Pimsleur Chinese (Cantonese) Level 1 CD: Learn to Speak and Understand Cantonese Chinese with Pimsleur Language Programs: Volume 1 (Comprehensive)

Description

The Easiest and Fastest Way to Learn Chinese Cantonese Whether you want to travel, communicate with friends or colleagues, reconnect with family, or just understand more of what’s going on in the world around you, learning Cantonese will expand your horizons and immeasurably enrich your life. The best part is that it doesn’t have to be difficult or take years to master. Thirty minutes a day is all it takes, and we get you speaking right from the first day. Pimsleur courses use a scientifically-proven method that puts you in control of your learning. If you’ve tried other language learning methods but found they simply didn’t stick, then you owe it to yourself to give Pimsleur a try. Why Pimsleur? • Quick + Easy – Only 30 minutes a day. • Portable + Flexible – Core lessons can be done anytime, anywhere, and easily fit into your busy life. • Proven Method – Works when other methods fail. • Self-Paced – Go fast or go slow – it’s up to you. • Based in Science – Developed using proven research on memory and learning. • Cost-effective – Less expensive than classes or immersion, and features all native speakers. • Genius – Triggers your brain’s natural aptitude to learn. • Works for everyone – Recommended for ages 13 and above. What’s Included? • 30, 30-minute audio lessons, all featuring native speakers • Recorded culture notes to provide you some insight into Cantonese Chinese culture • A Culture Notes Booklet What You’ll Learn In the first 10 lessons, you’ll cover the basics: saying hello, asking for or giving information, scheduling a meal or a meeting, asking for or giving basic directions, and much more. You’ll be able to handle minimum courtesy requirements, understand much of what you hear, and be understood at a beginning level, but with near-native pronunciation skills. In the next 10 lessons, you’ll build on what you’ve learned. Expand your menu, increase your scheduling abilities from general to specific, start to deal with currency and exchanging money, refine your conversations and add over a hundred new vocabulary items. You’ll understand more of what you hear, and be able to participate with speech that is smoother and more confident. In the final 10 lessons, you’ll be speaking and understanding at an intermediate level. In this phase, more directions are given in the Cantonese language, which moves your learning to a whole new plane. Lessons include shopping, visiting friends, going to a restaurant, plans for the evening, car trips, and talking about family. You’ll be able to speak comfortably about things that happened in the past and make plans for the future. Recorded Culture Notes are included at the end of lesson 30. These notes are designed to provide you with some insight into Chinese culture. A Culture Notes Booklet is also included in PDF format. The Pimsleur Method We make no secret of what makes this powerful method work so well. Paul Pimsleur spent his career researching and perfecting the precise elements anyone can use to learn a language quickly and easily. Here are a few of his “secrets”: The Principle of Anticipation In the nanosecond between a cue and your response, your brain has to work to come up with the right word. Having to do this boosts retention, and cements the word in your mind. Core Vocabulary Words, phrases, and sentences are selected for their usefulness in everyday conversation. We don’t overwhelm you with too much, but steadily increase your ability with every lesson. Graduated Interval Recall Reminders of new words and structures come up at the exact interval for maximum retention and storage into your long-term memory. Organic Learning You work on multiple aspects of the language simultaneously. We integrate grammar, vocabulary, rhythm, melody, and intonation into every lesson, which allows you to experience the language as a living, expressive form of human culture. Learning in Context Research has shown that learning new words in context dramatically accelerates your ability to remember. Every scene in every Pimsleur lesson is set inside a conversation between two people. There are no drills, and no memorization necessary for success. Active Participation The Pimsleur Method + active learner participation = success. This method works with every language and every learner who follows it. You gain the power to recall and use what you know, and to add new words easily, exactly as you do in English. The Cantonese Chinese Language Cantonese, one of several major languages in China, is mainly spoken in Hong Kong, Guangdong, the Guangxi provinces, and in most overseas Chinese communities in Australia, Europe, and North America. Pimsleur's Chinese Cantonese teaches Cantonese as spoken in Hong Kong. Tech Talk • CDs are formatted for playing in all CD players, including car players, and users can copy files for use in any portable media player. Review: Best for learning spoken Cantonese (not written!) Need a sequel! - Working to learn my wife's native language, Cantonese, without learning the written language, Pimsleur is the best program I've found so far. With 30 lessons on CDs, plus a number of cultural lessons to boot, this is the easiest, most practical approach to becoming conversational in Cantonese, without learning the very difficult Chinese characters. My only complaint is that there aren't more lessons! Maybe a Part II, with 30 more lessons is in the works at Pimsleur? Anyone listening at Pimsleur? The reason Pimsleur works where others fall short is that an English-speaking moderator says everything in English, then two different native Cantonese speakers (one male, one female) translate the English into Cantonese and repeat the statement several times. Since Cantonese is such a tonal language, the tones used for each sound are also explained as the lesson progresses so you are aware that tone changes can change the meaning of what seem to be similar sounds. Repeating after the native speakers allows you to imitate the tones. Anyhow, here's my learning system and it could be used with any Pimsleur language--not just Cantonese: I downloaded the CDs to a 4GB iPod Nano that I use ONLY for Cantonese learning. Any MP3 player can be used, but I find that the original iPod Nano is the ideal compact size for sticking in a pocket with small earphones. You simply listen to the English, then the Cantonese, press the pause button to allow time to repeat the Cantonese, then press play again. To begin with, I listen to each lesson at home with a stack of 3" by 5" lined index cards, and I use a 0.9mm mechanical pencil (#2 and harder to break "lead" than 0.7mm or 0.5mm). I use Yale Romanization (the phonetic sound) for each character and write each sentence on a card after hearing the Cantonese, then putting the iPod in pause mode. I am able to get five sentences/vocabulary items on each card, with the front side in English and the flip side in Cantonese Romanization. Using this system, each lesson is condensed to 10-15 cards which I carry with me. A rubber band around the cards keeps them together: As an example, the English on one side might be: 1."Do you want to go to my place to eat?" The Romanized Cantonese on the other side will be something like: 1."Neih surng mh surng hoih ngoh doh sik ah?" There are many variations of Yale Romanization; however, I have found that the easiest way is to simply write the Cantonese phonetically--the way it sounds to YOU--without adding tone marks. In others words: keep it simple! I might write "mh" for "not" or "don't"; you may write "um". No matter, it's what works for you! In summary: the success or failure of any program like Pimsleur Cantonese is a direct reflection of the work you are willing to put into it. I find that by having small stacks of flash cards that I have made myself, I have put the necessary work into condensing the program into a useable form. You can carry the iPod Nano and earphones, or you may just carry a stack of cards with you wherever you go! Good luck! Review: Got me well started in learning cantonese - Liked the principles of teaching. Disappointed with varied pronunciations / mispronunciations of words. It was only as i had spent 100's of hours of learning that I realised these mistakes. They should have a transcript which would have alerted me to their mistakes earlier.