Learning Chinese

[RobAnt]

What is the best Video/DVD for novices to learn the language? The BBC are transmitting "Real Chinese" at the moment, which is an Internet On-line tutorial and BBC television program - but I don't think it will take me very far.

Is there something more in-depth, in terms of learning the language? BBC Real Chinese tries to be a bit of an all-rounder, trying to cover both language and culture. That isn't a bad thing - indeed I think it is a very good thing - it is just that it doesn't go far enough in either direction.

[kudra]

I don't use dvds for my language study but poking aroud on BBC site and going to "useful phrases"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/chinese/real_chinese/start/usefulphrases.shtml

I did notice that they apparently got the pinyin tone wrong for 女. They show 1st tone whereas their audio clip gives 3rd tone which seems correct in the context.

I'm no expert, so there may be some convention I don't know about(which I put at 1% chance) with marking the tone when you include an umlaut(the 2 dots) on the u

[gougou]

Never heard of such a convention, and never saw 女 with a first key marker, either, always third key. Even though that does look somewhat scrambled, that would not justify promotion to first key...

[RobAnt]

I'll try to steer clear of ladies toilets, then!

It looks like a simple typographical error, to me.