We are off to China in August. It seems that English is not too widely spoken so I would like to try and learn some Mandarin. Not being very good at picking up languages, can someone recommend a book,CD etc that would help.
chinese languageHi,
Buy the Times this week! There are lessons in there!
chinese languagethere is a free download at www.byki.com that is very helpfull. It is a tutorial of simple phrases and words. There is sound so you can hear the words pronounced and practice over and over
The Learning Zone on BBC2 next Mon night (! - 5a.m.) has a night devoted to learning Mandarin and travelling in China . %26#39;.ve used their guides to other languages and they are really good so I%26#39;m hoping they%26#39;ll bale us out - we travel in March !
Chinese isn%26#39;t easy to pick up. Bringing a phrasebook as well to help with communication would help very much -- Rough Guide%26#39;s Mandarin is recommended.
Thanks all for the info, got the Times stuff and had heard about the learning zone but didn%26#39;t know if they would repeat it thanks for letting me know. I will take a look at the rough guide as well thanks Ellyse
Buy a Lonely Planet guide and point at the Mandarin addresses they contain etc.
What parts of China are you going to?? You will find that English is spoken in quite a few places depending on where you′re going, especially if you′re going to the touristy areas.
You should learn some Cantonese too then.
I agree that the language may not be a problem depending on where you′re going. Also, are you going on a tour?? If so, then you really won′t need to learn much Mandarin or Cantonese at all. If you′re going to Hong Kong, pretty much everybody there speaks English.
Chinesepod.com gets rave reviews (read the Slate magazine article at http://www.slate.com/id/2139939/), and we love it. Podcasts are free, and, if you wish, you can pay for additional resources and support. You can download podcasts (we load them onto our iPod and listen in the car).
By far the best resource I%26#39;ve found to pick up what we can before our China trip next month.
We are going to Shanghai, Xian, Beijing and Hong Kong. We hope to use guides apart from Hong Kong.
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