Taking a university beginner mandarin class for business purposes. Apparently most universities in North America use this same system to teach students how to speak, read and write mandarin in both characters and pinyin. The system is called Integrated Chinese.
Can be found online for free here:
Audio:
http://www.langlab.wayne.edu/new-fltc/ht...dition.htm
Books can be found online if you search around. They have the textbook, a character workbook, and a grammar book.
videos:
http://www.teachertube.com/user_videos.p...frankwyang
videos are pretty fucking lame considering the price of the textbooks... but they're funny to watch because of the horrible acting
Before looking online I saw that the audiobook was being sold by my uni for $60, textbook for another $60, and each workbook (grammar and characters) for $30 each.
My class does three 4 hour lessons for each chapter. Usually we'll begin learning the new words and how to pronounce them and use them grammatically. Next class we'll get tested on spelling 5 random words from the first part of that chapter in pinyin and character, do a memorized skit of a conversation between two speakers then begin the second part of the chapter where new words are introduced. 3rd class we'll get a 30 minute quiz on the whole chapter and begin with the next chapter.
So far after 2 months of doing it, I feel pretty comfortable around the language. I went to a restaurant the other day and noticed some basic words being used my native speakers. Having a prof teach it makes it seam like a reasonably simple language to learn if you put in your dues. You just need to learn new words, remember their symbols and practice saying them so your tones are correct.
The thing that made taking it on more mentally manageable was when my prof said that symbols are actually more efficient than syllable languages because when you see a symbol, you automatically know what it means compared to syllables, where you must pronounce each one. It ends up being a quicker language. Also sentence structure is quite simple for example, time always comes first in a sentence and has a specific order.
All that being said. I'm just learning basic things like Greetings, Family, Dates & Times Hobbies, Visiting friends, etc. Very basic stuff.
I'm also thinking about just getting right into Pimsleur while doing this against the recommendation of my prof but have noticed that the audio from Integrated Chinese and from Pimsleur have slightly different accents from what I can hear. Who knows though, tones are where I'm really falling behind atm.
