Product Description

Fluenz Mandarin 1+2 Learning Suite Windows uses the power of next-generation technology to give learners the right tools to learn Mandarin faster. It combines all the great features of Fluenz Mandarin 1+2 with the ability to take the software anywhere on your smartphone. At the center of our program is language tutor Sonia Gil, who went to China herself to learn Mandarin. Sonia is there to guide you throughout the program, blending full motion video explanations in English with a series of highly engaging workouts, helping you understand and speak relevant Mandarin. The Fluenz system follows three clear principles: 1) Live Learning - Learning a new language, especially one as unfamiliar as Mandarin, is difficult to do on your own. With Live Learning, we have brought to computer education the essence of the classroom experience: a teacher. All words and phrases are thoroughly explained and you are guided through a structured learning process. 2) Leverage Learning - Modern linguistics tells us that as adults, we need to use the tools of the language we already know and apply them to learning a new language. With Fluenz, you learn first in English and relate basic Mandarin grammar and syntax to that of English, rather than trying to understand Mandarin grammar with Mandarin logic. Using the English you already know to learn Mandarin is the essence of Leverage Learning; 3) Relevant Learning - You need to start learning the words and structures that will allow you to communicate the most in the least amount of time, taking into consideration which words are easier to remember for English speakers, which expressions make the most logical sense to us, and which are most useful--"cell phone" instead of "red apple." Being able to communicate right away in simple ways is the key to Relevant Learning; And, with more than 13 types of workouts covering verbal expression, comprehension, reading and writing, you practice and internalize what you learn in the video lessons.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3313 in Software
• Brand: Fluenz
• Platforms: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2000
• Format: DVD-ROM
• Dimensions: 5.00" h x 5.00" w x 5.00" l, 1.50 pounds

Features

• We custom made Fluenz Mandarin as language learners who knew there had to be a better way to learn languages. The multi-media application, and the smartphone component, were specifically designed to help English-speakers gain fluency in Chinese.
• To create a live learning enviroment, similar to what you are used to in a classroom, language tutor Sonia Gil guides you on video every step of the way.
• Adults do not learn in the same way as children; we need to use the rules of languages we know to learn other languages. Fluenz leverages your knowledge of English to accelerate your learning of Mandarin, with an emphasis on those words you are most likely to use.
• A next-generation platform blends beautiful full motion video with engaging, interactive workouts, including voice recording so you can compare your accent to native speech.
• Our Learning Suite bundles the original Fluenz Mandarin 1+2 DVD-ROM for your computer (Windows XP / Vista) with Fluenz Mobile for your smartphone (Windows Mobile 5.0 and above, with a resolution of 320 x 240 required). Also includes an audio CD for additional training and the handy Fluenz Navigator for on-the-go referencing of important words and phrases.

Customer Reviews

Fluenz Mandarin is a great innovative language learning product
Fluenz Mandarin 1+2 Suite bundles the well-regarded language learning program for computers with a new application for smartphones. The reviews here at Amazon for the stand-alone computer software are overwhelmingly positive, and rightly so. Fluenz has come up with an innovative, well-reasoned approach to learning Mandarin. The smartphone application, which I will review below, takes this innovation a step further, allowing on-the-go access to the same useful features you get on the computer (though keep in mind you will need a Windows Mobile smartphone).
Fluenz Mobile 1.0 mirrors the computer application, making available the same number of sessions (45), all video tutorials, introductions and conclusions, as well as most of the workouts. It does not have the recording workouts, but those still can be done on the computer.
The application has a great look and feel on the phone. Few if any applications I have ever seen for Windows Mobile look that good. The developers have taken a great deal of care in porting the video tutorials, conversations and workouts to the Windows Mobile environment without sacrificing quality of design. In many other areas of life this would not be as critical, but trying to learn Mandarin on a phone is enough of a challenge. Stunning visuals go a long way. The videos are crisp, and the titles used to support the tutorial can be read clearly. The workouts have been slightly redesigned to better fit the phone screen, and the work has paid off. I used ear phones, as the Treo's speakers alone are not quite strong enough to understand what's going on (this may not be a problem with other Windows Mobile smartphones). The actual typing of words with the correct tones initially can be time consuming, but it is simple and straightforward once you get used to it. If you don't like typing on your phone, you should stick to the computer application, but for me the much-needed portability offered by Fluenz Mobile was worth the added typing effort.
If you are worried about not getting the full learning experience provided on the computer, I can assure you that the Fluenz learning system, based on guided instruction in English, remains at the core of the mobile application. When at work on the road there are always distractions, so with the mobile application I found that knowing what's going on in my own language was especially useful. After a few sessions I realized the developers really put a lot of thought into building the learner's ability to form sentences with useful, relevant nouns and adjectives. The combination of workouts covering speaking. listening, writing and reading is again very helpful in actually learning to speak Mandarin.
Overall, if you have a Windows Mobile smartphone and want to learn Mandarin, it makes sense to buy the Fluenz Suite rather than the stand alone computer program. The ability to simply pick up on your phone where you had to stop while doing the program on your computer is worth the extra money. And because Fluenz Mobile looks that good on the phone, you don't feel like you are making a huge trade off.

Great for my business in China
Excellent software. I go to China a lot on business so I needed to learn some basic Mandarin. I bought Fluenz because of their teaching approach. I had to go to their website to really learn about the program (MUCH more in depth than their Amazon page), but I liked the idea of having a teacher instruct me as I learned the language. I have found myself using the smartphone application much more than I expected. It's basically the same as the computer version and has allowed me a lot of flexibility in watching the lessons, doing the workouts, etc. Overall, I have been completely happy with the experience and am now much more comfortable making business transactions in Chinese.

Fluenz is a beautiful concept
I am a Romanian 40 years old engineer and I studied French and Russian languages in school. After school I studied English on my own, having an instructor for only a brief period of time at the beginning. Becoming involved in computing sciences as a profession, I had to use English more and more so I learned how to use it by the "immersion" technique, also being helped by the numerous English content available around such as traveling or movies.

Recently I became interested in Chinese language and decided to learn it. I quickly understood that the usual approach to learn a foreign language does not fit here. Apparently one should learn to speak and build some vocabulary before starting to study the writing Chinese languages. Therefore I started to gather many learning tools like books or websites and also found out that there is no Chinese language class available that I could attend at home. I also bought various computer software, dictionaries, etc but I got really excited with Fluenz product that seems to fill all the gaps I encountered so far. The product is so well designed both as learning concept and software modeling that I was able to pass first ten sessions in only three weeks instead of five as the producer recommends.

The PC version is really well built and very accessible even for non native English speakers such as myself. After a while I also received the mobile version. The producer recommends only Windows Mobile 5 based smartphones but I discovered that Windows Mobile 6 smartphones (such as HTC S710) can do the job very well. Even it was not recommended, I also tried the software on Pocket PC and it failed on Mio A701 but it ran quite well on my new HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile 6 based PPC. The catch is to get the PPC version of Adobe Flash Lite 2.1 from Adobe's website and to use only a hardware keyboard in same way as instructed for the smartphone setup. On PPC some navigation buttons can be pressed using the touch screen interface but not all, especially during workout sessions.

As one inside the computing and software business I also was very pleased by the very good standards at the support team, both in courtesy and effectiveness. I feel that becoming a customer of Fluenz I really did made a very good deal.