Pimsleur Mandarin

The Pimsleur Method for language learning has been around a long time. It's based on listening and speaking, not reading. For Chinese, there is both Pimsleur Mandarin and Pimsleur Cantonese.

I have two friends who have used Pimsleur to learn Spanish, and they both felt that they got a very good start in the language. One of them was bothered by not having much in the way of textbook or workbook. The other one thought that was just fine, as he listened to the lessons repeatedly while working as a meter reader!

 If you learn well from audio material, or plan to be doing a lot of walking, you might like to try Pimsleur Mandarin.

Personally, I prefer a combination of sound files and something to read and do, so Pimsleur would be my third choice after Rocket Chinese and Fluenz Mandarin. (Links to my reviews about them.) They are both less expensive than Pimsleur as well.

There is Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese I, Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese II, and Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese III. Each of these is an Audio CD with thirty lessons on it. I found the best prices of my research at Amazon, and that's where each of those links will take you. (They are still over $250 each.) I recommend you read some of the reviews before deciding.

Another source where prices may be better is eBay, and that link takes you to a search for pimsleur mandarin on eBay.com. By the way, sometimes you can get these programs as second-hand cassettes for bargain prices, and that link would help you there -- just add the word cassette to the existing search once you get to eBay.

If you are curious to know more about the theory behind these programs, there is an article at Wikipedia which explains the Pimsleur Method.