Play & Learn CHINESE with Mei Mei Vol. 1

"Bad" dvd surprisingly beloved!

I ordered this dvd, knowing not to expect the best of audiovisual quality (see other reviews), and wasn't pleasantly surprised to find otherwise. I bought it because it is the first in this series (the others more highly rated).

Yes, it looks like it was recorded in someone's basement with an amateur camcorder. Yes, it is stilted. Meimei sits frontally and teaches us with little interaction, props etc. The children seem to be her regular students and often seem to wait for behind the camera prompting and seem very selfconscious. They either seem unprepared or precocious. It seems very uninspired and pedantic.

So why 4 stars and not 2? Because my 34 mo old son LOVES IT! I ordered the Little Pim series (he likes), the Baby Learns Chinese (beautiful), the Globe Toddlers Adventures in Mexico (totally overrated), all for him to learn and practice Mandarin... and he continually asks for MeiMei. I thought it slow and repetitive: he sits calmly watching and repeats after MeiMei and the kids. He gets up and copies the students' movements, and we like watching the games and playing associated with the songs. He has started counting in Chinese better than in English. He does all the same movements as MeiMei's students if you ask him his body part names (ie swishing his butt for pi gu! "shake your bottom" says MeiMei) He wants me to sing Ba Luo Bo (Pull out the Carrot) with him.

So, forget what the adults judge to be excellent videography, snappy animations, exciting teaching... this one is a winner!

Now we'll order the next MeiMei chinese dvds with confidence. September 29, 2008

Needs Pinyin

If you want your child to learn a few things in Mandarin, this is a fun little video. However, I was hoping to use this as a teaching tool to help me and my daughter learn Mandarin together. But I was very disappointed to find there is absolutely no Pinyin whatsoever and nothing included with the DVD to supplement the lessons.

The sound is not so great so you may need a Chinese/English dictionary to make your best guess as to exactly what is being said and which tone is used. The English subtitles are nice to have but simply not enough - plus there is no "word for word" translation anyway.

I DO like the content and the way it's presented, but to me it needs more for clarity - especially for such a beautiful and complex language and for those of us who want to get it right. September 23, 2008

Homemade movie quality

I found the sounds quality to these DVDs to be very dissappointing. It felt more like a home made movie rather than a professional childrens learning tools. I had trouble making out the words when the children were singing. Since I had trouble hearing this, I wonder if my toddler can make out the chinese clearly enough to learn chinese. I am fluent in Mandarin and thought this would be a nice supplement to the daily activities of my 2 yr old. Though I do thinks the content and songs were good choices for these DVDS. August 7, 2008

Wonderful, but could use some more info.

My three year old daughter loves this DVD. She sings the songs and counts to ten in Chinese very easily. There are a few subtitles so you know what they are saying, however my daughter does not read words that big yet so she doesnt really understand what she is saying. In my opinion, this does not really *teach* Chinese. She just repeats what she hears. Also, I wish they would have subtitles showing how the word would be pronounced in English (ex: I'm not sure if they are saying "sun" or "sum") It would be a big help if they could do that. Overall, its a wonderful system that my daughter loves. May 27, 2008

Excellent product!

I bought this for my 6 year old and she learned so much on the first viewing alone. The second day with it, she was singing in Chinese! I mean, every single word and the cute dances that come with it. And she had to call family members to tell them she loved them...in Chinese! I will be purchasing the other products.

I think it is for toddlers to maybe 9 year olds, because my son is 9 and he will watch a few minutes of it. For the few minutes he gives it, he learns something new so it doesn't hurt. May 14, 2008

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