Chinese (Mandarin)

Rating:
Summary: Good as an appetizer
Review: Basically I do not believe in learning to speak a language without learning to read it at the same time. You will acquire knowledge of the principles of Mandarin pronunciation and some syntax. The course is very repetitive and the amount of vocabulary you will learn is very limited. The repetition is part of the Pimsleur method of memory training, absorption and immersion. Having completed the course, I now feel somewhat familiar with Mandarin pronunciation and at ease with it. But you will only acquire about two or three dozen sentences of polite conversation between an American Gentleman and a Chinese woman he meets.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent way to become acquainted with a Language
Review: This is not a language course but it is an easy and pleasant way to become acquainted with the language. It is easy but it is slow. If you don't want to work too hard and you want to see if you would like to continue at a higher level I would recommend it. You don't get any written material but just listen to the recording. It is easy but thorough. It gives you enough to get started. I wanted a little Chinese as I will be working in China and Singapore next year and it has given me a start. If I decide I want to learn the language seriously I will probably buy a different program.

This program has done exactly what I wanted.

Rating:
Summary: great for the price
Review: This program offers a lot of value for how much it costs. It is the best audio Chinese program you can buy in its price category. Pimsleur did a good job on this one. I particularly appreciated how they explained how to pronounce the pinyin equivalent of "ren." They said that this was pronounced not with a R but a cross between an R and Y. As you know, Mandarin is a language that does not always map 1 to 1 over to English. This great explanation on how to pronounce a difficult word for Westerners learning Chinese typifies the thorough research Pimsleur did to create this program.