Qcaller Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 My children are both adopted from China. I would like us to learn Mandarin together. I have almost zero experience with the language other than the couple phrases I've learned from Ni Hao Kai Lan. :) Any suggestions for something fairly inexpensive we could learn together? I'd rather do a little each day than send my kids to Chinese school for hours on the weekends, as so many other families around here do. I've subscribed to ChinesePod (language podcast on iTunes) but I think it would be over our heads at this point. It's aimed more at hipster expats living in Shanghai. TIA, Pam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovinteachin Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 Pam, I'd like to suggest you get more info. on a free online Mandarin class at www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.org They are having problems with their website right now, so you wont be able to get much info. from that temporary site, but you can contact them for more info. Class subjects are limited, so I was surprised to see a beginning Mandarin class this past year. If this class is like their others, you can attend the online class each week and also review the archived class as often as you want. I learned about this group from this forum and it's been a wonderful blessing for us this year. Margie dd 13, dd 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weddell Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 I studied mandarin in college and grad school so I've had some experience with it. Chinese is a tonal language and it is very hard to really learn the tones correctly without a teacher. I would try and find a one on one tutor of some kind who can get you past that first learning stage with the new sounds and tones. If it were a non-tonal language I would say just getting some cds and listening would be enough, but learning a tonal language is a whole different thing. If you don't learn them correctly at the beginning you will have to relearn everything with the correct tones. I think currclick has an online class. Here is another that I have bookmarked, but I don't know anything about :http://www.littlelinguistsacademy.com/online.php . I bet someone knows an online tutor, although someone local who could come over and just play some games would be best. Our area has a place called Language Stars and they do classes in a whole bunch of languages. They are a franchise I thin, maybe you could see if they, or something like them, is in your area. It's definitely less intense than weekend Chinese school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miracleone Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 We did a Chinese class using books from this website www.BetterChinese.com These are simple books and comes with accompanying CD to help you with pronounciation. My kids like them because they are little booklets (36 of them) they can follow while listening to the cd. It's a good beginner tool to learn mandarin. HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbystamper Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 We did a Chinese class using books from this website www.BetterChinese.com These are simple books and comes with accompanying CD to help you with pronounciation. My kids like them because they are little booklets (36 of them) they can follow while listening to the cd. It's a good beginner tool to learn mandarin. HTH I second this website. I have not used it but i have been researching the materials and am planning to use it with my kids this fall in our first year of homeschooling. I can speak mandarin but I just need a more structured way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deniseibase Posted June 10, 2011 Share Posted June 10, 2011 I have to say I agree with the tutor idea. It's impossible to learn it properly without someone who already speaks it to correct your tones - my daughter has been studying Mandarin for six years, and I CANNOT, no matter how I try, tell the differences between some of the tones that are extremely clear to her. You will be in the same boat and you will end up confusing your daughters. I know you are wanting a cheaper option - perhaps you can find a high school student in your area who is from China or their parents are from China and they speak it at home? Our tutor takes summers off, so in the summer we work with a young lady whose mom is from Taiwan and her prices are about half what our regular tutor charges. (The amount of learning that happens is about half too.) Contact some local high schools and tell them you are looking for a student to tutor Mandarin, they will hopefully be able to think of someone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qcaller Posted June 11, 2011 Author Share Posted June 11, 2011 I'd like to suggest you get more info. on a free online Mandarin class at www.virtualhomeschoolgroup.org Thanks, I will check that out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qcaller Posted June 11, 2011 Author Share Posted June 11, 2011 I think currclick has an online class. Here is another that I have bookmarked, but I don't know anything about :http://www.littlelinguistsacademy.com/online.php. I bet someone knows an online tutor, although someone local who could come over and just play some games would be best. Our area has a place called Language Stars and they do classes in a whole bunch of languages. They are a franchise I thin, maybe you could see if they, or something like them, is in your area. It's definitely less intense than weekend Chinese school. Great suggestions. I will look into the high school tutor idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qcaller Posted June 11, 2011 Author Share Posted June 11, 2011 We did a Chinese class using books from this website www.BetterChinese.com These are simple books and comes with accompanying CD to help you with pronounciation. My kids like them because they are little booklets (36 of them) they can follow while listening to the cd. It's a good beginner tool to learn mandarin. HTH Thanks, I will look into these books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qcaller Posted June 11, 2011 Author Share Posted June 11, 2011 I have to say I agree with the tutor idea. It's impossible to learn it properly without someone who already speaks it to correct your tones - my daughter has been studying Mandarin for six years, and I CANNOT, no matter how I try, tell the differences between some of the tones that are extremely clear to her. You will be in the same boat and you will end up confusing your daughters. I know you are wanting a cheaper option - perhaps you can find a high school student in your area who is from China or their parents are from China and they speak it at home? Our tutor takes summers off, so in the summer we work with a young lady whose mom is from Taiwan and her prices are about half what our regular tutor charges. (The amount of learning that happens is about half too.) Contact some local high schools and tell them you are looking for a student to tutor Mandarin, they will hopefully be able to think of someone. More great suggestions for tutors. Until quitting my job last fall, I worked at a children's hospital with quite a large population of Chinese speakers. I'll have to get in touch with some of my contacts to see if one of the scientists' kids would be willing to tutor. Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. Pam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gsetio Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 My daughter go to saturday chinese school. They offer CSL (Chinese as second language) and the parents are allowed in the class. That way I get to learn too. And we use betterchinese.com as supplement. We love the website (online lesson + all the online extras) compared to buying the CD and the books. They have summer promotion now, promotion end June 30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewelma Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 One more vote for a tutor. I don't have trouble with the tones, but the vowels and consonants are just impossible. She is always telling my son to watch her mouth and where to put his tongue and how to hold his lips. My plan is to put the money up front for 2 years and then switch to a cheaper option. Ruth in NZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I studied mandarin in college and grad school so I've had some experience with it. Chinese is a tonal language and it is very hard to really learn the tones correctly without a teacher. I would try and find a one on one tutor of some kind who can get you past that first learning stage with the new sounds and tones. If it were a non-tonal language I would say just getting some cds and listening would be enough, but learning a tonal language is a whole different thing. If you don't learn them correctly at the beginning you will have to relearn everything with the correct tones. Husband and I learned Chinese as adults and my sons learned it too. If the tones are wrong, the meaning is wrong. The sound 'ma' means 'mother', 'hemp', 'horse' or 'to scold' depending on how the word is 'sung'. Best wishes Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qcaller Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 Husband and I learned Chinese as adults and my sons learned it too. If the tones are wrong, the meaning is wrong. The sound 'ma' means 'mother', 'hemp', 'horse' or 'to scold' depending on how the word is 'sung'. Best wishes Laura I love that concept of "singing" the words. Makes the tonal part easier to wrap my mind around. I was poking around some Chinese things I purchased a few years ago and, lo and behold, I have a set of books and a CD from Better Chinese. We'll start with that, explore the tutor option, and take it from there. Thanks for all the great advice, Hive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I love that concept of "singing" the words. Makes the tonal part easier to wrap my mind around. 'Ma ma ma chi ma de ma' means 'Mummy scolds the hemp-eating horse.' Each 'ma' has a different tone, of course. I'd look into the tutor before you start on the course, so you don't get into bad tone habits. Best wishes Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Embassy Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 I'm using Better Chinese materials, exposure, as well as a few other resources. A tutor isn't possible for us right now, but it would be the easiest option. I have a linguistic related background and have ears trained to understand where certain sounds are made in the mouth and tones are difficult! But I'm making do for now. If you want an idea at the difficulty with tones check out this tone drill: http://www.shufawest.us/language/tonedrill.html I have my kids slowly working through this. One child is on to the two tone drill and is working on mastery there and the other child is still trying to master the tone drill at the link. I'm of the perspective that you first need to be able to hear the differences between the tones before you can produce them correctly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaMa2005 Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 DS is also adopted from China. He took Chinese lessons for a year from a private tutor. We then had the opportunity (by virtue of DH being a university professor) to get Rosetta Stone online for free. So we switched. DS is doing wonderfully with it, but only because he had the basics with his tutor. He knows the tones and how to read the accent marks. Those tones are soooooooooo important. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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