Video Manderin Learning
Printed From: FSI Language Courses
Category: Learning Languages
Forum Name: Chinese (Standard)
Forum Discription: Discussion about studying Standard Chinese using the FSI course.
URL: http://fsi-language-courses.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=156
Printed Date: 16 January 2009 at 3:29am
Topic: Video Manderin Learning
Posted By: mounthua
Subject: Video Manderin Learning
Date Posted: 15 September 2006 at 7:40pm
Anyone heard of a video series to learn Mandarin? What is the name of the series?
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Replies:
Posted By: KD jones
Date Posted: 22 October 2006 at 4:44pm
Do you mean software? If so, you probably mean Rosetta Stone.
If you mean, say, strictly video, as in actors, don't know...
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Posted By: TheBigZaboon
Date Posted: 25 October 2006 at 9:30am
There is a series from Taiwan that used to be available from Cheng and Tsui. I will try to find the title and post it here. This series was accompanied by videos as well as text books.
TBZ
Edited 10/27/06
The name of the course is Practical Audio-video Chinese, by the Mandarin Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University. There are 3 levels (beginning to intermediate), with each lesson supposedly accompanied by a ten minute video skit, and these are provided on various mixes of CDs, VCDs, or possibly video tapes. I do not know what materials are duplicates, and therefore can be bought in one format only, reducing expenditures, but overall, prices seem to be reasonable. C&T has dropped this from their latest catalog, but I'm sure there are still versions available in Taiwan.
One caveat though, I am told the texts offer both traditional and simplifed characters, but no pinyin, instead using a pronunciation system called bopomofo used by Taiwanese school children to learn to read and pronounce characters correctly. I have heard this system praised by some who have bothered to learn it, but it must be learned from scratch like any other writing system, and this just adds to the learning load. So beware.
I have no info on where or how you may obtain this course material now, except to say that I'm pretty sure it still exists.
TBZ
Edited again 10/30/06
Recently I've heard rumors (and seen incomplete advertisements) of a video-based course from the mainland. Mainland as in Mainland China, not Taiwan, Singapore, or Hong Kong, that is. If I remember correctly, it starts at the beginning, but does not necessarily go past that level. I have no information right now, but if I come across the reference again, I'll update this post.
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Posted By: aruaru
Date Posted: 04 November 2006 at 8:57am
if You do not mind bad quality videos, there's a lot of them available online, both for Practical Chinese Reader, and New Practical Chinese Reader:
http://www.hanyu.com.cn/en/htm_newlesson/mulu.htm
http://www.csulb.edu/~txie/pcr/textrecording/recording.htm
these links is what a quick google search gave me, i believe i've seen more of those, even the whole textbooks available to go with videos.
I have used the Practical Audio-video Chinese, by the Mandarin Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University books and i used to have the VCDs for the second (green) book, but i've lost them over time. But the video course is NOT a seperate video course - it's more like the audio tapes that come with the text, but on video.
the books themselves are good, i'd recommend them. thick, nice paper, pretty pictures, clear layout, good grammar explanation, lots of examples for EACH new word (perfect for beginners and non-beginners). the books use traditional characters, the vocabulary list in teh end of the book has simplified characters as well. the books use BOTH pinyin AND bopomofo, i, as a pinyin user, never had problems.
i happen to have a "video course" by shanghai tendery music production co LTD for beginners, bought in mainland china this summer. i took a look at it just now, and well, i did not like it. it is called "Learn To Speak Chinese [for living]", the same series had titles [for foundation] and [for business] as well. good points: cheap. has 2 VCDs and two audio CDs. the video is more like a lady reading sentences aloud, while we stare at the same sentence in writing. boring, bad english.
i saw a video course on ten CDs or so, supposingly good (?) but it did not belong to the cheap kind of CDs that people pick up for unknown reason, so i don't have it. cannot comment on that.
there is a video course for intermediate students published by CCTV, it's the same TV programme that Dashan hosts. It's called Travel in China, i suppose, and i quite liked that programme when i saw it on TV. If You are not a beginner, that would be a good option.
sorry for chaotic and long post
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Posted By: Heinrich S.
Date Posted: 06 November 2006 at 6:10pm
You might like to take a look at:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=chineselessons - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=chineselessons
and especially (more lessons): http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=china8com - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=china8com
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Posted By: onebir
Date Posted: 08 November 2006 at 4:04am
Originally posted by TheBigZaboon
Recently I've heard rumors (and seen incomplete advertisements) of a video-based course from the mainland.
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Communicate in Chinese or China Panorama could be the course(s) you're thinking of, see: http://learn_chinese.ckungfu.com/beginner/Panorama1.htm (the prices on that site seem pretty fair - around 2x the prices in bookshops in china, not clear if they include the books in places though)
There are actually 4 China Panorama courses: Approaching Chinese (10 VCDs + ? books) Intermediate Chinese (13 VCDs + 3 books) Chinese for Tourism (25 VCDs + 1 fat book) and Chinese for Business (2 DVDs + 1 book)
I tried to buy Intermediate Chinese, but they wouldn't let me look at the VCDs so I bought the cheaper Chinese for Business (<USD30 in China, 50 lessons on DVD + a coursebook). Actually, it seems not bad. Nowhere near as sophisticated as French in Action, but a passable vocab and listening comprehension builder.
I know my vocab causes me communication problems, and I couldn't recognise around 20% of the vocab in the higher levels of the Intermediate Chinese textbooks when i flicked through them in the bookstore, so I'm toying with the idea of buying that before I leave china next week.
I refuse to buy Communicate in Chinese because I wouldn't be able to stand watching Dashan...
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Posted By: TheBigZaboon
Date Posted: 08 November 2006 at 6:47am
onebir,
Thanks for the information. I'd also like to get a look at and a listen to the content/level before I'd agree to buy. I've seen some pretty bad stuff offered.
By the way, I think you should let everybody know who Dashan is, and why he seems to be universally disliked, the poor guy. I've noticed one or two references to him on this site, but I'm sure not everybody knows him.
TBZ
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Posted By: onebir
Date Posted: 08 November 2006 at 7:43am
Originally posted by TheBigZaboon
I think you should let everybody know who Dashan is, and why he seems to be universally disliked, the poor guy.
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See his wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dashan
And look at his picture here: http://learn_chinese.ckungfu.com/beginner/dashan1.htm to get only an inkling of smugness to which you would expose yourself by buying 'communicate in chinese'...
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Posted By: lucvileyn
Date Posted: 02 January 2007 at 4:17pm
There is a method "Hello Beijing" that we use at the China Academy in Brussels. It is on VHS. No idea where you can find it, probably only in China. I will ask the next lesson (next week, wednesday evening). It's not bad.
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Posted By: Simon8
Date Posted: 04 March 2007 at 1:27am
Hi all,
This is my first post on this site. I thought the listening tapes seemed quite good though a little dated. I think video is a good way of learning. Although Dashan's demeanor could be better he does explain things in English and have good sentences strutures. I wish he had more activities or exercises if things are too passive it is easy to forget them.
Two places with good video teaching the confucious Institute at Michigan University http://www.confucius.msu.edu/ This site has the panorama video tutorial series and some other material. Also like the tapes online these seem a little dated but the Chinese is good. Not too much english but ok video.
The second site is done by Chinese professors working at the Oxford University in the UK. It seems to be written by Chinese as you have to learn the vocabulary before you read the texts. This means you need patience to learn the words first or a basic level to read some of the words. The Grammar exercises with multiple choice are decent too. This also demonstrates stroke order, which is important at the beginning but not so much later on. http://www.ctcfl.ox.ac.uk/Chinese/lessons.htm - http://www.ctcfl.ox.ac.uk/Chinese/lessons.htm
Perhaps combining it with the Tone drill would help
http://www.shufawest.us/language/tonedrill.html
I have yet to see a writing http://www.shufawest.us/language/tonedrill.html - http://www.shufawest.us/language/tonedrill.html
Anyway, I think websites like this should be good. Do you think a subscription video tutorial website would be popular, (Like a Chinesepod, but with video?)
I am thinking of doing something like it.
Have fun, Simon Laing www.chinesetutor.net
------------- The best way to learn Chinese is from a live, native speaker. Take a free trial class. www.chinesetutor.net
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Posted By: rathpy
Date Posted: 07 March 2007 at 7:30pm
Originally posted by Simon8
The second site is done by Chinese professors working at
the Oxford University in the UK. It seems to be written by
Chinese as you have to learn the vocabulary before you read the texts.
This means you need patience to learn the words first or a basic level
to read some of the words. The Grammar exercises with multiple choice
are decent too. This also demonstrates stroke order, which is important at the beginning but not so much later on. http://www.ctcfl.ox.ac.uk/Chinese/lessons.htm - http://www.ctcfl.ox.ac.uk/Chinese/lessons.htm |
Thanks for that link. I prefer FSI's approach, but the content on that site is a nice supplement.
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Posted By: TheBigZaboon
Date Posted: 19 March 2007 at 1:18am
Speaking of multimedia/video-based courses, I have recently come across a very, very nice set of study materials for intermediate to advanced students. This stuff is accessible to those who are able to handle the Society module, and after. To be safe, maybe one should finish the Society module first.
In any case the title of the material is Learn Chinese from Modern Writers: An Interactive Multimedia Language Program, written by Chung-wen Shih, and published by Columbia University Press. It consists of a truly multimedia CD-ROM (videos and interactive exercises), and a workbook. It is generally sold in two pieces, so it is a bit confusing when you order it, and only the workbook shows up. The workbook costs about USD29.95, so if that's all you're paying, you are only going to get half (or much, much less) of the course. The CD-ROM is often sold separately, and you can expect to pay between 60 and 100 USD, depending on where you find it. (It is available in Australia, but the exchange rate may mess the numbers up a bit.) The ISBN for the workbook is 0-231-12843-6. I don't know if there is a MAC version, but the ISBN of the PC version of the CD-ROM is 0-231-50236-2.
The course consists of a series of interviews (and background information) made with the old warhorses of the literary wing of the communist movement (Ba Jin, Mao Dun, Ding Ling, Cao Yu, and Ai Qing). These are terrific. There are vocabulary lists and randomly generated exercises for each author-based segment. In a first, the interviews are available in either the heavily accented putonghua of the individual writers, or in a standard putonghua pronunciation for the faint of heart (or the tin of ear).
This material works well even on my computer in Zaboonistan (which is not an English-language operating system), But those who are not in the US should first verify if their computers will run English language materials before buying this stuff. It is available from Columbia University Press, but even there, it is sold in two parts, so beware. Both parts are really necessary for the full effect, although the more advanced among us are free to enjoy the interviews by themselves.
Again, this is a knockout. If you can handle this (and the FSI materials will certainly put you at this level), you can begin to enjoy more than just the study of the language.
TBZ
 Edit: I feel like an awful bonehead, I just realized that although the text is fully glossed, and there are ample pinyin-based exercises, the interviews have only an English and a Chinese version, but no complete pinyin text. However, about one third of the interview has the new words for intermediate students highlighted with a roll-over feature providing pinyin and recorded pronunciation.
It might be a little more challenging than I originally thought. I'm afraid I didn't take the Intermediate-Advanced label seriously enough. But I still think the challenge would do beginners good, and for those with some characters, this is a wonderful next step. If anyone can get a hold of a copy, please let others know what you think. I know there are many on this site who can benefit from this text, both beginners and more advanced students.
An embarrassed TBZ
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