Quiver0f10 Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 Any recommendation for a chinese program? The plan is to do a year or two of chinese at home and then take it at the CC. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise in Florida Posted September 6, 2011 Share Posted September 6, 2011 I'm not sure how much they charge for out of state students, but Florida Virtual School (FLVS) offers Chinese. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 Thank you. I will look into it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam L in Mid Tenn Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 My eldest did Japanese Rosetta Stone. I think they have Chinese as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted September 7, 2011 Author Share Posted September 7, 2011 Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 The tones are close-to-impossible for non native speakers to hear unless they are given a great deal of coaching. You could develop an awful lot of dreadful habits studying at home which would damage learning once you reach the CC. The tones really matter. The sentence 'ta ma wo ma ma chi ma de ma' means 'He/she/it scolds my mother's hemp-eating horse.' Each of the 'ma' sounds has a different character and is 'sung' to a different tone. If you don't learn the tones correctly when you are learning the characters, then you are not expressing the meaning. Do you have any local overseas students who might want to earn a little by tutoring? There are also online courses where teachers in China tutor over the internet. Best wishes Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plansrme Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 (edited) Georgia Virtual School has two years' of Chinese available, but I do not know the policy on non-Georgians taking it. My daughter took Chinese IA (first semester of Chinese I) last year (for free, since we are in Georgia), but she has had a Chinese tutor at home for several years. It would be impossible for her to tell how doable the class would have been without that background, but with her background, the class was relatively easy but quite helpful. The class does have a weekly conversation component where the instructor converses with each student individually, as I would imagine any online Chinese class would have, so I would not necessarily rule out Chinese if you do not have access to a live tutor. My daughter plans to take the other three semesters that are available, but we are saving them until next year, when she may attend the local magnet program for high school. I believe that online Chinese programs are also available through Johns Hopkins' gifted program. ETA: Out-of-state students can take GaVS classes: http://www.gavirtualschool.org/Educators/OutofState.aspx Terri Edited September 9, 2011 by plansrme Looked up out-of-state policy for GaVS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted September 9, 2011 Author Share Posted September 9, 2011 Thank you both. So far, I am looking at Tell Me More to do at home and the Community College. I am not sure if we will do the TMM or just go straight to the CC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emubird Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 (edited) Pimsleur is good. It's all aural, so it might be nice to start with that, seeing as Chinese is very much in the tones. (Check your library.) When I took Chinese in college, the whole first semester was aural and using something similar to pinyin. We didn't start characters until the 2nd semester. The books we used were Speak Chinese and Read Chinese put out by Yale University Press. I don't know that the Speak Chinese book is any better than anything else out there. I do like the Read Chinese book. However, it uses traditional characters, which are kind of not in vogue right now (so I hear from the kids at the local Chinese immersion school). If you want a workbook type thing, you could use The First 100 Chinese Characters: http://www.amazon.com/First-100-Chinese-Characters-Simplified/dp/0804838305/ref=pd_sim_b_11 BTW - my experience in taking Chinese was not that us English speakers couldn't hear the tones. We could hear the tones and reproduce them just fine. We just couldn't remember what tones went with what meaning. And we tended to speak in a monotone because we didn't want to get it wrong. Or we "over-toned" and sounded like idiots. I don't think there'd be much problem with starting Chinese on one's own, just so long as you're aware of the problem. Edited September 9, 2011 by emubird Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilliums Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 You could check to see if you local public library offers Mango for free--many do. My kids are self-studying Mandarin using Mango, but we are looking into finding a tutor and having them take class at a Chinese language institute affiliated with our local state U as well. I did look into online tutors and they were asking over $20 per hour per child. This seemed high to me, but perhaps we will find local tutors are just as much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted September 9, 2011 Author Share Posted September 9, 2011 Thank you both. I will look at the library and see what they have. I like the looks of the chinese character book and might have him start working through that this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted September 9, 2011 Share Posted September 9, 2011 Quiver, my friend who works in China sent me a terrific text Chinese for High School Students ISBN 978-7-107-226281. The problem is, I can't find you an american vendor when I search. If you can find one, it seems like a very good text. It comes with a cd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted September 10, 2011 Author Share Posted September 10, 2011 Quiver, my friend who works in China sent me a terrific text Chinese for High School Students ISBN 978-7-107-226281. The problem is, I can't find you an american vendor when I search. If you can find one, it seems like a very good text. It comes with a cd. Thanks. I will see if I can find a copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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