Chinese through Rosetta Stone?

Anyone tried to learn Chinese through Rosetta Stone? Is it mission impossible? I mostly want to learn to read and write enough to understand it. I don't really have a need to actually speak it. However, since typing it is based on pronunciation I guess I need to speak it as well.

That seems incredibly daunting - best of luck, I'm curious to hear how it goes.

My brother speaks and writes in Mandarin. He told me that just a few weeks living in Beijing was far more valuable then all the lessons he took ( he was working under Huntsman at the U.S Embassy.) Im sure Rosetta stone can give you the information needed to speak the language,but nothing beats leaving amongst the language and speaking it daily with others.

Anyone tried to learn Chinese through Rosetta Stone? Is it mission impossible?

 

 

thats japanese

 

you need this image

 

Everything is still written in characters, not the pinyin you type. Pinyin is only used for initial learning and typing. It's good for remembering how to say words and which tones, but that's about it. Knowing pinyin without the characters is next to useless for communication in written form. When they type it, they begin to type in pinyin, and as they do, a box pops up that shows you all the possible characters that fit that pinyin for what you'd like to say. You then select the one you want. Pinyin alone will not help you much other than remembering how to say words. There is very little use of pinyin in daily life aside from street signs in big cities and maybe some restaurant signs. You're more likely to find English in daily life than pinyin.

 

 

I tried Rosetta Stone before I came to China a few years ago. Needless to say, if you want to learn Mandarin, you best come here and take some classes. Rosetta Stone won't cut it. You may learn to say some stuff, but you won't learn the reasoning behind stuff and you sure as hell won't be able to understand what people say. Like when learning any foreign language, the second you start to hear native speakers, it's way harder to understand because of accents, speed, expressions, local terms/customs etc. While I don't speak Mandarin very well (never got that into it,) it's not that difficult to learn. There aren't really any grammar rules and no conjugation. It's pretty much straight forward. There are obviously some rules and tons of expressions that won't translate literally to English, but just like every language, if you have the vocabulary, you can get your point across.

 

I suggest going to Beijing or a smaller city to learn it. If you come to a place like Shanghai, you will end up speaking English all the time. My friend lived in Beijing before moving here and said his Chinese got way shittier once moving to Shanghai. You can get a tourist visa or whatever you need by just applying to a language school. EF (English First) is pretty popular, though you could also go to a university I think. If you do go to a language school, make sure it's a better known one -- there are probably tons of shitty ones. That said, Shanghai is a way better city for living in than Beijing and all other cities in my opinion. Hit me up if you're ever in the neighborhood. Oh, and don't mistakenly go to HK. They can't speak Mandarin for shit.

 

If you just want to learn it for fun or something to do, go for it -- it's very useful for living and traveling in China. If you want to learn it for business reason, well, not so much. Anyone you'd do or want to do business with probably will speak better English than you will Chinese.

Thanks for your input Brian

Berlitz Total Immersion would be my pick.

One of the absolute best ways I've seen to learn a foreign language while still in your native country, tried a little of this after reading the original article and was stunned at how well it works:

 

Learning A Foreign Language

 

 

 

One of the absolute best ways I've seen to learn a foreign language while still in your native country, tried a little of this after reading the original article and was stunned at how well it works:

 

Learning A Foreign Language

 

 

Years ago when I had my first home internet connection it was really bad quality, disconnecting all the time etc. so while I was waiting for it to connect again I used to watch the same Top Gear episodes over and over again without any subtitles, trying to understand all the new words from the context. It really helped me improve my english.

Chinese is EASY!

 

haha, joking.

 

Chinese letters are extreamly hard to rememeber.

 

Put it this way. I can't remember How to write in Chinese now with a pen!

 

Yes, that's right, and I was born and raised in China till I was 15.

 

Brain probably has more experience than me in China. Go with his suggestions.

 

Best of Luck

 

Andy.