Mandarin

Fluenz Version F2: Mandarin 1+2 (Win/Mac) with software DVDs, audio CDs, podcasts, and Navigator. Learn Chinese with the latest upgrade.
$357.00
I loved this product. I bought both Rosetta and this and I prefer Fluenz.
It was just easier for me to learn the language. Don't know if it was just easier for me as an adult. It was also cheaper...yet I didn't feel like I got cheated.
There are only two disks and if you want more after the basics, I don't think there is much out there...I would like to see a Disk 3 and maybe even 4....but for now I am happy with my 40 lessons.....
I am hopeful that I sound like a native would sound...or at least will be understood.

Mandarin: Lonely Planet Phrasebook
$8.99
Amazon links the reviews for ALL editions of a book together. That means that this book right here is getting blamed for all the stupid things it's predecessors did wrong. Don't let that fool you.

This book is an absolute Gem. It uses Pinyin. It's thorough in every respect of the word. It tells you just enough to get by in /every/ situation, from the most mundane (booking a hotel) to the most extreme. No field is left untouched. You wont be let down by this book.

Easy Chinese Mandarin, Level I (Includes Easy Chinese Tutor CD-ROM and Easy Chinese Basic Text and Workbook) (Easy Chinese Self-Study Program) (Easy Chinese Self-Study Program)
$25.00
First off I want to state that this is not a complete review, because I have yet to read and impliment the learning techniques provided in the book. I am writing this review, because I believe that I have discovered a workaround that will allow people to use the, very badly written, program on their pc's and laptops.

Microsoft provides a free program called Virtual PC 2007, [...]. Virtual PC, allows you to install an operating system (OS) within the Virtual PC program, and once the OS is installed you can then install any program you want into it, just as you would on a physical pc. Virtual PC allows you to control how much memory the Virtual PC will use. Without going into the technical details, I installed Easy Chinese into Windows XP running on Virtual PC and it works pretty good. Too improve performance I copied the files from the CD to the harddrive (virtual). Now I still get the memory errors that everyone talked about, but I can use the program without concerns of it eating up the memory or processor resource of my laptop. It takes a little time to get Virtual PC up and running, but once its setup you are going to use it for other programs that will not run on your pc or laptop because you upgraded to Vista or Windows XP. Virtual PC will even run DOS, Windows 95 and Windows 2000 OS's.

Teach Yourself Mandarin Chinese Complete Course Package (Book + 2CDs) (Teach Yourself . . . Complete Courses)
$26.95
I came to this book from a slightly different point of view than some of the other reviewers, since I studied Mandarin for four years in college (mostly using the admirable and still very worthwhile DeFrancis series). Since that has been a while ago I got this book and CD to pick up some contemporary usages and keep my pronunciation up to date and I was very well satisfied in both these aspects. One thing that impressed me in the very thorough section on pronunciation was the author's discussion of the four tones of Mandarin and common mistakes made by beginners. Other sources of potential problems are also very well addressed, particularly compounded verbs of motion, and resultative/potential compounds, which often convey meanings are pretty idiomatic and differ from what a beginner might expect from the components of the compound. The course transitions very smoothly from the early lessons where pinyin is used almost exclusively to the later sections where characters are introduced and it is shown how to write them. At the end of the book there is a section on Chinese poetry- a very unusual addition to what is an elementary course, but something should give a great deal of satisfaction to a student who has made it all the way to the end. There are both monologues and dialogues in the lessons that cover a lot of everyday situations, although sometimes the English translations are pretty free and I've thought that the author probably should have offered a more literal rendering as well- it's always good to know what the words mean. That's a pretty minor objection, though. This course is a great value and any student who completes it should be very well positioned to move on from there.