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tagged: learn mandarin, Pimsleur Chinese, Pimsleur Mandarin, Pimsleur Mandarin I, Pimsleur Mandarin II, Pimsleur Mandarin III, Pimsleur Mandarin ReviewPimsleur Mandarin Review
Posted by Mike in Languages
The Pimsleur Mandarin program was first brought to my attention during my first stint in Shanghai during my Shanghai Summer Internship in 2008. I was eating lunch one afternoon when a fellow American overheard my completely butchered mandarin and suggested I give Pimsleur’s Mandarin program a try. He proceeded to place his order in slightly better Mandarin. I was sold…
When I returned to the USA, I quickly got the idea that I wanted to return to China at some point. As fate would have it, I ended up meeting my girlfriend shortly after making this decision, and she needed to pack her bags for China a year later, I knew I was following. However, I didn’t want to be a bumbling foreigner this time around. I wanted to know some proper Mandarin. Therefore, I gave Pimsleur Mandarin a try after a very brief test of Rosetta Stone (I will give my review at some point, but the abbreviated version of the review is that I wasn’t impressed and believe that the Pimsleur Mandarin product is a far superior product).
Pimsleur Mandarin Overview
The Pimsleur Mandarin program is broken up into 4 sections – there is the Conversational Chinese series, the Pimsleur Chinese Mandarin I program, the Pimsleur Chinese Mandarin II program, and the Pimsleur Chinese Mandarin III program. I ended up purchasing each of these new through Amazon due to the price cuts you can get vs. going directly through the manufacturer or purchasing at a book store. You can find out more about each of these products in the banner above.
The basic jest of the program is that the three main programs (I, II, and III) have 30 lessons that start from very basic Mandarin all the way to functional conversational Mandarin. Each lesson is in audio CD form – there are no computer programs, there are no books, and there are no MP3s (unless you rip them yourself). This makes the Pimsleur Mandarin program a very specialized program – it teaches you listening comprehension and speaking, but it doesn’t teach writing and reading and doesn’t go grammar detail.
Pimsleur Mandarin Basic vs. Conversational vs. Mandarin I Programs
There is confusion over the difference between the Basic Pimsleur program, the Conversational Pimsleur program, and the Chinese Mandarin I program that should be cleared up before you make a purchase.
- Pimsleur Basic – This contains 10 lessons that get you started on the basics of learning Mandarin.
- Pimsleur Conversational – This contains the 10 lessons in Pimsleur Basic plus 6 additional lessons to build your abilities.
- Pimsleur Chinese Mandarin I – This contains the 16 lessons in Pimsluer Conversational plus 14 additional lessons.
It is important to note the overlap here so you don’t make the same mistake that I did. I started out by purchasing the Pimsleur Conversational program and then quickly upgraded to the Mandarin I course. It was only then that I realized that I had already listened to the first 16 lessons and should have simply opted for the Pimsleur Mandarin I program in the first place.
Pimsleur Mandarin Complaints
If you compare the Pimsleur Mandarin program to the Rosetta Stone program, I can personally tell you from experience that it is heads and shoulders better than Rosetta Stone. I tried both and continued with the Pimsleur Mandarin program for a reason – it was convenient and I was learning and understanding a very complex language. If this wasn’t the case, I wouldn’t have spent hundreds of dollars on the program.
However, you need to realize that you won’t go through the program and be able to move to China and speak like a native. I don’t and I just completed my first semester of learning Mandarin in China (on top of going through all 90 lessons of the Pimsleur Mandarin course). The reason for this is that the Pimsleur program helps you feel comfortable with very basic Mandarin. In order to increase your vocabulary and understanding, you need to combine the Pimsleur lessons with text based learning to allow you to understand Mandarin grammar, Mandarin reading, and Mandarin writing (or simply typing). After studying all of this in China, what I learned in the Pimsleur series began to make more sense and it allowed me to visualize the tones of the words to help with my pronunciation.
If you want to build this complete picture of the Mandarin language, I would recommend you get a few additional resources to assist with your Pimsleur learning. They are Schaum’s Outline of Chinese Grammar (generally accepted as the best written guide to Chinese Grammar) and Boya Chinese (Text I Used in my intensive Mandarin classes in China). If you are interested in learning how to write Hanzi (Chinese Characters), I would highly recommend Skritter’s online program. See below for links to each:
**Skritter :: Learn How to Write Mandarin Online**
The Pimsleur Mandarin program is very specific with what it teaches and does a good job doing it. Just understand that you need to combine this with more resources to get the full effect of learning Mandarin.
Why I Like the Pimsleur Mandarin Program
The reason why I not only liked, but loved, the Pimsleur Mandarin program is due to its simplicity. I would listen to a lesson each day as I commuted to and from work by just throwing a CD into my car stereo. For anyone who knows me, I HATE to waste time and I loved the idea of using my commute to learn something practical. Not only do you listen to the lessons, but you also get the chance to respond back. Since I was in my car, no one was listening so I was essentially speaking butchered Mandarin to myself every morning before work and every night after work! The people in cars in front of or behind me probably thought there was something wrong with me, but it’s cool…I’m in China now and am using what I learned.
With limited time on my hands, this convenience was exactly what I needed. My typical day in the USA consisted of going to work, picking up dinner, going to the gym, doing more work and going to bed – really, no time for anything else. There was absolutely no time for me to play around with the Rosetta Stone system, so I needed to have a program that allowed me to effectively use my downtime more efficiently. Pimsleur fit this bill perfectly.
Where to Buy the Pimsleur Mandarin Program
I personally bought through Amazon. They were cheaper there than had I bought through the bookstore and I knew I was getting legitimate copies. The links below do contain an affiliate link (I get paid if you purchase through them). If you want to help me out and are interested in purchasing the product, I won’t complain if you use my links…don’t worry, the price isn’t going to
be any different for you.
However, if you want to pay the same price without using my affiliate link, feel free to go directly to Amazon.com to purchase. You will find them pretty easily.
Have any other thoughts of the Pimsleur Mandarin program? Please let me and the readers of this blog know below!
I bought all the Pimsleur Mandarins (I, II, and III) also. I did one lesson each day while commuting to work in the U.S., and once I moved to China, did one a day while doing the dishes :-) I felt they helped a ton, and highly recommend them to expats and those interested in Chinese both.
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Mike Reply:
August 6th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Sounds like we had the same idea :). Maybe I should consider listening to Pimsleur Mandarin lessons while doing the dishes too…
I’ve started to test out Chinese Pod lessons, but I’m not as big of a fan.
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I couldn’t agree with you more. I also started my mandarin learning journey with Pimsleur and now I am hooked on languages.
I am starting to learn Spanish now and the first thing I am doing is listening to the Spanish Pimsleurs because I know how effective the method is. It’s brilliant. I thought I was useless at language learning until I tried Pimsleur !
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Mike Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 11:51 pm
Great to hear I’m not the only one. Best of luck with your Spanish studies!
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I agree that pimsleur is a much better product than rosetta stone. I have gone through the french series and it was fantastic. Unlike the rosetta program, pimsleur has you speaking in sentences from the first lesson. I highly recommend pimsleur. Also, pimsleur is widely available in US public libraries. You can check it out for free.
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Mike Reply:
November 9th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Albert,
Thanks for your reply and the tip to using the US public libraries for the Pimsleur Mandarin CDs. Unfortunately, purchased at full price when I was in the US!
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Hi Mike,
One additional way to get Pimsleur: ITunes. For around $23.95 you can purchase 5 lessons at a time or all 30 of each module for $125, for a total of $375. It’s not cheap, but it saves a little.
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Mike Reply:
December 15th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Nice tip! Personally, I prefer to have the actual CDs. Plus, once you are done with the physical cds, you can then sell them on ebay for a very nice return. You can’t really do this with the MP3s. Thanks for the additional option!
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Not to advocate piracy, but Pimsleur and Rosetta are both available on BitTorrent in case any starving students can’t afford them or want to try before you buy.
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Mike Reply:
December 31st, 2010 at 12:31 am
That’s fair. You can also find Rosetta Stone in any fake market around here with no problems.
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Pimsleurs manderin chinese 1 to 3, is probably the best language program there is, but it still has some flaws.
First, its boring. In spite of what they say, you will need to go back and listen to prior lessons even if you master each lesson one at a time. So, if its boring you will find your mind drifting away.
Second, there isn’t much explanation as to the grammar rules. You will have to figure it out on your own or read from other sources.
3rd, there is no direct translation. They use proper english grammer to translate Manderin which has very different sentence structure and figures of speach. This makes it much harder.
4th. Being that they put so much infomation on just a few cd, there isn’t enough time for you to repeat back what was just said in Mandarin so you’ll have to pause the cds a lot.
5th. They through in names of chinese city’s, restaurant and other proper nouns which is more confusion added to a already hard language. This is supposed to be a language lesson, not a geography/culture lesson. They should keep the geography and culture for a separate program.
Speaking of culture. The program does come with some good culture notes and cd, too.
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Mike Reply:
December 31st, 2010 at 12:37 am
Jim,
While the Pimsleur Mandarin CDs aren’t perfect, I believe they are the best option out of a thin market (audio files that truly help to teach Mandarin). There are those that enjoy chinesepod, but I never really cared for their program — the lessons don’t run together well so you aren’t hit with the same terminology and words like you are with the Pimsleur lessons.
I do agree that the grammar lessons would be helpful. There was a lot that went over my head when I first listened to them. Now that I have a better grasp of the language, it all makes more sense.
In fact, now that I think of it, there really are no great tools for learning grammar. I would love to be able to listen to MP3s that detail the nuances of Chinese grammar.
Thanks for your helpful comment.
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I hope they come out with a manderin 4.
It’s a great series. It would be even better if they came with a video series. People learn with their eyes even better. Add notes and a workbook to go along with it. I can see Pimsleur making a lot more money off this.
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Mike Reply:
December 31st, 2010 at 12:39 am
I agree on both points. I am learning a great deal more now that I have books to allow me to read. I am primarily a visual learner, so I am actually better at reading characters than I am at understanding spoken Mandarin.
If Mandarin 4 came out, I would make sure to get it.
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Hi Mike and All,
I am currently using the Instant Immersion audio discs…..AND The Living language Audios as well. I, too, have them in the car/around the house/everywhere I am as to NOT waste my time either. I ran across a couple of phonetic books that have added a bit of ease, but at almost 50 it’s kinda tough. My husband (also a Mike) and I are planning on going to Dalian mid 2013 for a couple of years and I really want to enhance the experience by being prepared. Prob gonna take you up on the VPN useage…and am trying to “configure” a blog as well…so be ready for me! (LOL) I want to begin it way before it to include craziness involved with all the preparations…car storage/pets/stuff/ etc. Thanks for creating this blog, it had already helped tremendously!
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just started using pimsleur to learn spanish, i know this dont have much relivence to mandarin but if anyone else stumbles on this and is learning a european language like, spanish, german, french ect, check out Michel Thomas he is incredible at breaking down a language so you can almost teach yourself
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