Learn Chinese Books Store

Review by H. Drew:

I’ve gone through all 3 full sets of Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese. If you’d have asked me immediately after I’d finished them what I thought of the series, I’d have given it 5 stars without hesitation. However, after spending the past year trying to advance past what I’ve learned via the Pimsleur series, I’ve come across some reservations which prevent me from giving it a 5 star review anymore. While I do feel the Pimsleur method is incredibly useful and (despite its seeming simplicity) very innovative, I think their Mandarin Chinese series also suffers from simply being “plugged in” to the standard Pimsleur format, rather than receiving the customization that would help users truly understand the Chinese language, which has many quirks unique to it.

My reservations:

1) Pimsleur Chinese teaches the Beijing version of Mandarin, which is understandable considering it is the “official” Mandarin dialect according to the Chinese government, but the fact is that the vast majority of overseas Mandarin speakers do not speak Beijing Chinese and may give you puzzled looks when you use the phrases taught in this series. For example, in Beijing the word ‘where’ is said ‘nar’, while just about everywhere else (Taiwan, Singapore, and other parts of China) they say ‘na-li’. Sure, 90% is probably the same, but that 10% that is different can be very confusing. Occasionally they give alternate ways of saying words, but more often they do not. Native Mandarin speakers may understand your Beijing usage and pronunciation, but you will definitely need to re-learn several key words in order to understand when they speak to you.

2) Classical Chinese, I believe, was basically mono-syballic, but Modern Chinese is heavily composed of compound words which can be broken down to their individual components as a mnemonic and as a way of better understanding the language. However, Pimsleur rarely does this. For example, I noticed they gave several words that began with dian (which, via other means of study, I learned means ‘electronic’), such as dian nao (electronic + brain = computer) and dian hoa (electronic + speech = telephone), but I had to look elsewhere to understand the individual components. Pimsleur breaks down a compound word maybe a quarter of the time, but it should have been done EVERY time.

3) Although I still believe Pimsleur is a great introduction to the language, you ultimately only learn a VERY limited vocabulary from the entire 3 sets — maybe a few hundred words — not nearly enough to understand a TV show or movie (again, especially when you consider you are only learning how to say things in Beijing Mandarin).

Don’t get me wrong, Pimsleur does an excellent job of getting the listener to memorize key words and phrases using good pronunciation (my Mandarin speaking friends were quite surprised by my “clear, classical accent”), but it is only a first step. To continue learning Mandarin, you definitely should learn Pinyin (i.e. the method used to translate Chinese characters into English/Romanized spellings — it takes some time to learn as it is not very intuitive) in order to use a dictionary and other instruction books, and as a stepping stone to learning how to read & write Chinese characters (a massive undertaking in itself).

Review by :

I have not found a better way to learn to hear and speak a foreign language than the Pimsleur series. I’ve used both Mandarin I and II, and they have been a big help in enabling me to conduct everyday conversations in China. The hard part about Chinese is that you don’t run into any words that look even vaguely familiar. But the Pimsleur method is gradual. Each lesson begins with a brief conversation between two native speakers. The first time you hear it, you have no idea what’s being said, but by the end of the lesson you’ll be able to understand it and participate in the same conversation. But I found there’s a lot of value in going through each lesson several times. The emphasis is all on listening to native speakers and responding to them in short conversations. The method forces you to learn how the language really sounds, and you get lots of chances to practice getting the pronunciation right. It also has the advantage that you can do the course while driving or exercising. There is a very small reading book, but it’s not essential. If your goal is to read Chinese characters, you want a different course or a text designed for the purpose. The best introductory text I’ve found is “A Key to Chinese Speech and Writing” by Joel Bellassen and Zhang Pengpeng. It’s very user-friendly, and puts a lot of emphasis on the history of each character, which helps a lot in learning them. Trouble is, it’s hard to find. Hint: Amazon should sell it.

Review by AmazonFan:

…(Updated as of 2/2/10)…

Note that this a modified version of my review from the 1+2 Product (which I rated 4 star). I changed my rating to 5 star for this particular version, as the 3rd cd for an extra makes this product great value, IMO.

So I just finished all of the lessons in the software. That alone should give this product a couple of stars….I have previously tried many different ways to learn Chinese (books, CDs etc), but each time, I have given up within 3 weeks.

This product really kept me motivated, because it helped me retain the material! As other reviewers have mentioned, there are a ton of exercises to drill the new vocabulary in, which is so helpful. As background, I am a person who has a really tough time retaining languages….I took 5yrs of French back in High School, but the material just went in one ear and out the other. So the fact that I retained so much due to this product speaks volumes about its effectiveness.

I attempted each lesson twice….one time, I’d take the full lesson, trying all of the exercises, and typing out all of the answers. The 2nd time, I’d skip some of the questions which I knew well. Now that I am done, I plan on trying all the lessons one more time, just to become a little quicker at translating the spoken Chinese (there are 2 really nice lessons at the end which have long sections of dialogue….its a good way to test how much you have progressed).

So what have I learned? My wife, who is Chinese born and speaks fluent Mandarin can understand most of the phrases that I say now, which is nice. I haven’t learned enough to carry out a 1min + conversation with her yet, but that’s to be expected, since this product is an introduction to Mandarin. I can basically just ask her a few random questions. I’ll need to move on to a different product now to further my education. If you just want to be able to survive in China on a short vacation, you should be okay (eg you do learn how to order at a restaurant, give instructions to a cab driver, etc).

Each unit takes about 1-2hrs, depending on your speed. It consists of a thorough review of a spoken passage by the instructor, and then several extremely helpful exercises, which include tasks like speaking the words aloud, matching mandarin with english, and translating english words and phrases into Mandarin (the tones need to be correct as well!)

PROS (keeping this short, because many other pros mentioned in other reviews – see Fluenz 1+2)

-As I stated above, this product really works. I am pleasantly surprised with my progress…..not to mention the fact that it kept me motivated to stick with it all the way to the end.

-There are several exercises that concentrate on pronunciation. The exercises where you tape yourself speaking are especially useful.

-The podcasts are great! Hopefully they are making more of them. It was a great idea to combine the guy who was just learning Mandarin, with the expert. His mistakes combined with her tips were so helpful (IMO this section is more helpful that the tips given by the main instructor in the software piece).

-There are 2 exercises which are devoted to tones. These are probably two of the most useful. As you may know, Mandarin is heavily dependent on tones. These exercises say several different words, and you need to figure out which tone is being used. I found this extremely difficult in some cases (maybe its just me?).

-As you progress further into the product, you are tested on words that you learned a couple of sessions back. It’s a good way to keep everything fresh.

-The customer service is great. They answered my emails within the hour.

CONS (most of these are very minor – more nitpicky than anything else)

-(Note this particular comment refers to 1/2 only. CD 3 has a different instructor, who is a native Mandarin speaker): At the start of each lesson, Sonia takes us through the passage, and gives some comments. While I did like the concept of having an instructor taking us through the dialogue, I do have some complaints about this section. First, and most important, Sonia’s pronunciation is not great (as my Mandarin speaking wife pointed out… she actually started laughing when she heard Sonia’s words in a number of cases). I don’t know why they just didn’t get someone who speaks both Chinese and English fluently to teach this (there are many people who could do this, for example the girl in the podcasts). That said, the exercises are spoken by someone else, and therefore have the correct pronunciation. Also, I didn’t really think the comments offered by Sonia about her experiences added that much value at all (although her trick to remember the word for restaurant was nice).

-In the exercises where you need to type in the pinyin, and there are multiple ways of saying things which have been taught, the software only accepts the 1 answer. This can get frustrating when you think you have made a mistake, but indeed you are correct. Fortunately, I had someone to ask when I was unsure. But it would have been nice if they programmed 2-3 answers, particularly because they taught 2-3 options in those cases. (Update: CD3 has addressed this issue)

-When you get an answer incorrect, and you press on the answer button, your original response disappears. Sometimes it becomes difficult to remember where you made the error (particularly when your mistake was to use the wrong tone), because you have nothing available to compare to the correct answer. (Update: CD3 has addressed this issue)

Despite these cons (which are all minor), I would recommend this product (and already have to several people).

UPDATE from 2/2/10:

-I bought the 3rd cd about a month ago, and I am now 2/3 of the way through (like I mentioned above, I really am learning a lot, and it is “sticking” in my head, so I motivated practice about an hr a day). The 3rd cd is great. All of the cons that I mentioned above have been rectified.

The instructor (can’t remember her name) is awesome! I find her comments extremely useful. She provides a lot more additional information about the topics that you are learning, and in addition she provides thorough explanations about the appropriate grammar. I found this much more helpful than the color coding used in CDs 1/2.

Review by Terry Nienhuis:

I have been using Rosetta Stone Mandarin for two years and Fluenz Mandarin for about three months. I spent July 2008 and July 2009 in Nanjing, China, and I am about to spend nearly four months in Nanjing this year. I believe Fluenz is a superior learning program in many ways, but I think the most important feature is that Fluenz insists that I learn the proper tones for the words I acquire. If I get the word right but the tone wrong, my response is considered inaccurate and I must repeat the exercise until I get the tone right. Since proper tones are the key to communicating clearly with native speakers, Fluenz is, I think, a significantly superior product.

Review by Thomas E. Tweedel:

Ok, I’ve got really mixed feelings about this one. After Level 1 Volume 1 I was really excited, but when we got this one I was just left scratching my head and asking “why”

Objectively speaking its a fine Langauge DVD, its pretty comparable with others I’ve seen on the market and if you get it your kids will learn something. So its ok, just not great.

My big issue with this DVD relates in its comparison to Level 1 Volume 1 of the same series.

First its THE EXACT SAME MATERIAL! The first disk covered it pretty well, why am I forking out for another disk to go over the same words and scenarios in a slightly different format? Maybe there wasn’t enough pizazz in the first disk? There is some material in this disk that wasn’t covered in disk one, but its less than 10% of the total content.

The presentation on this disk is somewhat different. The same words and elements (following Billy and Bemboo on his day, family members, trip to the farm, parts of the body etc). Each segment covers more or less the same info it did in disk 1. The differneces are that instead of using flash type animation its now a combination of “live” video and 3D video. The narrator is now some guy named Andre who’s dressed up in a really lame tree costume. Instead of Flash animation we now have live video of Billy and his family. Bemboo is now a GCI dog and does more speaking. Different segments (like the farm trip) are now done in full 3D CGI in a style similar to the Animation from Veggie Tales.

I suppose its ok but it just seems to break the continutity up (especially the live action where the freeze the video and voice the word being taught). There is also a segments that if you don’t choose movie only that will go into an “interactive” mode where you have to choose the right choice to match the term on the screen. I suppose thats a plus if you happen to be handy with the remote and watching it with your kids. Otherwise it slows it down and their attention drifts elsewhere.

On the plus side they Chinese speakers have better pronounciation (so says the mainlander).

So is it better or worse than Volume 1? Depends on your preferences I guess, I think its a step down and watching my kids lack of interest tends to tell me I’m right. It just falls into the category of an average langauge DVD vs its exceptional predicessor. But maybe your kids will respond better to the new presentation. There is a little bit more material in this one than the first one but its mostly the same, you could skip it and not miss much.

Pros-

Fair presentation

Good selection of material

Good pronounciation

Cons (if you already own the first volume)

Same material as the first one

Not as engaging

Review by D. Hsiao:

I watched both the level 1 and level 2 videos with my American-born elementry school nephew and pre-school niece.
The video was appealing to them because it’s like a cartoon video. The scenes in the video are very visual and focused, it’s directly related to the dialog, so it’s very easy for children to understand what the video is teaching.The music and songs in the video are also great! I love the tunes, they are very catchy. The children learned it really fast, and soon they are singing along.
I also like the fact that the song lyrics are made up of phrases from the teaching material, and repeat itself over and over. This helps the children to learn through repeatition.My nephew and niece are both attending private after school program to learn Chinese. I saw far more progress after watching the videos for few weeks, than they going to 1-1/2 years of language school. Plus if I watch the video with the kids, I know exactly what was taught in the video, it’s much easier for me to start practcing with them. As oppose to going to the language school, which I have no idea what they are teaching, therefore it’s hard for me to start a conversation in Chinese with them.
Also the materials from the video are related to things we would normally encounter in real life, so there are many occasions to take the opportunity to practice the vocabularies.Lastly, the story of all the videos are centered around Billy and BenBoo, the two main characters, and their family, so you’ll be familiar with the characters after the first video, and easy to move on to the next. I especially love the adorable dog Ben Boo, he’s so playful and brings so much energy!Thanks Language Tree for making learning so much fun!!! I can’t wait to see the next video!

Review by Martin Liu:

With my eight year old son and infant daughter, I reviewed “Mandarin Chinese Beginning Level 1″ presented by Language Tree. What amazes me the most is they make the language learning process entertaining, rather than the traditional way of “pain”.

Several songs throughout the video make the whole process fun! Literally, you can dance with the songs while you and your children are learning – that’s what I did with my kids. The short sentences are easy to follow, and for every scene you get a quick review on what you just learned. The multiple story sessions are situations you bump into daily. It is amazing that all of the above is packed in just 30 minutes! I am waiting for Language Tree’s next video to be produced.

Martin Liu
Activity Director (School Years 2003 – 2005)
Board of San Diego Chinese Academy
La Jolla, California