I ran into Pimsleur somewhere else.
Anyone tried it? How is it?

yes, did not work for me, rosetta stone did.

I started with Pimsleur a few years back and it was an excellent starting point for me to learn Mandarin. Pimsleur does a great job of teaching you basic words and sentences that you use in everyday life. They take great effort in teaching you proper pronounciation and use of tones. The biggest problem I had was that although after Pimsleur I could book my hotel room, order in a restaurant, give the taxi driver instructions, etc. my pronounciation was so good that the people I talked to thought I spoke Mandarin and talked back at me at 100 miles per hour and I did not understand a word they said.

You are able to speak well after you complete all three levels for many basic situations and have a vocabulary of about 700 words. I followed up with other similar courses such as Sinolingua interactive after Pimsleur which takes you to the HSK intermediate level and a vocabulary of about 5000 words. Pimsleur strictly teaches you basic oral communication. Once you complete Pimsleur, if you want to learn to read and write as well as speak, I recommend a follow up with Sinolingua products.

These all work well if you are into self teaching. My business does not afford me the time to use a classroom situation so these programs worked very well for me.

johnny_tropicana wrote:yes, did not work for me, rosetta stone did.

I was the reverse. I HATED Rosetta Stone, but I was a big fan of Pimsleur. The program allowed me to practice Mandarin in the States while driving to and from work. I simply didn't have the time for Rosetta Stone and felt it moved to slowly and wasn't built for my style of learning. You can read my more detailed Pimsleur Mandarin Review here if you are so inclined.

Thank you johnny_tropicana, Renovator and Mike.
I got recommendation for both Rosetta and Pimsleur. And will try and see more about them.

Mike's movingtochinablog is really good!
Thanks.

is this program available for purchase in a retail bookstore or am i restricted to purchasing it online?

Most better bookstores either have it, or can get it.
Go online to see the price baseline, determine what you are getting for the price,
Then go to E Bay and see if someone bought it and either never used it, or got disgusted with
the process...you will find many that have never been opened, and more than a few that
have only the first couple of tapes/discs used... ( I prefer to do things on a budget, you never know if
what you are starting will keep your interest, so if it fails to hold your interest, it hurts less to walk away)

mmmm
thanks for the suggestions, i was going to order one online cause it was only $10,
seems alot cheaper than rosseta stone though lol

^you need to see what you get for your $10 as Pimsleur has a very inexpensive introductory course which can normally be bought for about $10 and fives you about 8 30 minute lessons. The entire course is like 96 30 minute lessons and costs several hundred $ unless you buy it used or downloaded from someone who has copied it.

Pimsleur is too slow IMO. Rosetta stone is strange - teaching you like 'the boy is ontop of the airplane' before teaching you how to ask someone's name.