Rocket Chinese

Rocket Chinese is a downloadable interactive program for learning Mandarin.

It's hard to know where to begin in describing Rocket Chinese, as you get a lot for your money, especially with their downloadable version but also with the CD one. I've used and recommended Rocket Spanish, and it seems to me that the company has done another good job with this Mandarin Chinese package. I have begun working my way through the first lessons myself.

You can click through to their site to read a lot about the course, but in essence what this program gives you is a series of 31 interactive audio lessons, just under half an hour in length each.

The discussions are between Dave Lewis of the UK. who speaks a good amount of Chinese already, and Lin Ping, a native of China. A description of what topics are covered in each lesson is given on that webpage I just linked to. They cover practical things, like how to ask someone to speak more slowly, ordering coffee or a meal, planning a trip, feeling unwell, talking about work, going dancing, and much more.

As you practice, there are plenty of chances for you to review and to combine words you have learned in various lessons. This gets you thinking in the language.

I just finished listening to selections from some of the lessons, and I must say I was impressed by how far they had gotten by Lesson Six. (I used to speak and read some Mandarin myself but haven't used it in years.)

Besides the sound files, you get all the transcripts along with a workbook that uses both characters and pinyin, the widely-used Romanized version of written Chinese that is much easier for us Westerners to learn. I think that trying to learn characters at the same time would be very hard.

I suggest that you check out the sample dialogs on their website, and then if you still aren't sure if you want to use the program, you can explore what Rocket Chinese is like by subscribing to their six-day email course:

Rocket Chinese is a good program for listening to and practicing on the go, and be sure to take time to study with the transcripts and other materials.

Also, you do need to be in a place where you can speak aloud to practice as you listen to the sound files. Just practicing mentally in your thoughts is not adequate. This is true of learning any language with any program. Speaking very softly is fine but whispering isn't as good.

Rocket Chinese or Fluenz Mandarin?

These seem to me to be the best of your choices for learning conversational Mandarin Chinese with a program.

Frankly, I think the amount of diligence and focus that you bring to the project may be more important than which of these two programs you select. In other words, they both seem like excellent tools, and it's up to you to make the time and effort to learn.

That said, here are a few differences: Fluenz Mandarin is a multi-media program to be used at a computer (Windows or Mac), with auxiliary CDs for audio practice and a written booklet, while Rocket Chinese is an audio program with supplemental written materials. Rocket Chinese is the better price if you select the downloadable version. It also uses both written Chinese characters and the Romanized pinyin, while Fluenz Mandarin just uses the pinyin. So which to use is your judgment call.You can read my comments about Fluenz Mandarin here.

You can  find out more about Rocket Chinese at their website here: