Pimsleur Chinese (Mandarin) Level 5

Pimsleur includes 30, 30-minute audio lessons and reading instruction as streaming or audio download accessible using the Pimsleur Mobile App, or on your computer. In addition, audio lessons can be played using the Pimsleur Skill for Amazon® Echo® devices. The course also includes an integrated Reading Booklet.

The Easiest and Fastest Way to Learn Mandarin Chinese
Did you know that Mandarin Chinese is the world’s most widely spoken language with over one billion native speakers? Once you get the basics down, you’ll be surprised how quickly you’re able to begin speaking it. And even knowing a little bit of the language will make travel to China far easier, and much more fun. Whether your goal is to travel, communicate with friends or colleagues, reconnect with family, or just understand more of what’s going on in the world around you, learning to speak Mandarin Chinese will expand your horizons and immeasurably enrich your life.

The best part is that it doesn’t have to be difficult or take years to master. Thirty minutes a day is all it takes, and we get you speaking right from the first day. Pimsleur courses use a scientifically proven method that puts you in control of your learning. If you’ve tried other language learning methods but found they simply didn’t stick, then you owe it to yourself to give Pimsleur a try.

Pimsleur Makes Learning Easy
• 30-minute core lessons you can take anywhere with the Pimsleur app, or do at home with Amazon® Alexa®, or on your computer.
• Sync progress across devices
• Stream lessons or download to use in offline mode
• Share course with up to 3 additional household members
• Car mode for easy driving and learning
• Compatible with Amazon® Echo® devices for doing lessons at home

Why Pimsleur?
• Quick + Easy – Only 30 minutes a day.
• Portable + Flexible – Core lessons can be done anytime, anywhere, and easily fit into your busy life.
• Proven Method – Works when other methods fail.
• Self-Paced – Go fast or go slow – it’s up to you.
• Based in Science – Developed using proven research on memory and learning.
• Cost-effective – Less expensive than classes or immersion, and features all native speakers.
• Genius – Triggers your brain’s natural aptitude to learn.
• Works for everyone – Recommended for ages 13 and above.

What’s Included?
• 30, 30-minute audio lessons
• One hour and 40 minutes of reading lessons introduce you to reading select Chinese characters
• In total, 16 hours of audio, all featuring native speakers
• A digital Reading Booklet
• Access to lessons through Pimsleur mobile and desktop apps or Amazon® Echo® devices

What You’ll Learn
Builds upon skills taught in Pimsleur’s Mandarin Chinese Levels 1, 2, 3, and 4.

The thirty 30-minute lessons, plus pinyin and select hànzì characters reading practice, will enable you to speak and understand Mandarin with near fluency and with a broad range of conversational skills. In Level 5, the pace and conversation move quite rapidly, accelerating exposure to new vocabulary and structures, approaching native speed and comprehension. You’ll learn to speak more in-depth about your personal life and emotional state, and be able to create complex sentences using a mix of tenses and moods.

Some of the topics covered in Level 5:
• Travel: exploring the vast and richly varied country of China, discussing the various ethnic groups and cultures found from region to region, buying tickets to tourist attractions, taking family vacations, speaking with a travel agent
• Food and drink: restaurants, street vendors, favorite dishes, delicious drinks, discussing differences between Chinese and American diets.
• History: learning about important people and places, uncovering famous popular locations, discovering China's ancient past
• The environment: weather, climate change, environmental protection, wetlands
• Communication: getting in touch, sending text messages
• Work: discussing meetings, modern jobs, attending conferences, giving speeches
• Family life and relationships: family traditions, children and grandchildren, extended family members, birthdays, retirement, pets, grandparents and family history
• Health and wellness: exercising, relaxing, visiting a Chinese medical doctor, taking Chinese medicine, paying attention to one's vitality

Reading lessons introduce reading select hànzì, the characters used in the Chinese writing system. These lessons are designed to deepen your memory and understanding of learned vocabulary, as well as to begin the work of connecting the words and phrases that you have learned to the hànzì characters.

Learning the sound of each letter alone and in culturally distinct combinations allows your brain to process what you’re hearing in the audio lessons from a new and different perspective. It’s a powerful combination that makes Pimsleur different from every other method on the market.

The Pimsleur Method
We make no secret of what makes this powerful method work so well. Paul Pimsleur spent his career researching and perfecting the precise elements anyone can use to learn a language quickly and easily. Here are a few of his “secrets”:

The Principle of Anticipation
In the nanosecond between a cue and your response, your brain has to work to come up with the right word. Having to do this boosts retention, and cements the word in your mind.

Core Vocabulary
Words, phrases, and sentences are selected for their usefulness in everyday conversation. We don’t overwhelm you with too much, but steadily increase your ability with every lesson.

Graduated Interval Recall
Reminders of new words and structures come up at the exact interval for maximum retention and storage into your long-term memory.

Organic Learning
You work on multiple aspects of the language simultaneously. We integrate grammar, vocabulary, rhythm, melody, and intonation into every lesson, which allows you to experience the language as a living, expressive form of human culture.

Learning in Context
Research has shown that learning new words in context dramatically accelerates your ability to remember. Every scene in every Pimsleur lesson is set inside a conversation between two people. There are no drills, and no memorization necessary for success.

Active Participation
The Pimsleur Method + active learner participation = success. This method works with every language and every learner who follows it. You gain the power to recall and use what you know, and to add new words easily, exactly as you do in English.

The Mandarin Chinese Language
Over one billion people speak Chinese. The two most common dialects are Mandarin and Cantonese. They are not mutually intelligible. Mandarin is the official language in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Singapore. The Mandarin dialect is used in most Chinese schools, and in most TV programs, movies, and radio stations throughout the country, even in Guangzhou (formerly Canton), where people speak Cantonese in their daily lives. Mandarin is one of the six official languages of the United Nations.

Tech Talk
• Audio lessons can be streamed or downloaded for offline use in the Pimsleur App for iPhone®, iPad®, and most Android™ devices.
• Audio lessons can also be played on Amazon® Echo® devices using the Alexa® Pimsleur Skill.
• A desktop version is available for Mac® or Windows® computers.
• All purchased courses are backed up in your Pimsleur.com cloud-based digital library account.
• Pimsleur is designed for use by one registered user, plus up to three household members, and may be installed on unlimited devices for your personal use.