe me. When learning a foreign language (especially Chinese) you are really deaf dumb and blind unless you have a clear English speaking facilitator to assist you in learning. This course has it all and more.
I recommend you buy this course immediately and then compare it to Pimsleur and see for yourself how much better Language Dynamics really is.

How to become demoralised in one easy lesson!.......2005-03-28

I purchased this product thinking it would be the answer to my prayers!Well I am sorry to say I was wrong.
I have lived in China since 2003, but only recently decided to start working hard to learn Mandarin. I started with Pimsleurs's Quick & Simple, but then decided that I needed something more structured.
Unfortunately this is not the answer, the first thing my wife (a Mandarin teacher) noticed is that the female speaker pronounces certain words poorly, not a good start. From my point of view being only a little better than a beginner, I found it infuriating. The American speaker would say, " how do you say, I like the Spring",the Chinese speaker would say this twice, Ok so far. Instead of reinforcing the , 'I like the' part of the phrase and just adding a new word at the end, they go on to a completely different kind of phrase. This is not a good way to teach any language, you need to build the learners confidence by just adding one new word to learn at a time, otherwise they will almost certainly give-up!
My job here in China is teaching teenagers to speak better English, if I were to use the same techniques as this course all of my students would give-up I am sure.
If you are like me, over fifty, poor at learning languages and a beginner in Mandarin, "DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT"

Easy Chinese Mandarin, Level II (Includes Easy Chinese Tutor CD-ROM II and Easy Chinese Basic Text and Workbook II) (Easy Chinese Self-Study Program)

Average customer rating:

Study by yourself or with a teacher: it is great!

Easy Chinese Mandarin, Level II (Includes Easy Chinese Tutor CD-ROM II and Easy Chinese Basic Text and Workbook II) (Easy Chinese Self-Study Program)
Edward C. Chang
Manufacturer: Emnes Systems
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Easy Chinese Mandarin, Level I (Includes Easy Chinese Tutor CD-ROM and Easy Chinese Basic Text and Workbook) (Easy Chinese Self-Study Program) (Easy Chinese ... Program) (Easy Chinese Self-Study Program)
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ASIN: 0966163648

Product Description

Easy Chinese Mandarin,Level II is the second course of the Easy Chinese Self-Study Program. The program includes the following: Book: Easy Chinese: Basic Text and Workbook, Mandarin Level II. CD-ROM: Easy Chinese Tutor, Mandarin, Level II. The Easy Chinese Self-Study Program is most appropriate for those who want to learn the Chinese language on their own with the help of a computer; it is also intended as an enrichment or tutorial program for those enrolled in a regular class. The Easy Chinese program is designed to: 1. teach Chinese characters, compound words, and sentences that appear most often in modern Chinese publications and everyday correspondence. 2. teach reading and writing, in addition to speaking the Chinese language. 3. use a systematic and self-paced approach. 4. provide the option of learning both traditional and simplified Chinese characters. 5. provide numerous learning tools, examples, sentence patterns, exercises, and self tests. 6. provide numerous illustrative sentences and dialogues, using only words and phrases that have been introduced. The Easy Chinese Tutor CD-ROM offers a variety of learning tools, exercises, and tests that are not found in the workbook. Installation in the computer is not required. System Requirements: Windows 95 or higher. 100 MHZ or faster 4xCD-ROM drive or faster. Speakers. Note: The animated writing component (stroke sequence) of the accompanied software may be incompatible with a few latest computer models.

Customer Reviews:

Study by yourself or with a teacher: it is great!.......2007-06-15

As I study chinese for some years, I decided to buy the second level book. It begins at the 11th lesson. Very practical, because I study with
the Traditional characters ( Taiwan ) and it has both the forms! What is good for me, too, because, little by little I start get acquainted with the simplified form of China. Besides, its CdRom is very, very useful, as for the beginners - it has both the romanized pronunciation - pinyin - and the zhuyin from Taiwan - or for the intermediary student. And the exercises in the CdRom are recorded by native people! Perfect for those who really want to learn this not easy language. A good purchase!

Speaker of Mandarin: An Inspector Wexford Mystery

Average customer rating:

A Must Read for Wexford fans
Wexford goes international!
A Stereotypical SnoreFest!
Good entertainment

Speaker of Mandarin: An Inspector Wexford Mystery
Ruth Rendell
Manufacturer: Fawcett
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

General | Mystery | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

Police Procedurals | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0345302745
Release Date: 1984-08-12

Book Description

Chief Inspector Wexford is in China, visiting ancient tombs and palaces with a group of British tourists. After their return to England, one of his fellow tourists is found murdered. As he questions other members of the group, Wexford finds secrets of greed, treachery, theft, and adultery, leading the distressed inspector to ask not who is innocent, but who is least guilty . . .

Customer Reviews:

A Must Read for Wexford fans.......2001-11-20

I have read all the Wexford books and this one has stayed with me.
I think about it often as it made a huge impact on me when I read it. The characters are complex and there is an almost mystical quality about it. This book along with "Semisola" are my favorite Wexford stories.

Wexford goes international!.......2001-08-25

Certainly Chief Inspector Wexford is "out of his bailiwick" in this Ruth Rendell suspense! In "Speaker of Mandarin," the erstwhile police detective finds himself in China, enjoying the sights. So much so that some sights keep recurring! Even after he returns home to his routine of solving murders in Kingsmarkham! Following the trip to China, one of Wexford's fellow travelers is murdered. And Rendell & Company are off and running. This series, certainly one of the best in the police procedural genre, always provides the reader with plenty of suspense, intrigue, intelligence, and great characterization. In his investigation, Wexford finds that there's more to this group of travelers than meets the ey, much like an Oriental puzzle box: until you press the exact button, it remains a mystery. Through Wexford's skill, ably assisted by Mike Burden with a little help from Wexford's wife Dora, the puzzle--and murderer--is soon revealed. Rendell is true to form here,

although finding her in China is a bit surprising! Nevertheless, Rendell fans will applaud and new readers will be impressed! (Billyjhobbs@tyler.net)

A Stereotypical SnoreFest!.......1999-11-05

I found this book to be very difficult to get "into". The characters were not interesting, the descriptions were overkill and the author treated the Chinese culture quite stereotypically, especially in her dialogue sections. I was disappointed with the book and only finished it because my library book group was reading it. It definitely was not worth the time.

Good entertainment.......1998-06-26

Although SPEAKER OF MANDARIN does not contain the depth of psychology and characterization for which Rendell/Vine is famous, it is a light-hearted, entertaining, and at some points funny, read. Wexford's travels in China, which are described in detail, are intriguingly written, and Rendell's observations of the trip are sharp and humorous without being racist. The book is ingeniously plotted, full of red herrings, although the final solution is somewhat rushed and a bit of a let-down. But the book is easy to read and entertaining.

Average customer rating:

An entertaining discussion of Mandarin Chinese
A Good, Comprehensive Introduction
The Foundations of Chinese
Great companion to studying Mandarin Chinese

Mandarin Chinese: An Introduction
Mobo C. F. Gao
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Study & Teaching | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0195540026

Book Description

Mandarin Chinese: An Introduction provides a systematic overview of Mandarin Chinese from the perspective of the English-speaking learner. Using a comparative approach, it contrasts grammatical, and other features of Mandarin Chinese language, with relevant issues in English.
The book opens with a chapter on the setting of the Chinese language, giving a brief account of the historical, geographical, social, and linguistic background of China. Included is a discussion of how modern Chinese politics has played an important role in the development of modern standard
Chinese. Other topics include sounds and tones, writing, vocabulary, grammar, and discourse.
Mandarin Chinese brings a wide range of topics and issues together in one volume, presenting a coherent, easy-to-follow picture of the language, and a practical, efficient way to learn.

Customer Reviews:

An entertaining discussion of Mandarin Chinese.......2007-04-10

This is an eclectic little book, introducing a wide variety of subjects surrounding the study of Mandarin. I found it to be an excellent tool for beginning to put my language study into a broader environment of history, politics and culture. It is probably not a good book for advanced students. While it should be accessible to readers knowing no Mandarin, many of the topics may be easier to absorb after some study - particularly of spoken Mandarin. Subjects are not covered in great depth, and as a previous reviewer noted, there are a few places where some of the details seem to be glossed over in a way which sacrifices accuracy or merely treats subjects in less detail than they deserve.

A large part of understanding and speaking a language is an understanding its baggage. I particularly enjoyed the discussions the different ways in which foreign words are "imported" into Chinese, and how various terms and expressions come to have political implications. (Note that these phenomena were discussed and examples given. Don't expect to be able to recognize most politically charged language after reading just this book.)

The discussions of grammar were very readable. Sometimes I would already understand an idea presented, sometimes the explanation would help clarify an idea I hadn't fully understood, and sometimes I would decide to return to an explanation once my Mandarin studies were more advanced. During the six pages devoted to the uses of the particle "le" and its relationship to Mandarin's very different treatment of time and aspect, I found myself wavering between these three responses.

I would recommend this book to students of Mandarin Chinese looking to start reading about broader ideas touching on the language but not generally encompassed by it. It is easy to read and can answer a lot of basic conceptual questions, leading the reader to a more educated decision about what to look into next.

A Good, Comprehensive Introduction.......2002-04-22

Mandarin Chinese: An Introduction fills an important gap in the study Chinese. Modelled after A.E. Backhouse's The Japanese Language: an Introduction, it provides a general overview of the Chinese language and its setting. This kind of comprehensive introduction is something that until now has sorely been absent for the student of Chinese and makes a great addition to the Chinese studies canon.
Gao's book fills the niche nicely, but it is not without its faults, and hence cannot be given the full five-star rating. The section that must draw the negative criticism is Phonology. The errors in this section seem primarily because of sloppy IPA transcription, particularly concerning rhotacization and treatment of the various phonetic values of Pinyin {i}.
Nonetheless, The discussion on Language and Politics is a reflection of the personal interests of the author, but politics, as is pointed out in the book, has been such a central force in directing language change in the modern era that a general overview of Chinese is essentially incomplete without this kind of discussion.
Although the primary focus is clearly on the language as spoken in Mainland China, Gao is careful to make sure to take account of the Mandarin spoken in Taiwan, Singapore, and other Chinese communities.
With a few errors but a solid overall introduction to Mandarin, Gao's book is an essential addition to the library of all who wish to learn more about the Chinese language.

The Foundations of Chinese.......2001-12-30

I've been studying Chinese and also trying to learn to speak it (the two aren't mutually inclusive) for quite a while. This book provides the best and most balanced view I've ever seen into what makes Chinese tick. Although I've known much of what's in it before I had a chance to read it, I found much of what I had previously suspected spelled out clearly, and it helped me arrange my thoughts on Chinese more consistently.

For me it was easy reading. For someone who knows no Chinese at all, it may be more difficult; it's hard for me to know for sure. But if such a neophyte were to read it, they'd understand a lot more about Chinese than I ever did when I started. It could help them decide whether or not they were up to the challenge of learning it, and it could also give them all the information they'd need to make themselves seem an expert on Chinese at whatever next party they attended. This is so not only for the grammar, pronunciationa and writing systems, but also for the social context in which the standard language has formed and is continuing to develop.

Great companion to studying Mandarin Chinese.......2001-12-06

Mobo Gao's book is a great companion to English speakers trying to learn Mandarin Chinese. It compares and contrasts various linguistic and cultural features of both Chinese and English in order to help learners to figure out why things work they do in the Chinese language. It is not the be and end all to a program of learning Chinese (you will need textbooks and/or audio material in addition to this book) but it is an excellent supplement to whatever route one is taking to learning Chinese ... whether it be self-study or in a class.

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