Learning Chinese with Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone

The Chinese language is considered to be a language family. There is approximately one-fifty of the world’s population, more than one billion people, who speak some form of Chinese as their native language with many more around the world who have learned Chinese as a second or third language.

Chinese is classified as a macro language and has a total of thirteen sub-languages or dialects. The standard form of Chinese which is spoken is Mandarin which is based on the Beijing dialect. Standard Mandarin is the official language of both the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan as well as one of the four official languages of Singapore.

Standard Cantonese along with English is the official spoken language of Hong Kong and Macau. Other forms of the Chinese language include Taiwanese and Hokkien among several others.

If you are planning to learn to speak the Chinese language you must first determine which category of language you are planning to learn. This may depend on your reason for learning.

Although all of these categories are similar, there will be some slight and some significant differences in the dialects. If you are planning to travel to China then determine first where you will be traveling to and choose the Chinese dialect that you need to learn based on that information.

If you are simply trying to perfect business dealings or are curious about learning a new language then you can choose based on your own preferences. Either way you will need to determine which dialect you are planning to learn before you begin any lessons.

Rosetta Stone and Pimsleur both offer wonderful programs that teach people to communicate in Chinese. Pimsleur offers a series of CD’s which are typically thirty minutes long each. These CD’s will help you by teaching you how to speak in the Chinese language. Although Rosetta Stone also has a program, many feel that it is much better for learning the written communication.

This programs works via your computer and comes in software form. You are given many exercises including video and images to help you to become more familiar with the language that you are learning. Using both of these programs together seems to be the preferred method for learning the Chinese language.

Each has its own strong points and combined they offer everything that you need to speak, understand, read and write Chinese.

Although Chinese may not be difficult to learn, it is definitely not the easiest second language to undertake. You must be read to commit yourself to the learning process. Motivation is very important. The two programs listed above are easy to follow and do a wonderful job of teaching understanding and comprehension of Chinese in just a few minutes each day.

If you are completely motivated then you should have no problem learning this language. Remember that with any foreign language you must focus on the lessons in front of you and practice speaking this new language as often as possible.