Chinese Made Easier mp3?

[suMMit]

I'm looking for the mp3s for Chinese Made Easier book2 (Martin Symonds), does anyone have any leads? Ive scoured the internet but cant find anything. I'd be willing to buy the book on amazon if it came with a cd or mp3, but the description doesn't mention it. I like the book and I'm doing the book with a tutor, so it isn't absolutely necessary I guess, but it'd be nice.

[DavyJonesLocker]

Lots of books now have the audio on a website. Does the book indicate anything like this

[roddy]

The website still functions and it's listed for sale on studychineseculture.com (which people on here use quite a bit). We can also try and summon up the author, @Martin Symonds, but as he hasn't logged in for over a decade, I'm not expecting much luck.

[Martin Symonds 石明理]

Hi there ... Martin Symonds here. All the mp3 can be downloaded from my Dropbox account. Just send me an email and I'll reply straightaway.  Martin (now retired in U.K.)

[suMMit]

@roddy太棒了

 

I'm going to work on ordering it from there tomorrow. 感谢

[roddy]

1 hour ago, Martin Symonds 石明理 said:

Hi there ... Martin Symonds here.

Magic!

[suMMit]

12 hours ago, Martin Symonds 石明理 said:

Just send me an email

Awesome. Email sent and thanks! 你的书特别有用

[Longfellow]

Martin, I'm so glad that you checked in! Chinese Made Easier was my choice of textbooks when it was time to start learning Chinese again & it served very well. I've shifted over to electronic resources but am still holding CME in reserve. It's good to know that the audio & supplements are still on the website & that some of your pronunciation tips are now on Youtube. Thanks again for your work on the books & making these resources available.

[TaxiAsh]

I so wish I'd seen this 2 years ago. These lessons are fantastic!

I want to thank Martin for sending me the resources, and for having a lengthy chat online with lots of advice, and a thoroughly enjoyable conversation.

 

 

[Martin Symonds 石明理]

The publishers of Chinese Made Easier have decided not to print any more copies, so the 3rd edition was written but never published, and no recordings were made.

The 2nd edition is still available on Amazon, but at a terrible price. So I have uploaded all the textbook files to my website (https://chinesemadeeasier.org/) and anyone is free to download both the textbook and mp3 recordings. 

 Any questions, please contact me – either through Chinese-forms or https://chinesemadeeasier.org/contact/

 Appreciating your kind comments.

 Martin

[vellocet]

That's a pity, it's a great book but almost unreadable due to the strange body font and Comic Sans ? in the headings.  I was really hoping for a new edition.  

[Martin Symonds 石明理]

You say "strange body font".  Are you referring to the Pinyin?  If so, just download the Pintone font (attached here) and all should be well. 

 

If all is still not well, send me another message.

 

Martin

PINTONEA.TTF

[MTH123]

I have had Mr. Martin Symonds’ textbooks Chinese Made Easier for many months. I haven’t had any problems reading them. I don’t remember having any technical difficulties being able to read them either. So, for anyone who has technical difficulties, it should be a very minor thing that is easily overcome. I would say that you shouldn’t let it deter you from being able to read these great textbooks.

 

I also want to say that to me, these textbooks are the best. Various schools in China chose to use them. Also, for example, none of the other popular textbooks in the West provide good, detailed explanations of tones and pronunciation. (I could be wrong. If I’m wrong, I’d like to know what other textbook(s) rivals Chinese Made Easier in this regard.) To me tones and pronunciation are so important to a beginner. Also, Martin Symonds’ videos on YouTube are really helpful and focus on the most difficult pronunciations.

 

I’m an ABC who was fluent in Chinese as a 13-year-old or so. But, I lost almost all if it afterwards, even though I heard my parents speaking only Chinese to each other at home my whole life. (My husband’s grandmother grew up in Italy and moved to the U. S., when she was 18. When she was much older, she lost almost all her Italian. So, some people, like me and my husband’s grandmother don’t have a talent for language. It was use it or lose it for us.) As a retirement hobby, I have a great interest in trying to relearn Chinese, even though I don’t have a natural talent for language, lol.

 

I know that different people have different learning styles. From my ABC’s perspective, the Chinese Made Easier textbooks are the best textbooks.

[Martin Symonds 石明理]

If you are using Chinese Made Easier with a Chinese teacher, I have just uploaded to my website resources that she should find helpful when teaching the textbook.

They can be downloaded from: https://chinesemadeeasier.org/teachers-resources/

 

Martin

[abcdefg]

I used several of them in classes at Keats (Kunming.) Thought they were great. Thank you for writing them, Mr. Symonds. 

[Zeppa]

I have downloaded all this stuff for possibly a fresh start and it looks very good. I have hopes of the grammar, though as I've just started Book 1 I have not yet met with any grammar that isn't familiar.

[TaxiAsh]

On 12/5/2022 at 8:29 PM, Zeppa said:

have downloaded all this stuff for possibly a fresh start and it looks very good. I have hopes of the grammar, though as I've just started Book 1 I have not yet met with any grammar that isn't familiar.

 

I had the pleasure (with another Mandarin learning friend) to speak to Mr Symonds on a voice call, and let me tell you, he is ace. I think his course is brilliant. Like he says, some things need updating for modern speak, and modern life, but other than that, it's brilliant.

 

Even one of my Chinese students learning English, said, she wishes there was a version like this to learn English. 

 

 

 

 

[Flickserve]

On 12/16/2022 at 9:00 AM, TaxiAsh said:

to speak to Mr Symonds on a voice call, and let me tell you, he is ace. I think his course is brilliant. Like he says, some things need updating for modern speak, and modern life, but other than that, it's brilliant

Lucky you! Speaking to authors is definitely insightful.

 

Older material isn’t really a disadvantage. Some of the less currently fashionable words/phrases do come up every so often. They are harder to catch because of less frequent usage. You wonder why everyone understands what’s going on except yourself. Whereas the common things come up commonly. 
 

For Cantonese in HK, use of idioms is less with those in their 20’s and 30’s but those in their 50’s still use idioms quite often. Is it the same for Mandarin?

[TaxiAsh]

On 12/16/2022 at 6:34 AM, Flickserve said:

1. Lucky you! Speaking to authors is definitely insightful.

 

2. Older material isn’t really a disadvantage. Some of the less currently fashionable words/phrases do come up every so often. They are harder to catch because of less frequent usage. You wonder why everyone understands what’s going on except yourself. Whereas the common things come up commonly. 
 

3. For Cantonese in HK, use of idioms is less with those in their 20’s and 30’s but those in their 50’s still use idioms quite often. Is it the same for Mandarin?

1. Very lucky indeed!

One of my students (a Chinese in Wuhan) learns English off me, but teaches Chinese and she says that CME is the best tool she's ever found. She was jealous that I spoke to him, and wants to chat with him too.

 

2. I perhaps should have said modern life, rather than 'modern speak'. For example, one of my courses (most of my students are Chinese) - I adapted a story I found, and just updated some of the terminology that generally only much older people use, and made examples using things that are good for practical everyday life. And things they'll hear on TV programmes etc.

 

3. Interesting, but I don't know the answer to your question. I wonder if 'internet speak' has taken over the place of some idioms? Just guessing, but I do often come across a lot of 'internet' type phrases on wechat. I think it's the case with English.

 

 

[Martin Symonds 石明理]

Hi Everyone (and especially Flickserve & TaxiAsh),

 

If you want to chat about learning or teaching Chinese, just send me an email and we can arrange a time to meet on Zoom. However, when it comes to choosing which textbook to use, bear in mind that I am a little biased!!

 

Martin

chinesemadeeasier@hotmail.com