Pimsleur Language Program: Chinese Mandarin I

Rating:
Summary: There's nothing in second place
Review: Recommend Mandarin I, II and III absolutely.

I had always thought Pimsleur was too expensive. I still think it's expensive, but everything else seems to be a waste of time. If you want to learn to speak Chinese as well and as quickly as possible, use the Pimsleur full audio courses. Your pronunciation will be quite good, and your usage will be natural and idiomatic. You will have one problem: Chinese listeners will think you know more Chinese than you do because you sound so believable. You have to explain to them that once you get outside the material you know, you're like a new-born babe. (That's where live tutors and textbooks come in).

I studied several European languages successfully (wihtout Pimsleur) before attempting Chinese. Before finding Pimsleur, I tried two other audio courses with no success. Now I have worked through Pimsleur Mandarin I, II and half of III all in the car. My next language will be learned with Pimsleur, too. I have found no other audio language courses that are satisfactory.

The speakers on the CDs have very standard pronunciation and very pleasant voices. A pleasant voice is very important if you have to listen to if for many hours!

Rating:
Summary: effective, but with a drawback
Review: This is a solid program. After repeated listenings, you will most certainly be able to converse in the language . . . though only at a basic level. My biggest problem with this project is the sound quality. In this age of CDs, why the stubborn allegiance to cassettes? I left cassettes behind ages ago and found the exposure to tape hiss to be unpleasantly retro and interferring. Still, my training got me around Xian and other spots in China with non-English speaking locals. When I finally ran into a bilingual fellow, he commented on my Mandarin: "not bad for a round eyes!"

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.