Beginning Chinese - Critical Language Series

Review by: Pru Wells, University of Hull

Authors: Professor Dana Scott Bourgerie with Professor Ronald R Robel

Distributors: The University of Arizona Press. http://clp.arizona.edu/cls

System requirements: Windows 95 or 98, or Windows NT 3.51 or 4.0, 486 (or better), 16 Mb RAM minimum, 2x CD-ROM, SVGA (or better), sound card, speaker, and 9 Mb disk space. Microphone recommended.

Price: US$69.95

Description of software and intended use

This double CD-ROM produced by the University of Arizona provides language instruction for use inside and outside the classroom, either as a supplement or a self-tutorial tool for beginners of Mandarin Chinese. It has 20 lessons and an additional introductory lesson covering some key aspects of Mandarin Chinese and the Chinese writing system. Each lesson consists of a dialogue in text, video and audio format hyperlinked to some grammatical and cultural notes. Also included in each lesson are hyperlinks to cultural capsules, graphics and reference material.

Beginning Chinese is designed to be a flexible learning program and the suggested Activity List guides the user through the different modes available providing useful information and learning tips.

Ease of use

The CDs start immediately with no installation requirements and are navigated by the use of a mouse. No instruction manual was provided but "Getting Started" provides the user with some basic information and web reference sites. Each lesson and activity mode within the lesson is accessed by mouse clicking.

Background and circumstances of reviewer

I have been learning Chinese Mandarin off and on for a few years now. Firstly, as self tuition with the BBC tapes and booklet and then in informal classes. I have participated in a Tandem Learning Partner scheme and have visited China five times over the past ten years

Pedagogical content

Introduction

The introduction covered a brief historical background, where Mandarin is spoken today, notes on the writing system, the basic structure of Mandarin, basic grammatical features, classifiers/measure words and some common particles. As Mandarin is a tonal language, I felt that the information under the heading "Sound System" was scant, it would be greatly beneficial for a beginner to hear the tonal sound system. The Introduction also lacked basic instructions on how to write characters.

Video

Each of the 20 lessons follows the same routine of learning. First the user watches the video and is advised, in the introduction, to follow the spoken words with the shape of the mouth, facial expressions and gestures. The video clip is short enough to retain the users interest and once started plays through. The user may replay the video as many times as required.

After completing the subsequent exercises, the user is advised to watch the video clip again to see how much more is understood.

Text with audio

The video text is the next 'Activity List' option providing the focus for further exercises. This can be viewed solely with characters or with the Pinyin (Romanised letters) under the characters, enabling the user to follow the pronunciation. The user can listen to the full text, sentences or individual words, with or without the "Play translations after native" (in American English) option. From the top menu bar in "Options" the user has the choice of viewing underlining which shows segments grouping characters and words together indicating which character/s form a word and which words should be spoken as a phrase. I found this option useful to familarise myself with the audio text and later to test myself with the Pinyin hidden. Out of the way at the bottom of the text are the hyperlinks to grammatical and cultural notes supplementing the lesson where vocabulary lists relating to the lesson can be found.

Flashcards

Here the user has a stack of cards to browse through. Click on one and simultaneously the character/s appear on screen and the spoken word is heard. Options here include: replay, an example of the word used in a sentence plus translations and the option for the user to discard cards, leaving a remaining pile of words to concentrate on. As the discard pile grows this gives the user a sense of progression.

Multiple choice

This option is to test the users understanding of the text. A score is kept and the student is given the opportunity to correct wrong answers; the procedure continues till all answers are correct. All the audio options, which the user is probably now familiar with, are available. The score can be used for classroom purposes or an individual user may compete with him/herself.

Cloze

The video text is shown with gaps, and here the student types in the correct character/s or selects a character from a multiple choice list. The answers are scored for accuracy; correct and corrected answers are colour coded, allowing the student the opportunity to see corrected mistakes. Without any accompanying documentation it was not directly obvious how to type in the characters. As with the multiple choice option, this exercise was the same each time the program was run, so it became possible to memorise the answers without knowing why they were correct.

Keyboard mapping

A complex system of typing in Chinese characters which I did not manage to master.

Dictation

This was the exercise which I enjoyed the most and stretched my knowledge of sentence building. The screen is a little confusing to begin with, being split in half; the student is presented with a jumbled list of words and grammar marks which form a sentence to be correctly assembled by clicks of the mouse. The sentence is heard once at a fast speed. Here, the scoring system penalises a student for re-listening to the sentence, listening to the sentence at a slower speed, or if the words are re-listed. Any errors are indicated, enabling the user to identify areas of weakness.

Pronunciation exercise

A computer microphone is required for this exercise. The student is able to compare his/her recorded voice with that of a native speaker.

Technical performance

The CD was easily navigated to the 6 main options in each lesson, but some exploration of the menu bar was required for further options, for example: choice of language; whether the user required the words or phrases underlined to indicate the related characters, and by the end of my time using Beginning Chinese I had not really mastered the "Search" option or the "Keyboard Mapping".

Record keeping

Record keeping is in the Cloze and Dictation modes where the user may see how s/he fared on that particular set of exercises. I could find no overall record keeping which could be compared with the next time the program is in use.

Overall performance

Initially I felt that this CD lacked something in the layout of the text modes which are dull and somewhat uninspiring to work with, and that a complete beginner would have difficulty in sustaining periods of concentration. The studio recordings of the video clips appear slightly clinical. The more I used the CD, I became involved in the texts, and this blandness did not bother me.

The main omission from this program, in my opinion, is the lack of a list of the initials and finals in Pinyin and their pronunciation. Pinyin is the method by which a Western student can link the sounds of the Chinese language with the Chinese characters. Also omitted is information on the radicals which is an important feature in the understanding of Chinese characters. There were also no character writing instructions and, as mentioned previously, no recording distinguishing the tonal sounds. The Help buttons did not always contain information. On the other hand, Beginning Chinese provides authentic Mandarin material which builds up dialogues and vocabulary for everyday situations. The subject matter has been carefully thought through and the texts include a considerable number of grammar points which are not directly obvious to the complete beginner.

I enjoyed using the CD as a supplement to my learning of Chinese Mandarin but as a complete beginner I would have found it difficult to get to grips with.

Pru Wells
University of Hull

October 2000

Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics, and Area Studies