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Being
used to studying Latin languages which all have a similar structure,
learning Chinese Mandarin was something completely new to me. I
had often been keen on trying Chinese, Japanese or something totally
different but always thought it would be really difficult to pick
up for a total beginner and never even tried.
The Pimsleur method is very well structured and it gave me a real
buzz to say simple phrases in Mandarin which would be of use to
me if I was in China. Pimsleur is a totally audio method of language
teaching, which means no books, pens or paper, similar to the way
Michel Thomas teaches. This method seems to be getting increasingly
popular as a modern and more 'to the point' way of language learning.
Having tried a couple of Michel Thomas courses for other languages
I was familiar with this kind of technique. The main difference
between the Pimsleur and the Michel Thomas way of teaching is that
Pimsleur uses real native speakers on the cassettes (I presume for
all languages in the series - not just Mandarin). With Michel Thomas
it is always him who does the speaking in the language.
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It
gave me a real buzz to say simple phrases in Mandarin which
would be of use to me if I was in China.
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So Pimsleur
has real Chinese speakers, which I think works well, especially
with a language like Mandarin where intonation is so important to
meaning. He uses a Chinese man and woman throughout to illustrate
examples and it is nice to hear each gender speak rather than just
one.
There are 4
cassettes in the first pack that I used, so 8 cassette sides to
work through. The key to absorbing it is being totally focussed
and not thinking about anything else at all. While listening to
it (in a relaxing bath!) for the first time I thought the whole
thing was going to be too fast and that I would just have to keep
rewinding it again and again. I realised though that the cassettes
are made without this intention - you should just press play and
let it run. By doing this I also realised that he is always going
back to things you have learned before, introducing something new,
and then going back again to what was learned at the beginning so
slowly, it all starts to fall into place and you start to create
sentences of your own which shows you are really getting somewhere.
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It
all starts to fall into place and you start to create sentences
of your own which shows you are really getting somewhere.
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I liked the way that there was a fluent conversation between two
Chinese people at the beginning of each cassette. When you first
listen to it you think 'Oh my God - that's impossible', but by the
end of the cassette you can do it! Listen to it again and you realise
it was not impossible at all! It is really confidence boosting!
The listener
has to make his own 'word associations' in order to recall vocabulary
although some help is given by Pimsleur by translating things literally
into English. It may be a little difficult for someone who has never
learned even a European language before, but still, with perseverance,
it is worth a try. It is a case of relating a totally new sound
to an English meaning and once you can create that link in your
mind, with practise, you shouldn't forget it.
I found a few
negative points to this course, one being that it is written for
Americans. I now know perfectly well how to tell a Chinese person
that I am American but don't have a clue how to tell them that I
am English! This, of course, will have to be adapted if these products
are to be marketed in the UK. I found the second cassette a little
harder to absorb and listened to it two or three times before moving
on. Maybe an American might be able to tell me why it is important,
but I could not understand the reason for Pimsleur revising how
to say 'College Road' and 'Long Piece Street'. This is another thing
I can now say pretty well but cannot see it ever being useful.
Besides that
though, once I had got past this stage I started to regain interest
and was learning how to ask where things are, say I want to go to
the restaurant, drink tea/beer, eat, ask when, what, with whom and
lots of other interesting and useful expressions.
I think the
most difficult part is probably the totally new vocabulary and sounds
and the fact that intonation makes such a difference to a Chinese
ear. The underlying grammar is not too confusing and I can think
of European languages I have studied, such as German, when I have
found word order more difficult.
In some ways
Mandarin can be easier - really! I was delighted to find only one
word for 'to be' in every person, singular and plural. However,
expressing positive and negative can be more complicated to get
your head around -with no obvious words for yes and no. But once
you understand that you have to repeat the verb to do this, it becomes
logical.
Each topic is
only loosely touched on because it is a fairly difficult language
to master and Pimsleur just tries to teach the get by basics in
this first Quick and Simple series.
Once you have
finished the course you will still feel like your Mandarin is fairly
limited - it will be - but you have also come a very long way since
the beginning, from not knowing anything to 'getting by' (just about!)
Four cassettes is only the start and there are follow-on courses
for beginners, intermediate and advanced learners, if you are still
feeling really keen when you reach the end!
I definitely
enjoyed this course as a whole and will certainly consider following
it up. I will stick to audio for now though - learning to write
it could be an even bigger challenge!
Click
here for more information about all Pimsleur
products.
Pimsleur is a leading audio-only language learning series from US
language guru Dr Paul Pimsleur. It works by building up your knowledge
of the language bit by bit by listening to the language - just like
we learnt our mother tongue. Pimsleur has CDs and cassettes in up
to 50 languages in four different languages packs: Quick & Simple
(a taster), Pimsleur I (beginner), Pimsleur II (intermediate) or
Pimsleur III (advanced).
Click here for more information about all Pimsleur
products.
Click
here for more information about the best and most innovative Mandarin
Chinese language courses.
If
you require any further information, contact
us.
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