Book Nut Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I would love input about which Mandarin language program to use. My children are going to have (weekly?) tutoring sessions with a native speaker also, but I want a program for daily practice. I've looked at Rosetta Stone, TellMeMore & others and my head is spinning. Recommendations?? :confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emubird Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 I've used Pimsleur. It's all aural, though. I found RS with Chinese to be really frustrating, although I can't exactly remember why. My kids used it for Spanish and didn't get that much out of it. There's this: http://www.amazon.com/First-100-Chinese-Characters-Simplified/dp/0804838305 but it doesn't really teach the language. It's just a writing primer. I've also used Read Chinese: http://www.amazon.com/Read-Chinese-Book-One-Publications/dp/0887100643/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1307886892&sr=1-2 But it assumes some grasp of the language already (maybe a college semester of spoken Chinese?) Did you try posting on the Bilingual group? I think there have been discussions of this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelly in IL Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 What book will your tutor be using? It makes most sense to coordinate materials - that way your children will be practising the relevant characters. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Book Nut Posted June 13, 2011 Author Share Posted June 13, 2011 What book will your tutor be using? It makes most sense to coordinate materials - that way your children will be practising the relevant characters. Laura She has never tutored in the US because she's newly arrived. She is well educated & open to any text we want to use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Book Nut Posted June 13, 2011 Author Share Posted June 13, 2011 I've been looking at "Better Chinese", but it seems pricey. Has anyone used this? I was thinking the tutor could use it & we could follow up on the days we don't see her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted June 13, 2011 Share Posted June 13, 2011 She has never tutored in the US because she's newly arrived. She is well educated & open to any text we want to use. Both tutors like Easy Steps to Chinese. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliums Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 My boys are using Mango, online, free from the local library. I'd strongly suggest you check to see if your library offers it. For free, it is great. :) There is no written component though. It has a feature that records the kids as they say the phrases then they can hear themselves pronounce it. Helps them to get the tones better. We have been thinking of finding a tutor who can build off the mango program, but not sure how to work that out. They also have been watching Growing up With Chinese, but also this is not a writing program. http://english.cntv.cn/program/learnchinese/growingwithchinese/index.shtml I'd be curious to know what you end up using as my kids are determined to stick with Mandarin for high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Book Nut Posted June 14, 2011 Author Share Posted June 14, 2011 My boys are using Mango, online, free from the local library. I'd strongly suggest you check to see if your library offers it. For free, it is great. :) There is no written component though. It has a feature that records the kids as they say the phrases then they can hear themselves pronounce it. Helps them to get the tones better. We have been thinking of finding a tutor who can build off the mango program, but not sure how to work that out. They also have been watching Growing up With Chinese, but also this is not a writing program. http://english.cntv.cn/program/learnchinese/growingwithchinese/index.shtml I'd be curious to know what you end up using as my kids are determined to stick with Mandarin for high school. Unfortunately, my library system does not carry Mango. Thanks so much for telling me about "Growing Up With Chinese". We'll watch these! The tutor explained to me that she wants to begin with the basic phonetic sounds & build from there. She says to speak Chinese properly, we should begin this way. This has somewhat changed my focus on what we should do on the days that my children are not meeting with the tutor. Now what I'm looking for are inexpensive resources to further their knowledge of Chinese more in a listening ...something that would not be the primary resource. (I hope I'm making sense; it's been a L-O-N-G day) I'm thinking of getting The Learnables Chinese I which is now on cd-rom. I'm still reearching, but I'm leaning toward this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tattarrattat Posted June 14, 2011 Share Posted June 14, 2011 (edited) These are free Chinese textbooks that are used a lot by overseas Chinese schools(Simplified Chinese). But they are all in Chinese (no English explanation): http://www.hwjyw.com/textbooks/ For example, here's grade one textbook from one of the series: http://www.hwjyw.com/fj/jcxz/zhongwen/1/all.pdf Here's the matching exercise A: http://www.hwjyw.com/fj/jcxz/zwlxca/1/all.pdf Edited June 14, 2011 by Tattarrattat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliums Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 MIT online courses has a Chinese class listed. I have only briefly looked though the pdf files and audio and it did not immediately strike me as easy to use. But, it may be of more use for a native speaker to use as instructional material. It is not a video course, unfortunately. http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/foreign-languages-and-literatures/21f-101-chinese-i-regular-spring-2006/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Book Nut Posted June 15, 2011 Author Share Posted June 15, 2011 These are free Chinese textbooks that are used a lot by overseas Chinese schools(Simplified Chinese). But they are all in Chinese (no English explanation): http://www.hwjyw.com/textbooks/ For example, here's grade one textbook from one of the series: http://www.hwjyw.com/fj/jcxz/zhongwen/1/all.pdf Here's the matching exercise A: http://www.hwjyw.com/fj/jcxz/zwlxca/1/all.pdf Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyL Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 My d. has been tutored in Chinese for about 3 years. ( a few years back) It was difficult finding the right curriculum. Now there is a great online company to order the texts- www.chinasprout.com they have several different series to choose from that come with DVD, cd's and also the answers for the work books. Highly recommended. hth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Book Nut Posted June 16, 2011 Author Share Posted June 16, 2011 My d. has been tutored in Chinese for about 3 years. ( a few years back) It was difficult finding the right curriculum. Now there is a great online company to order the texts- www.chinasprout.com they have several different series to choose from that come with DVD, cd's and also the answers for the work books. Highly recommended. hth Thank you; I'll check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Book Nut Posted June 18, 2011 Author Share Posted June 18, 2011 Has anyone tried TellMeMore Chinese?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happycc Posted February 10, 2014 Share Posted February 10, 2014 GRASP CHINESE is the way to go until you can get a tutor or use echineselearning to use whatever book you want them to use. I heard echineselearning is flexible. Just how much. Don;t know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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