Chinese (Mandarin) (Instant Conversational Language (Mandarin Chinese)) [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Pimsleur (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0743529138 | ISBN-13: 978-0743529136 | Publication Date: September 1, 2002 | Edition: Unabridged

Speak Chinese Mandarin Instantly!

The Pimsleur® Method provides the most effective language -- learning program ever developed. More than one million people every year use it to gain real conversational skills in new languages quickly and easily -- without books, written exercises, or drills.

Easy and Practical

This package contains sixteen lessons that will get you started speaking today! Simply listen, follow the instructions, and then respond out loud, just as you would in an actual conversation. Complete one lesson each day, in consecutive order. When you've finished this program, you'll be thrilled to realize you can hold a real conversation in Chinese Mandarin!

Go beyond the 8-lesson Quick & Simple -- and double your language skills

Simple, step-by-step instruction

No classes to attend -- learn at your own convenience and pace

No books, written exercises, or memory drills

Listen-and-respond method lets you self-test your mastery

Increase Your Language Skills

Learning a new language is a tremendously rewarding achievement. Once you see how much you've learned in these sixteen lessons, we think you'll want to continue with the complete 30-lesson Pimsleur® Program. To help you, we'll give you a rebate of $150.00 when you purchase the Level I Chinese Mandarin Comprehensive Program. Please see bottom of package for details.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Pimsleur programs provide plenty of positive reinforcement that will keep learners on track, and we found that Pimsleur gave us more proficiency and confidence in speaking the new language than any of the other language programs we reviewed." -- AudioFile Magazine

"EXTREMELY ACCESSIBLE...each section within the lessons is short enough to hold our attention, and there is enough repetition to teach even those who consider themselves slow learners...Pimsleur [programs] are extremely thorough and easy to use -- quite lively!" -- Boston Herald

"Learn French while commuting, German while jogging, Spanish (or Russian, Italian, and Japanese) while cooking all with NO WRITTEN MATERIALS!" -- New York Daily News

"Designed for the ear and not the eye...the lessons provide PERFECT 30-minute bites of work." -- St Louis Post-Dispatch

"Learn to habla español or parlez français before your next trip aboard. The interactive LESSONS CHALLENGE STUDENTS to use new words in conversation instead of memorize them." -- American Way (American Airlines inflight magazine)

"I tried other language programs with little success...This is the best by far!" -- Pamela A. Mitchell, Pilot, International Society of Women Airline Pilots --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

About the Author

Dr. Paul Pimsleur devoted his life to language teaching and testing and was one of the world’s leading experts in applied linguistics. After years of experience and research, Dr. Pimsleur developed The Pimsleur Method based on two key principles:  the Principle of Anticipation and a scientific principle of memory training that he called “Graduated Interval Recall.”  This Method has been applied to the many levels and languages of the Pimsleur Programs. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Pimsleur; Unabridged edition (September 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743529138
• ISBN-13: 978-0743529136
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 8 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,677,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Amazing method!, August 30, 2003

By 

Dee Garza (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chinese (Mandarin) (Instant Conversational Language (Mandarin Chinese)) (Audio CD)

This is better than Berlitz, and I never thought I would say that about a language product. There are so many study-at-home language products that are boring and ineffective. This is more like the Suzuki method of studying music. Listen, imitate, learn!

The method definitely deserves 5 stars, but there are problems with the "Instant Conversation" product. (The negatives can be noted by reading the Amazon reviews of the corresponding product for Spanish.) To advance to the whole first set of the comprehensive Pimsleur method, you have to pay for these first 8 CD's again, in effect, and at a higher price. (When you buy the comprehensive Mandarin I, it is my understanding that half the CD's you buy are identical to these. Therefore your investment in this beginner set is unwise.) Too bad that they didn't make a special (stand-alone) set for this product instead of just removing the first 8 of the 16 CD's in the Comprehensive Mandarin I.

Those considerations aside, this method is unbelievably effective. I have taken private and group Berlitz, bought untold numbers of study at home sets, and have taken languages in the university. This is fast and really effective. I'll be buying more of the Pimsleur method in other languages, too.

Bottom line: This was an relatively inexpensive way for me to test the Pimsleur method in some depth.

73 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great first start., November 15, 2002

By 

Mark Garula "ShinySideUpAZ" (Phoenix, Arizona USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Chinese (Mandarin) (Instant Conversational Language (Mandarin Chinese)) (Audio Cassette)

Two years ago my employer required me to begin to learn Mandarin. They had purchased the Original Pimsleur Mandarin Cassettes several years prior to my joining the company. I made it through eight lessons before I took a position with another firm. However, my desire to learn Mandarin had been ignited.
I didn't feel comfortable spending the $350.00 to buy the full Pimsleur course myself, so I went to the local library and checked out the resources there. I tried three different courses by other authors and was amazed how sub-standard they were. Nothing compared to the quality and retention the Pimsleur method gave. When I saw that the Instant Conversation series was available I bought it immediately. I reasoned that for less than $50.00 I could find if I really wanted to learn Chinese. After my experiences with the other learning systems I was not sure I wanted to continue. I'm now starting the third CD and I am confident I will spend the money for the next level of instruction. Every day I learn more and retain probably 80% of what was covered in each lesson. Due to the confidence the Pimsleur method gives I know that mastery of Mandarin Chinese is attainable. I have a friend at work who is a native speaker and she tells me my accent is negligible. I could not think of a more promising recommendation then that.

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great way to learn Mandarin..., August 26, 2004

By 

Alain Gaston (Apache Jct., Arizona) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Chinese (Mandarin) (Instant Conversational Language (Mandarin Chinese)) (Audio CD)

I am a foreign language teacher and this was my first Pimsleur course and I was pleased with it. I started the course about 3 months before going to China. I found, in China, that people understood what I was saying. I had a Chinese phrase book in "pinyin" (Chinese method of Romanization)which really messed up my pronounciation. I stopped using it and dealt strictly with the tapes.

The only drawback is that this was a beginning course for learning the complete language. It omitted a lot of necessary phrases, i.e., "Where is the restroom?" These I picked up in China.

Be patient with youself. Work with the tape or CD for 15-20 minutes and stop. Work the same material again later until you have learned it...then move on. Otherwise, you will be overwhelmed.