Pimsleur Chinese (Mandarin) Conversational Course - Level 1 Lessons 1-16 CD: Learn to Speak and Understand Mandarin Chinese with Pimsleur Language Programs (1)

I recently started a graduate program in which all the other grad students and about half of the faculty are Chinese speakers. I realized that I would never have a better chance to learn Mandarin and it would help me connect with my new colleagues. I bought these Pimsleur CDs and, having completed the first six lessons, feel like I'm ready to write a review.First let me say that I think any of the commercial language programs probably work if you actually follow the program. In this case the program is to listen to the CDs for half and hour per day, every day. The process is very interactive. You are asked to repeat phrases and answer questions in Chinese. The nice points about the Pimsleur method are that you have your hands free and that it only takes half an hour a day. I think I will be far less likely to blow this program off than I would if it required writing or computer work or took more time per day.I have been doing most of the lessons first thing in the morning while I drink my coffee. You are supposed to repeat each lesson until you get 80% of the responses correct. So far I have averaged three repetitions on each lesson.Progress: After a little over two weeks I find myself understanding a fair number of phrases and words when my colleagues are talking in Chinese. My overall listening comprehension is only about 5%, but that's progress. I have tried out several sentences on them and they seem impressed. The night before last I actually carried on a halting conversation with a waitress in a Shanghinese restaurant and she said my accent was "very good". I don't know if I believe her, but she said it in Chinese and I actually understood it! Overall I am very satisfied.I will probably buy the rest of the disks after I finish this set. I plan to visit China some time this year, so I want to be as far along as possible with the language by then.

Let me first state that I recommend this product to anyone with no prior experience with Mandarin or someone who wants to casually learn a little. Here are the pros and cons.Pros:1) CD format is great2) Lessons are short and easy3) You can learn very quickly IF you dedicate the time4) Lessons learned in the previous section are reinforced in the next.Cons:1) There is no pin yin to go with the CDs. I had a hard time distinguishing between, for example, "ni" and "yi". This is probably because I listen in my car instead of at home. Your best bet is to listen through your home stereo system or walkman.2) The words and pharases you learn are not necessarily the ones you want. For example, in Lesson 4 you are taught how to say "Where is Long Peace street?" Who needs to know this??3) There is no discussion of sentence or phrase structure so that you can form your own. For example, the sentence "You speak Mandarin very well" is structured "You Mandarin speak very well". The serious learner needs lessons on sentence structure.Overall this is a good beginner product. If you're a serious learner, you'll need additional resources like a dictionary, phoenitics guide, and phrase book.

Upfront notice: This package offers the same first 15 lessons as in Pimsleur's Mandarin I. (Wish I'd known, because I bought them all over again, in order to continue with just the next 15 lessons!)I like learning languages and have used all kinds of tapes / CDs to practice in the car. Used in that way, this program is tops! (A friend from mainland China was astonished at how, in just a few weeks, I started speaking in fluent sentences, with a near-perfect accent -- and using current, idiomatic expressions.)With Pimsleur, you won't progress through many topics or an extensive vocabulary -- but what you encounter, you'll learn well. (The program repeats concepts over and over, configured in different ways to avoid monotony and to embed them into your head.) And--as far as it goes--the material is all high-value, immediate-use.To really learn Mandarin, you'll also need to take up other resources about the written characters and grammar, and to build vocabulary. And be aware: this program proceeds at a fairly sedate pace. If you want to go zero-to-60 in Mandarin for a trip to Beijing in 2 weeks, you need to find a different approach. For me, this is a way not to waste time in the car--and I go through about one lesson per week until I know the content cold! But Pimsleur has been an incredibly effective kick-off to what clearly will be a lifetime of effort . . . like losing 10 pounds, the first week of a diet.

Having graduated from this starter series to the full program, I can confidently say that this is the BEST program, bar none, for learning to speak and comprehend Mandarin quickly. In my opinion, there is only one occasional flaw (aside from the relatively high price of the full program). That is that the speakers are inconsistent in their pronunciation of the tones. I mean they are sometimes inconsistent in their pronunciation of the SAME phrases at different times!! One could excuse this, even for a tonal language, if there was some type of written aid or perhaps an explanation (e.g. a dialectical difference, etc.). But there is no excuse for this type of erratic pronunciation in an audio-only program. Even still, this is a five-star product for how rapidly it gets you up and running. Some people do not like the Pimsleur audio "immersion" and quizzing method. I was skeptical, but am now a wholehearted believer.