I'm off to Shanghai, Beijing and Xi'an for the 2nd time (for 12 days) and it's coming up fast. I'd like to be able to say more than "how much" and "thank you" when I arrive, but I am also work-busy until my trip.

So, be blunt: is there a 15-30min daily good crunch course in speaking Mandarin? I'm about to pull the trigger and just try Pimsleur but if anyone has used that or something better, please let me know! Cost is not *much* of a factor, up to a point.

Thanks for your answers and for being a wonderful resource in general. (I'm a relative FT newbie but love reading the site!)

Andrea