A Review of Michel Thomas Mandarin
One day I realized I spend a lot of time in my car and that it would be nice to use some of that time to do something productive like learning a language. So I started trying to find something that would fill that need. That’s when I came upon Michel Thomas Method. I looked around at it and it seemed like it would be worth a try so I decided to give it a shot.
As I said earlier, the main reason why I decided to go with Michel Thomas was because I thought my time in a car could be put to better use. While it is probably a good idea to try to use Michel Thomas while driving it is difficult to use to maximum effect. In can be frustrating to be trying to learn while you must also stop at red lights, merge, and otherwise drive defensively. I found that really the only time I could use it effectively was on long highway drives back from college. But the amount of time spent between lessons meant that I’d have to spend a lot of time re-listening to what I’d already finished. Also, it was always in the evening when I was driving home so I was already tired and having a hard time staying awake, so focusing on a soothing voice trying to tell me how to learn a language was not conducive to my environment. At first it was not easy to be able to give Michel Thomas a fair shot. Still, I could tell it was worthwhile material. I just needed to find a better time to use it.
In the recording it says you should do your learning in a calm and relaxing environment where you can focus. I did my learning mostly walking and while riding the bus. If you know anything about Chinese streets and buses you know they are anything but calm and relaxing. But that’s when I had time to do it and couldn’t do anything I wanted to do more. They’re right in that you will definitely learn more when in a calm environment, but that’s the time for text books and flash cards. If you get this set of CDs you are probably a person without a lot of time on your hands. Still, they can’t very well say “This program works best when you are distracted by loud noises and possible imminent death,” can they?
The Good Parts
Michel Thomas Mandarin teaches you how to say stuff. It teaches you how to be able to say what you need to say to get by on a basic level. I’ve only listened to the other languages a little bit but as far as I can tell that’s what they do as well. The difference is that I think it might work better with Mandarin. The reason is that Chinese grammar is pretty simple. For example, there’s no verb conjugation. Not having to deal with that alone cuts out quite a bit of time having to go through the different conjugations. Also, because Mandarin is a tonal language one does need a lot of listening practice. They have a native speaker say words and sentences correctly at the end of each question. Finally, as I mentioned before, the ability to practice while you do things that don’t require much mental ability is a big reason to use it.
The Not So Bad
The good news is that the bad is not that bad. So here goes. This program can’t stand on its own. Even after you’re all done you won’t be able to say everything you want to. You’ll be able to get by in basic on the street and business situations, but you’ll have to have a bit more vocabulary before you can handle a restaurant without pictures. The good part is that you can do that on your own. Michel Thomas teaches you structure. Once you know that you can add more vocabulary to use with the structures you know and with the structures Michel Thomas gives you really can do quite a bit considering how much time you’ve spent working with the language.
The reason why Michel Thomas not being able to stand on its own is not that bad is because in reality no program can. Sure, a set of books is going to give you a ton to learn and once you learn it all you might be pretty darn good at the language, but to master it you’ll still have to go out there and use it and probably still need to get some more advanced material.
The other not so bad thing has to do with the cost. The “Foundation” or “Total” course costs a little under $80. The “Advanced” or “Perfect” course is about the same for half the disks as the foundation course. Each disk is over an hour so the cost works out to $10 per hour for the foundation and $20 for the advanced. I don’t remember how much my Japanese courses were in college, but after books added they were a lot. When you look at it that way the deal ain’t bad. The thing is that you need to be ready to make good use of the program or you’re really just wasting you money, but that’s sort of how it is with language learning.
In conclusion, Michel Thomas Mandarin is pretty good if you want to just be able to talk. It’s not too difficult, it’s not too fast, and his method really does seem to work. If you’re willing to put in the work it really isn’t a bad buy. Still, what you do is up to you.
Arbitrary numerical rating:
9.1
Nicholas' Nonsense 