Bruce

There's a lot of repetition so words and expressions gradually stick to your head. No frills, just a very practical learning method. Unlike other language learning audiobooks, instructors don't keep rattling on in English more than three-quarters of the audio time. I also like the long enough pauses in this so that you actually get to say the words you are learning.

This learning method is a good one. The sentences and words used are well thought out. But a word of caution. This program provides you with basically no written text. Downloadable material does not contain any transcript for the main part of the material. And I think it is quite difficult to learn Chinese language solely phonetically. It will be so much easier with transcripts of the expressions that appear in the program. I study Spanish language as well using the Pymsleur method. It works better with Spanish which is a phonetically written language. When you hear a sentence in Spanish, you pretty much know how it's spelled. Chinese is not like that. Chinese is a language that relies on each character's meaning. Rather than learning sound for every expresson, learning Chinese characters can really expedite learning. When Chinese characters are combined in different ways, you can still guess the meaning if you know the meaning of those characters. You can't do this with the Pymsleur method unfortunately as it does not involve much Chinese character learning. I use other iPhone apps to supplement this side. That said, repetition in the Pymsleur program is very helpful. Things gradually sink in with massive repetition in this audiobook. Besides, it's really nice to be able to learn a langage while walking around town or in the park. I'm an avid walker.

Yes, because I want to improve my command of Chinese language.

This learning method is a good one. The sentences and words used are well thought out. But it provides you with basically no written text. And I think it is quite difficult to learn Chinese language only phonetically. It will be so much easier with transcripts of the expressions that appear in the program. I study Spanish language as well using the Pymsleur method. It works better with Spanish which is a phonetically written language. When you hear a sentence in Spanish, you pretty much know how it's spelled. Chinese is not like that. Chinese is a language that relies on each character's meaning. Rather than learning sound for every expresson, learning Chinese characters can really expedite learning. When Chinese characters are combined in different ways, you can still guess the meaning if you know the meaning of those characters. You can't do this with the Pymsleur method unfortunately as it does not involve much Chinese character learning. I use other iPhone apps to supplement this side. That said, repetition in the Pymsleur program is very helpful. Things gradually sink in with massive repetition in this audiobook. Besides, it's really nice to be able to learn a langage while walking around town or in the park. I'm an avid walker.

Ms. Hathaway's reading. It's just a stroke of genius.

Everything. I don't watch movies much so I only heard of her name before. But after listening to this, I'm a big fan of her.

Funny, a little out of date, but still funny

Barry, the writer. He sees the funny side of things in everything. A bit sophomoric at times but gives me a lot of hearty laughs.

There are countless of them. Highschool baseball, Tokyo Disneyland, No street names in Japan... to name a few.

The book is a collection of Barry's reports on Japan. To listen to it in one sitting is okay but I'd rather enjoy several episodes at one time as I don't want to feel numbed with all the punch lines that come one after another.

The performer is great with his comedy timing. The sound quality leaves something to be desired. Not as cear as more recent audiobooks.