Customer Reviews

Fluenz Mandarin 1+2 with supplemental Audio CD and Podcasts

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I decided to buy software to learn Mandarin, I thought Rosetta Stone was the only option. Luckily, I came across Fluenz before it was too late. At first, I was intrigued by Rosetta Stone's no-English rule and spent some time with their demo. But after comparing the Rosetta and Fluenz, I started to think the Fluenz method might be better. Sonia Gil, an English-speaking tutor, gives you tools to build phrases, and then sentences. The Fluenz linguists believe, and I tend to agree, that adults learn differently than children. By explaining key things in English, rather than having a bunch of Chinese thrown at them, adults can learn how to say many things very quickly. If you visit the Fluenz site you can see how powerful this is when it comes to learning phrases like "I need a taxi", or "I want a cup of coffee" in the first lessons. It would take weeks or even months for anyone to learn those phrases in Chinese the Rosetta way, by merely pairing images with their corresponding words. It seems difficult to learn a language without a teacher or tutor, and it is impossible to learn Chinese tones without a proper explanation.The Fluenz learning experience is further enhanced by its beautiful design. By comparison, the Rosetta V2 application, though nicely packaged, doesn't seem that up to date (once you pass the demo video, you can actually see what the real interface looks like). But the strongest point for Fluenz is the human element. Sonia takes the learner step by step, building skills that are practiced in a series of very creative workouts covering writing, reading, comprehension and expression. Overall, my experience with Fluenz has been great. I fully recommend the software for anyone interested in Mandarin.

First of all, I think that Fluenz Mandarin is a pretty good product compared to the others out there. It will get you to speak and understand spoken Chinese relatively quickly. However, probably mostly the mistake on my part, I didn't realize that the program doesn't familiarize you with written Chinese whatsoever. I don't prefer to learn pinyin, which is a set of romanized Chinese words, nor practice writing in it, and native Chinese probably understand very little pinyin, if at all. I'd also would prefer a native Chinese speaker in the lecture (there are plenty of native Chinese speakers in the US who speak perfect English without much accent). Sonja has great pronunciation and understanding of the lessons taught, but I can still notice slight differences, such as how she overstress the fourth tone, almost to the point that she's screaming it (a common practice for those whose first language is non-tonal, including me). Lastly, it's hard sometimes to remember which lesson you're on since it's not marked in any part of each lesson. I have to try to mentally remember which lesson I was in especially if I continue it another day. Fluenz is an excellent program for most people who'd prefer to learn conversational Chinese, but not for someone who would like to learn written Chinese as well.

I ordered Fluenz Mandarin 1+2 for my upcoming tour of China (second tour in 6 months). I want to be able to communicate (even if only slightly) with the Chinese people.

Sonia(Gil)makes understanding and speaking Chinese very easy. ALL new words are explained and pronounced thoroughly and sentence structures are likewise explained. Other language courses may leave you guessing what was really said when converting to English. Not so with Fluenz! That was the selling point for me.

I did have a small problem with tone marked letters jumping out of sequence when doing my lessons and ending up with misspelled words. I got an email response from Fluenz (after they read my review on another site) instructing me how to correct this. It has sped up my lessons significantly and was a pleasant surprise to be contacted by the company without even asking for help!

I don't think you can go wrong by ordering this course. It's on the expensive side, but well worth the price!

Fluenz Mandarin is a comprehensive program for anyone wanting to learn Mandarin Chinese from scratch. It is meant for learners over the age of 13, and it would be quite useful both for those trying to establish a strong foundation before proceeding to more advanced or specialized work, as well as for those who need survival skills for business, travel or casual conversation.

The software follows a Mac aesthetic: clean, elegant, and modern. This philosophy goes well beneath the surface and can be felt throughout the program. The learning system -- which features a tutor on full-motion video guiding the learner every step of the way, a series of relentlessly challenging exercises, and the use of English to "leverage" the learning of Chinese -- are all very innovative. Fluenz Mandarin is composed of 45 sessions that cover essential vocabulary, grammar, and syntax by going over realistic interactions involving restaurants, giving and receiving directions, negotiating cabs and other forms of transportation, shopping, basic conversations, and even the 2008 Olympics. Each session can take up to three hours each, depending on the learner's speed.

Each session opens with the tutor, Sonia Gil, who led the development of the program and who guides the learner from beginning to end. She explains, gives context, motivates, and keeps the whole thing going with stories of her own experience with learning Mandarin in China.

After the introduction, there is a conversation that can be followed with or without subtitles (available in English and pinyin). Sonia follows with an explanation of every word and expression used. This is the heart of the method, since she systematically compares every word and expression in Mandarin with its counterpart in English. It seems straightforward and it is, but it makes a big a difference to anyone learning.

The tutorial is followed by a series of interactive "workouts." These start with a simple review of the vocabulary and basic expressions, move on to clever matching games, and then to actual writing. Learning to write is the only way to internalize different tones because writing provides a visual cue that helps the learner retain this most challenging part of learning Mandarin. The writing workouts combine both reading and writing, and then listening and writing, and they progress from simple words to more complicated expressions. The latter relies on an innovative color-coding scheme.

The workouts also make use of a recording device that allows the learner to record and compare her or his Chinese with that of native speakers. This device first deals with simple phrases, and then offers the learner an opportunity to insert her or himself into a conversation. After a couple of review workouts, Sonia comes back to conclude the session.

Like any software program that surpasses its many competitors in quality, effectiveness, and ease of use, Fluenz is its own worst enemy. After spending some hours learning Mandarin very fast, it's altogether natural for learners to want more and better, yet Fluenz thwarts that desire on a number of counts. For instance, the navigation doesn't allow learners to repeat a workout once completed. Moreover, there are instances in which sound would nicely complement written workouts, but isn't available. And more advanced sound recognition technology would make a difference. These are features that users should rightly expect to find in future upgrades of the software.

This product makes it very easy to learn Chinese. I have tried Pimsleur, but I found it very difficult because it was audio only. Also Pimsleur was a bit boring at times. I also am using Teach Yourself Beginner's Chinese but it is not as good as this. I thought the product was quite overpriced, especially since there is this ridiculous Amazon Policy of not selling Fluenz to Australian addresses, and therefore I couldn't get the discount, but I now think it was worth the money (Amazon should sell to O/S though).

The audio CD that comes with it refers to additional podcasts available as downloads from www.fluenz.com, but when I visit the website, I can't seem to locate them. However, putting in www.fluenz.com/podcasts will find them, there are 15 about 10 mins each.They r gr8.

There is one negative and that is the safedisc 4.85.000 copy protection. This means that you can't back up the disk in case of damage. I understand that they want to protect their work, but I should be entitled to make one backup copy. I want to do my fluenz at home and at work too, I am not willing to take a $300 disk and carry it around on a daily basis risking loss or damage. This would have been quite anxiety-making if it had not been for the good people on the internet who have discovered a way to circumvent safedisc 4.85, so now I can use it at home and work too without worrying, but the time taken to learn how to do this would have been better spent learning Chinese.

I like the slow pace of the lessons, but I think at the end you will only know a couple of hundred words at the most. Also, my chinese friend seems to think it has some examples of incorrect usage, he objected to using the measure word ge with shu eg zhe ge shu, he said NO, that should be zhe ben shu.

I would like to see the following improvements:
1. A plan for registered users to get a replacement dvd for a very small charge if theirs gets damaged
2. A Mandarin 3-4, this course is great, but I'm sure I am going to want more, I am completing it very quickly at the moment. I dont think enough vocabulary is taught.
3. A version that works on any WM5 pocket PC with a virtual keyboard, not just smartphones with physical keyboards
4. An upgrade policy so that if you purchased the windows version and then got a mobile device, you could upgrade to purchase the mobile version, provided you had already purchased the Windows version
5. Only correct usage, eg. not using the ge measure word if it is incorrect.

I read consumer product reviews religiously, but this is my first time writing my own, prompted by the outstanding customer service at Fluenz. My horribly managed aparment complex told me they sent away an envelope during one of my 2 week trips to China, and I feared that I would never know what was in the mysterious package. Fluenz personally contacted me to find out why my free software upgrade had been returned to them. I explained my situation and they immediately sent it to my work address (still free of charge). I am not sure if I was more impressed that they incorporated consumer feedback to improve their already great product, or that they spent their own time and money to ensure that their consumers were getting the most out of it.

As for the software, I am an Engineer and have struggled with learning foreign languages my whole life (French and Spanish) using traditional memorization or immersion techniques. My retention was so poor that I ended up on a train to Austria instead of Paris, and found myself wandering the streets of Clermont Ferrand to find my new university, armed only with a small cartoon map and the finger pointing of a well intentioned French man (I couldn't even communicate well enough to get a taxi).

The Fluenz system has been the most effective for me yet, although I have only tried Mandarin. I combined this with a continuing education course for business travelers, and my teacher was amazed that I could easily translate words that I learned on my own with Fluenz. I find Sonia a bit difficult to listen to at each lesson, and I tend to skip past her explanation, but as I received more thorough instruction from my native teacher, it wasn't necessary. Pronunciation is the most difficult part for me, and being able to record your voice and compare it to the native speaker is invaluable.

I also use the Pimsleur CDs during my morning commute which helps provide me with more converstaional tools, a slightly different vocabulary and good pronunciation practice. If you are serious about learning the language, I recommend a combination of Fluenz, character book/flashcards, classroom instruction and Pimsleur, but if you have to pick one, Fluenz will give you the most bang for your buck, as the retention rate and breadth can't be beat. When speaking to a coworker who lived in China for 4 years, I found that my understanding of the language was better!

FOR FLUENZ(since I know you read these): I have been searching for a language tool that allows the learner to connect the characters to pinyin, english and spoken Mandarin at the same time. I have failed miserably at character recognition by learning only from books/flashcards and I suspect the only way I will learn is if the spoken language tools are combined with the written in the same software. Learning the character components really help me to see how concepts and thoughts are built in Chinese. For example, airplane = fly + machine and airport = fly + machine + field, but without hearing the pronunciation, or seeing the sentence construction in pinyin, I can't retain the characters. There seems to be a hole in the market for this type of comprehensive tool.....and if anyone can fill it, I know you can!

As a high school science teacher, I am well aware of the benefits of a multi-modal learning experience. Fluenz immerses the learner in the Mandarin experience through listening, speaking, reading and writing. The program features entire real-world conversations, careful explanations of the content leveraging your knowledge of English grammar, pronunciations by a native Mandarin speaker (that can be repeated as many times as you want!), and practice, practice, practice as you write and speak what you read and hear. I am amazed during every session that the simple addition of a new word or skill can increase so drastically my ability to construct useful new sentences!

Work through the Rosetta Stone demo, and then the Fluenz demo, and it will be clear which approach will have you speaking Mandarin in real situations immediately following lesson 1. This program is well worth the price. Fluenz leaves me wanting more and has not led to boredom or frustration. I can't wait to try my skills in Beijing!!

Fluenz beats all of the competition hands down. That includes Rosetta Stone and the many Chinese and American made products I have tried! I travel to china for short periods of time and to many different cities. This makes learning Mandarin very difficult as dialects and accents change in each city. I have used Rosetta Stone. I am a professor of education and find the Rosetta Stone method correct for first language learners ( children ). However, Fluenz teaches Mandarin in a way that works for us second language learners who already know English and need adult language and vocabulary for commonly encountered situations while on business or while sightseeing in China. The audio CD I use in my car is especially better than other products. The Fluenz technique with Sonia approaches learning Mandarin through the eyes and ears of a native English speaker. Sonia has effectively used her second language learning experience to help others make rapid and sustainable progress.

After completing the Mandarin audio lessons (I, II and III) from Pimsleur, I was looking for a program to further improve my speaking skill in Chinese. I have tried the Rosetta Stone's Chinese Mandarin Level 1 & 2, but found it difficult and time consuming to start speaking the language. Searching the Internet, I came across with Fluenz Mandarin learning software. I found the program to be the most easiest to learn, to retain and to correctly speak the language. The effectiveness of the program, to me, was through the highly structured workout sessions, especially writing the words in Pinyin. Hearing the sounds and seeing them in the written form made a world of difference for me in relating new words and phrases to the ones that I already knew. Sounding of the words that I learned from the Pimsleur program became more relevant after completing the Fluenz program.
Learning the Fluenz way first, should have shorten the time for me to learn the Chinese Mandarin and to speak the language confidently.
For anyone who is interested in learning the Chinese Mandarin, Fluenz Mandarin learning software is highly recommended.

Fluenz Mandarin 1+2 is a pretty good program for learning Mandarin Chinese. The way they teach by teaching literal meanings and relating things to English makes it easy for me to understand. However, I can't give it that good of a rating, because many glitches in the program make it difficult and frustrating to learn.

There are times when your answer is counted as wrong because of things like the program's answer having a double space in it -- making it so it doesn't perfectly match your answer. And occasionally the answer they provide is just wrong (like using the word for this instead of the word for that when the question clearly asks for the other word). This is frustrating when it's just a wrong word and even more frustrating when it's a grammar incident, so you can't always trust the program to tell you what's right and what's wrong -- making it difficult to internalize rules and making the workouts less useful.

As someone else also mentioned, it would have been nice to have a fluent speaker teaching the lessons. While Sonya Gil is an excellent teacher, her pronunciation can be off. Particularly noticeable is in lesson 22, a lesson about tones, where her 3rd tone is completely off. I'm no expert, but my fluent husband and his fluent mother definitely are. The audio CD that accompanies the program is also pretty lacking. It includes short reviews that aren't that helpful, and the "podcasts" that are referenced are non-existent (I contacted Fluenz customer support wondering where they were, and that's what they told me -- they don't exist, but they might, sometime in the future). Another annoying feature of Fluenz is that there are no review lessons. Each lesson is something different and if you want to review it, all you can do is go over the same lesson over and over again. It would be nice to have a large review section every 5-10 lessons or so. Instead, concepts are taught and then you may not see them again for many lessons.

Overall it's a good program for learning some introductory Mandarin, but hopefully the next version will come with many improvements, as there is lots of room for it.