Targhee Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 Does anyone know of one (besides Rosetta stone)? We are previewing languages before choosing which to pursue, and kids have asked about Chinese and Japanese. I know very little about these languages, that Chinese is tonal and I do not feel comfortable teaching it. Right now we are just exploring, but I also want to make sure that if they choose one of these languages (they also want to look at German, and have had Spanish exposure) that I can get them good resources for learning. Do any of you have good programs to recommend (or even those that I should avoid)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stupidusername Posted April 29, 2014 Share Posted April 29, 2014 I studied Japanese using Pimsleur CDs and Japanese: The Spoken Language (see http://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Spoken-Language-Part-1/dp/0300038348/ref=sr_1_16?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1398813241&sr=1-16&keywords=japanese+language+textbook). I also had a tutor. I was eventually able to order a meal, ask for directions, and so forth. At one point, I went into a Japanese online "chat room" and was able to (slowly) carry out a simple written conversation. However, when I watched a Japanese movie I was unable to understand 95% of it. In general, my writing skills were better than my speaking skills, which in turn were better than my listening skills. The Pimsleur CDs were fine for very basic language skills but they are nowhere near enough to get you to fluency. At least, that was my experience. And being on the East Coast, it was hard to find native speakers with whom I could practice. I think it is nearly impossible to learn Japanese fluently unless you spend an extended period of time in Japan or have a Japanese spouse/significant other. From what I hear, Chinese is just as hard if not harder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eskibear9 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Check out Better Chinese. We did the pre-K/K one with the online subscription. Kids loved it. http://www.betterchinese.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kerileanne99 Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 Georgia Public Radio has a wonderful entire set of FREE video lesson on Japanese language and culture. They are all available online, or you can pay to have the DVDs. I am not sure how much they would cost, but I would imagine not too much. The program is called Irasshai: http://www.gpb.org/irasshai/japanese-i Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted April 30, 2014 Share Posted April 30, 2014 For Mandarin, I very much recommend getting a tutor (do you have Chinese students at a local university?) to help you to get the tones right at the beginning. The tones are not optional and a Western ear has a hard time hearing them. Then you can decide on a programme to use with your tutor. L (learned Mandarin as an adult; two children who have learned Mandarin; Husband who studied Mandarin at university and still uses it in business) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Targhee Posted May 1, 2014 Author Share Posted May 1, 2014 I will have to look more closely at tutoring options. Right now we are just exploring languages before committing - seems like both Mandarin and Japanese would require a larger financial/outside commitment. Any suggestions of way to "sample" the languages? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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