On 2008-06-21 JC, USA wrote: I listened to it while driving or on travel (i-pod) numerous times, but still couldn´t get much going in speaking Chinese. It was OK, I picked up some sentences here and there, but overall 8 CD is not enough. Especially, the last 2 CDs are reviews and not so helpful.
The CDs were also bad quality. When copying to my i-pod, I got many errors.
I am going to try Pimsleur´s Chinese. I really need a step by step, basic conversational CD. I had given this a try because it was much cheaper than Pimsluer, but perhaps you get what you paid for...
Update 11/06/2008: I am really surprised with all the rest reviews being so positive, including some from professors/PhDs. Only one other guy gave bad review--one star (I agree with his comments wholeheartedly). After actually going thru Pinsleur series, I conclude that ´Behind the wheel...´ is NOT the best course for beginners.. And summed up by saying I didn´t find it effective, still searching for the magic bullet.... Currently Behind the Wheel Chinese (Mandarin), Level 1: Learn to Speak Mandarin Chinese Quickly and Easily! (8 One Hour CDs) has an overall rating of 8 over 10.
Behind the Wheel Chinese (Mandarin), Level 1: Learn to Speak Mandarin Chinese Quickly and Easily! (8 One Hour CDs) can also be found in the following searches:
Language Dynamics Inc. claimed At last a Mandarin CD course which requires no reading and which teaches you to actually speak Mandarin Chinese in a minimum of time and effort. Designed by the experts at Language Dynamics, ´Behind The Wheel Chinese For Your Car´ takes the learner from basic to intermediate level Mandarin without the guesswork and pain usually associated with language learning. An expert English speaking instructor talks you through these tapes in English while 2 trained professional native Mandarin speakers teach you Chinese the way it is really spoken! Behind The Wheel Chinese For Your Car is the ideal way to learn Mandarin Chinese while you drive because there is no confusion, no reading, no looking up meanings, and no guessing. It´s all on the CDs. Use your commute time to effectively learn Chinese with this delightful course whose method will have you speaking your first words in Mandarin within minutes of receiving your course, and enjoying it. The product has superb clarity of voices and exudes a spontaneity which makes learning Chinese fun. You´ll be thrilled with the fast and easy to learn design of the course, beginning with the immediate gratification you feel when you conclude your first one half hour session with the CDs speaking sentences in Mandarin that Chinese speakers understand 10 minutes later on the street. You´ll be amazed at the ´natural´ way you just seem to pick up Chinese without having to learn grammar or reviewing. No need to go back. It´s all ´built in´ the course. Just imagine the thrill of being able to express what you really feel in Mandarin in 100 different ways because you know own a Chinese linguistic blueprint, a template that you can manipulate over and over again in different and personal ways while increasing your fluency in Mandarin. What´ s more, you will also learn to speak in the past, present and future along with idioms all in the same course.