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Learning Mandarin - Dr. Blair | ||
Tags: Language Program | Mandarin | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 6956 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 1 of 6 19 April 2007 at 11:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have just bought Dr. Blair's Chinese in no Time. You pretend you are an agent for the American government (I am Australian) and you have to learn Chinese in a hurry to carry out your assignment. It had both positive and negative assessments on amazon.com. I also have Chinese on the Move as well as the introductory Pimsleur Chinese.
None of the courses appears to be intensive. I have searched for references to Dr. Blair's program and Chinese on the Move on the forum without success. Has anyone used the programs? What is your opinion. If I find I enjoy the language I might buy the Assimil Chinese program. Up until now I have only flirted with the language as I travel to Chinese speaking countries to teach my mathematics methods. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Languagelover1 Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6239 days ago 63 posts - 63 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 2 of 6 20 April 2007 at 2:10pm | IP Logged | ||
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Never heard of this Dr Blair method, sounds interesting.
You might like to know that there is going to be a Michel Thomas Mandarin course published in September 07. If it is as good as the other MT courses it will be excellent. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6392 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 3 of 6 20 April 2007 at 2:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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I've read a bit about Dr. Blair programs, but never had the chance to try them. It's a good idea, though. I want more language learning programs that are about ninjas and explosions, and less excuse-me-where-is-the-bathroom. I want interesting texts.
I hope you'll post a review of the course if you try it, I'm quite curious. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| translator2 Senior Member United States Joined 6729 days ago 848 posts - 1862 votes Speaks: English* | Message 4 of 6 20 April 2007 at 4:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well, while the concept certainly sounds interesting (and possibly fun), based on the excerpt provided on Amazon:
Chinese on The Move Excerpt I would not purchase this product (at least the Chinese version) due to the obvious lack of tone marks on the pinyin. I refuse to buy any Chinese textbooks (and there are unfortunately way too many of them out there like this) that just ignore the tone aspect just to similar things for beginners. Maybe I'll get the Russian or Arabic version... Edited by translator2 on 20 April 2007 at 4:51pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| alang Diglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7031 days ago 563 posts - 757 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 5 of 6 20 April 2007 at 5:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am presuming Dr.Blair is the same as Dr.Robert W Blair who also has a product line by the name of Power- Glide. If it is then the approach is actually a combination of methods. I remember seeing reviews outside from the Power- Glide website and they were not very encouraging. Only Latin, Spanish, French, German are available. Japanese and Russian were discontinued for some reason. Dr. Blair seems to be expanding with other languages in the new product that fanatic just bought. I also would like to hear the reviews for the new line of language products before purchasing. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6249 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 6 of 6 20 April 2007 at 6:31pm | IP Logged | ||
I started trying to use "Japanese in no time" a few months ago. Due to this thread, I decided to take it out again. My impression from listening to the last track on the first CD is that I could learn some phrases and vocabulary from it (I had no idea how to say 'soccer game' in Japanese, but it's taught on the first CD). My actual experience is that I found the format extremely tedious, unlike Assimil, and stopped a few tracks in; the actual phrases taught seem largely touristic, though useful ("where is the restroom?" "how do you say 'train' in Japanese?", etc). I agree with your assessment that it's far from an intensive course. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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