Chinese Online Subscriptions (Mandarin)

What is Audio Companion?

Audio Companion CDs enhance language learning anytime, anyplace. You’ll learn new skills on the computer, and then reinforce them by listening to Audio Companion. Simply play them on your stereo, or download to an MP3 Player and go!

Enhance your learning experience

Audio Companion activities correspond to Rosetta Stone CD-ROM software lessons. Just listen to Audio Companion and practice what you’ve learned, turning travel time into productive language learning time.

Extend your study time

You don’t have to stop learning when you leave your computer. Audio Companion lets you access your lessons whenever and wherever you want.

Build vocabulary and pronounce words and phrases

Audio companion features distinct words and shorter phrases to make them easier to hear and repeat. You’ll build good enunciation habits by hearing native speakers pronounce them first.

Speak and converse

The speaking portion of Audio Companion lets you listen to questions and answers, repeating them to use later. To help you build your conversational skills, first you’ll listen to a conversation and then repeat phrases individually.

Benefits summary:

• Reinforces what you are learning with our core CD-ROM products.
• Easy to download and compatible with audio players or on your computer.
• Free with the Level 1,2 & 3 set.

What You'll Learn

This set will help you:

• Build your vocabulary and language abilities.
• Spell and write accurately.
• Speak without a script.
• Retain what you’ve learned.
• Read and understand your new language.
• Share ideas and opinions, express feelings and talk about everyday life.

Sample topics include:

• The basics, such as age and family relations
• Questions, greetings, introductions
• Times of day, calendar terms, the weather
• Directions, locations, telling time
• Present, past and future tense
• Apologies and polite requests
• How to order at a restaurant and give and receive directions
• Emotions, opinions and ideas
• Political, media, business and religious terms

About Chinese

Chinese is the native language of more than a billion speakers, more people than any other language. It is spoken in China, Singapore, Malaysia, and in many overseas Chinese communities.

Chinese Learning Tips

• Chinese is written with no spaces between words.
• Each character in Chinese corresponds to a single syllable.
• The meaning of Chinese syllables depends on the tone with which it is spoken.
• A tone may change slightly depending on the tones of its neighboring syllables. The most common example that you will encounter is when two third tones occur together; the first third tone will change into a tone similar to a second tone.
• Nouns in Chinese do not change between singular and plural. Instead, a number or counter indicates the noun’s quantity.
• Verb forms don’t change based on the person performing the action. This is one aspect of learning Chinese that is much easier than many other languages!
• Chinese has no exact equivalent of “yes”. Instead of affirming with one word, a Chinese speaker generally repeats the verb.

Requirements for Rosetta Stone User Workstations

• Windows (32-bit editions only) 2000, XP or Vista, Mac OS X 10.4 or 10.5
• 512 MB RAM
• 1 GHz or faster processor speed
• 600 MB free hard-drive space (per level)
• 16-bit sound card
• 800 x 600 display resolution (1024 x 768 recommended)
• Internet or phone connection required for product activation
• Speech recognition feature requires a headset microphone (USB recommended)
• 16X CD-ROM Drive (for installation)

Additional Requirements for Online Products

• High-speed internet connection
• Browsers: Internet Explorer 6sp1, Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2.0, Safari 2 and Safari 3
• Flash 9 plug-in installed on browser

Note for Microsoft® Windows Vista™ users:

Current Rosetta Stone® products have been engineered to install and run on the Windows Vista operating system. Some 3rd party components used in Rosetta Stone products have not been certified by Microsoft as ‘Vista Compliant’. Accordingly, you may encounter some Vista-related operating issues. Rosetta Stone technical support may or may not be able to resolve these Vista-related issues. Rosetta Stone hereby disclaims any representations, warranties, guaranties and conditions with respect to the compatibility of the Rosetta Stone products with the Windows Vista operating systems.