"12 Golden Rules of Mastering Chinese"?

[Nibble]

http://www.thelanguageexpert.com/12goldenrules/

It's a 222-page ebook by someone called Bryan Todd. Has anyone read it? Is it worth the money?

[Shadowdh]

I have read it and its really not worth the money... I found that from 222 pages only 50 or so had anything worth reading (and most of those were amusing-ish anecdotes) as most of it is filled with the "you can acheive this you are the language man" type of drivel and the rest is mostly common sense type stuff... having said that he does have some very good insights into learning the language... but just not 222 pages worth...

[roddy]

Haven't read it, but I'm inherently dubious of ebooks - barriers to publishing are way too low - and particularly when there is no 'sample chapter' or similar provided. Are there any reviews / comments on non-affiliated sites?

From what Shadowdh has said, it sounds like bits of language learning advice with lots of motivational-type stuff. I wouldn't bother.

Roddy

[Nibble]

That is pretty much what I was afraid of. The "free 5-day e-mail course" was mostly just common sense, and the only thing it promised the book would have was a list of the 600 most common hanzi and the most common compounds they're in, but I'm sure that's freely available on the internet.

[Shadowdh]

The free trial was most of the useful stuff from the book by memory... there may be one or two other tidbits of info but not much...

[ocpaul20]

bits of language learning advice with lots of motivational-type stuff.

well, I need lots of motivational stuff :-)

Why is that a bad thing?

[Shadowdh]

Because its given in the "hallelujah" type of evangelical style... its pretty much all that and you have to pay for it... you would be better off spending the money on a book and actually studying... truly it does have one or two good points on how to study Chinese but the dross is far too much compared to the nuggets...

[self-taught-mba]

list of the 600 most common hanzi and the most common compounds they're in, but I'm sure that's freely available on the internet.

And they are. Recently I found someone selling the list of 1000 most used characters as the "secret" when they are freely available many places.

[David W Jackson]

If the testimonials are to be believed, maybe this is worth a pop. Anyone already taken the plunge? Feedback? Worth 30 dollars? http://www.masterchinesefaster.com/12rules/

[roddy]

Merging - different url, same 'product'

Roddy

[flameproof]

And you get free on top:

"‘Fried Chicken Chest’ and Other Foibles: ..."

Is that some sort of KFC coupon? Does it include fries as well?

I am highly skeptical of anything instant and effortless, and the sensational ad does not look very convincing too. And I am not a friend of KFC too......

BTW, I find rule #12 interesting:

The biggest lie that people are probably telling you about all those so-called shortcuts to faster learning.

[David W Jackson]

" ..having said that he does have some very good insights into learning the language". Any chance Shadowh you can tell us what they are? Save us the price of admission. Thanks.

[Shadowdh]

Not sure if I could do that... Roddy, would that open up some copyright complications...???

[flameproof]

How can be quoting from a book a copyright violation? As long as you don't copy and paste the whole book, or publish it under your name....

PS: since you (from other threat) go on to full time language study I presume didn't do the trick.... I am still curious though

[Shadowdh]

Good point Flameproof... I suppose if I reference properly and dont paste the whole thing... give me a day or so...