Customer Reviews

Chinese (Cantonese) (Pimsleur Language Programs)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I know from reading other reviews of Pimsleur language programs that people are sometimes taken aback by the rather basic vocabulary the program leaves you with and the lack of written material. Bear in mind, the Pimsleur program is an excellent *introduction* to a language. It can't be beat for helping you with pronunciation and with learning the "core" of a language. If you want to become fluent that is going to take work on several fronts besides the Pimsleur course (or any other tape course available), but Pimsleur delivers on what it's designed to do. My experience thus far is with Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese I and with Pimsleur Spanish I, II and III. They are superb. When used in combination with vocabulary building work, a grammar book (preferably and old fashioned grammar book ), and practice with a native speaker, you will attain your goals of speaking the language in fairly short order. What can I say? Learning a language is a lot of work and if you're looking for a magic bullet that gives you fluency in "30 minutes a day for 3 months!!" you're living in a dream world. But the Pimsleur program will get you well on your way. You will develop an ease for composing sentences, a great pronunciation and an introduction to the vocabulary with their system. After one level of Pimsleur Mandarin I, I've managed to astound a co-worker born and raised in Taiwan with my ability to speak her language. Granted my vocabulary is limited at this point since I haven't done much else besides the Pimsleur tapes in Mandarin, but what I do know, I know very well. Having completed three full levels of Pimsleur Spanish and having worked on vocabulary, grammar, and reading from other sources, my Spanish has reached a very conversant level in only three months. Living in Albuquerque, I have the opportunity to practice my Spanish frequently, and people have commented on how adept I've become. Pimsleur is one of the crucial language learning tools I have to thank for such praise.

To sum up, I believe that Pimsleur programs can be used effectively by several different types of language learners, from those just wanting to pick up a smattering to those that want to become very conversant or even fluent. If you want to pick up some phrases and learn a small but useful vocabulary fluently as well as set up a solid foundation for future efforts, then all you need are the tapes. If you want, on the other hand, to really attack the language and master it, then you'll need more than just the Pimsleur tapes; but the Pimsleur tapes will constitute one of the most helpful tools you have in your language learning bag of tricks.

I bought the 30 tape course in November 2001 for a trip to Beijing in February 02. Now maybe I was being a little ambitious expecting to learn much however I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised.

The course was easy to follow. As other reviewers have done I listened to the tape driving to work. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday I also went out in my lunch hour and parked up in my car in a quiet place listening and repeating. Then driving home I played the tape again. Maybe once more that same night before bed or in the early evening. So each tape was listened to at least 4 times. Sometimes I'd do the same tape for 3-4 days as quite often it was just on as background accompaniment during my commute. Over the Christmas/New Year holiday I was about half way through the course.

The system works. The words and phrases stick in your memory. By the time I went to Beijing I felt able to tackle conversations. I was able to make myself understood to the extent that I had taxi drivers speaking to me in rapid fire Mandarin expecting me to follow the conversation. If I had the money and had another trip back to China I'd definitely buy Mandarin 2 as the only downside is the lack of a really comprehensive vocabulary. Having said that it really is survival Mandarin which is needed in China away from, and even in, the tourist areas.

Finally, to show how good the system was and without being a big head, I was speaking better Mandarin than a guy who'd been living in Beijing for 7 months. Another local Westerner who'd been there for 10 years told me that it had taken him about 2 years to get to the level of speech/understanding that I was at. So thank you Pimsleur.

I like Pimsleur method and find it effective. I bought the Basic Program first and, having liked it, I bought the Comprehensive Program. However I was very disappointed discovering that the first tapes are exactly those of the basic course, which was not clearly stated anywhere. Since the price of the Comprehensive Program is quite high, it is not pleasant to discover that part of the money you had to pay was simply devoted to obtain a copy of something you got already.

After taking traditional courses in Latin, Italian, and German, I thought it would be a real challenge in my senior years to learn something completely different. Enter Mandarin. After searching out various taped programs to use while I commuted to work, I opted for the small Pimsleur tape version. Soon I realized I needed to upgrade to the full 30 unit CD version(the beginning was identical to the sample tape version). It was an excellent choice. Yes, they sometimes speak faster than you can respond; no, I don't mind replaying a disk to improve diction; and yes, it is expensive. But when I finished Mandarin I, I replayed the entire set of 30 units randomly to improve my own spontaneous responses. My vocabulary became more natural and my pronunciation improved (as confirmed by speaking to Chinese students at my university). It is clear you get one dimnension of instruction. I tried Transparent Language and it didn't engage me as much. After six months, I started sitting in a traditional college Mandarin course which helped even more. Most cities have a Chinese-American community where people get together to learn Chinese, so this should be available to most. I enjoyed it enough that I now bought Mandarin II. This picks up the pace and expects you to be in good shape from Mandarin I. I am most satisfied. Starting with listening and speaking is a good way to learn pronunciation naturally and accurately, but you still need real-person feedback (even with CDs I sometimes had problems with consonants). So it's now 15 months later (I only listen while I commute for 20 min.), and I have very positive feedback from my Chinese friends. So go for it. Beijing here I come.

Postscript: I am writing this after completing all three Pimsleur Mandarin volumes I, I, and III. You can look at those specifically. But I want to give an overview. Pimsleur has awesomely helped my diction and pronunication. You will absolutely need a dictionary or two for the series. You WILL NEED to have in person contact to force you to think faster and out of the confines of their structured lesson. You will need to find a grammar suitable for you that suits your learning style. Pimsleur will not be a substitute for some real immersion technique. HOWEVER, it will allow you to communicate successfully in Beijing (the only place I've visited so far) at a rudimentary level, By the time you finish III, I think you will be very comfortable speaking ordinarily. You won't be listening to movies with total comprehension. But again, with real time conversation with Mandarin-speaking colleagues is essential -- and a modest reference library.

It's worth the investment in all three.

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.

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!

My Chinese girlfriend could actually understand me after two days of working with these tapes. She said my pronounciation was quite good! Don't be discouraged if each unit takes longer than a day, you will get there if you persist.

I wanted to learn a little bit of Mandarin in preparation for a business trip to Beijing. I've listened to several language tapes from different companies. Pimsleur is by *far* the easiest to use and work with of the tapes I've sampled. They don't use a book, working on the premise that you will learn by listening and repeating. They use a tremendous amount of reinforcement, at regular intervals. Just as a word or phrase is starting to fade, the narrator refreshes your memory. Personally, I would like to have a vocabulary list of the different lessons in printed form, but I understand that their approach is oriented toward spoken language. I am still afraid that my first attempt to say "Good Morning" will be interpreted as an insult to the sexual habits of my host's grandmother, but at least it will be clear that I am making an effort.

"Wo shi Mayguaren, kashi wo hue shuo idiar Puntanghua. Wo hue shuo da bu hao." (I am an American, but I can speak a little Mandarin. I do not speak it well.)

I highly recommend this series. I wish I'd had it back in school. It would have made "Language Lab" far more enjoyable and productive.

Your Humble Jester,

Philip the Foole

I am Chinese but have never been able to speak my own language and have always felt intense shame. Chinese people always look at me as if I am weird, since I have an accent. But now after finishing this Pimsleur course, I have a hard-wired Mandarin vocabulary of over 200 words. It is amazing how with the Pimsleur method one retains completely what one learns. Now I don't even mentally "translate" from English to Chinese, but think natively in Chinese. I can pretty much get by in Chinatown and make very small talk with other Chinese people. The only drawback to this extremely valuable program is that there is as yet no second course. Other languages like Spanish have four levels, but there is still no Mandarin 2. I have written to an editor at Simon and Schuster and he claims that Mandarin 2 should be out by this summer, and Mandarin 3 in the near future. I hope so. Life after Pimsleur is kind of worrisome. I really wish to continue learning and since I am so astonished with the results I have been able to achieve with this program I am wary of other Mandarin programs. I hope that Mandarin 2 does come out this summer so that I don't have to resort to other programs.

I purchased these tapes before heading off to China on a three week holiday this Summer in hopes that I would be able to speak a little and not look like a buffoon. It worked, although I don't know about the buffoon part. The first lesson is a bit overwhelming because the sounds are so hard to make for Westerners but keep going and, before you know it...it will start making sense. The only problems I had with the tapes were some of the choices of vocabulary which weren't helpful at all e.g. "Do you want to go to my place?" and asking for directons (Would you really understand the answer?) and the exclusion of words which I found, after having been there, would have been extremely helpful e.g. learning to count 1-10 (which is quite easy), and more basic conversation about purchasing, barganing &c. Despite those problems, it is a very good introduction to learing this marvellous language and people seemd to understand what I did learn to say and were often quite pleased...a great way to break the ice and make friends.