Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I used Pimsleur's Basic Mandarin Chinese (which is just the first 10 lessons of Pimsleur's Mandarin I series) prior to a 10 day visit to China in March 2008 (Beijing and Liaoning provinces). I was aiming to pick up some basic language to help navigate my way around and order in restaurants (I was off the tourist trail some of the time).

Summary: Pimsleur is extremely good, but do NOT get the Basic Mandarin Chinese product. At the very least, get the Conversation Mandarin Chinese product (which is the first 16 lessons of Pimsleur's Mandarin I series). Here is my reasoning.

I highly rate Pimsleur's approach to learning Mandarin Chinese. Pimsleur has you listening to native speakers and doing intensive repetition. As a result, you acquire a very good accent - the Chinese people I spoke to on my travels all understood me perfectly, and those who spoke English told me I had an excellent accent. However, the vocabulary in the first 10 lessons is limited, and much is not relevant to the casual traveller. Furthermore, you really need to learn Pinyin if you're travelling - so you can say place names, etc, correctly in your conversation. Pimsleur discourages this.

Disadvantages:

1. Limited vocabulary - in 5 hours of lessons, and with all the repetition Pimsleur does, you naturally learn a limited set of vocabulary. You don't even learn all the numbers from 1-10! On the plus side, what you do learn you will know very well and will be able to use in conversation. I've written out the complete list of the vocabulary and phrases you do learn below.

2. Vocabulary and phrases not targeted to the causal traveller - the Basic series is just the first 10 lessons of the larger Pimsleur Mandarin I series, the latter of which is geared towards teaching you to speak conversational Mandarin. Many basic phrases useful to travellers are not covered, such as `How much is this?' - essential for bargaining in markets, or common phrases useful in restaurants, such as `please wait 5 minutes', `bill please', or directions such as `turn left/right'.

3. You don't learn any Pinyin or Chinese characters. Pimsleur worries that if you read Pinyin, you'll acquire an American accent. I think this is a valid concern, however, to learn additional vocabulary, and read place names and the like, you need Pinyin at some point. My solution was to do the whole Pimsleur series first, and only then learn Pinyin (there are lots of online lessons to learn Pinyin).

Advantages:

1. Great accent.

2. Everything Pimsleur teaches you, you learn, and learn really well. It becomes intuitive. You can and do use it in conversation with native Chinese. Although not everything was relevant to my needs, I was able to order drinks in restaurants and have some basic conversations with taxi drivers.

Recommendation:

If you are going to learn Mandarin Chinese, I highly rate doing one of the Pimsleur series. Chinese is not a language you can learn from a book. But if I were to do it again, I would do the Conversational Mandarin Chinese - the first 16 lessons. The first 10 lessons are insufficient. I suggest you start by doing a Pimsleur series, then once you're speaking confidently and your accent is pretty good, use online lessons to learn Pinyin/Characters and to extend your vocabulary as needed.

Vocabulary and Phrases taught:

1. Vocabulary: Excuse me, please let me ask, English, Mandarin language, American person, I, you, can (not) speak, to be (am), (yes/no question particle), a little
I can(not) speak English. I am (not) American.
2. Vocabulary: Chinese person, hello, how are you?, (very/not) well, thank you, goodbye
I don't speak well.
3. Vocabulary: how about (you), but
4. Vocabulary: to understand (the situation), what, road, street, where, located, here, over there
I don't understand what you're saying.
You speak Mandarin very well.
Where is Long Piece Street?
College Road is over there.
5. Vocabulary: to eat, to drink, would (not) like, something, to know
I would like to eat something.
Do you know?
6. Vocabulary: my place, your place, when, now, later, to go
Where do you want to go to drink/eat?
7. Vocabulary: tea, beer, (not) OK
8. Vocabulary: restaurant, hotel, lunch, or (for questions), to do, to buy, to want(order), two (glasses), with, whom
I would like to order two beers.
I would like to eat lunch with you.
9. Vocabulary: o'clock, what time, one, nine, eight, or (for statements), impossible
What don't I understand?
10. Vocabulary: anything, five, three, four, am going to (want to), as for me,
What time is it?
Is it four o'clock?

Overall I really like this program, and it's helping me to learn some Chinese.
Things I like best: 1) They use two speakers, a man and a woman. In my opinion the woman speaks more clearly and I find it easier to hear and repeat after her lines, however having two speakers really helps when you're having trouble hearing exactly how they are pronuncing something. 2) There is sufficient repetition to really learn the material well.
Things I don't like about the program: 1) There is absolutely no written material for the course. I understand that the purpose of the program is to teach you how to speak (and not read or write), but how difficult would it have been to include a 1-2 page transcript of the words and phrases that are being taught? They can say all they want about how "that's not how you learn a language naturally...you do it by listening,"...fine, but I still want to know how the words look in writing. And why hinder the people who want to reinforce their learning through seeing it in print, when it would seem so easy to just throw in a cheap transcript and leave the options to the learner. 2) Although the amount of repetition is warranted, it gets a little frustrating when after an hour or so into the CDs you're still working on a few variations of a very few sentences. I don't really fault the program for this however, its just a difficult language to learn I think. I haven't tried others, so I can't make comparisons with other products, but overall I think it's a decent program at a pretty reasonable price.

I studied Mandarin Chinese in College and had forgotten almost everything I learned. This is a wonderful way to start once again at the beginning. I have studied many languages and used many different learning systems. Pimsleur's learning model is the best I have encountered. I would recommend it for anyone who wants to learn how to speak Mandarin Chinese. I plan on purchasing the entire series.
If you are short on time and are traveling and need to learn enough of the country's language to survive, I would recommend Baron's series called something like Let's Go or Getting By in ...

Pimsleurs method of teaching Mandarin to neophytes works. The repetition is very helpful, the pronunciation of the male and female voices is clear and easy to duplicate, the speed is paced well, learning happens. It is American male orientated. If you are neither it is a bit funny to don the persona of an American man out to find a Chinese girlfriend. But it is not offensive and most of the people learning this way are these types. So, I am learning and I am not easy to teach.

We used the Pimsleur "Basic Mandarin Chinese" program to jump start formal Chinese language classes offered by my company to it's employees and family members. My wife and kids (10 & 14 at the time) enjoyed the well ordered lessons and we were all in a better starting point than the other students when the classroom learning started.

Here are my observations:

* Well Ordered and Logical Flow
* Easy to Understand Speakers
* A Lot of Repetition to Build Previous Lessons
* Focused on Most Useful Practical Phrases

Like any of these CD based programs, you have to set the time aside to actually listen to content and be in a place where you can repeat the lessons back out loud (my 40 minute commute made this just about perfect for the 30 min lessons). If you stick with this program, you will pick up a good bit of practical Chinese Mandarin.

Recommended!

I wanted to start learning a new language to broaden my horizons, so I chose this program with high expectations, and it far overreached them! The program uses common dialogue that a traveler or foreigner could expect to see everyday. The only concern that I found with the program was that I found it a to be a bit repetitive in some ways but others may find it to be helpful to thier experience.

All-in-all I highly suggest Pimsleur's programs to any who are interested in delving themselves into a new and different cultural experience!

WHAT A CD ,,IF YOU LISTEN WHILE ON LONG RIDE IN THE CAR IT IS AMAZING HOW GOOD THESE CD WORK,,,YOU REPEAT AND THEY REPEAT TWO TIMES ,,I CAN ACTUALLY SAY THAT IT HAS MADE ME UNDERSTAND THE CHINESE LANGUAGE,,,AND BE ABLE TO HEAR KEY WORDS,,,IT IS A GOOD LANGUAGE TOOL AND WELL WORTH THE INVESTMENT,,

LIKE I SAY NEE HAU MA MAYBE NOT CORRECT SPELLING BUT CORRECT SOUND,

Since I am planning a trip to Beiing, China for the summer Olympics in 2008, I was looking for a book that would simplify the emergency and polite words of the Chinese language. This book will allow me to honor the people of China by showing respect for their language and their culture.