learn chinese

Loved the trip, and really got a lot of mileage out of learning as much Mandarin as I did. It’s obvious that my language skills are extremely rudimentary, but I’m going to continue learning Mandarin until I have at least functional fluency in the spoken language. I’ll have to think about learning written Mandarin later.

Of the tools I used to get this far, I really enjoyed three the most.

1) Personal Tutor in Dallas: Faye really helped enormously with pronunciation, knowledge about China, daily colloquialisms, and a sound foundation. Great info on shopping and directions that I used a lot!

Cost: about $1200. Total spent on tutors (including online courses) about $1500

2) Pimsleur Mandarin: I never even got to level II, but I’m only a couple of tapes from completeing level I. If I hadn’t tried the shotgun approach with several different language tapes and tools (Pimsleur/Rosetta Stone/Instant Immersion/Penton/etc.) I might have gotten farther. I’m going to continue with these through level 3.

Cost: Level I, about $170. Total cost of all training materials (I’m almost embarassed to say) about $1100.

3) Melnyks: Serge Melnyks free lessons (Although I did pay for the full transcripts – it was a bargain at that) were great. They heavily emphasize correct pronunciation, and are very typical of what typical conversation is like. I got his stuff very late in the learning process. Again, I’m only about 1/2 way through the lessons so far, and will continue to keep studying them as long as he’s producing them (up to #25 now).

Cost: $0! Best bang for the buck. For the transcripts, I don’t remember what I paid, the pricing has changed – it’s now $36 for 6 months of transcripts (24 lessons). Still a bargain!

I don’t know if I gave Rosetta Stone a fair shake. I only went through a few lessons, but it turned out I preferred just being able to listen to the Pimsleur in the car, during evening walks, and in the hot-tub relaxing. I really should give these a second chance (especially after dropping about $350 on levels I and II).

I don’t know when I can say this goal is “finished.” For now I think I’m going to set a goal of completing the Pimsleur Level I and Serge’s tapes through lesson 20.

I will make “becoming more fluent” a goal, and will assign a goal of completing Pimsleur Level II, Serge’s tapes through lesson 30 at that time.

I’m in Beijing and finding out that I only understand about 10% of what I hear. But it turns out I did learn enough to get around, buy stuff, take taxi’s, find places, get food and drinks, and some other basics. It’ll be a while before I can say I KNOW Chinese (Mandarin). I am learning a lot while I’m here and I hope the next 4 weeks really help me further my knowledge. So far, DEFINITELY WORTH IT!

I get on a plane in a couple of hours, and I’ll be finding out just how much of this Chinese has really stuck. It’s been a fun adventure learning it!

I can’t believe we’re leaving in 3 days. Today will be our last class as a family. When we return from China I think I’ll keep taking weekly lessons for a while, try to become reasonably fluent. I’m enjoying learning Chinese so much!

Zai Jian!

Lessons are not review and practice sessions. Today we “practiced” shopping. My daughter will be a dangerous shopper – she’s sooo good. Wednesday we practice restaurant/tea-house conversation. We’re really having a lot of fun!

I’ve got to get back to hardcore studies! Only 3 weeks to go before I travel there. Think I’ll review my Pimsleur tonight and tomorrow up through lesson 20.

Still making good progress. There was a sudden leap in understanding for me about 2 weeks ago, and things have gotten much better since then. I feel much better about having rudimentary chinese language skills by the beginning of June.

Online lessons going well – but sometimes seems like overload. During each online classs (1 hour) I’m going through 2 lessons. Doing that twice a week is 4 lessons a week, it’s hard to keep up.

I’ve had a lot of great comments and suggestions about tools for learning chinese so I thought I’d update my resources list:

• Chinese-Tools – 21 Free online lessons – reading and writing, pinyin, hanzu
• MandarinWithMelnyk – Serge provides 14 lessons (more to come) in Podcast form. Emphasis on pronuciation – Very Good
• Rutgers Chinese – Rutgers Multimedia Chinese System. Extensive and very complete. English, Pinyin, Simplified, Traditional

• Sinoling – Linguistics and Reference vocabulary, as well as Chinese culture and Links
• MandarinTools – many excellent tools, reference material, dictionaries, flashcards, etc.
• ChineseDictionary – Chinese dictionary online
• Chinese-Tools – Not just lessons, but dictionary, tools, travel info, and more. Great site
• Dragonwise – Great resource for writing chinese – but no English translation
• Flashcards – Many mandarin flashcards available
• QuiaFlashcards – Pimsleur Mandarin Flashcards

• Out & About Beijing – pricey but great intro and foundation
• LearnChineseOnline – inexpensive 1 on 1 tutoring – I do this twice a week.
• Pimsleur – Repetition audio, natural speech rhythms, conversational learning. My preferred (what I’m using)
• RosettaStone – Computer based immersion training. Very good, but need to be at computer
• MandarinTools – free tools, dictionary, flashcards, more

• ChineseLearningBlog – Forum on learning Chinese

• Mandarin123 – Nice learning page, with support for Pimsleur

I also have the Instant Immersion (both short and long versions) Learn In Your Car, and Penton Chinese courses. I personally don’t use them. I use tutors and Pimsleur the most, although I just found out about Serge Melnyk’s Podcast, and I paid for the 6 month subscription to get all the written materials as well, and so far really like the careful articulation and concentration on pronunciation – best I’ve found yet.

That’s my latest $.02

See you in China!

I had to comment on my online chinese lessons. I am using learnchineseonline.org. In the beginning there was a little confusion getting the sharing software to work, using the right username, and getting the microphone setup and working well.

Now I can honestly say it’s absolutely worth it. My classes are going very well, and I feel like I’m making great progress. I take online classes two nights a week. It starts with some vocabulary, then using the words in sentences. The software we use has a video interface, so I can see the instructor and she can see me, as well as a “whiteboard” which we use for writing sentences, doing ‘word match’ sessions, and even learning chinese characters (learning to read, NOT write at this time).

I do a short review (15 minutes), of my notes from the previous session before each new session. I’m still doing my once a week tutor in my home with the family, and this is still going OK, but my wife and daughter are learning much slower (they’re not doing the online classes – no interest) so for me there is only a little learning, but I get a lot of extra practice at these. Plus I’m still doing the Pimsleur Mandarin tapes at least 3-4 times a week. I’ve ripped the CDs to MP3s and listen to the MP3s while on my evening walk, or in the hot-tub after a long day.

I’m feeling pretty confident that I’ll have a decent working knowledge of Mandarin before I go to China in June. And the online Chinese lessons for less than $8.00 each are definitely worth it!

Ni Hao!

Ok. Pulling out all the stops. I started with audio tapes. I used Instant Immersion and “Learn Chinese In Your Car.” Not much luck with either.

Then I got my hands on the State Department Out-and-About Beijing. It is the best for learning the absolute basics of character pronunciation, Pinyin, and the tones. It’s computer based, and I made some MP3s of myself saying things properly that I walk with and practiced.

Big changes came in December. I decided to get more serious. I bought the Pimsleur Mandarin, which generally looked to be the best learning series AND I got a tutor. She comes by once a week to teach the family for an hour.

I’m more serious about learning, and have outpaced the family, so now I’m using online tutors as well! http://www.learnchineseonline.com/ has lessons for about $8 an hour, that I do with a webcam, headset and computer twice a week. I’m finally making some good progress.

Combine 2 hours of online tutoring, one (shared) hour of in-home tutoring, and at least 30-45 minutes a day of practice tapes (I listen while doing my evening walk, or relaxing in the hot-tub afterwards) = progress! Will I be ready for June?

• Out & About Beijing – pricey but great intro and foundation
• LearnChineseOnline – inexpensive 1 on 1 tutoring
• Mandarin123 – Nice learning page, with support for Pimsleur
• Pimsleur – many products available. Borrow from library.
• Flashcards – Many mandarin flashcards available
• MandarinTools – free tools, dictionary, flashcards, more
• RMCTS – if you wish to learn to read and write
• Dragonwise – Ditto

More to come – Zai jian