Michel Thomas Method Speak Mandarin Chinese Advanced

by Harold Goodman

Experience the language learning method millions around the world have come to trust to learn Chinese Unlike most language learning systems, the Michel Thomas Method enables you to naturally and intuitively develop the building blocks for language comprehension. You can learn at your own speed--listening, speaking, and thinking through the language. Guided by a language instructor and native speakers, Michel Thomas Method Speak Mandarin Chinese Advanced CD takes you through an interactive lesson with two other learners. By the end of the program, you'll have an advanced vocabulary, polished conversation skills, and the confidence to speak in Mandarin Chinese.

Genres: Language

5 pages, Audio CD

First published March 28, 2008

Reviews

[Professor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The strength of this audiobook is in building up language skills bit by bit through the introduction of one word at a time and one grammatical concept at a time. The programme then returns to words a bit later down the line and those that have been forgotten then become rooted in the memory. A sound grasp of the words and grammar covered is thereby gained. The main benefit of the course is that it equips the listener with these building blocks of words and grammar that can then be used to form quite complex sentences without having to think very hard about how to do so. The main weakness is in the limited vocabulary. This course will not be anywhere near sufficient in itself for a an advanced knowledge of Mandarin. In addition the course does not cover written Mandarin, other than in the pinyin format. Therefore the serious learner who does not wish to be illiterate will need another text. However it is an excellent foundation for further study.

As is usual in the Michel Thomas line the format is a lesson with two students, one English and one American, with the listener being the third. The course is taken by two patient tutors, one a non native speaker with a real knack for inventive ways of remembering words and how to pronounce them, the other is a very patient and clear native speaker. The students are asked to form phrases and eventually sentences which are then repeated by the native speaker. Initially this repetition is done at a slow pace, however towards the end of the course the native speaker repeats the phrase again at a normal rate of speech. The two students are very bright and ask lots of questions. Their mistakes are ones that any student would be likely to make and they are always corrected. In the introductory course it was a little irritating that one of these students continually mispronounced a basic word however there is no such irritation with the advanced course.

Having now followed the Mandarin course up to advanced level and topped up my skills in German with the advanced course in that language I would look first to the Michel Thomas system as a way of getting a foothold in any further languages, although admittedly I don't have experience of Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone. The tutor in the Mandarin course has taken the Michel Thomas method and added his own spin to it, which works very effectively, and the addition of the native speaker also works very well.

[Karen Hensley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The top thing that makes this series in Mandarin superior to all others that I have tried is the review and clarification of the tones. If you are totally new to tones, then they are very hard to learn. For example the Pimsluer method only tells you the tone of a word one time upon introduction. But this Michel Thomas Method goes over the tones, and says it clearly and slowly many times so that you can really get it.

I also found these recordings fun to listen to. I really could learn effortlessly it seemed. All other recordings that I tried (and there were plenty) were so much like work that I tended to take more breaks to listen to the radio as I commuted. I am just learning a bit of Mandarin for travel, so I want it all to be pleasant.

The mnemonics suggested in these recordings both helped me directly, and they encouraged me to come up with my own memory aids.