Behind the Wheel Chinese (Mandarin)- Level 1- Learn to Speak Mandarin Chinese Quickly and Easily- (8 Description:

Behind the Wheel Chinese (Mandarin), Level 1: Learn to Speak Mandarin Chinese Quickly and Easily! (8 One Hour CDs) review:
5 stars (Exceptionally Excellent) - I have purchased and successfully used Behind the Wheel Chinese/Mandarin.

It blows me away that a person buying a car course in Chinese would complain about having a written text, Pinyin version or otherwise. Any true scholar of Chinese will tell you that learning to speak the language correctly is the key. Written Chinese is a whole new ball of wax and can actually detract from the learning experience for speaking purposes at least. Imagine trying to read Chinese while driving. Give me a break. For that reason, Behind the Wheel Chinese is simple, straightforward, easy to understand, easy to use.

The course has two excellent native Mandarin speakers, a male and a female and an American instructor without an accent who explains everything.

Both voices repeat twice so that you can duplicate the difficult and challenging sounds of Mandarin which uses different 'tones' to convey meaning.

You learn all of this stuff in the comfort of your own car without having to look up or read anything. If you really want to learn to speak Mandarin, I recommend you go out and buy this course immediately. After you have learned to speak Mandarin at a conversational level from the course like I have, then go out and learn to write it if you will.

Not me. I'm thrilled enough just to be able to speak and understand Mandarin at a normal conversational level.


2 stars (Almost but not quite) - There is no written version of the words and phrases on the CD's. A Pinyin version would make this set exceptional, and accompanying Chinese characters would make it even more useful. As is, this version depends solely on memorizing sounds and their associated meaning. Furthermore, similar sounds cannot be compared via their written counterpart. A lot of good work and design wasted for lack of "blueprints." Without additional instructional materials, even taking notes is all but impossible, for there is no way to associate the sounds on the CD's with any standard form of notation.
5 stars (Great course) - This is exactly what you think it is. An audio CD course for learning Chinese while driving. This course builds your listening skills as well, because the the English phrase spoken by the English speaker is repeated at least twice by the Mandarin speaker, in Mandarin. So not only do you get to learn vocabulary, your listening and speaking skills get exercised as well.



If you are serious about learning Mandarin, you won't be disappointed by this audio book.