Product Description

Learn another language the way you learnt your own

You learnt your own language naturally and enjoyably: now you can learn Mandarin in the same way.

You’ll stick with it because you’ll love it

· Use the unique method perfected over fifty years by the celebrated psychologist and linguist Michel Thomas.

· This method works with your brain, helping you to build up your Mandarin in manageable, enjoyable steps by thinking out the answers for yourself.

· You learn through listening and speaking – without the pressure of writing or memorising.

· You pick up the language naturally and unforgettably.

 

The NEW Mandarin Chinese Foundation Course

An eight-hour, 100% audio method for learning Mandarin Chinese. Join Michel Thomas Method teacher Harold Goodman and native speaker Jingtao Deng and two students in a live lesson and within the first hour you will be able to construct simple phrases. You will learn the language with the students, hearing both their successes and their mistakes to keep you motivated and involved throughout the course. By the end, you will have the confidence to understand and speak Mandarin.

Join the millions of people worldwide who have learnt a new language with the Michel Thomas Method

Contents: 8 CDs plus booklet with Mandarin phrases in English translation and transliterated into Roman script

(20080601)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24966 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-28
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: Chinese, English
• Binding: Audio CD

Review

"A genuine breakthrough in teaching Mandarin"

(The Guardian )

"A great way to learn; it's fast and it lasts". (The Daily Telegraph )

"Five minutes into the first CD, you already feel like you're winning." (Time Out )

"Michel Thomas is a precious find indeed." (The Guardian )

"Thomas makes it simple" (Sunday Times )

"Michel's methods will teach you effectively and easily" (Daily Star )

"Hugely inspiring" (Red )

"Ideal for any business traveller who needs to be able to get around confidently." (Sunday Business )

Moving along at a relaxed, slow pace, punctuated by amusing anecdotes and jokes from the teacher, the new words, phrases and language rules are gently introduced and reinforced through subtle repetition without ever being tedious. In fact, despite a distinct emphasis on non-work, the course proves very effective and enjoyable, and its format is ideal for learning anywhere you like. So, if you only want to learn to speak the language, this course is highly recommended.

(Top Real Travel Product, Real Travel )

"Excellent for learning ... This entirely audio course is easy to use and quickly results in some useful ability in the new language. Great for the car."

(Adventure Travel )

"A genuine breakthrough in teaching Mandarin"

(The Guardian )

About the Author

Dr Harold Goodman is a physician and surgeon, who had Michel Thomas as his teacher for nearly ten years. During this time Michel Thomas's goal was not to teach Dr Goodman a specific language (though he did instruct him in two of the languages he taught) but to train him to understand his method of teaching - which he then used to teach others, with great success. Dr Goodman teaches and practises in the United States.

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Customer Reviews

Michel Thomas Method: Mandarin Chinese Foundation Course
A native Beijinger once told me that she could not understand why English speakers struggled so much with Mandarin tones. Her point was, that every day in speaking English, we use tones to add emphasis to our speech. At the time she told me this I had trouble grasping the point - but this is exactly the premise of this course which will rapidly, easily and almost subliminally teach you correct tones.

Many Mandarin courses will tell you that you should not worry too much about tones because the context will more often than not allow the listener to understand what you are saying. This does have a grain of truth but the reality is that if you want to learn to talk with native Mandarin speakers, you must use the correct tones - there is no shortcut, it is a prerequisite for conversing in Mandarin.

There may be many ways to learn the tones in Mandarin and no doubt we all have our likes and dislikes of the various methods. However, I recommend this course as a painless and intuiative way to conquering the demon of Mandarin tones. This course really does do away with the mystique surrounding the tones needed to speak and understand Mandarin. If you want to learn the language this is a great way to start and if you have tried to learn via other methods and are struggling; try this course, I am sure you will not be disappointed.

Mandarin introductory course is excellent
I've long been a fan of the Michel Thomas method. I learnt Italian painlessly this way and was immediately understood (and equally importantly, could understand what I heard) after going through the CDs just twice. My day job is management and leadership training and I work in many countries and in many cultures. Language learning to date had been restricted to romance languages and German and I approached Mandarin with a little trepidation. This was without foundation. Goodman's approach is wonderful - good humoured, always entertaining and well-paced. I recommend the method highly.

A couple of weeks after buying the introductory course, I trained a delegation of Chinese local government officials. They greeted my first forays into Mandarin with delight saying it was rare for a Westerner even to try it. They were complimentary about my accent and understanding of tones and their replies suggested they understood everything I said.

So if you want a delightful, painless way to learn the basics of Mandarin, look no further.

MT Chinese course review
Michel Thomas Foundation course review

Having just completed my 4th MT course (Chinese Foundation) I feel an obligation to share my experiences with others who might be considering buying it. First the conclusion. The Michel Thomas Chinese Foundation Course was excellent: 9 out of 10.

Most of us are under the impression that Chinese is a strange alien language that is almost impossible to learn. They are right it is. When I got my first mandarin course I was presented with an array of strange sounds that made me think of a episode of Star Trek and alien encounter of incomprehensible complexity. With this mind-set I approached the Michel Thomas foundation course with some skepticism. Although I did have a fundamental belief in the soundness of his teaching methodology for Indo-European languages, I had no such belief for any other languages.
I have to admit it was a leap of faith. Which with hindsight has now been richly rewarded.

The first barrier to learning Chinese is this strange concept of using tones for each sound that represents a Chinese character. This is beautifully explained at the beginning of the course by the Professor of Chinese with the excellent assistance of a native speaker. To get the message across he tells a series of stories for each tone and allocates a colour to each of them, as well as a hand gesture (Kinaesthetic modality) for each tone, and by using your fist and fingers to re-enforce the learning experience, make it "memorable". This is subliminal suggestion to the brain, something that practitioners of Accelerated Learning who use modality and NLP use all the time.

The speed at which you progress is fine although there are times when you wonder whether you will get the key basic verbs that are so much part of an MT course. The vocab is reviewed and re enforced at regular intervals.

I have been practising with my Chinese friends. In the beginning I found they were correcting me a lot but as I progressed they become increasingly more impressed with my pronunciation and less critical. The secret now is to get my Chinese to a natural speed and that will only come with practice.

Conclusion.
Learning MT Chinese has changed my perspective of learning new languages and thinking outside the box as the teacher said it would. It has given me lots of new perspectives on a number of things. I am getting interested in writing the characters, also Taoism, Sun Tzu the art of war and the culture and history of China. My studies into the historical origins of languages and how they are all connected together has been given new impetus. I feel I am a richer person for the experience and look forward to going to China sometime in the future. Now a brief word on the Pimsleur course which I have tried. I found it useful to bring my Chinese to a more natural speed and flow.
So there is a place for both courses. But if you have a limited budget, go for the MT Chinese course.