Total Mandarin Chinese with the Michel Thomas Method

Speak Mandarin Chinese - Instantly.
No books. No writing. No memorizing.

- Guaranteed success. Speak and understand perfectly
- Incredible progress. Get what you want, fast
- Absolute confidence. Unleash your natural learning style without trying

The Method:

Stress-free audio learning
Michel Thomas teaches you through your own language, so there's no stress, and no anxiety. He builds it up, step by step, and you don't move on until you've absorbed and understood the previous point. And, as Michel Thomas said, 'What you understand, you know; and what you know, you don't forget.' With parallels to the way you learned your own language, each language is learned in 'real-time' conditions. There is no need to stop for homework, additional exercises or vocabulary memorization.

A 'virtual' classroom
The classroom situation on the recording lets you learn with others. You enjoy their success, and you learn from their mistakes. The students on the recordings are not reading from scripts and they have received no additional instruction or preparation - just the guidance you hear on the recording. You, as the learner, become the third student and participate actively in the class.

There's no such thing as a poor student, only a poor teacher
This is an important part of the Michel Thomas Method. Full responsibility for your learning lies with the teacher, not with you, the pupil. This helps to ensure that you can relax and feel confident, allowing you to learn effectively.

Why it Works

Learn another language the way you learned your own
You learned your own language naturally and enjoyably: now you can learn Mandarin Chinese in the same way. You'll stick with it because you'll love it. Use the unique method perfected over fifty years by the celebrated psychologist and linguist Michel Thomas.

This method works with your brain, helping you to build up your Chinese in manageable, enjoyable steps by thinking out the answers for yourself. You learn through listening and speaking without the pressure of writing or memorizing. You pick up the language naturally and unforgettably. Join the millions of people worldwide who have learned a new language with the Michel Thomas Method.

Audio-led course which shows you how Mandarin Chinese really works so you are fluent and confident in any situation - even if you don't know the exact word you need
Flashcards, workbooks and interactive exercises to test yourself and measure your progress
Certificate of achievement awarded on completion of online self-assessment

Table of Contents:
Introduction. How to use this course. Background to Chinese languages.
Tones in Mandarin
The form of the verb in Chinese languages doesn’t change: e.g. shì (‘to be’) also means ‘am, are, is, was, will be’
wo = ‘I’ and also ‘me’: form of pronoun doesn’t change in Mandarin
There is no word for ‘a’ or ‘an’
ni = ‘you’
ta = ‘he, him, she, her, it’
Words for nationalities
Add men to pronouns (‘I, me’ etc.) to form plural (more than one): women = ‘we, us ’ etc.
ma = question marker, to change a statement into a question’ Goes at the end of the statement.
ne added to mean ‘how about ...?’
Adjectives, such as ‘busy’, in Mandarin, are also verbs: máng means ‘to be busy’
To form a negative, put bù = ‘no, not’ in front of the verb
Add hen to fulfil the two-syllable meter rule (also means ‘very’)
Greetings ni hao and ni hao ma (‘hello’ = ‘you good’, ‘how are you’ = ‘you good (question)’
In Chinese the character/word has the same form for both individual and plural form
In front of another falling-tone word, bù (falling tone) becomes bú (rising tone)('trampoline' rule)
Question with a question word, such as ‘why?’
Use zài to emphasize ‘now, at this very moment’
Word order in Chinese: who—when—what is happening
xiang = ‘would like to’
néng = ‘can’
Add de to pronouns ‘I’ etc. to form ‘my, mine’ etc.: wode
Words for languages
xiang = ‘would like to’ in Mandarin can only be followed by a verb
Word order in Chinese: who–when–how–what is happening
Demonstrative pronouns ‘this’ and ‘that’
Answering ‘yes’ and ‘no’ without repeating the verb in the question: shì = ‘is’, bù = ‘not’
Chinese construction ‘too…to do’ is ‘too...no can do’
Question word ‘what?’
How to answer ‘What is this?’, and ‘What is that?’
shuo = ‘to speak, say’
huì = ‘to be able to’
Question word ‘who?’
‘a, an, one’ (
yí ge)
zài (= ‘at’ etc.) in Chinese can be used as and functions as a verb, so zài jia = ‘to be at home’
Question word ‘where?’
zhù (zài) = ‘live, stay’
Prepositions (‘on’ etc.) go after the noun in Mandarin: ‘[to be] at the table on’
you = ‘to have, I have, he has, I had’ etc.
Negative of ‘to have’ formed with méi: méi you = ‘not have’
yào = ‘to want’ etc.; bú yào = ‘not want’
qu = ‘go to’
= ‘today’
you (‘to have’ etc.) also = ‘there is, there are’
[zài ] zhèr, nàr = ‘[to be] here, there’
mei tian = ‘every day’
you de = ‘(there is) some’
Three ways to say ‘yes’: repeat the verb; shì ( = ‘to be’ etc.); duì (= ‘correct’)
yào shuo = ‘want to speak’
néng shuo = ‘can speak’
When to say xiè xie (= ‘thanks’)
zài jiàn = ‘Good bye’ (= ‘again meet’)
lái = ‘come’

About the Author(s)

Dr Harold Goodman is a physician and surgeon, who had Michel Thomas as his teacher for nearly ten years. During this time Michel Thomas's goal was not to teach Dr Goodman a specific language (though he did instruct him in two of the languages he taught) but to train him to understand his method of teaching - which he then used to teach others, with great success. Dr Goodman teaches and practises in the United States.