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Pimsleur Chinese (Mandarin) Compact Audio Cassette – January 1, 1998

by Dr. John H. T. Lu (Author)

3.7 31 ratings

With Pimsleur Language Programs you don't just study a language, you learn it the same way you mastered English! And because the technique relies on interactive spoken language training, the Pimsleur Language Programs are totally audio -- no books are needed!The Pimsleur programs provide a method of self-practice with an expert teacher and native speakers in lessons specially designed to work with the way the mind naturally acquires language -- vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar are all learned together without mindless memorization. Using a unique method of memory recall developed by renowned linguist, Dr. Paul Pimsleur, the programs teach listeners to combine words and phrases to express themselves the way native speakers do. By simply listening and responding to a native speaker in thirty minute recorded lessons, students learn a new language at their own pace -- comfortably and effectively.

The Pimsleur Comprehensive Program is the ultimate in spoken language learning. For those who want to become proficient in the language of their choice, the Comprehensive Program goes beyond the popular Pimsleur Basic eight lesson programs to offer spoken-language fluency. The Comprehensive Program is available in a wide variety of languages and runs through three levels (thirty lessons each) in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. At the end of a Complete Comprehensive Program listeners will be conducting full-fledged conversations and be well on their way to mastering the language.

15 audiocassettes

Length

0
Pages
Language

EN
English
Publisher

Pimsleur Intl Inc
Publication date

1998
January 1
Dimensions

1.5 x 10.0 x 13.0
inches
ISBN-10

0671579118
ISBN-13

978-0671579111
See all details

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Pimsleur Intl Inc; Abridged edition (January 1, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Audio Cassette ‏ : ‎ 0 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0671579118
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0671579111
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.6 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 1.5 x 10 x 13 inches

Customer Reviews:
3.7 31 ratings

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3.7 out of 5

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Boissenin

very good initiation to chinese

Reviewed in the United States on December 6, 2009

Verified Purchase

i m beginner in chinese and enjoy to learn it with this method, it very efficient.

Helpful

Phil

They need to add the pinyin

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2001

Verified Purchase

I'm a beginning Chinese language student. I actually started these tapes a few weeks before my class began. I drive around in my truck and listen and speak while going back and forth to work. I get in about 1 hour per day and am currently on lesson 12. I have listened to each lesson over 10 times. It takes me that long to know what to say when they ask how to say "I can speak a little Chinese". I usually know what to say at each pause and they have continually reviewed earlier material. It is surprising how much I can remember.
The reason I didn't write the Chinese version of the above question is the same reason I only gave Pimsler 4 stars. They do not supply the pinyin translation for the tapes. Having been in Chinese 1 for 4 weeks now, I find this to be a serious omission. (From my Chinese class I can now write "Wo3 hui4 shuo1 yi4 dianr3 pu3 ton1 ghua4." The numbers indicate the tone for each syllable.) There have been many times where I am not sure what the speaker is actually saying. I try to parrot what he/she sounds like, but often I just have to guess. I wouldn't have to do that if the pinyin translation accompanied the tapes.
One of the other reviews says that a child just learns by listening and doesn't need to read or write. However, a child doesn't have any timeline to learn either. It is a very long process, spanning many years and the child lives in total immersion (the best method). Every moment of every day is a language lesson for a child.
When you are an adult, you don't have that luxury and you need to be more efficient to overcome the discouraging ineptitude of a beginning speaker (your expectations are at a higher level). This is the fourth foreign language I have studied (French, Spanish, Japanese are the others) and this is the toughest. The sounds are very difficult to master, with a single syllable like "ma" having 5 different possible emphases and meanings. I have found I need to use my ears to hear, mouth to speak, eyes to read and hand to write. The tapes are a 5+ for the ears, but I am still not certain what I am saying in many of the phrases. If the pinyin was included I could easily correct that problem. Pinyin has some funny associations between the letter grouping and the sounds, but you will never learn Chinese without learning them (unless you move to China for the total immersion approach).
The tapes are good for training your ear to the up/down tonal sounds of Chinese, but you will have to supplement them with pinyin training so you can read and write too.

21 people found this helpful

Helpful

Douglas R Steinbaum

Poor execution of a good technique

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2000

The Pimsleur Mandarin course (the 1991 unabridged cassette version) utilizes some good techniques, but executes them poorly. First, I'll say what the course does well: They do a very good job of sentence buildup. That is, they make the student recall a concept a bit at a time, first a few words, then a phrase, and then the entire sentence. They also have question and answer sessions that do a moderately good job of forcing the student to think in the language, rather than simply translate from one language to the other word by word. And, they have more hours of audio material than most other Mandarin courses on the market, which is a very important feature - the student needs as much material as possible to aid memorization.
Unfortunately, I find fault with several aspects of the Pimsleur Mandarin course. First, it seems as if the editors did not proof the course. Many times, the instructor on the tape asks the student to say something that requires the use of a word that has yet to be introduced. This is very frustrating for the student. In addition, the period of silence that follows questions and precedes the provided correct response is often too short. This makes it impossible for even a good student to answer the question prior to being given the answer, further frustrating the student. Also, since the student will often hear the answer before he/she has had enough time to recall the answer from memory, the student will not exercise his/her memory, but will instead get into the mode of just waiting for the answer and repeating after the teacher. Having the opportunity to recall information without being given the answer right away is important from the standpoint of improving retention.
Second, the course lacks adequate written material. It does not include a transcript of the taped lessons, making study and review very difficult. And, it lacks a dictionary, so it is impossible for the student to look up words he/she has forgotten.
Third, the course does a poor job of teaching the student the tones of the Chinese language. Tones are critical; not learning proper tones will result in poor comprehension and saying one thing but meaning something else. The instructors on the tape do not seem to always enunciate the tones clearly and perfectly; tones are often unclear (in my opinion). Since the course does not include written materials to which the student can refer, the student is forced to infer tones of new words from the tape's speakers. This is often extremely difficult.
Fourth, the course lacks adequate repetition of the language. Although it includes 15 tapes, each tape has only about 20 minutes of material per side, and each tape has plenty of space filled with slow English explanations (which are nonetheless needed). Thus, the course does not give the student a whole lot of time exposure to the language and does not allow presentation of vocabulary words in many different contexts. This makes memorization difficult.
Fifth, the course teaches very little grammar, making it difficult for the student to express things other than basic concepts.
Overall, I find the course to be mediocre, especially considering the price. I think that the Pimsleur technique of graduated recall (requesting the student to recall from memory phrases learned in earlier lessons) is a very good one. And, the unique technique of having an on-tape English speaking assistant is quite helpful. But, the execution of the course was poor. As a result, the course is frustrating and time consuming. Nonetheless, with great diligence and expending about 45 minutes per day, one should be able to complete the course and get a very basic working knowledge of Chinese.

15 people found this helpful

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Simona Muratori

8 of the lessons are those of the basic program

Reviewed in the United States on June 7, 2000

I like Pimsleur method and find it effective. I bought the Basic Program first and, having liked it, I bought the Comprehensive Program. However I was very disappointed discovering that the first tapes are exactly those of the basic course, which was not clearly stated anywhere. Since the price of the Comprehensive Program is quite high, it is not pleasant to discover that part of the money you had to pay was simply devoted to obtain a copy of something you got already.

33 people found this helpful

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