Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Get ready to have lots of fun learning Mandarin Chinese with ChinaSprout's little friends. This remarkable video gets children singing and dancing along with the kids on the screen as they learn colors, numbers, names of animals and fruits, and more. Created by Zhao Sunny Zeng, an experienced Chinese teacher who has taught in New York City for 10 years, this entertaining program is also a highly effective learning tool. It works as well in a classroom setting as it does at home. To facilitate a parent's or teacher's assistance and interaction, subtitles are in both Pinyin and Chinese simplified characters.Also included in this package is a superb, beautifully illustrated 26 page booklet containing all the vocabulary words, drills, and songs in English, Pinyin, and Chinese characters. Bright graphics and lively tunes make this a winner for 3-8 year olds. We are sure you will find this program to be both fun and educational.

Amazon.com

Research shows that young children have an amazing aptitude for foreign languages. Developed by veteran Chinese teacher Zhao Sunny Zeng, this 23-minute Chinasprout program makes learning Mandarin Chinese fun and entertaining. An engaging teacher introduces two young, traditionally dressed pupils to the numbers one to 10, colors, fruits, and animals; has them repeat the Mandarin words; and then answer questions like "what color is this" and "what's your favorite animal?" A larger class of children expands upon each basic lesson with songs set to popular children's tunes, fun rhymes, and by imitating some favorite animals. Subtitles are provided in Pinyin and Chinese simplified characters (a version utilizing the standard Roman alphabet that can be phonetically sounded out). Familiar tunes, young children having fun, and a teacher that speaks slowly and clearly add up to a fun show that will teach children ages 3 to 8 some basic Mandarin Chinese. --Tami Horiuchi

Review

Say Ni Hao (hello)to this clever, colorful introductory guide to Mandarin Chinese. Enthusiastically recommended for both home and classroom use. -- Video Librarian, January-February 2002

Product details

Is Discontinued By Manufacturer ‏ : ‎ No
Package Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.32 x 4.19 x 1.12 inches; 6.13 Ounces
Director ‏ : ‎ Stella Lau, Erica Lin
Run time ‏ : ‎ 30 minutes
Release date ‏ : ‎ December 30, 2000
Date First Available ‏ : ‎ September 29, 2006
Actors ‏ : ‎ Lily Zhang, Wimmer, Paul
ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0970733208

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4.7 10 ratings

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4.7 out of 5

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L. Wong-Lau

Excellent Beginning

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2002

Verified Purchase

There are very few beginning Chinese language videos for kids so it's hard not to appreciate everything available. This one is very good - I really liked the Chinese pronounciation printed on the screen and little pamphlet that comes along with the video. Makes it easier for the viewer to sing along. The teacher does a good job reviewing numbers, colors, animals, etc. with good teaching aids. (something another earlier-produced Chinese video did not have.) The only small shortcoming is that it appears the video was produced with one camera without any special "add-ins" to raise the quality up a notch. I only say this to alert you if you are used to seeing other kids videos that have very slick graphics and cut-ins and outs. As I noted in the beginning of this review, there are very few Chinese videos fo kids so I very much appreciate something new for my child to watch.

One person found this helpful

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L. Mazar

Nihao!

Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2001

We have owned this video for a few months and we are very pleased with it. The video features a teacher and an adorable group of preschool children who are learning some basic Chinese vocabulary. The outfits and sets are very colorful and attractive and the songs and movement keeps the kids' attention. The video teaches counting to 10, colors, names of some animals and fruit. The teacher uses songs (familiar melodies) and some short drills to learn the words. I think the pace is a little fast for me, but it seems to work OK for my kids. The video also comes with a booklet that has the vocabulary words and the song lyrics in pictures, English, pinyin, and in the Chinese symbols. The booklet is a very helpful companion to the video.
While the production may be a little less than professional, there is still a lot to be learned from the video. We have enjoyed it and are learning from it. I would highly recommend it to families with children who are starting to learn Chinese. We can't wait for more videos from ChinaSprout!

Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2008

The kids love this video and enjoy watching it and singing along with it. We have the CD in the car and they ask me to play it frequently, then they love to sing along with it, even though they haven't picked up all the words yet. We have a number of other Chinese language learning CDs and flashcards for our now 5 and 3 year old girls, but this (and a green colored Ni Hao box, too) is their favorite. The kids would be no where near where they're at w/out this tape. Yesterday when they were playing restaurant the 3 year old asked me what I wanted. I asked for various foods, pronouncing the Chinese words for the foods. When she came back w/my order each time I asked her what foods she brought me (we did this one order at a time to keep it to one Chinese word). Most of the time she told me the Chinese name for the food she brought me. Our 5 year old speaks even better. They learned those words from this video series. Not bad considering their dad has only learned Chinese by watching the videos w/them and by looking at the manual that came w/it. The words in the video and the manual are in Chinese and English.

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An observer

The perfect introductory Chinese language video for children

Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2001

This is an excellent tape for children of all ages. It introduces conversational Chinese language to children at a steady pace. Children will not be bored by the video either, as the language lessons are presented in a fun, interactive way. There is also a companion booklet that summarizes what was taught on the tape and it helps adults to follow along and sing the songs. The names of animals and fruits and colors are covered and the children in the video are definitely having fun learning! An added bonus for adults is that there are "subtitles", showing the Chinese characters and pinyin (phonetic) spelling for the lessons. The companion booklet also has the characters and pinyin for easy reference. I highly recommend this video - our daughter loves it! I just hope Chinasprout will come out with a second, more advanced video soon.

2 people found this helpful

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K. Bakos

Family Fun and Learning Together

Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2001

I ordered this video back in February in preparation of our impending adoption from and travel to China. Our son who is five has picked up many of the words after the first viewing and learns more each time. I will admit my husband and I are slower at picking it up, but still are learning from it. The children are adorable, and the Chinese outfit are beautiful. I would recommend this video to any family with kids. The songs are set to familiar American tunes, but the words are in chinese. It is much easier to learn the words when the music is already familiar. I hope China Sprout comes out with a Volume 2 soon! (One word of caution - because of the accent, the word "butterfly" sounds like "butt-fly", which every child I have seen picks up immediatly. But it is a good chance to explain the difference in the way people speak, too.)

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Eduardo Morales

Wonderful video with some minor technical flaws

Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2001

My 5 years son and I have enjoyed this video and learnt a lot, my son is getting the very chinese pronounciation of difficult words and really likes it. However the only problem is that a the end of the video there are some technical problems that make the image noisy and not clear.
I am looking forward for a second one.

One person found this helpful

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Rebecca Ann Miklos

Great for kids adopted from China

Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2001

As the mom of a 26 month old adopted from China, I am thoroughly pleased with this video. I want my daughter to be exposed to her native language, especially at her young age. She is completely captivated by the up-beat, energetic, colorful and fun mix of songs, counting, and words. This video teaches children the Chinese words for numbers 1 to 10, colors, animals, and fruit, as well as simple phrases. The children in the video are adorable as they sing and dance in beautiful Chinese clothing. The songs are very catchy. It is the best I have seen of its kind for teaching Chinese to children. And it's teaching me some Chinese, too!

5 people found this helpful

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Carol C.

NiHao Little Friends

Reviewed in the United States on August 28, 2001

This is a wonderful video. It contains many of the same lessons and songs my daughter is learning at Chinese School. Its great fun and a great teaching tool. My my four year old readily listens to the entire tape!

One person found this helpful

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Format	Subtitled, NTSC, Color
Contributor	Lily Zhang, Wimmer, Paul, Stella Lau, Erica Lin
Number Of Discs	1
Runtime	30 minutes
Publication Date	December 30, 2000

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NiHao Little Friends - Learn Chinese with ChinaSprout [VHS]

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