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Hodder Arnold
McGraw-Hill
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Michel Thomas Method: Mandarin Chinese Introductory Language Course CD
[0340957220]

Michel Thomas Method: Mandarin Chinese Introductory Language Course CD
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Learn another language the way you learnt your own. You learnt your own language naturally and enjoyably: now you can learn Mandarin in the same way. There's no books and no writing, and you will achieve confidence - in hours. With the "Michel Thomas Method" you learn the language in small steps, building it up yourself to produce ever more complicated sentences. The Method works as it breaks down the language into its component parts, enabling you to reconstruct the language yourself - to form your own sentences, to say what you want, when you want. On the recording you will hear two students being taught in real time and in a classroom situation, so you are learning with others. You enjoy their success and learn from their mistakes. You, as learner, become the third student and participate actively in the class. In a very short time you will be able to manipulate Mandarin structures to express what you want to say.It uses the unique method perfected over fifty years by the celebrated psychologist and linguist Michel Thomas. The method works with your brain, helping you to build up your Mandarin in manageable, enjoyable steps by thinking out the answers for yourself. You learn through listening and speaking - the way you learnt your own language. You pick up the language naturally and unforgettably. Dr Harold Goodman was trained by Michel Thomas to understand his Method of teaching. On these recordings he is assisted by native Mandarin speaker Jingtao Deng.These all-audio courses are accompanied by an index, where the Mandarin words are printed in Roman script and translated, for easy reference. "The 8-hour Mandarin Foundation Course" is one of the "Michel Thomas Method Mandarin" courses published by Hodder Arnold, the others being the "5-hour Advanced Course", the "2-hour Foundation Review" and the "1-hour Advanced Review". The "2-hour Introductory Course" comprises the first 2 hours of the "Foundation Course".

Michel Thomas Michel Thomas Mandarin Chinese
Michel Thomas Michel Thomas Method: Mandarin Chinese Introductory Language Course CD
Michel Thomas 0340957220

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 11 October, 2007.
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Product Reviews
Fantastic  
Absolutely brilliant of learning a new language. It doesn't feel like work at all, and builds on knowledge in a way that allows you to get a real understanding of what you're saying. Normally I'd be hopeless at picking Chinese up, but these CDs have made it very easy and fun.
An accessible way to learn Mandarin with confidence  
I'm a traditional sort of language learner, I like books and grammars and building blocks - and the speaking side of things is always the last thing I grasp. I was amazed at how much confidence Michel Thomas's French course gave me when brushing up my schoolgirl skills, and had high hopes for the Mandarin version. Thus far I've not been disappointed.

Mandarin is not as daunting as it might seem to the casual observer, but getting the hang of the tones and the way half the words seem to be "missing" for the English speaker (no articles, single verb forms, no plurals) and just the way the language is put together was keeping me from making progress. Harold Goodman's gentle, confidence boosting approach introduces the tones effortlessly, by a simple system of colours and hand gestures - which really do help, daft though you might feel about using them initially! - and starts adding in simple sentences and putting everything together so naturally that after a few listens it's all beginning to feel familiar and comfortable. He's not as tetchy as Michel Thomas, and has clearly learnt the teaching method well. Thankfully his 2 learners are quick on the uptake (the woman in the French version was quite annoyingly slow). Best of all is the Chinese native speaker on hand to pronounce things correctly over and over, ensuring you don't end up copying the learner's mistakes.

This isn't the only resource I'm using to learn Mandarin, but its certainly the one that's giving me the most confidence: after listening to the first 5 or 6 tracks I was reading tones in my poetry books with accuracy and ease. Will definitely be ordering the full course at some point, but as a taster this is ideal.
An extremely effective learning method  
Having tried a few other resources for learning Chinese, I believe this to be the best product for spoken Chinese available. The main advantage of this course is the addition of innovative learning methods that make memorisation much easier.

The author uses a combination of gestures and colours to aid the learning of tones, and new words are linked to little mnemonic stories to make sure they take hold in your memory. This kind of access to images, colours, and stories takes learning away from rote memory and makes it far more enjoyable (see for example Heisig's Remembering Simplified Hanzi 1: Book 1 for an excellent way of learning written chinese through stories and images)

The pronunciation of the chinese is so clear that I have never needed to look up any of the featured vocabulary in order to discover the tones - in contrast to other podcasts and courses I have tried. (The speech does speed up in the Advanced course in order to expose the learner to chinese as it is actually spoken by native speakers.)

The complexity of sentences is gradually built up to impressive length, and by the end of the Advanced Course I feel I'll be able to move on to building vocabulary (a vocabulary course from the same author is apparently forthcoming) and strengthening my listening skills with confidence. Highly recommended.
Excellent - you'll be surprised how easy it is!  
I have a few Chinese friends and have always thought it would be polite to try to learn a little of their language. But I've tried a few courses with little success - the difference between the written and spoken language is immense (in fact my Chinese friend says she finds it difficult too!)
This course focuses on speaking. I've done other Michel Thomas courses and was delighted to discover this new Chinese programme but intrigued as well as to how the technique would transfer.
It works really well - by the end of the first CD I was able to say a few basic sentences and by the end of the second I could construct a few complex phrases. The technique works on the basis that with a little vocabulary and an understanding of basic grammar, you can make yourself understood. Confidence breeds confidence.
There were times doing this course that I couldn't stop laughing because I was able to construct sentences and actually speak Chinese.
I tried it out on my friend and although I spoke slowly, she understood me (bear in mind, as they say in the course, that Beijing Mandarin is not quite the same as Shanghai Mandarin etc, and the key to being understood is the tones, not the pronunciation) In fact she was very impressed and told me that if I tried it out in China, not only would people be honoured that I'd given it a go, I'd also impress the ladies ;-)

I highly recommend this product. I've done French, Spanish, German and Italian and now Chinese. Dutch, Russian and Arabic next!
Very enjoyable, but useful?  
For once in my life I've actually completed a language course. And very enjoyable it was, too. I actually looked forward to doing it. It was rarely a chore. And I think I must've retained 70% of what I was taught. However, it was only on the last CD that I realised that the majority of it was utterly useless. I mean, okay, if you want to say, "He has a television under his table," it's quite brilliant. Or "Do you have a good teacher in your school?" Again, essential. But if you want survival language to get you around China, alas, it's a major disappointment. Pity that.
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