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

by Pimsleur (Author)

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

Product Description
This Conversational program contains 8 hours of interactive audio-only instruction, effective language learning with real-life spoken practice sessions.

HEAR IT, LEARN IT, SPEAK IT®

What is the Pimsleur® difference?

The Pimsleur Method provides the most effective language-learning program ever developed. The Pimsleur Method gives you quick command of Mandarin Chinese structure without tedious drills. Learning to speak Mandarin Chinese can actually be enjoyable and rewarding.

The key reason most people struggle with new languages is that they aren't given proper instruction, only bits and pieces of a language. Other language programs sell only these pieces -- dictionaries; grammar books and instructions; lists of hundreds or thousands words and definitions; audios containing useless drills. They leave it to you to assemble these pieces as you try to speak. Pimsleur enables you to spend your time learning to speak the language rather than just studying its parts.

When you were learning English, could you speak before you knew how to conjugate verbs? Of course you could. That learning process is what Pimsleur replicates. Pimsleur presents the whole language as one integrated piece so you can succeed.

With Pimsleur you get:

• Grammar and vocabulary taught together in everyday conversation,
• Interactive audio-only instruction that teaches spoken language organically,
• The flexibility to learn anytime, anywhere,
• 30-minute lessons designed to optimize the amount of language you can learn in one sitting.

Millions of people have used Pimsleur to gain real conversational skills in new languages quickly and easily, wherever and whenever -- without textbooks, written exercises, or drills.

Conversational Mandarin Chinese includes the 10 lessons from Pimsleur's Basic Mandarin Chinese plus an additional 6 lessons.

The 16 lessons in Conversational Mandarin Chinese are the same first 16 lessons in the Pimsleur Comprehensive Mandarin Chinese Level 1.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Pimsleur; Blg Una edition (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743550498
• ISBN-13: 978-0743550499
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.9 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,964 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great starter, June 7, 2006

By	Colin McLarty (Chardon, OH USA) - See all my reviews

Obviously the course you chose should depend on what you want as well as how you learn. This Pimsleur course offers conversational Mandarin, not reading or writing. In fact that is what I want right now. It proceeds almost entirely by immersion with very little discussion of grammar or pronunciation. That is not perfect for me, though it might be for you. I will come back to it. This Pimsleur course is entirely audio and so is very well suited to learning as you drive or walk or whatever.

This is very convenient but there is another reason for it: Pimsleur has theory that if you look at written Mandarin (or any language) too early then you will have trouble acquiring a native accent, because you will pronounce the written Mandarin with an American accent (supposing you are American...). This may be exactly right, if Mandarin is only your second language. If you have already learned several languages with reasonably correct accents then maybe you will have less tendency to make that mistake.

The problem with immersion-only Mandarin for me is that this is an intimidating language for Americans. The musical tone of each vowel changes the meaning of a word and the tones are hard for me to learn.

So I am going to cheat on Pimsleur by also using Chinesepod downloads (mp3) and their written supplements. Sometimes I really can't be sure if a syllable on the Pimsleur CD begins with b or d. I can't always tell if a tone is rising or falling (although the narrator often steps in to help with that). So I will look it up. If Mandarin is your first foreign language maybe you should start with straight Pimsleur for just the reasons they give. Mandarin, even more than most European languages, is useless if you do not have a good accent.

The other course I tried was Living Language Ultimate Mandarin. That course is not only conversation. It comes with a very nice textbook. And it requires that you spend considerable time working with the book in front of you, and so not driving or otherwise "on the go." They said their course was the equivalent of 2 years of college courses and that may be true. It aims at all around mastery of spoken and written Mandarin including the simplified character writing used on the Mainland and exposure to the traditional characters used on Taiwan and in Hong Kong. I do not expect to ever reach that level, and anyway I would probably start with Pimsleur and Chinesepod.

Pimsleur courses are reliably very good.

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good starter, May 28, 2006

By	Daniel Scallon "Saranin" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Pimsleur is good for getting your feet wet but it's also lacking in that it only teaches you a few conversation topics. It stresses pronounciation of words and making your tones match the speakers on the disc, but tells you nothing about the four tones of Chinese (found that out the hard way). It also does not go much into sentence construction, only forming a pre-meditated sentence.
I give it 4 stars because as a beginner with no prior experience in Mandarin, it let me get a grasp of what I would be studying in more in-depth lessons. So if you know absolutely --nothing-- about Mandarin then I recommend Pimsleur.
P.S. Don't get the four disc version. The eight disc-er has the first four and nothing's different.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Too Little Vocabulary/I Prefer Behind the Wheel Chinese, July 4, 2006

By	Shannon (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews

The problem with the Pimsleur approach is that they teach far too little vocabulary. You go on and on learning just a few words, and worse. You have to tolerate the 'gradual intervail recall system' which means you have to listen to entire half hour to follow their rigid program and if you don't, your memory technique is wasted.
This means that if you have, say, ten minutes in which to commute to work, you will listen to the same ten minutes teaching the same ten words over and over.
Your other alternative is to keep your finger glued to the fast forward button. There are no
'multiple track' opitons.
I greatly prefer the Behind the Wheel Chinese/Mandarin course.
The amount of vocabulary taught here far exceeds that of Pimsleur. Furthermore,
each CD has a sentence building section (8 CDs in all) that teach you basic sentence formation to accompany the vocabulary. There are two native Mandarin speakers on the CDs.
Even better, Behind the Wheel Chinese has multiple tracks which makes sailing through a review a piece of cake.
I gave Pimsleur four stars just because I'm sure it could work for some people.
I have tried other Pimsleur and Behind the Wheel courses and I always reach the same conclusion.
No contest in any language.
Behind the Wheel Chinese is way ahead in all categories.