Pimsluer language course

[obxtrainman]

Has anyone tried the Pimsluer tapes? I talked to ai Ye about it. Her answer was, I teach you chinese for 50% It is very expensive , The best I can find is about $150us.

 

On the serious side, I know my wife means well, and thinks it is a waste of money. I want to learn her language. I have bought a couple of books. at this time, I can recognize some of the charecters. Still cannot pronounce Nee hoa correctly

[Randy W]

A set of 8 CD'S FOR $38 (no book) - lesson's 1-16

 

http://www.cheappimsleur.com/inc/pdetail?v=1&pid=618

 

This is about what I bought them for on Amazon.com several months ago, but couldn't find them there now. ni hao (how to us Westerners)

[CR1togo]

Pimsleur may be fine for learning the "Emperor's Chinese" but if she uses something like the Shanghaiese accent forget it. Old thread here talks about Pimsleur and some people have reported sucess using them. acw

[LeeFisher3]

Has anyone tried the Pimsluer tapes?  I talked to ai Ye about it.  Her answer was, I teach you chinese for 50%  It is very expensive , The best I can find is about $150us.

 

On the serious side, I know my wife means well, and thinks it is a waste of money.  I want to learn her language.  I have bought a couple of books.  at this time, I can recognize some of the charecters.  Still cannot pronounce  Nee hoa correctly

I have been using their CD's and will be continuing with them. If you take a look at the site Randy mentioned you will find they have a buy back plan so the cost drops a good bit by taking good care of them. Takes the cost of the $150 down to $50.

 

If you are cautious and wish to test the waters you can get the Quick & Simple Pimsluer set like I did, the best price I found was at Amazon for about $14. This is the first 8 lessons of the Comprehenive program and if you like it then you could order the set.

 

Quick & Simple Mandarin CD - ISBN: 0671790331

Quick & Simple Cantonise CD - ISBN: 0743500164

 

The thing I like about their program is I seem to learn more than just translating the words like many others. They teach you a bit at a time and review often. My SO is amazed with my pronunciation. ( a good amazed )

 

Their program recommends doing this verbally because when we look at the writting we tend to pronounce the words with an American twist trying to apply English rules to Chinese.

[goneflying2000]

A great study course and along with an oxford chinese dictionary will have Ni pu tong hua shuo de hen hao.

Well worth the money.

[Guest aosnow]

realistically, how long would it take to be fully conversant in mandarin?

Beyond, nice weather today, etc. Let's say conversant as beyond that of a child.

[hakkamike]

Get Winmx and download them

[Guest aosnow]

you are not suggesting a copyright violation, I hope.

[hakkamike]

whats that?

[Guest aosnow]

its too complicated to explain here. give you your address and i will explain it in writing.

[hakkamike]

Dont bother Joe I know what it is

[turtle]

The Pimsleur CDs are great. I got the full set about a year ago-- parts I II and III. I paid around $500 for the whole thing, copied them to my ipod, and then sold on Ebay for like $490. It definitely helps, although I'm not sure I'd say it'll make you conversant. Plus you've got to stick with it. I used to have a nice 30 min drive every day where I'd do it. Now that my drive is gone, I've let it slip, big time. There was a thread a while back with more info on this...

[Trigg]

Ive got the English to mandarin set but I haven't used. Lent it to one of the Oregon guys-wonder if he ever used it.

 

I also have the one that teaches English to my wife--full set. Pricey as hell but she likes it.

[cosmiclobster]

The Thousand Oaks library has the complete Pimsleur Mandarin CD set to check out.

Cost = free

[aqua8lung]

I went to a local community collage here in New Jersey and took four semesters of colloquial Chinese. It is much better than trying to teach yourself, but tapes are a good addition to practice with. I took courses that helped you commucate not too much on reading the characters. Look around for some courses and you will be surprised how easy it is. When I am in China I have been told many times that they never met an American who spoke “putonghua.”