What do you think of Living Language, is it a good way to learn a language like Mandarin Chinese?

6 Comments

1. Sweetest of all sweetie pies says:

   September 1, 2009 at 7:27 am

   hola
   im a spanish major in college right now and i want to teach
   the best way to learn chinese is go to china and live there

   communicate with its natives and eemerge yourself into this language

   eso es todo lo que tienes que hacer
   yes its very hard to do that… but its the most effective way AND the only one to learn the language as if u were a native.
   i earned english and spanish that way, so i know

   no language book will ever replace that
   and manderin chines is the hardest language in the world, even though its spoken by over 1/2 of the population worldwide. you have to be a native or move to china at an early enough age (i would say… birth – 12) to learn it fluently.
   hence you grow up in that culture
2. nusias9 says:

   September 1, 2009 at 7:27 am

   I’m currently taking a refreshing class that uses Living Lanuage – Ultimate French.

   Previously I had taken French via L’alliance Francais Manhattan. This was mostly immersion with a yucky book that gave very little grammar.

   I find that the Liv Lang book has given me more insight to grammar then my two years at the L’alliance.

   But this is just my opinion…
3. Token_287 says:

   September 1, 2009 at 7:27 am

   I can’t speak to the efficacy of that series, though I’ve heard good things about the French Living Language set. Personally, I think the Teach Yourself Mandarin book/cd set is the best; it is clear, gives you a wide breadth of vocabulary, has realistic dialogues and covers from the basics to reading Tang Dynasty poetry. However, you may find it useful to use several different courses, just in case one leaves some holes in the information presented.
4. Melvin C says:

   September 1, 2009 at 7:27 am

   It is not easy to learn, for it is not phonic like most European language. You need to remember all the stroke in the writting.

   Besides, there are 4 tone in a single given sounds. Each has it’s own meaning when at different tone, and different character in writting too.

   Eg. ma have 4 tone in 妈(mother) 麻(numb) 马(horse) 骂(scolding)　(last tone is silent tone).

   But once you cross the hurdle of learning to read about 1500 to 2000 words (average 2 years), you can almost read most books already. Chinese have about 6000 words.

   I speaks and read Thai, Malay/ Indonesia, Chinese and English. I think English is easiest, follow by Malay/Indon, next is Thai (5 major tone too!) and Chinese is hardest.

   Enjoy learning.
5. sprachprofi1 says:

   September 1, 2009 at 7:27 am

   Living Language’s "Ultimate Mandarin" is quite good, but stay away from their "Complete Course" series as it’s little more than a phrasebook. For the "Ultimate Mandarin", be sure to get the package including CDs because Mandarin pronunciation is so different. In any case you will have to learn the characters separately if you want to learn them effectively. Read more at http://www.learnlangs.com/chinese – I wrote down all the tips I wished I had had when I first started learning Chinese.
6. Charlie says:

   September 1, 2009 at 7:27 am

   I suggest you learn a little Chinese, because we are surrounded by Chinese goods. I suggest you visit Hello! Mandarin’ s Live Class, http://www.hellomandarin.com/, you will be able to learn Chinese face to face with Beijing teachers. You still can join online live class directly from Beijing and practice with volunteers. Online Course is much cheaper than classroom training if your budget is limited.
   I hope this information is helpful to you.