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Language Choice | ||
Tags: Choosing a Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Trebin Newbie United States Joined 4928 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 17 of 26 03 June 2011 at 1:55am | IP Logged |
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Any tips on a good approach to start Mandarin?
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| akprocks Senior Member United States Joined 5290 days ago 178 posts - 258 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 18 of 26 03 June 2011 at 3:38am | IP Logged |
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We have A LOT of ideas, programs and methods on this forum. Assimil, Pimsleur, Teach yourself and Colloquial are all good approachs, try them all until you find one you like the best.
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| exscribere Diglot Senior Member IndiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5283 days ago 104 posts - 126 votes Speaks: English*, Danish Studies: Mandarin, French, Korean, Hindi | Message 19 of 26 03 June 2011 at 3:47am | IP Logged |
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Some tips for starting Mandarin:
1. ChinesePod.com has a free trial, as do a few other websites, and I am certain you'll get piles of other recommendations. Sign up for the free trials, decide if you like their system or not, and consider investing or seeing if you can get professional development funds distributed to cover costs for one of those online programs. 2. Try to find a native speaker willing to tutor you. Tone is critical in spoken Mandarin, and written Mandarin (the infamous Chinese characters) requires hard work and dedication. Having a native speaker who can help you with tones if you're struggling, or writing the script, is a great benefit. 3. There are loads of programs - Michel Thomas, Pimsleur, Teach Yourself, the older FSI materials, and so on. Depending on what method you like more, and your learning style and preferences, you can find different things that work for you. I would suggest browsing the forums with a search of "mandarin" and see what comes up - you'll find many reviews of products, websites, lists of free resources, and so on. If you want to be able to read, write, listen, and speak, I am in the camp that believes you should start learning characters right away. There are books that show you the radicals (different parts of a character that add up to make it into what it is), but most textbooks build on a certain set and will introduce characters that share the same radical at once. Doing "leg work" to find out what individual radicals mean can be helpful, as it can help you figure out some words. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |
| NickJS Senior Member United Kingdom flickr.com/photos/sg Joined 4963 days ago 264 posts - 334 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 20 of 26 03 June 2011 at 4:29am | IP Logged |
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There's tonnes of tips on these forums on how to start, I also recommend checking some
of the language logs out and checking peoples progress as they usually list what techniques they have used. I personally started buy getting books together in advance and at the same time getting online resources together too (podcasts, FSI, ChinesePod) and also other various materials (films & music). Also as Exscribere mentioned, find a language exchange to help you get the tones correct first time, I recommend a website called Conversation Exchange for that, as that is where I had the most luck in finding my current language exchange. Hope all goes well. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| carlonove Senior Member United States Joined 5990 days ago 145 posts - 253 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian | Message 21 of 26 03 June 2011 at 4:32am | IP Logged |
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I'm going to beat Cainntear to the punch and recommend Michel Thomas Mandarin as a good beginning point; the course is highly regarded for how well it teaches you to produce and recognize tones, the boogie man for western learners of Asian languages. Edited by carlonove on 03 June 2011 at 4:44am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Trebin Newbie United States Joined 4928 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 22 of 26 03 June 2011 at 1:17pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the tips. I will check in to all those ideas and report back as I go through it. I actually know two people that were born in China that would be willing to help me with it.
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| zekecoma Senior Member United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5348 days ago 561 posts - 655 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 24 of 26 04 June 2011 at 10:20am | IP Logged |
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Since you work for the DoD, I doubt your paychecks are that bad, I would recommend Fluenz
Mandarin rather than Michel Thomas or Pimsleur. I really enjoy it, native speakers, tones, etc. While it won't teach you to a fluent level, it will be the base then go to Assimil afterwards. http://dayone.fluenz.com/ (Check it and see if you like it) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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