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Where to go from Pimsleur?
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runehh -

After a slow start I have now almost finished Pimsleur 1,2 and 3. So where to go from here? I have
bought several different textbooks and some of them are ok, but I dread the day I run out of
Pimsleur lessons, and will have to rely on books alone. Maybe I am stupid or lazy (probably both)
but I find it very difficult to learn from the books, now that I am used to the CD's.
Does anybody know of any Pimsleur style CD's or tapes that might be helpful? Or have any
suggestions as to how I can make the transition to books?



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kudra -

I don't know at what level Pimsleur stops.
2 things you might check:

1. general texts
http://www. /showthread.php?t=9612

2. Just see if you can understand the audio of lesson 1 of David and Helen
http://classes.yale.edu/chns130/Listening/index.html

Presumably if lesson 1 is understandable, then you are at 2nd year US univ. level.
Then at least there are many 10's of hrs of D+H audio.










anticks -

Congrats on finishing all 3. How do you find your conversational skills are at the moment? and
your listening?

Ive been wanting to find out what kind of level people are at after all 3 pimsleur courses as im
almost done with Level 1. My girl (who is chinese) said, after listning to a few of conversational
parts of various units in Mandarin III, that it sounds quite good and if i get to that level i
should be able to talk and understand quite a bit of day to day conversation.

My plan after Pimsleur is to look more at Rosetta Stone and Chinesepod.com for topics on different
things and using familiar words in different situations. I think there will be a few things that
they cover that Pimsleur does not. Right now im also about to start a short course. Im taking a 10
week, 30 hour evening course teaching Mandarin with a focus on communication. It wasnt too hard
for find out about this. Alot of local schools here get hired out by teachers who teach evening
classes in all sorts of things. Maybe you could look into it. Im not sure how much a 30 hour
course would actually help? Anyone had any experience in short courses?

Im planning to goto China at the end of 2007/Start of 2008. So that gives me over a year and a
half to study Mandarin.










incuria -

It seems like we are looking at the same mandarin courses. Some just starting out while others at
the end of a particular course.

Would it be possible to put up a post of the more common commercially available ones. Someone who
has fluency and had exposure to the various types of formats (book/cd,software, podcasts etc) and
rank them somehow in terms of beginner/intermediate/advanced.

There is already an extensive posting on different textbooks used at University. Non academic
types (or those not yet interested in learning the written script) such as myself are relying upon
straight off the shelf book/audio courses.

It would be helpful to have an idea what study materials would flow from one level to the next, so
we could get an idea and direction to head in to expand our level of knowledge or stay in one
place for the time being to revise.

No Course would cover everything so it is natural to ask the question "what next".

I'm just starting with Plimsleur 1 but supplement with Chinesepod.com (in the newbies section) as
I find the podcasts to be humerous and fun. A break from the repetition but also good to hear a
different set of voices.










kudra -

Just to comment on ...


Quote:

or those not yet interested in learning the written script...

The somewhat old Spoken Standard Chinese 1,2 series by Huang and Stimson was all pinyin. It has a
companion series of texts -- Written Standard Chinese 1-4. Apparently you can buy tapes for them
all but they are pricey. (There was a draft of Spoken vol 3, but it never got published. )( home
made mp3 may be available on the web somewhere at some point.)

It seems like at some point, you will want the "academic" treatment to get a systematic
presentation of grammar and patterns. I thought this was a very strong point about the Spoken
Standard Chinese 1-2 series.

I guess what you need is people to chime in, who've had success getting to mid intermediate level,
for example, doing self study using off the shelf audio/cd products. My guess, based on nothing
but my experiential bias toward the "academic" treatment, is that they are a rare breed.










incuria -

I think you are very correct kudra. Ultimately one could only go so far without learning the
script and just relying upon audio and pinyin.

It is good to see there is choice as to how deep you want to plunge into. I work on a front desk
where a small percentage (10% - guess) of people I meet have South East Asian background and are
invovled in litigation in the Court over work related injury and industrial relations/employment
type issues. Most of those speak good english - only a smaller number (1% guess) can't communicate
in english at all.

We have professional interpreters (usually asked for by the plaintiffs solicitor), to sit in Court
and interpret in real time during the proceedings regardless of their standard of english.

Often the plaintiff will arrive before their solicitor or interpreter. I think it would be great
for me to be able to greet and give directions/basic information in their native tongue to assist
them feel at ease with the process. Who wouldn't feel nervous going to Court?

Hence relying upon audio to communicate in the first instance. As an Officer of the Court I can't
start giving interpretations/translations on legal issues so basic tourist type dialogue to help
settle people in before their solicitor arrives will be just the thing.

Thanks for the info on Huang and Stimson. Shall keep an eye out for it on the net. I'll stick to
audio and pinyin for the moment and just get used to the sounds of the language.










gato -



Quote:

small percentage (10% - guess) of people I meet have South East Asian background and are invovled
in litigation

Do you know if they speak Mandarin Chinese? Don't want to plunge in and study the wrong language.










bomaci -



Quote:

I guess what you need is people to chime in, who've had success getting to mid intermediate level,
for example, doing self study using off the shelf audio/cd products. My guess, based on nothing
but my experiential bias toward the "academic" treatment, is that they are a rare breed.

I have gotten to the intermediate level (if intermediate level means that you understand the last
lesson of "David and Helen in china" ) almost entirely through self study. However I have also had
many opportunities to communicate with natvie speakers. I first used Pimsleur and later "Standard
chinese: a modular approach" by the Foreign Service Institute. However I am not sure that I would
recommend either. I would suggest you have a look at the Assimil chinese course. You can read
about the Assimil methodology more in detail here:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com...=22&PN=1&TPN=1.










incuria -

#7 Gato my percentages and geography are probably way out. A fairer picture is a cross section of
clients come by. Languages include Mandarin, Vietnamese, Arabic, Farsi/Dari, Spanish. I can almost
guess the origin of the client by surname, against a backdrop of mainly caucasian people.

The assigned interpreters put any guess work to rest by identifying themselves as "I'm the Farsi
interpreter for Ms ....." (so I get to cheat on that score )

I seem to think that a lot of people in chinese forum are learning for more exacting and
professional roles of linguistic use than I will ever need to worry about.

I do take my hat off to those people. I admire anyone who is mulitilingual regardless of the
purpose or origin of that learning process. I think it is great the way people "think aloud" on
the forum and give ideas on their learning curve to where they are heading.










gato -

Good luck, incuria!












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