Answers
Dec 11, 2012 - 03:16 PM
Hi Derek! As of right now we do not have any plans in place for Fluenz Mandarin 4. However, we are happy to provide you with some additional learning tools to help you further your Mandarin studies. The following is a brief list of some great Mandarin resources.
1. Serge Melynks: (Chinese Lessons online) http://www.melnyks.com/
2. "Learn Chinese through Songs and Rhymes" by Lydia Lin: (Comprehensive book that teaches a variety of topics including an in-depth look at measure words.)
http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Chinese-t...
3. Little Dragon Tales: ( A collection of Chinese Children's songs): http://littledragontales.com/
4. Mandy and Pandy: (A series of Children's books): http://www.mandyandpandy.com/
Although the last two items are children's items, they will help you to better recognize and comprehend words in Mandarin.
I hope this helps! Best of luck with your studies! Zaijian!
1. Serge Melynks: (Chinese Lessons online) http://www.melnyks.com/
2. "Learn Chinese through Songs and Rhymes" by Lydia Lin: (Comprehensive book that teaches a variety of topics including an in-depth look at measure words.)
http://www.amazon.com/Learn-Chinese-t...
3. Little Dragon Tales: ( A collection of Chinese Children's songs): http://littledragontales.com/
4. Mandy and Pandy: (A series of Children's books): http://www.mandyandpandy.com/
Although the last two items are children's items, they will help you to better recognize and comprehend words in Mandarin.
I hope this helps! Best of luck with your studies! Zaijian!
Dec 11, 2012 - 04:40 PM
Fluenz Mandarin appears to be the only one of their languages not to have a full lesson 1-5 course. I too hope they followup the Mandarin course with lessons 4 and 5. IMHO, Fluenz Mandarin 1,2,3 provide a good enough jumping point to being able to learn more Chinese vocabulary and phrases/grammar.
To continue beyond Fluenz Mandarin, I would recommend the *excellent* book: Albert Wolfe's "Chinese 24/7". This book is written by an English Teacher living in Guangzhou, China, and he has many many insights into learning Chinese from an English-speaker's perspective. Most of the book is written in English, with vocabulary and phrases written in both the Pinyin and Chinese Characters. There are many instances where Wolfe explains the reason that a phrase is spoken a certain way, or gives a real-world examples of their usage. There are also many cultural insights which he shares based on his experiences. He has a very active blog online which you can see at: http://laowaichinese.net
The big plus about the Wolfe book is that it covers a lot of the same basic phrases and vocabulary as Fluenz Mandarin, albeit the Wolfe book goes beyond the Fluenz vocabulary and phrases, and offers downloadable audio of the pronunciations. I am not yet at Fluenz 3, but already I am able to study the Wolfe material interchangeably with the Fluenz material because of the overlap. I am a big fan of the Fluenz method of learning; the amount of repetition and understanding how to then use the learned vocabulary in actual phrases is what makes their program so effective. If you can manage to study the Wolfe book in exactly the way as the Fluenz lessons, then the Wolfe book is a very natural progression beyond Fluenz.
I also have the Tuttle "Learner's Chinese-English Dictionary", and the Tuttle "250 Essential Chinese Characters". However I am following Wolfe's point of advice #3: Ditch Hanzi (the Chinese Characters). When you're starting out, focus on the Pinyin, which is enough of a challenge. I whole-heartedly agree. I'm just focusing on learning the spoken language first; maybe after Fluenz Mandarin 3 I'll dive into the first 250 characters. But until then, it's all Fluenz, Wolfe, and that Chinese-English dictionary for me!
To continue beyond Fluenz Mandarin, I would recommend the *excellent* book: Albert Wolfe's "Chinese 24/7". This book is written by an English Teacher living in Guangzhou, China, and he has many many insights into learning Chinese from an English-speaker's perspective. Most of the book is written in English, with vocabulary and phrases written in both the Pinyin and Chinese Characters. There are many instances where Wolfe explains the reason that a phrase is spoken a certain way, or gives a real-world examples of their usage. There are also many cultural insights which he shares based on his experiences. He has a very active blog online which you can see at: http://laowaichinese.net
The big plus about the Wolfe book is that it covers a lot of the same basic phrases and vocabulary as Fluenz Mandarin, albeit the Wolfe book goes beyond the Fluenz vocabulary and phrases, and offers downloadable audio of the pronunciations. I am not yet at Fluenz 3, but already I am able to study the Wolfe material interchangeably with the Fluenz material because of the overlap. I am a big fan of the Fluenz method of learning; the amount of repetition and understanding how to then use the learned vocabulary in actual phrases is what makes their program so effective. If you can manage to study the Wolfe book in exactly the way as the Fluenz lessons, then the Wolfe book is a very natural progression beyond Fluenz.
I also have the Tuttle "Learner's Chinese-English Dictionary", and the Tuttle "250 Essential Chinese Characters". However I am following Wolfe's point of advice #3: Ditch Hanzi (the Chinese Characters). When you're starting out, focus on the Pinyin, which is enough of a challenge. I whole-heartedly agree. I'm just focusing on learning the spoken language first; maybe after Fluenz Mandarin 3 I'll dive into the first 250 characters. But until then, it's all Fluenz, Wolfe, and that Chinese-English dictionary for me!