[funnyface]

Am looking to take Mandarin classes and am thinking of either Berlitz or the HK Institute of Languages. Anyone had any experience with these schools? Suggestions much appreciated -thanks!

[bbc_guy]

I would recommend a self-learning language course from Pimsleur. These courses focus solely on the spoken language, on becoming conversationally fluent in the shortest possible time. There are no books or written exercises to do. They are purely audio based, so you can convert them to MP3 and listen to them on the train or whatever and never have to do any 'homework'. You really will become conversationally fluent with the basics in about a month. These courses apparently are used by the FBI and CIA to train their spies and other foreign operatives. In my opinion, these courses are far superior to anything else on the market and better even than a private tutor

Their effectiveness is probably why they command such a steep retail price. The whole Mandarin course costs about US$800. But you can download them from the internet. I found this link but don't know if it the torrent works. It's a Bit Torrent file so obviously you will need that. Try it out:
http://www.torrentbox.com/torrents-browse.php?cat=6

[BenderBends]

hich kind of mandarin.....lol

[Alby]

www.hello-han.com

This website is interactive and has various levels also. It is designed by Beijing Culture and Language University - the same institution which writes the "Han-yue Kaoshi" (the Chinese equvilant to TEFL).

[hottie]

Ha ha
You made me smile.

BTW did you find any good language CDRoms? Was that you?

Hottie

Originally Posted by mattstewart

hich kind of mandarin.....lol

[danklinck]

hey, i have the pimsleur mandarin audio files & they are the best of all the mandarin tools i have, hope that helps!

[petrm]

There are many options, and one of them is http://www.mandarinmaster.com.

[GreatDanes]

Originally Posted by danklinck

hey, i have the pimsleur mandarin audio files & they are the best of all the mandarin tools i have, hope that helps!

How do you download them? I tried the torrent file, but didn't work out. Do I need some kind of software?

[bbc_guy]

Yes, you need Bit Torrent client software to download torrent files. There is the Official Bit Torrent that you can google. But most people use a program called Azureus, or uTorrent.

[danklinck]

pimsleur files are on www.limewire.com enjoy ...