|
 |
Michel Thomas Mandarin Foundation Course | ||
Tags: Michel Thomas | Mandarin | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| volapuk49 Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 6076 days ago 73 posts - 86 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Yiddish, Modern Hebrew Studies: Esperanto | Message 57 of 70 16 January 2008 at 11:12am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Maxwell
I am so happy to read about your progress. And this is just the beginning! Let's hold off on my character-learning advice until you have really finished the course. Then I shall be more than happy to share what I know on this and any other topic that may be of help. My way is to do one thing at a time. Focus on what is in front of you. It is the way I teach, the way I learn. I suspect that we have a lot in common. I, too, have very structured plans for the courses I wish to use in my studies and the order they will assume. However, you may see things differently when you finish the course. Yes, I am working on some other things and will happily share them with you when I have learned more about how I am going to allocate my time and energies. Certainly, I would like to continue teaching Chinese since this approach has been so well received. I have so much to share with you. I am very excited about this! I hope that you enjoy learning Chinese as much as I enjoy teaching it. Take care. Harold 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kugel Senior Member United States Joined 6347 days ago 497 posts - 555 votes Speaks: English* | Message 58 of 70 17 January 2008 at 12:54pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Volapuk, you mentioned in chinese-forums.com that the Heisig book would be available in August 2008. Do you think Heisig's book is currently the best method on learning the Hanzi? Are you familiar with Alison Matthew's Learning Chinese Characters?
Do you have a list of vocab that you would recommend one should learn after completing your course? Are there plans for material that comes in printed form, basically a text book? As far as I know the grammar, or what some may call the workings of the language, needs to be taught using the audio MT method. What about the finer grammar points and vocabulary? Edited by Kugel on 17 January 2008 at 1:22pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| volapuk49 Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 6076 days ago 73 posts - 86 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Yiddish, Modern Hebrew Studies: Esperanto | Message 59 of 70 17 January 2008 at 3:23pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Kugel
I looked at Alison Matthew's Learning Chinese Characters text in a bookstore. I was not terribly impressed. First of all, it is a really diluted, amateurish version of Heisig. It is only available for learning Simplified characters. I advocate learning the Traditional first ( for many, many reasons) and only then learning Simplified. The way the elements of the characters are fitted together and order in which they are introduced does not seem as informed and thought out as Heisig did with his earlier Kanji ( Chinese characters used in Japanese) books. Also, it tries to teach too much and seems somewhat cluttered in its approach to presenting the material. I am a big fan of the Heisig approach. Heisig's new Hanzi ( Chinese character) texts will be published by the University of Hawaii Press. I have an e mail from them telling me that the earliest we can expect them ( there are two entirely separate volumes, one for Simplified and the other for Traditional characters) is July-August, 2008. While I hate to wait that long ( especially since the books are already ready to go to print) I believe that it is worthwhile. I own quite a few books that claim to teach Hanzi. I don't find most of them particularly innovative or helpful. They basically repeat each other. Some, like McNaughton and Li, Reading and writing Chinese, are fine if you already have some background but I am not sure how anyone would easily learn Hanzi from even this excellent text. I have a fantasy of using an approach I am developing to use the student's personal learning style to master the Hanzi. However, that is a ways off. I love Traditional Hanzi. They are works of art and I approach them as such. The perfect relationship of all of the parts to make the unique whole makes me so happy when I am learning them. They become positively addictive when approached in this way. So it is no longer study; it is true learning. It is effortless. You look forward to them. You crave them. It builds on itself. They become old friends and wise, old teachers. I have no plans for vocabulary lists or textbook form material at present. I can't recommend any specific vocabulary lists. For the finer points of grammar you might check out Claudia Ross's Modern Chinese Mandarin Grammar and a synoptic work by the same author, Schaum's Outlines: Chinese Grammar. I really like her approach for such things. I would hold off on these until you have finished the entire course ( UK titles: Foundation and Advanced -Michel Thomas Mandarin). You will then have a much better perspective to take advantage of what these other resources have to offer. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kugel Senior Member United States Joined 6347 days ago 497 posts - 555 votes Speaks: English* | Message 60 of 70 02 February 2008 at 2:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
It's sort of disappointing that the Advanced grammar course will be the last in the Mandarin lineup(I don't think 1 or 2 disc reviews really count). Why does such an effective program have to stop at 6-8 discs worth of audio? Why not continue on until just about every bit of Mandarin logic/grammar is covered?
With you having spent some time with Michel Thomas did you find out how he wanted his language programs to be built upon, or if he had any intentions of advancing the language material? As impressive the advanced courses are, MT didn't even cover a 1/3 of the language's grammar. What made him stop? I suppose the publisher wouldn't find it profitable to produce more material after an advanced level. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| volapuk49 Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 6076 days ago 73 posts - 86 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Yiddish, Modern Hebrew Studies: Esperanto | Message 61 of 70 02 February 2008 at 4:55pm | IP Logged | |||||
|
Kugel
The goal of the MT course, as I understand it, is to help the learner achieve basic spoken proficiency in the language. It is not to exhaustively cover all of the grammar. If you understand that these courses are more accurately described as incredibly rapid ways to achieve a basic spoken proficiency in the language then you will be able to answer your own question. I have no doubt that this approach could be used to teach much more advanced material, too. It is a misnomer to call the sequel to the first course Advanced. I told this to Michel Thomas several times. He said that it was the choice of the publisher. I have no idea why Michel chose to stop his courses where he did. However, several hundred thousand people have bought them and there are many who swear by them. So, after fifty some years of teaching, I suppose he had his reasons. Keep in mind that he did offer a phase II privately where other instructors would continue on with the students. However, none of these teachers, to the best of my understanding, were trained in his method. I consider it a privilege that he was willing to train me in his approach to course creation and teaching. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| jmlgws Senior Member Canada Joined 6911 days ago 102 posts - 104 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, German, Spanish, Mandarin | Message 62 of 70 03 February 2008 at 7:38am | IP Logged | |||||
|
Here in Canada Amazon lists a Michel Thomas Beginner Course (to come out the end of March) as well as the Foundation Course. Is the former the same thing as the latter?
1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| volapuk49 Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 6076 days ago 73 posts - 86 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Yiddish, Modern Hebrew Studies: Esperanto | Message 63 of 70 03 February 2008 at 7:48am | IP Logged | |||||
|
McGraw-Hill will be bringing out the Michel Thomas Mandarin course in North America in March. I just spoke with
them the other day and they told me that March is the new release date ( Amazon had an earlier date). The title over here will be Beginner course. The Beginner and the Foundation are identical in content. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6718 days ago 4250 posts - 5710 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 64 of 70 03 February 2008 at 2:03pm | IP Logged | |||||
Every course/method has its limits. I haven't studied with the MT method in particular (but I have listened to some lessons from the Spanish course). I assume you reach a basic level from which you can go on yourself (with other study material, and later on "real" sources. From the What to use next? thread:
1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
