Teach Me More Chinese (Paperback and Audio CD): A Musical Journey Through the Year [Audio CD]

Judy Mahoney (Author, Creator)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Series: Teach Me More

This title is suitable for ages 2 to 12 years. It includes a 45-minute CD and 20-page colouring book that includes all lyrics and translations.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Audio CD
• Publisher: Teach Me Tapes (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0934633479
• ISBN-13: 978-0934633475
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,430,118 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #95 in Books > Books on CD > Children's Fiction > Educational

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Ouch, my ears!, October 24, 2004

By 

Laura De Giorgio "hypnotherapist" (Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Teach Me More Chinese (Paperback and Audio CD): A Musical Journey Through the Year (Audio CD)

This second CD sounds somewhat better than the first one.

English part on this CD is awesome - both the background music and the voices sound professionally done. The problem with Chinese is not that the vocalists are bad - for the most part they sound decent - but no matter how good voice you may have if you keep on trying to squish 5 - 10 syllables into a beat of music that can accommodate harmoniously only one or two - it's not going to work.

The music on this CD was created to accommodate English verses. When these English verses got translated to Chinese, the number of Chinese syllables that has to fit into the same music constantly comes out as being either not enough or too much.

it makes me wonder if musicians who were involved in creating these songs didn't have ears to hear how bad the combination sounds, or they didn't care, or thought that kids for whom it was made, would either not notice or care.

This recording could've been done beautifully if instead of using popular western music to accompany Chinese verses, they picked perhaps some Chinese music.

For example videos for learning Chinese for kids - with Mei Mei or with Jade, have songs that sound million times better than the songs on this CD.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just as good as the first one, August 5, 2004

By 

A. Truong (Campbell, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Teach Me More Chinese (Paperback and Audio CD): A Musical Journey Through the Year (Audio CD)

This CD is an excellent compliment to the first Teach Me Chinese CD.

My son has listened to these CD's frequently since he was born (in 2000) and he really likes these CD's.

I prefer the "Teach Me" CD's over the "Sing 'n Learn" as the voices are better, the songs are sun in english too, and the dialog between songs reinforces the topics covered in the songs.

There aren't very many professional quality language cd's for children out there. Between Sing 'N Learn Chinese and Teach Me (More) Chinese, I definitely think the Teach Me series is executed more professionally with a more pleasing result.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Awkward and unpleasant, January 16, 2006

By 

A. VdV (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Teach Me More Chinese (Paperback and Audio CD): A Musical Journey Through the Year (Audio CD)

I was very disappointed with both the CD and the book. For one, the Chinese songs on the CD are English songs that have been awkwardly translated into Chinese - making for numerous, numerous instances of rushed lines and syllables, as well as contracted or dropped syllables/words. Additionally, they're not exact translations, either - the last line of "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" (which, in English, is traditionally "Head, shoulders, knees and toes!") becomes, in Chinese, "Eyes, ears, mouth, nose, clap hands!"
I also found the vocals to be horrendous. The English vocals are fairly standard kid's music fare - annoyingly cutesy/sweet/"dreamy". The Chinese vocals are, for the most part, a screechy mess.
The only reason I gave this item 2 stars is because my son, despite what I think, likes the CD. And, to be fair, the spoken Chinese sections aren't that bad - plus, it's one of the few widely available Chinese language learning products for children.