Rapid Mandarin Chinese: Volume 1

I have nothing but praise for the presentation and method. I further give extra high marks for the downloadable text (Audible should make such text availabe with every lanaguage and city guide)! My only complaint is that it does not really supply very much vocabulary. On a price/information ratio, Dr. Blair's Mandarin is better; on price/pleasure ratio, Earworms is tops.

This is an interesting way to learn a language. In this series (I also did the Spanish version) uses background music during the teaching of phrases. You don't speak to the beat or anything like that, but the music takes the boredom out of repeating phrases and words.

I speak Mandarin but it was 'rusty' so I tried this book. I found the lessons a good revciew but don't think it would be good at all if you don't already have some familiarity with mandarin. The two instructors are good but one has a very heavy chinese accent when she speaks english and is sometimes very hard to understand. The other instructor does not sound asian in anyway - his pronunciation of works is average but not a good role model.

The pace starts off slow then ends up going too fast (especially if you don't already speak Mandarin).

There use of music is a most intersting learning tool and if you teach languages you might want to listen just to experience the method.

This is a good place to start for the price. I found the music in the background sometimes interferred with the ability to hear the pronunciation clearly. Would be nice to be able to mute it at times.

This is the simplest way to get a basic handle on a new language. The music and the repetiotion work fast, I love it and look forward to the release of Vol. 2

The background music playing all the time makes it hard to understand.

While the content was OK, this audio does not have the feel that I was looking for. I felt embarrassed that someone might catch me listening to the ridiculous music that goes along with the words. If you are looking for repetition though this is the audio for you. You could almost not be thinking and still learn something.

I got this book after a first educational stint with my mother in law (who speaks only mandarin and mongol). I liked the method a lot and found that indeed remembering new words is much easier than traditional methods. The content is quite basic, but enough for a solid beginning. I liked a lot too the voice of the chinese girl in the recording. After advancing a bit I got the spanish method for my wife (spanish is my mother language) and I'm surprised by how much has she advanced in a few weeks.
It is worth the bucks, I'm waiting for the second volume.
Watch out for the printed version in both chinese characters and english, which also helps a lot, you can get it from their website.

This was useful for simple travel in China, but the background music is annoying, and makes it very difficult to hear the Chinese pronunciation and proper accent.

This has been the easiest and most effective way for me to ingest vocab and basic grammar skills for Mandarin. It delivers what it says it does and doesn't require a lot of attention, which is good because the music is pretty cheesey.

while struggling thru the Pimsleur system, I got this for my iPod and find it a delight to use. Music is nice and the text gives you plenty of repitition time. Comments/hints are good as well. If feels like a break from my studies. Hope they have Volume 2 asap.