Why I buy this one ?
- Multimedia application specifically designed to help English-speakers gain fluency in Chinese
- Language tutor Sonia Gil guides you on video every step of the way to create a live, classroom-style learning environment
- Leverages your knowledge of English to accelerate your learning of Mandarin, with an emphasis on words you are most likely to use
- Next-generation platform blends beautiful full motion video with engaging, interactive workouts, including voice recording so you can compare your accent to native speech
- Includes Mandarin 1+2 DVD-ROM, audio CD for additional training, and handy Fluenz Navigator for on-the-go referencing of important words and phrases

Fluenz offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $323.00 Usually ships in 24 hours

Fluenz offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $323.00 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

Fluenz offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $323.00 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

What our customer's say!

"Excellent program for learning Mandarin", I have been attempting to learn Mandarin for several years and have tried several different books and CDs. I found Fluenz to be far and away the best program. I found that many of the programs just expected you to learn by listening and repeating without any real understanding of how the sounds relate to actual words which you can then reuse to make sentences of your own. This made it very difficult to retain anything. With Fluenz they explain each word so that you can understand it the next time you hear or see it in a different context. I also found that learning the tones was much easier with their method and made it so that I could recall the correct pronunciation which makes it easier for you to be understood. Finally, they build slowly with each lesson so that you tend to retain what you learn. I highly recommend the Fluenz program to anybody trying to learn Mandarin. I found that learning Mandarin is very different from learning other languages, e.g., Spanish, French, German, etc. and the traditional approaches used by some of the other language courses are not effective for Mandarin.
I am anxiously awaiting for Fluenz to release a level 3 version of their course.

"Fluenz Mandarin is awesome", My husband and I each purchased Fluenz Mandarin to prepare us for a move to Shanghai. We cannot say enough good things about the product. It was easy to use, interesting, and gave us a great language foundation.
The format was perfect for us and particularly for my husband who had limited time to work on his language skill. The few times we contacted Fluenz with questions, we had immediate response by phone or email. We are now waiting for Intermediate Mandarin!

"GREAT!!!!!!!", I'm halfway done with the Mandarin DVD and it is just great. I was debating about Rosseta Stone or Fluenz and so glad I went with Fluenz. If you want an analytical interactive adult approach to learning Mandarin this is the DVD to get. I tried Rosseta Stone from a guy at work and it was ok, but not my style. This seems to teach in a logical way that you can extrapolate on instead of just learning phrases.

Also the Audio CD and Podcasts are great learning tools. I thought they would just be filler stuff, but the Podcasts have helped me with tones more than anything.

I also chatted online with Customer Service (to find where to download the Podcasts) and he was very helpful and friendly.

I'm in Taiwan now and halfway done with the DVD. I start taking classes at Taiwan Cultural University learning Mandarin for 11 weeks 14 hours each week. This DVD has really helped me out and has me primed and ready to go.

"good software", good software, great simple language tuition, I am generally very satisfied, the practice sessions are good

what is bad:

the DVD is good but be aware that it has to be in your drive to work so if, like me, you travel without one you are stuffed

the podcasts are great but should have been included in the audio CD
other than that, highly recomended

"Wonderful Way to Learn Mandarin", I got a great start learning Mandarin from Fluenz! I found Fluenz more useful than a book with CD because it is very interactive, ensuring that I learn each grammar concept and word thoroughly before moving onto the next lesson. The vocabulary covered will enable you to get around independently in China and also covers much of the ground a business person would want to know. The CD only alternative, e.g., Pimsleur, I don't feel is worthwhile for Mandarin because it won't give you access to Pinyin, a form of written Mandarin which is easy to learn and which is indispensable if you want to learn more vocabulary. And I thought the Rosetta Stone sample simply sucked - I don't think I could learn any language that way.

The only reason I gave this title four stars rather than 5 is that the software implementation could be a lot better. In several lessons we are treated to a video of Sonia Gil (who is very easy on the eyes, by the way!) speaking with her voice about 5 seconds ahead of her image. The ingenious tablet to type pinyin vowels is marred by the fact that the location of the cursor jumps unpredictably while you are typing answers - you better watch what you're doing and expect to have to hit the back key often - this takes up extra time and attention better spent on learning the language. Also, you can type in an incorrect answer and move on, something the software is supposed to prevent. Other times, the posted answer is incorrect, leaving me with a feeling nobody proofed the software. And finally, the instructions at the start of the DVD did not cover all sections of the lessons.

Some suggested improvements - An index to the lessons and topics with hot keys, when someone asks for an answer keep their incorrect answer visible so they can see and learn from what they did wrong. I'd also enjoy some lessons on words associated with emotions and family rather than just shopping or asking directions, e.g., happy, sad, worried, how many brothers or sisters.

Criticisms aside, this course is well worth the money. I enjoyed learning from it!

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Great approach, great software, amazing customer service!", I read consumer product reviews religiously, but this is my first time writing my own, prompted by the outstanding customer service at Fluenz. My horribly managed aparment complex told me they sent away an envelope during one of my 2 week trips to China, and I feared that I would never know what was in the mysterious package. Fluenz personally contacted me to find out why my free software upgrade had been returned to them. I explained my situation and they immediately sent it to my work address (still free of charge). I am not sure if I was more impressed that they incorporated consumer feedback to improve their already great product, or that they spent their own time and money to ensure that their consumers were getting the most out of it.

As for the software, I am an Engineer and have struggled with learning foreign languages my whole life (French and Spanish) using traditional memorization or immersion techniques. My retention was so poor that I ended up on a train to Austria instead of Paris, and found myself wandering the streets of Clermont Ferrand to find my new university, armed only with a small cartoon map and the finger pointing of a well intentioned French man (I couldn't even communicate well enough to get a taxi).

The Fluenz system has been the most effective for me yet, although I have only tried Mandarin. I combined this with a continuing education course for business travelers, and my teacher was amazed that I could easily translate words that I learned on my own with Fluenz. I find Sonia a bit difficult to listen to at each lesson, and I tend to skip past her explanation, but as I received more thorough instruction from my native teacher, it wasn't necessary. Pronunciation is the most difficult part for me, and being able to record your voice and compare it to the native speaker is invaluable.

I also use the Pimsleur CDs during my morning commute which helps provide me with more converstaional tools, a slightly different vocabulary and good pronunciation practice. If you are serious about learning the language, I recommend a combination of Fluenz, character book/flashcards, classroom instruction and Pimsleur, but if you have to pick one, Fluenz will give you the most bang for your buck, as the retention rate and breadth can't be beat. When speaking to a coworker who lived in China for 4 years, I found that my understanding of the language was better!

FOR FLUENZ(since I know you read these): I have been searching for a language tool that allows the learner to connect the characters to pinyin, english and spoken Mandarin at the same time. I have failed miserably at character recognition by learning only from books/flashcards and I suspect the only way I will learn is if the spoken language tools are combined with the written in the same software. Learning the character components really help me to see how concepts and thoughts are built in Chinese. For example, airplane = fly + machine and airport = fly + machine + field, but without hearing the pronunciation, or seeing the sentence construction in pinyin, I can't retain the characters. There seems to be a hole in the market for this type of comprehensive tool.....and if anyone can fill it, I know you can!


"Fluenz Mandarin - Fresh approach, Innovative style, well organized", I purchased this product based on the positive reviews by customers.

Having purchased many "learn a language" programs, I was really hoping this was different. Given the price relative to the competition, it had better be!!!

The package from Amazon arrived in this HUGE box. Inside this HUGE box, was a small red box. Inside the small red box was a small red envelope. Inside the small red envelope was two disks and a little cheat sheet. Rest assured, your disks are well protected during shipment!

It's been a month and I am very happy with my investment. I have listened to the CD over 20 times in my car and love it. The DVD is very interactive and I find myself learning faster than just reading a book or using other programs. Fluenz says you should review the interactive DVD before you listen to the CD as the CD supplements the DVD. I couldn't wait and listened to the CD for 3 or 4 times before finally using the DVD. No regrets...I found the CD was a great intro to the DVD.

My mother listened to the Fluenz CD in my car for the first time last week and thought very highly of it (prior to that, she heard the Michael Thomas "learn to speak Mandarin" CD in my car). Mom thought the Michael Thomas CD was useless and confusing. My mom speaks several chinese languages including Cantonese and Mandarin. She said the Fluenz CD helped her improve her pronounciation of Mandarin. I can't tell you how big a compliment that was.

It would have been nice to have a book to supplement the DVD and CD as I do not always have access to a computer which is ironic since I have 4 laptop and 2 desktop computers.

Another suggestion would be to give the user the ability to print review material from the DVD.

Fluenz Mandarin has room to improve, but it's way ahead of the competition. Good job!! I look forward to purchasing Fluenz Spanish as my clients speak Mandarin and Spanish.

"Keeping up with my cousin", I will be visiting Beijing in a few weeks with my cousin who, like myself, is not a native speaker of mandarin -however she studied mandarin in college and has spent time in Beijing. I hope to be able to communicate somewhat on my own, without relying entirely on her or on the point and smile / pantomime method of communication.

So far, fluenz has worked better than I expected from a teach-yourself program. While my pronunciation is probably still really bad (I guess we'll find out), the approach taken in building phrases is fairly intuitive, and I feel like in the limited time I have to study I'm actually retaining something. I'd highly recommend fluenz if you want to gain some practical language skills in a limited time.

"All about retention", With the rise of China as an economic player, I wanted to learn Mandarin for business purposes. I thought of trying Rosetta Stone until I came across this product. What made me choose Fluenz over Rosetta Stone was the principle behind Fluenz: children and adults learn languages differently, and, therefore, need different techniques and tools for learning. This product was designed and developed by adults who actually had to learn Madarin experiencing the challenges that came with adult language learning. So, I think, this product gives you the necessary tools for adult language learning derived from personal experiences. I agree with the principle having learned English as a second language as a child and having picked up Japanese as my third language as an adult. As adults, we cannot simply learn by having pictures and vocabulary flashed across the screen. We need more explanations and repetitions in order to retain the material. This product does just that - explains and repeats through "workouts" and through the CDs. Also, the lessons are simple and short enough rooted in everyday situations for anyone to learn and remember without expending an exhorbitant amount of time. If you are busy but want to learn Madarin, I would definitely recommend that you give Fluenz a shot.

"Fluenz Mandarin Podcasts are a Winner!", The Fluenz Mandarin podcasts, a newly-released upgrade to the instructional DVD, are an excellent complement to an already superb piece of software. These are practical exercises that reinforce the materials on the interactive instructional DVD and audio CD workout disc that comprise the original package. The instructors, one an experienced native Mandarin speaker, and the other, a novice student, are enthusiastic, clear and effective in their instruction, and make the learning experience lots of fun. The purchaser of this entire package has an outstanding approach to learning a very difficult subject.