Rosetta Stone

[Guest Rob & Jin]

You mean for "Dummies."

 

I figured Rob or Jim would nail me on that one!!!

 

 

Yimi got you first

[yemmie]

I got both, and find them both very hard, Jin thinks my chinese is very funny.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I studied with RS for a while. One day when we were talking on MSN, I proudly spoke a couple pf sentences in Chinese. My girl looked at me like I was crazy, and she had no idea what I was talking about. I thought I was reproducing the sounds accurately. Nope.

[pha]

For all those learning Chinese,

 

Start with the pinyin and the tones first. The problem with most non-native speakers is that they don't understand the importance of the tone. If you pronounce one wrong or not clearly enough, Mandarin speakers will have no idea what you are saying. The good news is there are only 4 tones plus a neutral/or no tone. It's absolutely essential that you get those down. Have your wife go over them with you until they sound right, even if you think they are right you need to work on them! Think of them like notes, and if you don't hit the note you aren't speaking correctly.

 

Once you have the tones down, move on to pinyin. Again, learn all the initial and final syllables and how to write and pronounce them. (There aren't that many and most are similar to English, it's the lack of syllables that makes Chinese is so confusing later). Here they all are:

 

http://www.chinese-outpost.com/language/pr...als-table-1.asp

 

After you learn the pinyin, you can start learning the characters which are essential because so many sounds are the same, but with different characters. Take it slow, and learn a little bit at a time. If you use this method, it doesn't really matter what material you use to learn. Once you have the basics you can learn anything. Just ask your wife to write out the sentence in characters with pinyin above it and you'll be able to pronounce it.

 

Listening is harder, and it will take you a while to understand anything. But, being able to speak properly will help you along. Good luck.

[chrisnhong]

In order for best learning:

1. Pimsleur; It's brilliant for learning to speak. Unfortunately, it's only a beginning. What you learn is excellent, but it's only a small part of learning chinese.

2. Chinesepod.com; A massive resource and growing all the time. Start with pinyin, but if you can learn some characters, it rounds out your knowledge.

 

Rosetta Stone has a steeper learning curve than Pimsleur but takes you much further. But if you want to use it, a good electronic dictionary is vital. I use Plecodict on a small palm based smartphone.

 

In fact I'd recommend Plecodict for anyone whose wife doesn't have excellent english.

[David&Wendy]

I got Pimsleur Mandarin I,II,III for listening in the car.

I also got it from my local library.

 

I do have Rosetta Stone Mandarin I and II. I've had it for at least a year. It's a pretty good way to learn words. Since it is a computer program I don't use it as much.

 

I just ask my wife now that she is here.

[David&Wendy]

In order for best learning:

1. Pimsleur; It's brilliant for learning to speak. Unfortunately, it's only a beginning. What you learn is excellent, but it's only a small part of learning chinese.

2. Chinesepod.com; A massive resource and growing all the time. Start with pinyin, but if you can learn some characters, it rounds out your knowledge.

 

Rosetta Stone has a steeper learning curve than Pimsleur but takes you much further. But if you want to use it, a good electronic dictionary is vital. I use Plecodict on a small palm based smartphone.

 

In fact I'd recommend Plecodict for anyone whose wife doesn't have excellent english.

 

 

I really like Chinesepod.com

The girl Jenny is definately from Shanghai.

My wife is from Southern China and laughs at the way the guy speak Mandarin.

[chrisnhong]

I pay for Chinesepod for one month every six months or so. What I've seen recently is extremely impressive. There are new things being put up all the time. The Fix is a more Pimsleur like recording that emphasizes vocabulary. Qing Wen looks at commonly used grammar. Movie madness takes popular western films which have been dubbed into Chinese and works through some of the language while guessing which film it is. Given that the site is being updated and enlarged all the time, it becomes better and better value.

[Finer in China]

A friend gave me the full Rosetta Stone (for every language) so I'm going to give it a shot for 6 months before I go to China.

[griz326]

Pimsleur & Chinesepod both allow you to walk the dog or do something else while your are learning....

 

Many other programs tie you to a computer.

 

Unfortunately, I have yet to find a course that actually teaches you pinyin. That is...provides a workbook and tape that gives you enough content that when you see new content you know what to do with it.

 

Chinese is difficult. Pimsleur is a good bet if you can hear well.

[Finer in China]

What's tape? Like the old days dad? <--- my sons say

 

Everything now is disc and digital, really. Anything else from video and audio on tape is OLD tech and getting older.

 

I point them to the reality that voting has gone back to "old" ballots because for the important things, a bird in the hand is worth more than two on a disc.

[chrisnhong]

The old FSI course has a pretty thorough drilling in pinyin. Tape & book. It's available free on the net nowadays. It used to be used to teach US diplomats for overseas postings.

[Smitty]

The old FSI course has a pretty thorough drilling in pinyin. Tape & book. It's available free on the net nowadays. It used to be used to teach US diplomats for overseas postings.

I presume you are referring to this FSI:

http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/Chinese.aspx

[Finer in China]

The old FSI course has a pretty thorough drilling in pinyin. Tape & book. It's available free on the net nowadays. It used to be used to teach US diplomats for overseas postings.

I presume you are referring to this FSI:

http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/Chinese.aspx

Though done in 1978, it is a very thorough free online resource!

[DMikeS4321]

I tried tried Pimsleur and I wish I had tried Rosetta Stone instead. I don't hear very well and I can't quite catch the subtle intonations, but then, I did pick Cantonese. I think it's harder than Mandarin but not as hard as Hakka, my wife's first language. Not too bright on my part.

 

I would probably have the same problem with any program. I'm just looking for something easy but that's not possible, eh?

Edited March 9, 2008 by DMikeS4321 (see edit history)