Thursday, October 2, 2008

Business Chinese: Learn Chinese for Business Fast

Rocket Chinese is the best course to choose if you want to learn Chinese for business. Why? Because it's the course that is especially designed to get you speaking Chinese quickly, in conversations you can use in the real business world.

To do business in China, you need to understand cultural concepts such as GuanXi (the practice of establishing long term relationships based on reputation and trust) or MianZi (cultural behaviors for maintaining social status and face). Anyone that wants to learn business Chinese should not just focus on learning the language, but all the other seemingly inconsequential actions and habits that can have huge consequences.

Most courses try to pile up stacks of outdated, obsolete vocabulary onto you, using the same boring, repetitive methods. This is counterproductive, particularly if you want to really learn how to do business in China, without all of the unnecessary nonsense.

Rocket Chinese is a new, proven approach to learning a new foreign language which is focused on giving you all the tools to speak Chinese properly, while also giving you briefings on cultural concepts that you can directly apply to business in China.

Here is a summary of why you should consider looking at Rocket Chinese:
  • 31 audio lessons for vocabulary
  • 31 audio lessons for grammar
  • MegaVocab and MegaVerb, two interactive computer games for learning useful, modern vocabulary and verbs
  • Access to a private member's only community forum
  • Learn not only the language, but also get cultural lessons.
  • Instant Download. Start learning business Chinese right away.
  • Risk Free: 60 day money back guarantee.











Visit RocketChinese website

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

How to Speak Chinese - Learn Mandarin the Easy Way

Rocket Chinese is the best course to choose if you want to learn how to speak Chinese. Why? Because it's the course that is especially designed to get you speaking Chinese quickly, in conversations you can use in the real world. Most courses try to pile up stacks of new vocabulary onto you, using the same boring, repetitive methods. This is counterproductive, particularly if you want to really learn how to speak Chinese, without dying of boredom.

Rocket Chinese is a new, proven approach to learning a new foreign language which is focused on giving you all the tools to speak Chinese properly, while keeping you engaged and staying fun to learn. One of the most difficult parts of mastering the Chinese language is proper pronunciation. With audios and computer games, learning how to speak Chinese does not feel like work at all.

The most effective way to speak Chinese is to start by buying the right course. The right course should start off by allowing you to participate in Chinese conversations as soon as possible. The right course should allow for a variety of tools to help make learning Chinese a fun journey. The right course has a strong money back guarantee, so that if you are not happy, you can easily return the product back.

Most courses fail these three tests. This is why most courses fail in helping you to learn how to speak Chinese. They don't give enough options to keep things interesting.











Visit RocketChinese website

Sunday, September 28, 2008

The Most Effective Way to Learn Chinese Online

Rocket Chinese is the best course to choose if you want to learn Chinese online. Why? Because it's the course that is especially designed to get you speaking Chinese quickly, in conversations you can use in the real world. Most courses try to shovel new vocabulary down your throat, using the same boring, repetitive methods, which is counterproductive, particularly if you want to really learn Chinese.

Rocket Chinese is a new breakthrough approach to learning a foreign language which is focused on giving you all the tools to learn Chinese, while keeping you engaged and staying fun to learn.

The most effective way to learn Chinese online is to start by buying the right course. The right course should start off by allowing you to participate in Chinese conversations as soon as possible. The right course should allow for a variety of tools to help make learning Chinese a fun journey. The right course has a strong money back guarantee, so that if you are not happy, you can easily return the product back.

Most courses fail these three tests. This is why most courses fail in helping you to learn Chinese online. They don't give enough options to keep things interesting.











Visit RocketChinese website

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

10 Mistakes To Avoid While Learning Chinese

When you try something new, you are bound to make mistakes. What I have found is that many people make the same predictable mistakes over and over again. By reading through this list, you will be better prepared to both recognize and overcome these mistakes when they eventually happen to you.

Knowing isn't the same thing as doing.
Think back when you were learning how to ride a bike. Did you learn by reading a bunch of books and articles on how to ride a bike? Did you learn by watching videos or see other people do it? Of course not. The fastest way to learn is by getting on a bike, and finding a bunch of different ways to fall before you figure out how to stay on.

The same is true for learning a foreign language. You might be able to learn some things from reading books, and watching videos. But the best way by far is getting out there, practicing and applying that knowledge. Don't expect to be perfect on the first try, but do try and get engaged.

Get Chinese friends to practice with you, look for online Chinese radio stations, rent Chinese movies.

Believing the advertisements.
The commercials for programs that claim you can "Learn Chinese in 15 days" are outright lies. Many eager students fall into these traps, wasting both time and money. Learning a new language takes hard work and dedication. Placing your expectations so high is just setting yourself up for failure.

Chinese is absolutely one of the hardest languages to learn, but the benefits you reap will last you a lifetime. Keep yourself focused on the end goal, and make daily progress to get you there. Don't fool yourself; it's going to be hard, but you will eventually get there.

Tones? WTF are these tone things?
Chinese is a tonal language, with 4 different tones. The tones are easily the most challenging part about Chinese for English speakers. There are 4 tones, and if you pronounce a character with the wrong tone, it could completely change the meaning of what you're trying to say.

The tone problem is why I believe beginners should avoid learning from books. There is no way you can learn how to pronounce words correctly without being able to listen first hand what the words sound like. The best benefit about having an in person tutor or software or learning online is that you can hear and learn the correct pronunciation.

Learn pin yin, but don't rely on it.
I have read a couple articles saying that pinyin will soon take the place of Chinese characters in China. This is simply ludicrous! There are only about 1700 syllables in Chinese and every character is single-syllable. There are more than 40,000 Chinese characters. What does that mean? It means that same pinyin leads to many different characters. So I strongly recommended that serious learner do not rely on pinyin too much.

As you become more advanced, pick up books and materials that do not have pinyin. For additional incentive to wean yourself off pin yin, your favorite Chinese movies, TV, and music also do not show pinyin.

Always following English sentence order.
Chinese sentence structure is actually simpler than English in several ways. For example, when someone may say "I will run," "I am running," or "I have run." Instead, in Chinese, someone would say "I run" and then add a timing phrase like today, yesterday, or in a little while. And this is just one of the many differences. Making sentences is fairly different, so pay attention when you are listening to the audios. Proper sentence structure will be useful for being understood in real life conversations.

Lack of planning.
There is a huge number of materials on the market for learning Mandarin. Understandably, trying to pick the right program for you can be a difficult task with so many choices. One common mistake is that beginners may buy multiple courses and books. Then they hope from one textbook to an audio to software to some more textbooks. The most effective method is to concentrate on a suitable program that offers complete vocabulary, grammar, audio CDs and worksheets.

Make learning as fun as possible!
Learning a new language is hard enough. What I have found is that many courses make Mandarin difficult to learn because the exercises are often tedious and repetitive. The point of a good program is not to make learning work, but keep things fun and interesting. I like programs that have a variety of tools to help me progress, with games, progress reports, and some tools to help me overcome trouble spots.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes
Mistakes are inevitable with learning, and the worst mistake you could make would be to be fearful of using what you know. Remember that no matter how many mistakes you make, wherever you go in the Chinese-speaking world your sincere attempts to learn the language will almost always be appreciated. Chinese is a language you will need to practice frequently. Try to squeeze in as much practice as you can, and you will get the results much faster.

Keep learning and growing
It is a common mistake for learners to stop everything after their program is over, and they are done with the basic level of Mandarin. The first courses and programs you take are just the beginning. After you are done, maybe you can harness the skills and knowledge you've learned and take it to the next level. Always remember that no matter what your level may be when it comes to Mandarin Chinese, it never hurts to engage someone in some friendly conversation. Take a trip, get involved in groups, watch some flicks. Take action, and keep pushing until you have what you want.

These are the most common mistakes that many people face when they are looking to get started in learning Chinese. One of the most daunting tasks for people is going through the many different programs available, and picking the best one. Read on for a thorough review on different chinese language programs online.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

A Thorough Rocket Chinese Review

Rocket Chinese is a premier Chinese software course that uses of a mixture of audio lessons, interactive computer games and visual learning to make learning Chinese as fun and easy as possible.

It is only available online and has been a best seller since 2008 when it was first released.


We gave it 5 out of 5 stars, and here's why!

(Visit RocketChinese website)

I bought a few CD's from a garage sale a few years ago. The CDs were from one of the best selling Chinese language courses from about five years ago.

I put them in my CD player and tried to listen to them, but couldn't get through the whole series. The course was actually pretty decent, so it wasn't a matter a quality. I just got bored because it got way too repetitive. My Chinese was already more advanced than what the course offered.

Audio CDs/MP3s Are Essential

A beginner could probably pick up a few phrases here and there listening to the tape, but they could just as easily buy cheaper Chinese beginner books. The value in having tapes is being able to hear the correct pronunciation.Territories currently administered by two stat...

I have been learning Chinese since middle school. This was before the internet and software was wally popular. Times have changed so much. New technology has really revolutionized education and how we learn. Even so, there is still a lot of junk, with a bunch of high tech software and language courses that are dead boring to go through.

Most Courses Suck and Don't Work

I've been through my share of Chinese courses and software. Some are alright, some are pretty bad. I was just about to believe that the only way that anyone could ever become fluent in Mandarin Chinese is by living abroad in China, being totally immersed in the language.

That is, until I discovered something truly amazing; something that completely shattered everything I thought I knew about the most effective way to learn Chinese – Rocket Chinese.

Rocket Chinese is Different

Now, I know that sounds pretty crazy. If I would have heard someone say something like that about a Chinese language course, I would have had some trouble taking them seriously. But in my honest opinion, the creators of Rocket Chinese are not joking when they say their course will help you “learn Chinese like a ROCKET!

So, what is Rocket Chinese all about?

In a nutshell, it's a large collection of Chinese language learning tools that you can download and start using right away. You can also have the physical CDs and workbooks shipped to you by the mail. But the download will save you a lot more money, and you don't have to wait to get started, so it's probably the better choice.

The meat of the Rocket Chinese course is a series of interactive audios designed to get you speaking useful conversational Chinese quickly. The audios consist of 4 parts, including grammar, vocabulary, and verb exercises.

Audio Courses Get You Speaking Immediately

The audio course is designed to be interactive, and I find it to be a lot more fun than other similarly designed courses. The interactive course makes you feel comfortable and at ease while going through the exercises, which makes time fly. You’ll find yourself having so much fun through positive reinforcement that you’ll be pretty surprised when you realize you are actually learning a lot of practical Chinese.

After finishing an audio lesson, you can study that particular chapter in the conversational books included in the course.

The audio and book lessons are just the tip of the iceberg though. You’ll also get MegaChinese -- a software platform for games that you can play to greatly increase your Chinese language skills.

Interactive Games Keep Things Fun and Interesting

The games are fun and engaging. But the best part about it is the ability to change the vocabulary you want to focus on. That way, you are able to learn what you want to learn.

Rocket Chinese covers a lot of material, enough to take you from a beginner to a fluent Chinese speaker. The course is very comprehensive, but at the same time flexible enough to allow you to learn Chinese in whatever manner you prefer.

It’s also important to note the overall high quality production of the Rocket Chinese package. Take a look at some of the screenshots here.

Can Anyone Actually Learn Mandarin in 3 months?

There is one thing I am a bit skeptical about though. The Rocket Chinese course claims to make its users fluent in Chinese in three months.

Now, that certainly will be possible for a small number of people blessed with a natural affinity for learning languages. In fact, I know a guy who speaks 7 languages fluently; he is able to learn languages well enough to talk to native speakers in about 2 to 3 months.

Learning Chinese Doesn't Have to Feel Like Work

But for people like you and me, results like that aren’t going to be handed to us on a silver platter! If I wanted to achieve fluency in a foreign language like that, I’d have to work consistently every day over a period of months. But if you are willing to do that and seek out other Chinese speakers to practice with, I am pretty confident the average person could achieve fluency in about six months with the Rocket Chinese course. Of course it could take longer or shorter, depending on your level of commitment and access to other Chinese speakers.

One thing I am sure of though is that this Chinese language program will help you learn Chinese faster and more effectively than any other course on the market. It’s probably the most entertaining one as well.

Try A Limited Time Offer - A 6 Part Free Course

There’s something else I should mention. The folks over at the Rocket Chinese website are offering 6 free lessons that will give you a taste of what’s to come in the full package. It would be nice if other language courses caught on and let their potential customers sample their product before purchasing.

As for the makers of Rocket Chinese, the author is a native Chinese who comes across as a nice person. You really get the feeling she enjoys sharing aspects of her culture and language. The editor is a fluent Chinese speaker who used to live and work in Chinese. He is the brains behind the interactive audio course concept.

I went to China to study Chinese a few years ago, and I wish I would have had access to this course or something like it before going. I would have had a much easier time in the beginning, and probably would have come away learning a lot more Chinese, and having a much richer experience.

I Highly Recommend Rocket Chinese

So, I’ll end the review here! My recommendation is that if you are looking for a course that will really make it easy to learn Chinese at home quickly, go and take a look at the Rocket Chinese website.

Right now, they are offering the full downloadable course at half price. I’m not sure how long this discount will last, so take advantage of it while you can.


Rocket Chinese Overview

Course Quality: 5/5
Value For Money: 5/5
Customer Support: 4/5

Overall: 5/5

(Visit RocketChinese website)


Click the image below to access the Rocket Chinese homepage:

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Why Learn Chinese?


China has a huge population; approximately 25% of the world population speaks Chinese. This number is huge compared to the number of native Spanish speakers (332,000,000) and English speakers (322,000,000) [Source: The Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) Ethnologue Survey 1999].

The US government admits that China is an important player, and has made considerable efforts to help introduce Chinese at public schools. The government has authorized $1.3 billion dollars in federal funding over five years for Chinese language instruction in American schools [Source: news release from Senator Joe Lieberman office: May 26, 2005]. The "Department of State has designated that Chinese is a 'critical language.' " [source: Newsweek article, May 2005]

For an MBA student, imagine the potential of accessing a vast sea of abundant, low cost talent. Just to give a glimpse, in 2004, China produced 700,000 engineers, compared to the 60,000 engineers produced the US. Outsourcing is very real, and more companies are outsourcing manufacturing, IT, customer support, and other business functions. Being able to negotiate and understand without a clumsy translator not only furthers the business relationship, decreases chances of costly miscommunication.

Because of the recent tilt towards free market economies, rapid growth, and increasing numbers of skilled workers, China requires people that understand the best practices in their new free economy. Many of these new positions will be filled by MBA graduates from Chinese speaking US and European institutions, well versed in finance, management, and marketing.

Learning Chinese can be very difficult. The written system for Chinese is ideographic, or based strongly on symbols and characters, rather than some sort of alphabet. The language itself is one of the top four most time-intensive languages to learn [source: Foreign Service Institute]. The process of speaking and reading Chinese actually uses different parts of your brain.

I found that Rocket Chinese was a great way to pick up a basic vocabulary for conversation with my Chinese friends. It has a 6 part free course, so you can try it out first. I may be reviewing other "Learn Chinese" products as the days go by.

Click Here: Rocket Chinese 6 part FREE course Learn more about why Rocket Chinese is in fact the most effective way that will keep you engaged and interested while learning Mandarin Chinese instead of bored and frustrated.

So for now, 再见!