Rating: 
Summary: Wo hue shuo Puntanghua (I can speak Mandarin)
Review: I wanted to learn a little bit of Mandarin in preparation for a business trip to Beijing. I've listened to several language tapes from different companies. Pimsleur is by *far* the easiest to use and work with of the tapes I've sampled. They don't use a book, working on the premise that you will learn by listening and repeating. They use a tremendous amount of reinforcement, at regular intervals. Just as a word or phrase is starting to fade, the narrator refreshes your memory. Personally, I would like to have a vocabulary list of the different lessons in printed form, but I understand that their approach is oriented toward spoken language. I am still afraid that my first attempt to say "Good Morning" will be interpreted as an insult to the sexual habits of my host's grandmother, but at least it will be clear that I am making an effort. "Wo shi Mayguaren, kashi wo hue shuo idiar Puntanghua. Wo hue shuo da bu hao." (I am an American, but I can speak a little Mandarin. I do not speak it well.) I highly recommend this series. I wish I'd had it back in school. It would have made "Language Lab" far more enjoyable and productive. Your Humble Jester, Philip the Foole
Rating:
Summary: Pimsleur Chinese (Mandarin) I
Review: I am currently using the set of 30 tapes, and I find it to be an excellent learning tool. The tapes are well planned with plenty of time for repetition. Each tape builds slightly on the preceding tape, so that the learner is not overwhelmed. There is no text that accompanies the tapes, which was difficult to get used to at first. I'm finding that not trying to learn written Chinese at the same time is generally a good idea. As a non-alphabetic language, there's virtually no direct phonetic link between the written character and the spoken word anyway, and the Romanized Chinese isn't necessary to follow the tapes. My Chinese tutor is very pleased with my accent, which comes from listening to the tapes for about an hour a day while driving. The proof will be in the pudding -- the next trip to China -- but I am already looking forward to starting Part II.
Rating:
Summary: Excelent
Review: This course works very well! Although you don't learn very much vocabulary, what you do learn you learn well.I realy wish the comprehensive version was less expensive though. The program leaves you with an excelent accent (or so I've been told)
Rating:
Summary: Cantonese the right way
Review: Ok. Pimsleur won't get you very far, is expensive as hell, and is somewhat cumbersome to work with. So the rest of this review will be about how in hell did I get to giving it five stars. There are several ways to go about when wanting to learn a language in an audio-only manner. You can get the "Learn in your car" from Penton Overseas. You can get the audio-only course from Living Language. Or you can take Pimsleur. From the lot, Pimsleur would be the ONLY decent answer for the utter beginner, with the other options, you will find yourself replaying the tapes a couple of times. Does any language course that is a self learning course worth this kind of money? No. That's why we have the next paragraph. Money. First of all, by all means get it used. It is an audio course that I recommend going through only once. So if you're lucky enough to find a CD version used, it will be exactly the same (of course - assuming that the seller is decent enough to sell unscratched CD-s). As for used audio cassettes, well, as much as we want to hear the correct pronounciation, we have to remember - this is not Mozart, it is only recorded speech. However even if you don't find it used, you can buy it, and after completing the course, sell it as used. As this is suitable for first time learning, and is too much for review purposes (perhaps the other audio-only courses will be better for review). One last thing. Usability. I'll talk technology, but it's essential here. When I bought the heavy package, the first thing I've done was to move it to MP3. So then I had the entire audio collection on a single CD. In such a way you take a single disc to your car, play it with a mobile MP3 player, and stock the valuable course in your closet for backup. In that way, when you finish with the course, the originals stay in a good enough state to be sold as used. However, if you won't convert to MP3, the need to each time take another cassette/CD to your car would be a serious drawback, since storing the entire course in your car doesn't sound as a sensible alternative to me. To wrap it up, buy it, MP3 it, learn it, sell it.
Rating:
Summary: The easiest program I've found
Review: I have to admit, I didn't think I'd learn anything from these tapes but I was very suprised how much I had retained. The complete (30 lessons) Cantonese learning program was very easy to use, all I did was spare half an hour a day. It took me about 10 weeks to finish and I was very happy with what I'd learnt. I could speak to friends and be understood, even though my vocabulary was small, the words I knew sprang to mind effortlessly and quickly. My friends were quite impressed. The program would be much more fulfilling however, had there been an intermediate and expert volume as with some other Pimsleur courses. I was just beginning to really enjoy Cantonese when I ran out of tapes, I hope a second and third edition are on the way. I would recommend this to anyone serious about learning another language, but if you wish to become fluent, this only the first step.
Note: Some of the other reviews are about the Mandarin version.
Rating:
Summary: Overall review
Review: .... There are several ways to go about when wanting to learn a language in an audio-only manner. You can get the "Learn in your car" from Penton Overseas. You can get the audio-only course from Living Language. Or you can take Pimsleur. From the lot, Pimsleur would be the ONLY decent answer for the utter beginner, with the others you will find yourself replaying the tapes a couple of times. Does any language course that is a self learning course worth this kind of money? No. That's why we have the next paragraph. Money. First of all, by all means get it used. It is an audio course that I recommend going through only once. So if you're lucky enough to find a CD version used, it will be exactly the same (of course - assuming that the seller is decent enough to sell unscratched CD-s). As for used audio cassettes, well, as much as we want to hear the correct pronounciation, we have to remember - this is not Mozart, it is only recorded speech. However even if you don't find it used, you can buy it, and after completing the course, sell it as used. As this is suitable for first time learning, and is too much for review purposes (perhaps the other audio-only courses will be better for review). One last thing. Usability. I'll talk technology, but it's essential here. When I bought the heavy package, the first thing I've done was to move it to MP3. So then I had the entire audio collection on a single CD. In such a way you take a single disc to your car, play it with a mobile MP3 player, and stock the valuable course in your closet for backup. In that way, when you finish with the course, the originals stay in a good enough state to be sold as used. However, if you won't convert to MP3, the need to each time take another cassette/CD to your car would be a serious drawback, since storing the entire course in your car doesn't sound as a sensible alternative to me. ....
Rating:
Summary: Painless way for busy people to learn a new language
Review: I would thoroughly recommend this method of learning for busy people with no time to attend a class or to sit for hours pouring over a book.It's especially suitable for those with car journeys to and from work.It strikes me as the most natural way for our brains to learn a language - listening and repeating - exactly the way we all learned to speak as babies. This is particularly relevent to learning Chinese, as the correct intonation of each word is vital to being understood. I've just come back from my first holiday to China. I was determined to learn a bit of the language, so I spent 3 months beforehand working my way through Pimsleur's Mandarin 1. I did an average of one to two tapes a week in the car on my way to work, repeating difficult bits until I was sure the words had stuck. Thanks to this seemingly little effort, by the end of the course I had the building blocks to make my own sentences and could make myself understood in most everyday situations,such as airports,hotels,shops and restaurants, asking for directions, saying a little about myself and the make up of my family. We visited Shanghai, where very few people outside the hotels spoke English. It was great fun to be able to have basic conversations with the people we met and they were always delighted that we'd made an effort to learn some Chinese.
Rating: 
Summary: this is a great system, but could be improved
Review: Pimsleur is by far the best language program you can buy short of taking an first rate accredited class. The only downside to Pimsleur is that it doesn't teach you how to write. Other reviews have suggested that Pimsleur is the ONLY way to learn a language. I respectfully disagree. Is it important to know the difference between "right" and "Wright?" Is there a difference between "there" and "their?" Of course there is. As English speakers, we are well versed in the difference between the similar sounding words. Are there words in Chinese that sound the same but mean something totally different? Sure there are, just like in any other language. But if we were not taught how to write, there is no way we would know. Writing is an important language skill. To be truly successful in learning a foreign language, you need to be able to read, write, listen, read, and speak it. To say that you only need to hear it and speak it is oversimplying the problem of learning a new language. That said, Pimsleur does a great job of teaching you how to speak it and understand it, which for most people, that is all you need to know when you are travelling as a tourist. Again, this is the best oral Chinese language program out there.
Rating:
Summary: Confidence Building
Review: I bought the 30 tape course in November 2001 for a trip to Beijing in February 02. Now maybe I was being a little ambitious expecting to learn much however I have to say that I was very pleasantly surprised.
The course was easy to follow. As other reviewers have done I listened to the tape driving to work. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday I also went out in my lunch hour and parked up in my car in a quiet place listening and repeating. Then driving home I played the tape again. Maybe once more that same night before bed or in the early evening. So each tape was listened to at least 4 times. Sometimes I'd do the same tape for 3-4 days as quite often it was just on as background accompaniment during my commute. Over the Christmas/New Year holiday I was about half way through the course. The system works. The words and phrases stick in your memory. By the time I went to Beijing I felt able to tackle conversations. I was able to make myself understood to the extent that I had taxi drivers speaking to me in rapid fire Mandarin expecting me to follow the conversation. If I had the money and had another trip back to China I'd definitely buy Mandarin 2 as the only downside is the lack of a really comprehensive vocabulary. Having said that it really is survival Mandarin which is needed in China away from, and even in, the tourist areas. Finally, to show how good the system was and without being a big head, I was speaking better Mandarin than a guy who'd been living in Beijing for 7 months. Another local Westerner who'd been there for 10 years told me that it had taken him about 2 years to get to the level of speech/understanding that I was at. So thank you Pimsleur.
Rating:
Summary: Learn Mandarin while u drive...
Review: After taking traditional courses in Latin, Italian, and German, I thought it would be a real challenge in my senior years to learn something completely different. Enter Mandarin. After searching out various taped programs to use while I commuted to work, I opted for the small Pimsleur tape version. Soon I realized I needed to upgrade to the full 30 unit CD version(the beginning was identical to the sample tape version). It was an excellent choice. Yes, they sometimes speak faster than you can respond; no, I don't mind replaying a disk to improve diction; and yes, it is expensive. But when I finished Mandarin I, I replayed the entire set of 30 units randomly to improve my own spontaneous responses. My vocabulary became more natural and my pronunciation improved (as confirmed by speaking to Chinese students at my university). It is clear you get one dimnension of instruction. I tried Transparent Language and it didn't engage me as much. After six months, I started sitting in a traditional college Mandarin course which helped even more. Most cities have a Chinese-American community where people get together to learn Chinese, so this should be available to most. I enjoyed it enough that I now bought Mandarin II. This picks up the pace and expects you to be in good shape from Mandarin I. I am most satisfied. Starting with listening and speaking is a good way to learn pronunciation naturally and accurately, but you still need real-person feedback (even with CDs I sometimes had problems with consonants). So it's now 15 months later (I only listen while I commute for 20 min.), and I have very positive feedback from my Chinese friends. So go for it. Beijing here I come.
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