LingQ vs. ChinesePod

Since it's supposed to be the language of the future, I've been trying to learn Mandarin Chinese. To do this I've been using two different web based courses: lingq and chinesepod. Today I'm going to be asking my usual question about them: which is better?

So, LingQ or ChinesePod? Which do we go for if we're just starting out on our road to learning Mandarin Chinese?

As usual, for those of you who don't want to read a long comparison, I'll first of all provide you with the short answer to this question. So:

Which is best? - The Short Answer:

It's a draw!

So there it is. If you just want a quick answer to know "which one is better?" "which one should I buy?" I'm afraid there isn't one. They're both great. Feel free to sign up to either without hesitation!

For those of you looking for a deeper understanding of how these courses differ from one another though here's the longer answer. So:

Which is best? - The Longer Answer:

Well, normally I spend this part of the review explaining why I think one course is better than the other but since I feel they're more or less equally useful for the Mandarin Chinese beginner level student, I'm instead going to explain how they each work.

Both courses function essentially by getting you to learn to understand by first listening. They remind me a lot of Assimil and Linguaphone to be honest. Essentially you listen to the various recordings they have (and they have a lot) and then you use the text and translation support to understand what they have said.

Over time, you begin to understand the meaning of the dialogues and can start to use the language yourself. It works well and I feel is really good for developing early listening skills and good pronunciation. There's also software to help you remember the vocabulary you're taught.

One thing I would say going in though is that it's going to help a lot if you've learned a little Mandarin Chinese before you begin, as listening when you know absolutely nothing can be really hard at first. So I wonder if perhaps these are especially good materials to use to supplement a class you might be attending in the language. That's just a thought but I think the two things could well work effectively together.

Nevertheless the materials that make up these two web-based language learning course are good and some can be quite amusing. Both websites offer free trials which I recommend you take advantage of to help you decide which one is for you. Or, if you're like me, you can simply use both!

Congratulations LingQ and ChinesePod - it's a draw!

Paul Noble vs. Pimsleur

Two of the most popular language course series are those by Paul Noble and Pimsleur.

Let's take a look at which one is best!

Paul Noble's Spanish Course

Pimsleur's Spanish Course

These language courses are extremely popular, particularly as they can be listened to on smart phones or in your car and don't require you to look at a book while you learn. This leaves the big question(s) though: Which should I use first? Which is the simplest to work with? Which is most effective? In short, which is best?

The short answer:

Paul Noble.

The long answer:

So I've given you the short answer if you just want to know "which one is better?" "which one should I buy?" It's the Paul Noble courses - and this applies whether it's for the Spanish, French, German or Italian. So there you are. Be happy. Go buy it.

For those of you who want a longer answer, here goes:

I should begin by saying that both ranges of courses are undoubtedly excellent. They are definitely two of the best ranges of language courses available to anyone wanting to learn a foreign language.

They also both work in a similar way to one another. In essence, all you need to do is sit back and listen to the course as it gives you little chunks of the language and then shows you how to put them together in a way so that you feel absolutely certain how to do it. These courses are very much the definition of foolproof - if you listen, they will work. 

The language both teach starts off fairly simple initially before becoming ever more sophisticated but you never feel confused because everything is incremental. There are no sudden leaps. Both courses are therefore excellent ways to either begin to learn a new language, or to return to studying one after a break or, maybe most importantly, to learn how to construct proper, complex sentences in the language without being bombarded by grammar. Sometimes people study languages for years but can never string a proper sentence together in them - well, these courses will cure you of that problem if you've had it! 

So, they're both great. Why then are the Paul Noble courses better?

Well, basically, they simply explain things much better, you pick up the language more quickly and they're much more reasonably priced. I'll try to explain.

When you learn with Pimsleur, you will start learning how to construct sentences right away, you'll understand what you're doing and will gradually begin to increase your knowledge of the language. Well, that's great. With the Paul Noble courses you'll do the same but you just absorb the language more rapidly. A lot of this comes down to the explanations Paul Noble gives in his courses. They're very simple but useful and keep making you say (sometimes out loud) "oh, so that's why it's like that!" That gives you a great feeling and you know know you're making progress when you get it. But this doesn't happen anywhere near as often with Pimsleur. In fact, frequently with Pimsleur, you'll know how to construct a really big, complex sentence, which is great. But although you can construct it, because the course very often doesn't supply you with an explanation of why it's constructed the way it is, you will struggle to vary it. So, you will know how to say that sentence but maybe if you want to say something that's just a bit different, you might not be able to work out how to express it. With the Paul Noble courses on the other hand, you know why the sentence is the way it is and so you can change it and, in fact, he'll encourage you to change it so that you can manipulate all that you've learned so you can say what you want to say rather than ending up stuck with a set of fixed phrases.

So both of them work in a similar way but the most obvious difference is that the Paul Noble courses explain things better and teach things more efficiently so you pick up more of the language more quickly. And, on top of that, they're cheaper! I mean a lot cheaper.

3 hours of Pimsleur audio costs about 6 times as much as the same amount of Paul Noble audio. I honestly don't know why Pimsleur charges so much for their courses. Maybe they think that people will think it's good if it's expensive? 

It makes no sense to me anyway. You will learn more in those 3 hours with Paul Noble than you will with Pimsleur and it costs less to do so. So that's a simple calculation for you to make.

There's one final thing I want to add to all this however. Just because the Paul Noble courses are better, doesn't mean that you shouldn't use Pimsleur.

To be honest, there actually aren't that many good language courses out there so, personally, I would say use them both. But use Paul Noble's first. Not only are they great value and a very easy way to learn how to construct and manipulate the language but, if you end up deciding you want to do Pimsleur as well, the explanations they contain will help you understand the Pimsleur courses far better. So doing them first will allow you to get more out of Pimsleur later if you decide you want to do it as well.

So that's it, two great language courses series but with one cheaper and better than the other.

Congratulations Paul Noble, you are the winner in this Paul Noble VS. Pimsleur Comparison Review!

Assimil vs. Linguaphone

Two extremely good publishers for language courses are Assimil and Linguaphone.

Let's take a look at which one is best.



Assimil's very popular New French With Ease

The undeniably excellent Linguaphone Complete French

Many serious language learners like these courses more than any others. This leads people planning to use these courses for the first time to ask: Which should I use first? Which is the simplest to work with? Which will take me the furthest? In short, which is best?

Which is best? - The Short Answer:

Assimil.

Which is best? - The Long Answer:

Okay, so I've just given you the short answer in case you simply want to know "which one is better?" "which one should I buy?" So, there you go, it's Assimil. Be happy. Go buy it.

For those of you interested in a longer answer, here goes.

Both ranges of courses are excellent. They are definitely some of the best quality language courses available to someone wanting to learn a foreign language.

They also both work in a similar way. Basically, you listen to the material - which in both cases consists of a number of dialogues recorded in the language you're learning - and then you use the accompanying books first to learn to understand what is being said in those dialogues and then later to be able to produce that same language yourself.

Although the quality of individual courses varies somewhat within each range - Assimil French is very good for example whereas their Arabic offering is not - typically the vast majority of both the Assimil and Linguaphone courses are very good and if used properly have the ability to help you along the path to learning a second language.

So, why is Assimil better?

Well, one issue is simple practicality. As I mentioned before, the basic way in which these courses work is that you listen to the dialogues that make up the bulk of the learning material and then use the accompanying books to understand those dialogues and then later to be able to produce that same language yourself. Since this is the way they function, the format of those books is important.

For the Linguaphone courses, you get a book with a transcript of the dialogues, all written in the language you are learning. You then have a second book that teaches you what all of it means, providing translations and explanations of different parts of the dialogues, which is fine.

The way Assimil does it is much better though. It puts all of this together in one book, with a transcript of the dialogues in the language you're learning on the left hand side of the page and a translation of this in English on the right. It also provides explanations of the language, all in the same book. This idea of having everything in one book is most definitely a good one. Whereas with the Linguaphone you have to keep swapping between the two, with the Assimil you get it all in one place. The translations are typically very good and you can compare it all, sentence by sentence. It just makes it so much easier and more practical.

Other than this, another thing the Assimil courses have on their side is that they are frequently funny. They make you laugh. Typically, the Linguaphone courses don't do this.

Finally, there's also an issue specifically for anyone wanting to learn French and Spanish with Linguaphone. Around 15 years ago, the French and Spanish Linguaphone courses were altered to use a different method than the one described above. I do not recommend this new edition of these courses. So, if you want to study French or Spanish with the Linguaphone courses, you will need to seek out one of the previous editions.

All these comments aside though, I do not want to give the impression that the Linguaphone Complete courses are anything other than excellent. They are superb. It's just that the Assimil courses are just that little bit more practical, and sometimes a touch more fun, to use.

Congratulations Assimil, you are the winner in this VS. Comparison Review!

I am a keen language learner of almost two decades and during that time the question I've asked myself more than any other is: "which course should I use?"

It took me a long time to work out what did and didn't work in terms of learning languages by myself and I'd like to share my thoughts on this now. Having thought about how to do this though, instead of just putting reviews out there of individual language courses, I'm going to offer VS. comparisons of the best courses.

The reason I want to do this is because it's easy to find reviews of language courses and, after a while, you'll get it narrowed down to just a few of the better ones but then you'll still end up with the question "yeah, but which one out of these?"

Hopefully the experience I've gained over the years (the HARD WAY) will help you avoid the not so great courses and will make it easier for you to speed along the road to fluency!

So with that said my first VS. Comparison will follow shortly!