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The Program:
Fluenz Mandarin 1+2 is composed of 45 full sessions taking up to 2.5 hours of work each. Every session combines realistic conversations between native Mandarin speakers with comprehensive tutorials explaining each new word and structure being learned, followed by a series of increasingly challenging workouts that provide thorough training in reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Each session features a set of clear, common sense tools that progressively increase the learner's range of communication. Instead of endless expressions that follow simple present tense sentences no one really needs (the man eats, the woman runs), Fluenz builds steadily from useful structures like questions and commands (Where can I get a taxi?, Stop here), and useful vocabulary (restaurant, transportation, directions, etc.) to more and more complex speech.
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What You Learn:
- The program covers the four-tone system of Mandarin pronunciation, essential verbs, sentence constructions in past, present, and future tenses, correct pronoun use, the ability to formulate different kinds of questions and answers, how to issue important commands, how to express time, location, and give directions, and essential vocabulary for surviving in the Mandarin-speaking world.
- Fluenz emphasizes what you need to say in in real-world situations, such as "Can I pay with a credit card?" and "I want this one," rather than the traditional simple sentences usually taught ("This is an apple").
- The program includes extensive work on asking for, understanding, and giving directions. After training on directions, it shifts to comprehensive work on structures.
- Building upon all the structures related to directions and time, Fluenz places considerable emphasis on transportation situations, including specific vocabulary and expressions involving cabs, train stations, bus stops, and the airport.
- After establishing a strong base in essential restaurant, cafe, food, and drink vocabulary and expressions in the first few sessions, the program provides thorough practice on situations specifically related to going out to eat in China.
- Shopping also receives a lot of attention, with in-depth explanations and practice on a range of skills related to communicating with both small shopkeepers and shopping mall clerks. For example, Fluenz includes considerable work on adjectives in order to describe items and make comparisons, while providing key tools to negotiate prices--a critical ability if you're bound for Beijing.
- Essential vocabulary and phrases related to the world of work and the 2008 Olympics.
How Fluenz gets you there:
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The Fluenz Approach to Chinese:
- Chinese is easier to learn than most people imagine, but it must be clearly explained. For example, one of the biggest challenges for Westerners is the fact that each syllable must be pronounced with one of five very different tones. Two words can have the exact same letters, like ma, but they can mean either mother or horse depending on which tones are used. While these tones are very difficult to learn by simply listening to them and hoping to imitate them, a simple, common sense explanation in English (comparing familiar English sounds with each tone) can go a long way to mastering them and to navigating the many exceptions and changes that govern their use.
- Using English can make all the difference in understanding "measure words," a key concept in Chinese that is absent from Western grammars. There is no way a learner can grasp when and how to use the right "measure words" unless the concept is explained and practiced in English. Mere imitation of expressions is simply no substitute for a good understanding of what's going on.
- The Fluenz recording engine helps people hone their use of tones through self comparison, which makes far more sense than voice recognition systems that are so finely tuned to the five tones that it becomes very difficult to get it right. While voice recognition has advanced in recent years, its use in the learning of Chinese by English-speakers can actually hamper learning by forcing them to meet impossible standards. Beginning Mandarin speakers should first focus on being understood, not on achieving a perfect pitch.
Audio CD + Podcasts:
The program includes an audio CD for the car stereo or Ipod providing extensive workouts linked to the material covered in the DVD-ROM. In addition, Fluenz Mandarin users get access to a series of informal and entertaining podcasts developed by the Yi Wei and Eric Biewener, part of the Harvard team working at Fluenz. The podcasts cover issues of pronunciation, culture, etiquette, as well as providing additional workouts based on the common sense approach guiding the entire program.
What's in the Box
Customer Review: Really Good Language Program
Zhè ge hen hao (Hen Hao requires accents, but this review page won't accept the [u] accent above the e and the a.) Anyway, this is by far the BEST INVESTMENT I HAVE MADE YET! I can't believe how quic...
Customer Review: Freaking Lame
Okay, the Chinese instructions are okay but this software has some silly problems that make it a pain to use! On the first "chapter" or "lesson" there is a slight delay between the teachers moving li...
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