I downloaded Dr. Blair's Mandarin Chinese and found this to be a good application in assisting with a very difficult language. It's worth a download if you are staring out in Mandarin but I could have done without the "pirate" story. I could have used more Mandarin phrases as opposed a story line that is frustrating to keep fast forwarding through. Regardless, I would recommend it.

I found these introductory lessons entertaining and a very easy way to learn chinese. There are alot of mnemonic devices used to help the words stick and there is a good balance of vocabulary with grammar. It's not a traveller's phrase book but there is more everyday conversational language. I agree with the other reviewers that the pirate story does not add much to the learning process but they never ask you "do you want to pet my tiger". I've gotten alot out of repeated listening.

The sample has the narrative about an interesting story where I expected to solve a problem and use your language skills. Out of three hours, I bet less than 10 minutes TOTAL are spent on the story and I haven't seen anything related to the adventure in the learning. The mnemonic devices were good, that is haidou = sea pirates, Shanghai = near the Sea, but I bet less than 20% of the words used mnemonic devices. Two hours into the three hours of the course and they are stringly irrelevant phrases together, e.g. Do you want to pet my tiger? (I'm not kidding) with I don't know, I just lost it.

Like most of the audio guides except Earworms there is no download available of any printed material that comes with the store-bought version.

On the positive side, this is one of the best offerings for beginning to learn Mandarin. The first chapter is the best, using "learning hooks" and other memory devices but the succeeding chapters switch to a silly narrative that may be entertaining to some children but is basically useless for language learning. I would have preferred that they continued with the mnemonic devices.

The mock class room with fellow students is very helpful in discerning slight pronunciation nuances that otherwise might be missed. Pronunciation is key to Mandarin.

On the whole, it is an excellent choice.