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Help - need a book - Mandarin | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| YBW Newbie United States Joined 6069 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 1 of 7 17 October 2008 at 10:05am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Hello
I have been here before and I was then and I still am looking to learn Mandarin. I have however apparently become a bad student or at least now that I am well past college age (pushing 50) I just do not seem to fit into a class full of 18 to 20 year olds all that well and appear to get little out of a class, other than a headache. I also bought Pimsleur Mandarin Level 1 CD set and I was doing ok with that (even though in my opinion it sounds as if it is geared towards learning Chinese for dating) but my retention is not all that great and I am hoping that if I can get a book that is good for a beginner to learn Mandarin with I will do better. My wife is a native Mandarin Speaker and she also is a teacher of Mandarin but learning form her in her class just seemed to cause more trouble than it was worth so now I am back to having to do this on my own. And to top this off my mother-in-law now lives with us and she speaks no English at all. Now to many Americans (I am one) this would not be so bad not being able to understand your mother-in-law :) but to me I actually like the lady and would like to be able to talk to her form time to time. Long way to go to ask does anyone have any suggestions as to a good book (or books) that I can buy that will help me learn Mandarin. Something that I can take with me and study, especially during down time at work. Thanks 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6289 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes  Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 2 of 7 17 October 2008 at 11:15am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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This is also being discussed in this thread right now. My suggestions from there are valid for your case as well.
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| YBW Newbie United States Joined 6069 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 3 of 7 17 October 2008 at 1:11pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Thanks.
I went to Amazon.com to see what they have and I read one review that made it sound like I needed all of the following New Practical Chinese Reader Textbook 1 New Practical Chinese Reader Textbook 1 Audio CDs New Practical Chinese Reader Workbook 1 New Practical Chinese Reader Workbook 1 Audio CDs New Practical Chinese Reader Workbook 1 Instructor's Manual New Practical Chinese Reader Workbook 1 Instructor's Manual Audio Tape Is that true or can I get by with just 1 or 2 of these? If I need all I need all that's ok but if not I would like to get what I need to get back to this 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6289 days ago 2608 posts - 4866 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese | Message 4 of 7 17 October 2008 at 4:22pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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As I said, you don't really need the workbooks and workbook accessories because there are already exercises in the textbooks. And you definitely don't need the instructor's stuff. So just the textbook and the audio CDs are good. Or if you can get your wife to help you with the pronunciation, even just the textbook will be enough.
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| YBW Newbie United States Joined 6069 days ago 16 posts - 16 votes Studies: Mandarin | Message 5 of 7 20 October 2008 at 11:31am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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Thank You.
I will likely get both the textbook and the audio CDs. However the one thing I gained from a class is that my pronunciation is pretty good and I can look at and read pinyin fairly well, it is just I have no idea what I am reading. But I need to keep on top of my pronunciation so the CDs will be a great help. Edited by YBW on 20 October 2008 at 11:32am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| querido Newbie United States Joined 5925 days ago 13 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin | Message 6 of 7 30 October 2008 at 9:33am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
I'm with you my brother.
You are lucky to have much more reason to learn than I.
There are many opinions here. *Conversing* with your mother-in-law is a higher-level goal and others will recommend top-quality materials such as NPCR. But, I have an idea... Don't you think your mother-in-law would be amused and maybe even entertained if you could recite poems, nursery-rhymes, and traditional stories? The textbooks with audio that I've chosen to learn from, by the same publisher as NPCR, is the series "New Concept Chinese for Children". I haven't seen anyone else recommend this to adults, but I have chosen it, along with the tools Wenlin, mnemosyne, and audacity.
Whatever you're studying, you'll probably want to put the audio on an "mp3" player. I have the cheapest one, and it works great. Put it on repeat until you memorize every tiny nuance you can. This is working for me. I'm sort of interested in your interaction with your mother-in-law. I can't believe that she wouldn't smile if you recited a nursery rhyme. I think it would allude to a relationship, in the context of your Chinese study, that she is likely to be very comfortable with. ...pure speculation on my part... Also, it would show off your willingness to learn on your own, while removing that tension or effort that might interfere if one of you is expecting or dreading that every interchange turns into a language lesson. (Your wife, for example, might get tired of teaching?) Good luck! Here's one from volume 1: 我有一双小小手， 一只左来一只右。 小小手， 小小手， 一共十个手指头。 I know she would smile. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| aru-aru Triglot Senior Member Latvia Joined 6276 days ago 244 posts - 331 votes Speaks: Latvian*, English, Russian | Message 7 of 7 01 November 2008 at 9:44am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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You don't need a teachers book, that's probably all in Chinese anyway.
Get a workbook, answers are available online here for books 1-2 audio That said, I do not think NPCR is such a wonderfull book at all. Yes, sure, it's one of the best ones out there, but the grammar explanations are not always good (and always too technical), and i do not find vocab that relevant either. I've seen one that i like a lot. It's called "Chinese Made Easier" (see their website) I LOVE the way the're explaining the word order, "le" and other stuff. I haven't used it myself (i'm intermediate, so too late for me), but I've looked through the copy my friend has. I'd try it if I were You. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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