Rocket Chinese Or Pimsleur Chinese: Choosing the Right Course

If you want to learn Chinese, do not let the numerous programs leave you confused.  Learning a new language is hard enough.  So here are two courses that are definitely worth checking out- Rocket Chinese and Pimsleur Chinese.

Rocket Chinese:

Rocket Chinese claims to have you speaking Mandarin Chinese by the time you are done with the program.  This takes the natural approach, also known as the interactive conversational learning method.  Basically, this is based on the way kids first pick up their mother tongue, which is through simple listening and speaking without paying much attention to writing and reading until later on.  But since you are no longer a child, the entire program was designed with tools and features that are fit for adults.

Learning Tools and Features:

Audio Lessons:

To start, Rocket Chinese comes with 31 interactive audio lessons.  Each lessons lasts for about 28 minutes long, so that comes to a total of 15 hours of casual, everyday, Chinese conversations that not only do you listen to but you actually partake in.  So you will be speaking Mandarin from your very first class.

You will also have access to complete transcripts.  Each one will have the Chinese conversation (pinyin), Chinese characters, and the English translation.  This is supposed to be a big help, especially for beginners.

Also, you can move these audio files to your computer, your MP3 player, your iPhone, your stereo, and the like.  This gives you the chance to take lessons even when away from home.  Plus, since one lessons is relatively short, it is easy to make time for it- be it during your lunch break or even while you commute.

Language and Culture Lessons:

Aside from the audio lessons, you will also get 31 language and culture lessons as part of the package.  The language lessons have one area that is dedicated to the written part of the language.  Here you will have step by step videos that explain how to read and write Chinese characters.

The culture lessons will give you a feel of the customs, culture, and even history of China.  This will actually help you fit in and sound more natural when speaking the language.

The language and culture lessons offer over 300 embedded audio clips, videos for writing, quizzes, tests, and other educational activities.

Rocket Record:

This feature is designed to help you improve your Chinese pronunciation and intonation as well.  You simply record a phrase in Chinese then compare it to the recording of a native Chinese speaker.  The voice mapping technology allows you to keep on trying until your recording matches that of the Chinese speaker.

MegaChinese:

Here you will have some educational fun.  There are two MegaChinese games that are supposed to make the learning process a much more enjoyable one.

MegaVocab is supposed to help you build up your Chinese vocabulary as it contains over 1000 words and 20 topics, but it does not end there.  The MegaVocab creator allows you to continuously add more Chinese words and pictures.  MegaAudio, on the other hand, is supposed to enhance your Chinese listening comprehension.

Rocket Chinese Rehearsal:

When learning a new language, you are bound to make mistakes, but you won’t be able to correct them unless you know what they are.  The Rocket Chinese Rehearsal gives you the chance to try out all of the new skills that you have learned from the course.  Also, you will find tons of tests and quizzes that will help you keep track of your progress.

Chinese Teacher:

Aside from all of those features, if you have any other questions, you can always contact the 24/7 online Chinese teacher that will answer anything as long as it is related to learning the Chinese language.

So Let Lin Ping guide you through the entire course and once you have mastered it, you will even be officially certified by Rocket languages.

But if you want something with less features but claim to have you speaking fluent Chinese just the same, then you better take a look at Pimsleur Chinese (Mandarin).

Pimsleur Chinese (Mandarin):

Pimsleur Chinese is a language program that will help you learn Mandarin based on the two core principles that this course is based on- Graduated Interval Recall and the Principle of Anticipation.  The former pretty much means that the very second you forget a Chinese word or phrase that you have already covered you will encouraged to remember what it is.  The latter requires you to anticipate the right answer before you hear what it is.

These two principles are then backed up by two other important features- core vocabulary and the organic learning concept.  The core vocabulary is basically a selected list of the most common and useful Chinese words while the organic learning concept lets you learn vocab, pronunciation, grammar, and phrases all at the same time.

Learning Tools and Features:

Audio Lessons:

With Pimsleur Chinese, you will get 30 interactive lessons that last about 32 minutes each.  So you will have a total of 16 hours of audio lessons that are broken down by tens leaving you with three different levels.

The first ten will teach you all about the basics.  Here you will cover simple things like greetings and directions.  The next ten is designed to broaden what you have already learned in the first level.  So for example, if at first you learned how to say hi and good morning, now you can continue on with small talk like the weather and whatnot.  By the final ten, you should be speaking at an intermediate level.

Culture Booklet:

You will also have a culture booklet so that you will actually be able to understand not only the Chinese language better but the Chinese people and their county as well.  You will also have a notes booklet available in PDF format.

And So…

If you want to learn Chinese with minimum features and activities, then the simple choice would have to be Pimsleur.  Many people like this approach and the Pimsleur method has been working long before computer language courses became fashionable. You simply listen to the audio tapes and repeat.

Pimsleur is quite expensive for what you get but reviews are still very positive. You can get the first level to see if this teaching method is for you and it will cost over $250. You can expect to pay over $600 for all 3 levels which is not for the faint hearted.

But Rocket Chinese is perfect if you want all the bells and whistles. It has a few more things to keep you motivated, like tests, games and a forum where you can talk to other people.  It also has the audio course but has a grammar and culture course too. A new feature is the record tool that helps you perfect your accent. Get a good headset or microphone though.

The Rocket Chinese course online version was under $100 at time of writing, which represents pretty good value. The shipped version is much more expensive but is the same course in terms of content so I’d advise getting the online version if you decide that Rocket Chinese is for you.

>>> Get Pimsleur Chinese here <<< 

>>> Get the Rocket Chinese course here <<<