Chinese in a Hurry

You know me   Tue Sep 02, 2008 10:44 pm GMT
I already know Kanji from Japanese and a little Chinese vocabulary. What program (not Rosetta Stone) do you recommend? A friend used Pimsleur and did well. Who has tried Michel Thomas for Chinese and how high will it take you? Other recommendations Thanks to all who answer sincerely.
Guest   Thu Sep 04, 2008 12:55 am GMT
Any ideas?
Caspian   Mon Sep 15, 2008 3:20 pm GMT
If the Michel Thomas for Chinese is as good as the other Michel Thomas products, then choose it.
shellyuan   Fri Sep 19, 2008 8:07 am GMT
I recommend on-line learning program,like hellomandarin on http://www.hellomandarin.com/ .Students can choose different packages including conversation, culture, grammar, pinyin and characters freely based on flexible purpose. Besides,students can learn with bilingual teachers and practice with volunteers from Beijing. If your budget is limited and time is flexible ,it could be a good choice.
Gjones2   Tue Sep 30, 2008 5:09 am GMT
Try LIYC Chinese.
Benny   Tue Oct 14, 2008 12:25 am GMT
Which Chinese in a hurry? You did shoot down an argument suggesting that Cantonese and Mandarin are as different as chalk and cheese. Since they are not very different, it would not be too hard for you to learn how to speak it. I would not say that Hakka sounds like a Min-Nan substratum. To my untrained ears, it sounds closer to Cantonese. Indeed, Hakka speakers in Malaysia are usually one of the best Cantonese speakers. If you were to listen to a Hakka news bulletin, you'd have an odd impression that the language is an unwanted offspring of both Mandarin and Cantonese.
Xie   Thu Oct 16, 2008 12:21 pm GMT
>>you'd have an odd impression that the language is an unwanted offspring of both Mandarin and Cantonese.

I'm perplexed. I don't think so. How come some of you have associated Hakka with its southern neighbors - perhaps simply because they're neighbors?
De   Fri Oct 17, 2008 7:29 pm GMT
Hakka sounds weird, though it depends on which version you hear. A few Hakka folk songs sung by Guangdong Hakka made me under the impression it was a hybrid based on Cantonese, mixed with Mandarin, Teochew and others.
aggieiga@hotmail.com   Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:41 am GMT
you can just try to watch some Chinese movie or series. Chinese prnounciation is quite simple

good luck
K. T.   Sat Oct 18, 2008 2:16 am GMT
This is one of the funniest comments I've read here:

"just try to watch some Chinese movie or series." Actually, it could help a little IF the series was not set in the remote past, I suppose.

Funny, how no one can answer this.
Xie   Sat Oct 18, 2008 3:36 am GMT
As a rule, I'm even more perplexed to see full emails.

Our admins are certainly either too busy or too lazy to remove spam posts. Aren't you requiring us to say Spam is bad now, huh?

If you guys want to learn Chinese well, why should you rely on gimmicky sites instead of asking people like me and other learners?
laozhao   Sun Oct 26, 2008 3:25 pm GMT
Maybe you can try Chinese World http://www.learnchinese.bj.cn , considering your situation, you have know little Chinese, so there is no need to start from the beginning. You need to find a program that can offer courses specially for you.
AnimaLova   Thu Oct 30, 2008 3:34 am GMT
Learn Chinese offline:


www.chinesefriedcats.com