need some advice on language programs

[hsmom]

I asked my son what language he would like to learn and he tells me Chinese or Japanese. That floored me. I would not even know where to start.
I asked if he wanted to learn Spanish or French he said no. I am hoping to get him to maybe learn German or something, but his heart is set on learning Chinese or Japanese.

So, what programs do you recommend?

Thank you for any help.

[Linda in NM]

Rosetta Stone probably has programs you could use...we use it for German (much more prosaic...and I can pronounce it!)

[Brindee]

You could check in Borders or Barnes & Noble in their language section and see what they have. Our B&N has a LOT available in many languages, some really good programs.

Otherwise I would check on-line, but the most "hits" would probably be with Rosetta Stone. That didn't work with us, so we had to go somewhere else, but some people love it.

[Reya]

Rosetta Stone probably has programs you could use...we use it for German (much more prosaic...and I can pronounce it!)

RS is almost useless for Chinese and nearly as bad for Japanese unless you have access to a native speaker. You might THINK that you're learning, but just try out your new Chinese on a native speaker--you won't have the tones right, so you'll be incomprehensible. Oh, and Japanese--I'm sure they don't teach the different ways of talking if you're female versus male, informal and formal registers, etc.

Start with the FSI courses, available free here:

http://www.fsi-language-courses.com/


Then go look here for a textbook series that strikes you, especially for Chinese:

http://www.cheng-tsui.com/store/products/textbook_series

EDIT: The TEACH YOURSELF series is actually pretty good, too. Not like a full course, quite, but good, nevertheless.

[pianoplayer]

Rosetta Stone is working for us for German (so far!), although I do expect to supplement it with grammar work beginning this coming year.

Chinese and Japanese are both character-based rather than letter-based languages, and my understanding is that they are quite difficult to learn (although certainly not unattainable!). If you know anyone either in (1) state department/intelligence or (2) missionary work utilizing either of those languages, I would ask them for suggestions on the language/immersion programs they have found effective.

Hope that's helpful! German and Latin I can handle, but my hat is off to anyone ready to tackle Chinese or Japanese!

[Mallory]

I have one interested in Chinese too, fortunately she is okay with Spanish right now, so we are sticking with that.

But I have always heard that for Chinese you almost have to have a real teacher, because of the tones (I think that is the word) that can change the meaning of a word.

[Kuovonne]

I don't have any recommendations but there was a thread about Chinese curricula a while back.

I hope this link shows up.

http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?p=76568#post76568

-Kuovonne

[Ellyndria]

My husband is teaching himself Japanese. He only took one class with a teacher probably around 10 years ago... the rest he has been doing on his own (ok, he hasn't actually been studying it the past 10 years! But he starts up again now and then. He has a goal right now though, he is studying to take some sort of leveled test later this year.) He has spent a lot of time (and money) researching different Japanese texts and cds.

For texts and workbooks, he uses a series called Japanese for Busy People. The same authors wrote a new series called Japanese for Young People, which is a three level series aimed mostly at middle and high school students, but it says there is an optional starter level for elementary students. It also says it comes with CDs.

However, the CDs that my DH uses are done by Pimsleur. They are quite pricey, but DH says they are the "best ever."

He uses some other resources too, but these are the main two.

[hsmom]

Thank you for the suggestions, I will be checking into those.

I was thinking that he was picking some really hard languages, but I feel that I need to go with his interests.
(Secretly hoping he changes his mind)

[Mandarinmom]

For Chinese start with www.betterchinese.com. They offer fantastic curriculum for any age staring point. We use it in K grade, and my daughter learns it like a charm. It is interactive, books, audio CDs, interactive CD-rom with animation, all step by step, with parent guides, workbooks teaching to write and read Chinese characters. Takes you from Pre-K to High school and proficiency levels. Plus lots of interactive animation on online subscription. Second curriculum we use in Learnables Chinese. It is good to supplement, but only for spoken language, writing and reading are not included at all. Rosetta Stone only for supplement. I came across which Japanese somewhere, but I have to check it out, have some bookmarks. It was for middle or high school, not for kids.
Chinese Ni Hao curriculum is also complete and very good for middle and high school student. Chinese is tremendously hard for me, so I started it with Pimsleur just for encouragement. Immersion method is not for me. I have to first learn vocabulary, and understand all the grammar rules, then drill it, and then only to immerse. My daughter at 5 remembers about 10 new words in a day and forever. Please try BetterChinese.com. You almost don't hear about it, but it is a charm. I am going to start it with Grown-ups curriculum as soon as have extra money. The children's one is too hard for me, too much immersion. Also they allow a month of free access to 12 lessons out of first 36 for level PreK-K (don't be fooled with K, it is plenty to learn for adult).

[Sebastian (a lady)]

However, the CDs that my DH uses are done by Pimsleur. They are quite pricey, but DH says they are the "best ever."



A lot of libraries carry these. You should try to check them out before buying. They are very well done, but target a business traveler. I'm not sure how interesting they would be for the average young student.

Granted that there is a large ethnic Japanese population here and a lot of business contacts, but I was still impressed by the amount of language instruction material available from the local library.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I asked my son what language he would like to learn and he tells me Chinese or Japanese. That floored me. I would not even know where to start.
I asked if he wanted to learn Spanish or French he said no. I am hoping to get him to maybe learn German or something, but his heart is set on learning Chinese or Japanese.

So, what programs do you recommend?

Thank you for any help.

We are starting to learn Japanese at our house, although we're very much in the starting phase.
Here are some of the things we've found:
Japanese for Dummies
Beginner's Japanese (I think this was from the Teach Yourself line)
Teach Me Japanese (there is also a Teach Me More Japanese, these are songs in both Japanese and English, stuff like Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes)
We have also been dabbling with The Japanese Page (http://www.thejapanesepage.com/) (This has a lot of user created content which might not be appropriate for an unsupervised kid)