I've studied languages my whole life, and been an English teacher for the past 6 years; so I have a pretty good idea about how to learn languages. Specifically, I'm an independent student and therefore have enjoyed the rise of various language learning software and mp3/podcast courses that I can follow at my own pace.
Why software? While books are great for visual learners and classrooms, I find it much more difficult to sit down and study; it is just too easy not to. If you stick with books, then you need to set a time and preferably pay for a tutor or standard classes. But this post isn't about books, so moving on, here are the following high-tech language learning courses to learn Chinese quickly:
1) Rosetta Stone
Rosetta stone is a computer program for learning languages that follows a "pick the right flashcard approach". Surprisingly, this format is very versatile and even fun. It's a little like playing a video game. First, they'll show you each card and you listen to the corresponding word or sentence. Some pictures are repeated, for example, they might show you "a cat", and later "the cat is on the bed", and finally, "the black cat on the bed is smaller than the ugly dog under the chair," etc.
Then, they'll repeat the word or sentence and you pick the right picture. The software will helpfully keep track of your mistakes, and recycle lessons you need to work on. They even have voice recognition software built in that analyzes your pronunciation.
The drawbacks of Rosetta Stone are also it's strengths: it doesn't immediately focus on useful vocab. You learn a lot of trivial stuff, they way you learned your first language naturally, and then build up on it. You might not be able to say anything useful for a long time, and suddenly realize you've learned how to say absolutely everything; therefore if you want to really learn a language well, and can focus for about 45minutes a day (the average time to get through a standard lesson) Rosetta Stone is great.
Unfortunately - at somewhere around $200 if I remember correctly, it's not cheap. Their ad-campaign featuring a poor farmer in love with an Italian supermodel is fabulous if unrealistic; where'd he get the cash to buy not only the program but the computer to run it on? And shouldn't he be working?
2) Sybervision/Pimsleur
Pimsleur has been around for a long time - since the days of cassette tapes. :) My uncle used to run their marketing and so I got several sets to try out when I was a teenager. I used it to learn Spanish, German and French. Pimsleur is, in my mind, the ideal way to prep for a holiday abroad. There a 30, 30 minute lessons; one for each day. The content is very useful and very repetitive. It goes something like this: "Hello." "Ni Hao." Say hello in Chinese. "Ni Hao." Say it again. "Ni Hao". Listen again. Is your pronunciation the same as the native speaker's?. "Niiiiiii Haaaaoooooo." On and on.
It is perfect for absolute beginners and can bring you up to an intermediate level very quickly. (You would need Chinese 1, 2 and 3) to get to intermediate level.
Like Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur comes in all kinds of languages. A huge advantage, however, is that you can now get it on mp3 format (if you search hard enough, you can even find the mp3's for free on sites like Limewire.) This means you can listen to it while driving, while shaving, while painting your house or doing the yard work. It's just so easy. Again, Pimsleur is highly recommended for useful, specific language tools that you would need on a holiday or business trip, like booking hotels, going out for a drink, or dealing with problems.
3) www.chinese-course.com
Worth mentioning is Chinese-course.com. Due to my learning style preference, I enjoy their sentence-based teaching method. They give you a big, long, challenging real world sentence both in English and Chinese characters. You can listen to it being said, and isolate each character. You can add characters from the sentences into your personalized "practice words" and set the sentence frequency to your liking. There is a small charge for higher membership levels.
Chinese course is probably best for an already intermediate student who wants to learn some very useful, general comment-type sentences about life, politics, global warming, appearances and other topics. This is a Taiwan based company so they use traditional Chinese characters.
http://www.chinese-course.com/
4) Chinese Pod
And finally - my current favorite - Chinesepod.com.
Chinese pod offers a bunch of 'podcasts', or mini-mp3 lessons. Each 10 -15 minute lesson (or less) offers a dialogue, story, joke or something else of interest, probably based around a topic. The two commentors then discuss, joke and break down the conversation, isolating tricky vocab and grammar, commenting on cultural background and life in China (they are based in Shanghai) and generally having a good time. What makes Chinesepod so refreshing is that, rather than a boring Chinese lesson, the dialogues are usually useful and interesting, and the commentators are informal and fun to listen to.
I like to 'let it run' and listen to about 10 in a row. They have I think at least a couple hundred lessons for each learning level (beginner, intermediate, advanced etc.), so you could really learn all sorts of great stuff without running out of materal.
I love having my hands free to do whatever I need to be doing, and playing Chinese pod in the background. (I've been in Taiwan six years without breaking into the 'upper intermediate' level; and yet alternative forms of study haven't been attractive enough to stick with them. All my books are gathering dust.)
Go check them out - I believe they also do other languages as well and I can only assume that they're great as well.
Chinesepod.com.
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