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Best resources for Mandarin? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Welltravelled Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5667 days ago 46 posts - 72 votes  Speaks: English*, French | Message 25 of 33 22 September 2010 at 6:22pm | IP Logged | ||
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For anyone who didn't quite get it I mean what would you suggest before Chinesepod or are you suggesting that people go into it raw?
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| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6387 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 26 of 33 23 September 2010 at 2:38am | IP Logged | ||
A big problem for many language learners is that they think they need many courses. The best method is picking one course and sticking to it until you can evaluate whether or not it works. If you wanna do ChinesePod, just start listening to some Newbie lessons. If you don't get something, ask on the forums. No need for any preparation. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| clumsy Octoglot Senior Member Poland lang-8.com/6715Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4983 days ago 1116 posts - 1367 votes Speaks: Polish*, English, Japanese, Korean, French, Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swedish Studies: Danish, Dari, Kirundi | Message 27 of 33 29 September 2010 at 10:56am | IP Logged | ||
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Using Chinese, I have this book recently, it's not for beginners, but it teaches a lot of stuff.
I strongly recommend it, if you want to learn some stuff not taught in other courses. I have also zhongwen zipu (the online version at zhongwen.com) It's really good book for learning Chinese characters. It explains etymology. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6387 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 28 of 33 29 September 2010 at 2:44pm | IP Logged | ||
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Strongly recommending a book does little use if you don't tell us the title. :)
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 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6184 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 29 of 33 29 September 2010 at 2:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think the book is Using Chinese. It wasn't obvious to me at first either.
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| RVFA Diglot Newbie Sweden Joined 4987 days ago 13 posts - 29 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Hungarian | Message 30 of 33 27 November 2010 at 1:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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I like all the stuff by the Beijing Language and Culture University Press:BLCUP.
I use their Short-Term Spoken Chinese series. But they have heaps of other stuff too: readers, grammar books, listening aid etc. Most of their books are very affordable, so it is only shipping that will cost abit extra. Some of their books can also be bought through Amazon, China Books, alibris, etc. China Books is also very good: ChinaBooks. Cheng-Tsui is another good store to look for stuff: Chung-Tsui. It is a good idea to invest in some good grammar books (both beginners and above) as well as some 'readers' (also at beginners and above). A good reference book on Chinese characters may also be a good idea. As is a good dictionary. Edited by RVFA on 27 November 2010 at 1:56pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| slymie Tetraglot Groupie China Joined 5033 days ago 81 posts - 154 votes Speaks: English, Macedonian Studies: French, Mandarin, Greek Studies: Shanghainese, Uyghur, Russian | Message 31 of 33 02 December 2010 at 12:02am | IP Logged | ||
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I also used the books from Beijing Language and Culture University Press. Interesting topics, good recordings and cheap. I worked my way through "hanyu jiaocheng" 汉语教程 all the books while also studying "Short term spoken Chinese" 汉语口语速程 lesson to lesson.I also did Eurotalk Mandarin at the start and Rosetta Stone in the middle. A year ago until now I've been listening to Chinesepod.com's advanced lessons, usually in my earphones as I ride my bike.
I'm that horrible student that makes the mistake of using several different materials and approach to learn a language. I figure the textbooks overlap and make eachother easier, and hearing different accents and vocabulary enrich your learning experience instead of sticking to one book one method. But hey it took me 3 years to get my Advanced HSK certificate, maybe my best bet was is to buy one of those "Fluent in 30 days" language books and stick to it. *Edit - chinesepod has a 7 day free trial. You can download the entire website full of podcasts in that time if you want. Nowhere does it say you can't, so while it feels dirty... its totally legal and guilt free. Edited by slymie on 02 December 2010 at 12:06am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| aerozeplyn Senior Member United States Joined 4953 days ago 141 posts - 202 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin | Message 32 of 33 28 December 2010 at 11:38am | IP Logged | ||
lol. i am guilty of doing this. except i didn't download the ENTIRE site; i downloaded a bunch of the newbie and elementary materials instead since those were about my level. I'll have to strongly agree with irrationale on this one: i really can't stand listening to the non-native speakers. when i do, i feel like my perception of spoken chinese is being polluted. however, i do greatly enjoy their "diary series" (in the elementary level). it was like a short story that i could learn from. so really, i just like stories...so i should probably get some audio books :) WORST MATERIALS FOR MANDARIN: while the best materials that I know of have already been mentioned in this thread, i'd like to take some time to discuss what i felt were the worst materials :) 1) Rosetta Stone's Mandarin. Really, all Rosetta Stone Mandarin is good for is entertainment. i briefly returned to Rosetta Stone at one point because I was craving more materials, but really i just needed to be patient and stick with the materials that were helping me. The only thing i think Rosetta Stone is good for is for a vocabulary list. However, for the fact that Rosetta Stone is ONLY in Mandarin, the individual who wants to learn Mandarin is better off saving their money and using free vocabulary lists from the internet. Rosetta Stone Mandarin is a waste of money and time, and i'm sure that their program only survives because of their marketing, and because Rosetta Stone made it fun to barely learn. 2) Cheng & Tsui's Integrated Chinese. I have only been through Level 1, Part 1 with a local chinese school...and I actually studied from this book for a few months and did my homework. However, at the time i couldn't really speak or understand verbal Mandarin...BARELY could i. In fact, I kind of felt like Rosetta Stone was a better option. I still go to the chinese school; however, i'm now in a different class that does NOT use this book. i even know of one student who i heard got frustrated and fed up with studying Integrated Chinese and flipped out during the class's session. As you can probably tell, while at the school i felt very bad for the mandarin students who were studying integrated chinese's Level 1 and Level 2. i especially felt bad when I slowly realized that I could speak and understand more chinese than they could... *sigh* :( It would be unfair for me to completely dis Integrated Chinese. But Rosetta Stone? you're not missing anything :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
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