Pimsleur Mandarin Chinese Comprehensive Audio CD Language Course, Level 1.

Includes 30 instruction units of 30 minutes each on 16 audio CD discs. Review by customer: "This was a very solid method of learning that focuses heavily on speaking and conversation. Learning characters at the same time as the speaking language can be very intimidating and most professors would agree that there should be a substantial amount of lag between the spoken and written Chinese. The Pimsleur method does not offer character knowledge, but it does allow a student to grasp the tones and sounds which are so vital to the language. I would suggest to anyone who is listening to the audio CDs to begin with the CDs and then, only when comfortable with pronunciation and tones, to go pick up some character and vocabulary texts. This was definitely money well spent because it really was a great way to begin my intensive Mandarin Chinese course."