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Mandarin resources | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| morinkhuur Triglot Groupie Germany Joined 4675 days ago 79 posts - 157 votes  Speaks: German*, Latin, English Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Maghribi) | Message 1 of 2 27 June 2012 at 10:05pm | IP Logged |
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Hello everyone,
This may be a very basic and redundant question, but i haven't really been able to find any useful information on this: Which textbooks/learning resources/language programs/audio courses do you recommend for Mandarin? I can read pinyin and I'm already studying the characters separately using the Heisig approach, so for now a book just in pinyin would be fine. When it comes to speaking and understanding the language I've only had a few very basic lessons that didn't go much further than "My name is ...","How are you?" and "I have two brothers". I've seen Pimsleur and ChinesePod recommended a lot, but they both seem very expensive and i would only buy them if they were really worth their price. Also I think they only serve to build up your vocabulary but don't explain any grammar. I'm not a big fan of anything that includes flashcards either because in my experience you spend a lot of time making them and by the time you have about 30 which is maybe one textbook lesson you've lost your motivation and don't even start working with them. For vocabulary i much prefer an approach in which i acquire the words naturally by hearing and seeing them in context instead of learning lists of words by heart through repetition. I don't need to be fluent at a given time and fluency is only a long-term goal for me. I generally prefer listening, reading and writing to speaking because i'm not a very talkative person even in my native language. Also i know a native speaker of Mandarin with whom i could communicate through email or skype if that helps to improve your recommendations. Thanks in advance! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| eggcluck Senior Member China Joined 4699 days ago 168 posts - 278 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese | Message 2 of 2 28 June 2012 at 4:55am | IP Logged |
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I have put a few here
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=32419&PN=1 For websites if you have fire fox you can use a plug-in called Pera pera it has done just fine for me. I have found pinyin books but it has always been school books to teach the characters to children or books for very young children,that have pinyin done in the Japanaese furigana style. I have found both types to not be so common. Even 5 year olds here read the characters with relative ease. They are taught the characters at a much faster rate than the Japanese for example. Whereas the Japanese do it all the way up to high school. A co-worker told me the Chinese get them all crammed into the first 3 years of school at a young age. P.S One thing I had had difficulty in finding is internet radio. There have been some sites mentioned on here in various logs but sadly they are all outside of China and blocked by the firewall. I could do with some local hook ups. Edited by eggcluck on 28 June 2012 at 5:05am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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