Your CPod daily routine

Something else I do, either if I haven't yet made my flashcards (which have all vocabulary words, dialogue sentences and expansion sentences) or if I just don't feel like sitting down at a desk to write, is:

Laptop in hand, I open a blank document in my word processor and position it to fill two thirds of the screen. The other third of the screen, side by side, I have my mp3 player. I set up the player to play the REVIEW mp3 of the lesson, so the play/pause button is accessible without bothering the word processor. I also have the PDF file open somewhere in the background if I need it.

 I play the review mp3 file. When the person says the English, I try to think of and type the Chinese. At first I have to hit the PAUSE button over and over as I learn the pinyin and practice recall with my old brain. This little exercise is comfortable to do while sitting in a recliner (Chinese Pod "my" way) and helps to 1. learn the vocabulary 2. reinforce the pinyin so I pronounce the word properly  and 3. is a good speed-recall workout, which is important since I don't have opportunity to practice conversation.

 Sometimes late in the day my eyes have given out (eyesight not good) but I can still see things easily on my laptop, where I can enlarge the text, so I do love having this option.

 Love CP, but I'll take this opportunity to make a request that you provide the pinyin along with the expansion sentences, if it's not too much trouble. Also at some time in the future make the concentration game easier to use as far as selecting vocabulary and ENLARGING the text. don't know if that's possible, but may as well ask. Love love love CP! Sorry if formatting appears.

I love ChinesePod (and listening to John/Jenny makes it feel like leisure time) and subscribed for a paid account, then my job got so busy I could not keep up with a podcast a day, so did not renew. 

I am now trying to go back to about 30 minutes learning Chinese every day (it should not be so hard, right?) and I basically listen to old Intermediate level podcast for now as I know them. I read the text first as I like to know what will be discussed (if I don't know, I cannot understand much).

I have also been trying recently a nice Chinese lesson service at ChineseTeachers.com where I do 10 to 15 minutes a day (I stop when my focus reduces), I have tried about 10 of their Chinese teachers and most are really nice and good (will Cpod teachers teach there?). During the week-end, I play with skritter.com which is great for learning (and remembering) how to write Chinese characters - love it.

I own an iPhone so I listen to the podcast while reading the text as subtitle, but I changed in iTunes the white background logo of Cpod (sorry Cpod!) to a black image so that I can read better the subtitles. Ken, maybe your logo for podcasts could have darker colours (your black & red colours you used to have).

My dream is to go full time in learning Chinese - I think this is when I will renew and probably choose the Premium and even try the new iPhone access feature!

Keep the great work! 

Hi,

Thanks CP for what you do here.

Like a lot of you I download the lessons MP3 and PDF, read the PDF. My job is driving around all day in a remote place and I can only access the computer every 2 weeks, so I make up a MP3 disc for the cd player and each day listen to the lessons over and over for hours a day for a week, I have my phone with a pocket Chinese dictonary installed so I can look up and see the words without having to carry around a bunch of PDF printouts. Hearing the same lesson a few times over I aways seem to pick up something that I missed, and relate words to other lessons. Songs seem to stick in my mind as well as other coments made in the lessons. Anyway it seems to be working I am starting to be able to undersatnd Chinese speaking people, even though they still speak faster than my poor little brain can put put all the words in some sort of order, slow learner maybe, but hey! I am getting there :-)

There is one more thing I do with CP that is very valuable to me as a beginner with no Chinese environment to speak of. When I come across a new word in either my classwork, my supplementary work (I'm doing Me and China, a text meant for children of Chinese immigrants) or CPod, I might do a search on that word or phrase in CP in order to get more practice sentences to add to my flash cards and study sheets. Just now, for example, I used the CP search function for an1quan2 and have a nice handful of sentences to practice to make it "sink in." Love the search function!

eupnea,

I agree. Cpod is quite wonderful.

Btw I should have mentioned that the real thanks for WLCP should go to Andrew corrigan and Jon Lee for writing the code. I can only advertise.

Thank you henning, and everyone. Really, I love CP! I would have given up on Mandarin if it weren't for CP. I so appreciate the content and again, that they let us download so much. It'd be just awful if the material were locked in proprietary software or whatever. I am an older learner, not too tech savvy, but what I personally can use on CP is just outstanding. Bowing down, many praises.

eupnea,

you are very welcome, its just a shame that it takes a third party program to do this.

Ken, you are asking for suggestions ........well?

and while we are at it, where are those pdf files for ancillary lessons such as QW and PWP? IT on vacation?

euphnea,
here is the shortcut to the html/text-files:

1. Open the PDF
2. Go to the footer of any page where it says: "Visit the Online Review and Discussion (text version)"
3. Click on (text version)

And afterwards vote for my entry "Direct link to HTML pages" at chinesepod.uservoice.com" (:

eupnea63355,

Thanks for another great tip.Simple is always better.As for the bold above,it usually happens when you've copied and pasted someones username.I wouldn't worry about it too much,but if you want to avoid it,just copy,paste and then write the name out separately and delete the original copy if that makes sense.Best to just keep posting.Don't worry about tech things.

Oh well I really feel like an idiot, I did not mean to make that text bold and italics. sorry. not good at this. That's why I don't post! One thing, however, is that my computer does not load all the graphics, so at the top of this box I just have a line of empty boxes that I think are supposed to have formatting options. Just had to explain myself.

rjberki, 10,000 Thanks! I have a whole bucketful of mp3's that I have loaded up in my player for a good brain workout. This is SO GREAT!!! I really, really appreciate this! The other files, too, but these mp3's are going to help my comprehension so much. I actually had been digging them out of the cache. Geesh, what a life-changer!

I still haven't figured out how to open the pdf-turned html. It's all gibberish, but for now the mp3's are just making my day. I think it's great that the CPod people let us download all of them as well. I do love CPod!

bababardwan, I do not know the best way to make those graphic files for the electronic photo frame, but I just format my words or sentences (hanzi) in Word - after a few times you know what will fit and how to center it) then I copy/paste into Paint. Yes, just plain ol' Paint, formatted to 800x600. Sometimes I get creative and add colors. I don't have any good graphic programs or skills, but this is my quick/dirty way to bring the new vocabulary to mind.

ken,  a silly question just occurred to me.  does the volume of response i suppose, matter to you and the hosts of a lesson on the day it's published, as opening weekend is all-important to a movie release?  in other words is early feedback as opposed to late (say, commenting saturday on a wednesday release) response much more appreciated than maybe we users realize?  just thought i'd ask in case any of you cared to tell us.

Henning,

..don't have an example either...but you are right...I remember a lesson..think it was about a certain sentence construction...when Ken said something like: you would not put it like this in English... and I thought: ...well but in German it would be fine! :-)

I will remember your words!!! ...I didn't say it is good to connect my Chinese and English language brain ;-)..it just happens...

Grüsse 格桑 ;)

zhenlijiang, kimiik, goulnik, gesang,
I agree. And with each new voice here the scope broadens. Pete was a perfect addition in that regard.

The use of "busting my hump" in the translation of the "Lao Wang Plans Revenge" dialogue and the subsequent discussion being a prime example. And bbw. taught me the various uses of "mate" for addressing fellow students.

:)

@gesang: Sometimes, however, the English translations for Mandarin terms are long and winding while the German equivalent seems to be a direct and literal translation (Marco Polo involved?). In those cases, there is no English detour. I don't have an example at hand but will keep looking now...

an observation that may have been made before, and echoing part of what others have said here:  i've just very recently noticed, because what i'm doing is plowing through all the old intermediate lessons (in rough order of easy to challenging, until i can understand everything being said in the dialogue and virtually everything in the banter), that some of us non-native English speakers have really become so polished in written English communication, obviously the result of community participation.  this is very impressive, and you at CPod have the evidence in your hands. not naming any names, and i apologize if i come across as condescending (but i'm really so impressed), but the progress over a period of 2 years or so is so significant you would think this was EnglishPod advanced. 

but i would hasten to add that these people were already very proficient to begin with.  those interested in studying English should seek out the real EPod or other sources.

and what this discovery reinforces for me is the validity of getting daily, public, trial-and-error writing practice, so that we all see the same thing happen with our Chinese.  an exciting thought!

Eupnea

both of the things you wished for are do-able today. Change the .pdf on the pdf file to .html and open. This version you can cut and paste.

mp3 bundles of the expansion sentences are created by WLCP

http://code.google.com/p/wlcp/

I do exactly as you say.

I really can't see any major changes that could improve greatly chinesepod's ability to fit around different lifestyles. The core features are time tested and work, anything else like the ability to export Vocabulary, the Guided Plan and Activity Tweets, are not needed, but nevertheless are absolutely great tools and so useful that are now difficult to imagine not being a part of chinesepod. The only niggle I have is chinesepod isn't that great on windows mobile, which I often use as part of 'fitting my learning into my daily life,' however that's under review, so not too concerned about that. Maybe the m.chinesepod.com needs a little attention, it feels like Beta.

I really like that on a Friday morning, whether I have access to the interent or not, my teacher Ellen (previously Vera) can contact me. A few weeks ago I was away working with no access to a computer. I was in the English countryside, 7am, fields all around, sheep and cows, yet I could still speak with Vera, via mobile. Talk about 'chinesepod bringing the lessons to me!' Really really great 'stuff'

I'll second that.Great idea eupnea63355.I wonder what the best way to make such flashcards would be?

eupnea63355 says

4. make large graphic files of the vocab to play on one of those electronic picture frames. Keep it running in the kitchen.

That's a really good idea, using hanzi cards / flashcards as rotating background pics.

This is going to be an Apple thing, not CPod, but I would like to be able to download the podcasts in my personal feed to my iPod Touch via WiFi instead of syncing to my PC.  Hopefully, such subscriptions will be possible with the next iPhone s/w release.

"Maybe tell us that you'll fly the winner of the contest that cpod will fly the winner to cpod studios in Shanghai"

...hey,what a great idea,hehe.What I wouldn't do to give that a crack.A comp for each level too.I'm downgrading to newbie,btw.

Hmmm, sorry folks I am having trouble gettin' the formatting out. I have to write in a program to enlarge the text, then make it smaller to post. Oh well.

I'm still very much a beginner and am in Chinese 102, which keeps me very busy because I am compulsive about getting that "A" and I have no other person with whom to practice speaking, comprehension, and conversational skills, so I have to triple up on my solo study. Studying alone is NOT efficient or effective.

My routine:

1. save all mp3 files in a folder named after the lesson

2. make a Word file with every element in the lesson, that is, words, phrases, and sentences, in my "flashcard format." That is, three lines per element. English, pinyin, then characters. The font sizes are formatted for copying and pasting in my flashcard file for when I am ready to print them. I use Avery business cards for printing my flashcards. I expand the pinyin font for easier reading. This text file becomes part of that lesson folder.

3. print my flashcards, and use them whenever and wherever I can. I write my flashcards constantly it seems. That is, I do my flashcards with a pen and notebook, constantly practicing writing the characters

4. make large graphic files of the vocab to play on one of those electronic picture frames. Keep it running in the kitchen.

5. listen to the mp3 files, sometimes I have to run them through my audio software and slow them down, leaving the pitch intact. Sometimes I make a playable CD for long car trips.

It's all a lot of work, but the prep work helps me learn the material better. Typing the pinyin used to be a real hassle until I found Pinyinput on the net. Bless this person who wrote it and freely shared it!

Because I do  not have the opportunity to USE what I am learning, I copy everything onto those flashcards so I can keep reviewing them in the hope of someday having a language partner or going to China. So, a full sentence might be on a flashcard. I have bundles of cards, 30-50 to a bundle, and try to go through each of them at least once each week.

Two changes I'd love:

I still wish the PDF file were offered in a text file so we could copy and paste the pinyin. It would save time. I like my own format because I am somewhat visually impaired so have to enlarge everything, so the PDF file is not that helpful to me. Also, I cannot use the "Exercises" section of CP because I cannot enlarge the text in my browser. I hope you guys can reconsider the format for this section so the enlarge feature in Firefox works.

Besides a text file or copy/paste version of the PDF file, I'd really love if it were easier to save all of those little audio files of the example sentences, and the individual sound files for the dialogue lines. I'd love to have a bundle of those loaded into my player, and listen to them in random order to practice comprehension. Please remember, this is a beginner speaking, so don't laugh at me! Sorry so long, thanks for asking! Love love love CP!!!

I think that cpod is doing 95% of what it could be regarding helping me learn mandarin.  Going the extra 5% would include having lessons on Kung Fu or flying (or other relatively lightly used topic), but it sounds like the cpod staff need to have the expertise necessary to get a lesson done in an efficient manner. 

I'm afraid that I go through periods of intense interest in learning new things in general (including learning mandarin), followed by periods of exhaustion or boredom and then I want to stop.  Somehow, if cpod could help me get through the periods where i'm bored with learning mandarin, that would be nice.  Maybe a contest where we win a prize or something for the best 100 word essay in mandarin.  Maybe have some kind of web based hide-and-seek mandarin based contest.   Maybe appoint individual users to create something online in Mandarin and then pay us with a month's subscription.  Maybe tell us that you'll fly the winner of the contest that cpod will fly the winner to cpod studios in Shanghai.  Just some thoughts.

Maybe this? Send a txt / voice message to your mobile ( a few hours after you studied it) during the day with vocab or something like that from that day's lesson. This could also be another / additional that lesson you studied that day. After you received the sms you can decide when to review it.

I really appreciate the great feedback. So, here's my next question: What else can we do to help you more in this regard? I'm talking about fitting the learning your daily life and making it happen for you. Clearly, most of you are busy professionals with plenty of other commitments (bothersome stuff like work, etc). What else could  we do to make the learning fit your life/make it more effective for you?

Pls feel free.

My ideal is sitting in front of my home computer where I start by reading the introduction,then downloading the lesson and listening up to the point of the end of the dialogue the first time.Then I go through the vocab tab and then listen to the dialogue the 2nd time,the I go to the dialogue tab and go through that by reading the hanzi first [rolling over any new words and trying to then figure out the overall meaning of the sentence] and then ,clicking to reveal the sentence translation then listening to the audio for each sentence and then ,go back to the lesson dialogue and listen for a 3rd time and listen to the rest of the lesson.I usually then go to the community discussion.Then I usually do the expansion and then the exercises.Once I've done the exercises I mark the lesson as studied and don't go over anything again.I have not reviewed any of the lessons or audios except do sometimes listen to them again when I'm driving.I don't bother with this for advanced or media as it would be way too time consuming.There I just look at the introduction and what's being discussed.Sometimes though the first time I get the chance to listen to the lesson is on the move in which case I'll listen to the whole lesson and then come back to the usual routine when I'm in front of my computer.I love the idea of the flash cards but have been really lazy using them as it's hard to fit it in.Only very occasionally will I break this routine,but I prefer to form my own impressions and opinions before looking at the community discussion.

For the last 6 months, I'm doing my best to maintain some sort of daily routine for my chinese studies : 30 to 90 minutes off-line in the evening. My main sources are of course Cpod and my Pleco dict.

1. First part of the daily studies, I simply follow the lesson publication schedule and listen to the daily Cpod lesson whatever the level.

For most Newbie or Ele lessons I only listen to the intro, the dialogue and the last 2 minutes between Jenny and Ken. If I didn't get a word or find the lesson interesting, I won't skip the explanation and check the PDF file on the screen of my computer. Max: 15 min

With the Intermediate and Upper Intermediate lessons, I listen to the dialogue 2 or 3 times until I get everything I can understand with my short vocabulary. I read the dialogue on the PDF file, read the vocabulary list and "surf" the Pleco a little bit around the words and characters, listen and read the dialogue at the same time, listen to the explanations with the PDF file in front of me, listen to the dialogue without the PDF, listen to the end part. I specially like this last part when Jenny and John speak in chinese about their personal experience or related subject. For me, it's like a reward that marks the end of a lesson. 30-40 min

With the Advanced and Media lessons, I first check the vocabulary list, read the dialogue of the advanced lesson and only then listen to the lesson. If I'm not in the right mood, don't understand anything or don't like the subject I just skip the lesson and only listen to the 3 last minutes. 10-60 min

2. Second part of the daily studies, I listen to some recent lessons I keep in my mp3 player (entire lesson or only the dialogue). Occasionaly I also re-read the dialogue and the vocabulary. 10-30 min

Sorry, I don't use flash cards anymore as I'm easy bored with repetitive tasks.

3. Third part of the daily studies, I check some older lessons (mostly UI and Adv) brought or discussed by some poddies in the community section. 10-40 min

In my opinion, the Cpod team should develop this last aspect and try to bring a related lesson as an answer for each subject that pops up in the community section.

Also, like Gesang, I notice that my chinese vocabulary is now strongly linked to my english vocabulary. Navigate between chinese and english could sometime be quicker and easier than navigate between chinese and french.

Every day I try to do 1 or 2 lessons on average. I have been using the site for about a year, worked myself through little over 400 lessons. To be honest: I follow the exact order of the lessons / tabs more or less. In the morning I get up and do a lot of things at the same time: have my coffee, check mail, watch news, check my website, etc. and also check out new comments and lessons on Cpod. It is a “good” day if it is a PwP. to Upp. Int. day and “bad” one if the Media or Advanced lesson comes out ;-). When the new lesson arrives (from PwP to Upp. Int) I do the following:
- Download files
- Check comments
- Read dialogue
- Listen to dialogue
- Read expansion
- Do exercises
If necessary I repeat it and / or listen to review and sometimes in the evening also do another lesson. If there is something “special” going on in my life or an event that triggered my interest: I look up the lesson that “fits” (then it sticks better in my head). For instance, tomorrow I go to Hong Kong and do the Hungry Traveler about Hong Kong and Horse Racing lesson (if there were more lessons on that topic I’d try to do more).
I find the community really valuable (and amusing) and like to read all the comments (even if I strongly disagree ;-) ), but do not really actively participate, unless it really something familiar, interesting, “shocking” etc. Often there are very interesting links posted in the comments so I regularly check them or go back later. When I travel I prepare a lesson pack and try to listen to these as much as I can and later catch up with the exercises etc. Next time I am in the train to Sh. no more PwP's though, it was so relaxing that I fell asleep after 10 mins. haha.

This isn't true for me Ken.

I follow the tabs: Lesson, Fix (Review) then Dialogue. The Fix takes me gives me a break from the Dialogue which I've heard 4-6 times in the Lesson. Having that gap, understanding the words even more now through new context in the Fix, I'm ready to refresh myself of the dialogue by means of the dialogue audio. I follow Dialogue to Exercises tab in order except for the Discussions tab, I look at this last.

Only when I've completed all tabs and understand the lesson/subject with all the available information in the tabs, can I honestly discuss, ask questions or answer question myself in the discussions section.

I Tweet new dialogue, though I don't link it to the Activity section. I'm still experimenting with this. Posted my first Activity Tweet last night

Again, hope this is useful Ken

These are really helpful insights. Henning makes the point that people approach the lessons in the way they are laid out on the page - starting from the audio, across the tabs, to the audio review, and so on. Is this generally true?

Where does community activity come into it? At what point do you go to the lesson discussions?

Any further insights?

Hi Ken

I have just joined as a member of CPOD. Currently I am downloading all of the lessons and reviews and listening to them on the way to and from work. I review the dialogue on-line and save relevant words to the vocab review. I have just been concentrating on the pinyin, but quickly starting to realize that I should be focussing on the Hanzi as well.

I need to learn a few of these higher tech functions so I can review on the fly, or while chilling with a coffee somewhere.

I am really motivated by the website. I will be in Shanghai for 6 weeks working this summer volunteering my time at one of the hospitals. I am really hoping to be able to converse a little while I am there. Who knows maybe I will pop into the studio?

Best regards

Jieshan

I had a basic account twice in the past, and just started re-listening to the newbie lessons in the last week. While I remember a lot of what I'd learned a year ago, I'm still going over the lessons as if I haven't heard them before, because it takes the mindset and repetition to get them really ingrained in my brain.  Today I upgraded my account to Premium.

That being said, I've found that I do my best studying while I'm driving.  For whatever reason, hearing/speaking the lessons while driving seems to cement the lessons in a way that no other method seems to, for me.  (I'm a musician/vocalist who has difficulty memorizing lyrics, and I found that I best learned lyrics when listening while driving, as well.)

So as I'm driving to work - about a 30-40 minute drive - I go over the previous lesson and move on to the next one. I drive by myself so I can talk out loud without feeling self-conscious about other folks hearing me, which is a big plus.  Listening to the lessons on the way to work has another added benefit: it wakes up my brain and gets me ready for work!  I've already had my coffee by then, but I work as an operator at an answering service and spend my workdays accessing huge amounts of information to impart to clients, and the learning/listening of the lessons in the car puts me a long way toward getting ready for my workday, as well.

On my way home from work I do the same thing - listen to the lesson that was new to me that day and listen to the next new one as well, but without worrying about remembering much about the new one.

When I get home and sometime before going to bed, I go over the dialogue PDFs for both past lessons and today's lessons.

Having a premium subscription is new to me, but I'm sure I'll find ways to integrate my new resources into my learning schedule.  But I know that my listening habits will most likely follow the pattern I already have.

(I read up above something about Ken and music for learning, and I'm *very* interesting in finding those resources, for sure...)

Hi Ken,

I dont really have any habits using CPod.

One of the key benefits of this page...it's in the slogan... "chinese on your terms".

I use CPod for about 1 year now...and it adapted to my changing routine duties!

There where times I studied every night and all weekend... listening, reading, exercises...and if not actually studying I hung around in the community section...and of course this was a time I made great progress!

Then there are times I only listen to my lesson-feed on my iPod...(there is almost no space for music left on it and there are lessons I listened to over 25 times! ... start to remember much of the "chunks of language" you like to mention when I study like this! :-)). I use to check characters of new words on the display then and add them to my Pleco-flashcards...  

..and then there are times in between... listen to podcasts during work or in train, go to a lesson on the homepage after work sometimes for review, exercises and expansion (which is a my favorite part of the lesson pages!), hang around in the community section and read some interesting or funny posts...

I learn something in any case...and in any case I do learn so much from this page!!! I am really happy I found CPod!

And it is like goulnik says above...I also practice my english. When my chinese teacher askes me to translate something from Chinese to German I recognized that sometimes i am faster with the english phrases because most of my study material (Cpod, Pleco, MDBG, HSK exercise book) is Chinese-English. Of course I do know the German translation if I am able to translate into English,  but Chinese seems to be closer connected to my English vocab-part of the brain ;-)!  (this is maybe off topic here, but might be interesting for you as a language teacher as well :-)).

Keep up your great work! 

Thanks to you and everybody of Cpod staff!

a fan ;-)

first off, hats of to henning and goulnik

the grammar points thread, news and character points really really kickass

last semester, i had a 5 day schedule mon to fri, a hour or so every morning

one (the older ones) UL lesson thoroughly studied in 4+1/2 days

Monday, get my preprinted vocabulary sheet

and mark the characters in my dictionary while writing down other common words that have the same character

Tuesday, more of the same

Wedesnday, try to read the printed off dialogue cold(l liked it better when there was no english)

then listen to the podcast twice

then read the discussion

Thursday, do the fix, study the expansion and do the exercises

Friday, review all vocabulary using the flashcard manager

The weekend was more playtime with some QW,MM etc

This semester, i'm more into writing using

William McNaughtons Reading and Writing(i seriously recommend this book)

and also use this book to analyse my wordbank of flashcards on chinesepod

i also use popupchinese to do some beginner and elementary HSK exercises, from which i save new vocabulary onto my chinesepod flashcards

i've actually dropped down from UL to listening to intermediate podcasts as i find the vocabulary more relevant to daily situations living in china

Ken,

Not all of us have English as our mother tongue, so to a certain degree, there is parallel albeit staggered learning process taking place. Depending on the gap, this can either speed things up or slow them down, but it's got to have an impact on the daily routine.

11am - measure stomatal conductance, listen to 1podcast,

12.30-2.30 - extracting sap and measuring sap pH - listen to three podcasts.

4pm - measure cholorophyll flourescence

5pm - go ver PDFs of lessons...

6pm, msn my chinese friends with random chinese phrases i have learnt that day....

morning commute (1 hour) - ipod lessons and review

Lunch hour- ipod mp3 expansion sentences from WLCP and print out during walk. Sometimes grammar book study instead.

evening commute (1hour+) ipod lessons and review most days. Sometimes skip.

after dinner - 2 hours computer study of lessons.

Sat and Sun - 3 hours computer study of flash cards and grammar books, whatever I feel like.

Did have tutor for once a week expansion sentence review (pronounciation). Looking for new tutor.

When in China - dont study. Some practice.

progress- painfully slow.

Interruptions - legion. 

schedule change ups - allowed.

jckeith

with regard to learning language, or more accurately language aquisition, it's a lifelong process, and a process that has no endpoint.

i'm a native english speaker, but i don't profess to know all that there is to learn about the english language, far from it in fact.

没想到跟我太太聊天！;)

Wow, even John still studies Chinese. That's encouraging (or is it discouraging?)! Here's my routine:

• I pick out 2 elementary, 2 intermediate, and 2 qing wen per week to study.
• I listen to each one, along with its respective audio review, every day at work, and look over the pdf dialogue every once in a while.
• Once I feel comfortable with a lesson, I add it's vocab and a few related sentences into Anki.
• Then I look at the lesson's expansion page and read each sentence (first I read the English and try to guess how it's composed in Chinese; then I check the Chinese).
• I also try to fire up an upper intermediate lesson every once in a while, and listen to it once without the pdf and then once with it just to provide listening practice and make myself feel like a complete newbie :)
• I use Anki every day to study vocab and get some speaking practice.
• Try to speak with the wife as much as possible, but my Chinese is very sad, and her English is perfect...
• Lather, rinse, repeat.

I'm using a book (Remembering the Hanzi) to learn Hanzi. I also try to listen to one unit of the Pimsleur Learning Mandarin series of audiobooks every night.

I'm not good about doing most things on a daily routine, but I try to use Anki every day to review new vocabulary.

...and of course I talk to my wife in Chinese every day. :)

My CPod habits are to listen to the podcasts as they come out.  I listen to them while commuting.  Once going to work and once again on my way home.  I'll also go over the transcripts at some point during the day.

My other Chinese lessons are textbook based.  Often vocab with a CPod lesson and my textbook overlap, so it's all good listening practice.

Except for my commute, where I am alone, trying to listen to the podcasts while doing something else isn't too useful.  I need dedicated study time in order to concentrate on the lessons.  This applies equally to CPod as it does other types of lessons.

Ken

I am a early subscriber. I down load the lessons after supper (EDT,USA) and study them. I understand Newie to Upper Intermediate, QW and Poem with Pete.

On the weekly basis, I use these lessons for a two hour one to one sesson with a college mandarin teacher who corrects my pronouciation and help me to converse.

Your lessons are excellent and covered many areas that other web sites do not--This is your competitive strength.

Jenny zhu is also an asset to you as well

I think I'm similar; I need a quantifiable thing I have the discipline to do every day, and things I can do when I feel like it.

But cpod is the latter for me. There's a matchless range of incredibly well-presented material on here, and I find the podcasts fun and interesting. But it demands little in terms of the range of activity, compared with working through a book. The exercises are very uniform, and so bluff-able once you get used to them. It's almost too convenient..

您好Ken老师,

This is an interesting question...we all have our own methods that evolve with within the constraints of our lives...

Learning chinese for me has become a part of my daily lifestyle...Similar to practicing my faith and excercising. It makes me feel good mentally which in turn makes me feel good physically. But let me get back to the question at hand..

I try and spend about an hour a day "learning" chinese. I spend that hour reviewing my current cpod lesson, reading and speaking. A big part of this revolves around Cpod. I consider cpod the "sun" or "hub" of my learning. I would have have to say that i am organized about it. This way i can track my progress and see how far I've come. It starts with finding a particular lesson of interest. I print it out and make flash cards. I study it and ask questions about it on the boards. I carrry it around with me and practice it when i get a chance. In addition to that, the audio file gets downloaded to my IPOD. A newbie lesson might only take a few days to a week. An intermediate takes me a couple weeks. When i feel that i have learned it sufficiently, it gets numbered, hole punched and filed into my master hardcopy notebook. Also, I type it onto a master electronic word doc on my desktop. I will then review this stuff from time to time to make sure i dont forget it! I am currently on lesson #26.

Again, Cpod is my "Hub". It is the organized part of my learning. Now, from my hub there are unorganized spontaneous spokes that branch out. This is the supplemental stuff that i do to help mix up my learning such as listening to chinese music, listening to other cpod stuff like poems with pete while cleaning or working, keeping a chinese journal (when i learn new things, I quickly jot them down), spending time in my local chinese bookstore, chatting with chinese friends on skype, and practicing character writing.

Not sure if that all makes sense but i figured i would give my two cents.

cheers man

-Adam

I don't have a mobile internet device, but I dowload the audio and video to my MP3 player so I can learn on the go.

By the way, Ken: I would really like to see much more learning using songs/music.

Video showing mouth movements would be good for pronunciation. (For example, just watch a chinese person's mouth shape when they say 'hungry' - 'e'(4th tone). How un-English is that mouth shape? And also 'fish;' 'yu' (2nd tone), talk about pucker up!

Have you thought about karaoke lyrics, (pinyin or chars) on top of music videos? I have a DVD track of a cheesy Taiwan-Pop track, but I learned loads of vocab from it.

Great work though. Cpod rocks.

I stick to the newbie lessons and plan to move up to the elementary level when I can comfortably absorb newbie lessons quickly.

I listen to the podcast online and do the dialog and vocab that goes with it. I used to try and do the exercises, but the Chinese characters are too small for me to always make out clearly and it was hampering my ability to really absorb the meaning, so instead, I found a book called The First 100 Chinese Characters and I'm working thru that book. The characters are large enough for me to take in the detail and have the added advantage of explaining how to write each of the characters and also gives examples of how those characters are used and combined with other characters for new meanings.

Another thing I do, is listen to audio CDs in my car. They are put out by someone else who speaks mandarin with a slightly different accent. I think this is very useful in understanding.

Here and there, I also try to view some youtube videos by just everyday people doing their everyday things and seeing how much mandrin I can pick up. Again, it's hearing words spoken slightly differently and still being able to recognize and understand them.

I'm on the basic and a newby, but my study structure is not so different too. I use the 'dialogue only' as a revew - can I understand it? If not back to the podcast and printed sheet. I need to both see and hear to start with or I can't make a lesson 'stick'. I also pull new characters out from my Tuttle flash cards - used when I have spare moments in an enviroment where electronic gear needs limiting - so good old cardbord! Good for the train too. I'm slow but advancing.

Isn't it interesting how (despite all slight differences) most of us are basically following the structure that comes with lesson publication schedule and the lesson page layout: 1. listening to the newest Podcast, 2. going through the tabs, 3. repeating with the AudioReview. There are so many possibilities on the sidelines (cf. goulnik's approach), additional tools, we got considerable degrees of freedom. But yet we have this invisible but strong force field dragging us into those same old tracks. They feel like the daily duty, a homework, an obligation. 

And isn't that a powerful lever for fleshing out the learning? Add exercises and tabs onto the lesson page for grammar and writing so we feel that nagging conscience to cover those parts of the language also!

Ken,

I decided to turn my response into a blog post. I've included a summary below but you can find my full response over on my blog.

• First thing in the morning I listen to a ChinesePod (Elementary) lesson whilst eating breakfast. If there is time I will try and run through the dialogue (without English) on the site.
• When I arrive at work, I save all the lesson vocabulary to my ChinesePod vocab manager, a step in my routine that has stuck for no particular reason other than that I have always done this. I don’t use ChinesePod for vocab management.
• I then run through the expansion sentences and exercises. I try and work out the expansion sentences from Hanzi alone. If I get stuck I listen to the audio, and if I still can’t understand, I mouse over the individual characters.
• Once I have completed the exercises I mark the lesson as studied and get on with clearing out my inbox.

First I'd like to say that Chinesepod is great. Learning Chinese for me is not something that I naturally enjoy, I'm a scientist not a linguist but you guys make it bearable and sometimes the lessons are laugh out loud funny.

I get my lessons from Vera (guided programme elementary/intermediate level) and I try to do at least an hour 4 days a week. I sit down and listen to the lesson (I try to do it without the transcript first) then I'll look at the transcript so that I can follow the lesson better. So once I've listened to the whole lesson (maybe rewinding a few times) I'll write out all the vocab in an exercise book and then go through all the expansions and write out the ones that come up on the audio review. Then I'll do the exercises. I'll also select the vocab so that I can use the flashcards later. In total that will generally take the best part of an hour.

I download all the audio reviews from the set of lessons Vera gives me onto my iPod and when I'm walking around e.g. to the shops or something then I'll listen to the audio reviews from a playlist. If it is a lesson I've covered then I'll try to say the vocab or sentences using the vocab but if it is a lesson that I haven't yet covered I'll generally just listen or guess the vocab. Because the audio reviews are quite short I can get through about 8 on a trip to the shops and back so I end up listening to them 5-10 times over the course of a month. I sometimes listen to them in order and sometimes shuffle them. I'd say that the audio reviews are one of the most important things for helping me because I feel that learning the vocab and using the words in context is crucial.

If, and it's a big if, I have any extra time then I'll do flashcards with the new vocab especially using the Hanzi and audio flashcards from Chinese to English because my reading and listening skills are bad.

In addition, I get 2 x 1 hour lessons a week using a normal textbook but it is quite informal. Also, I live in China so I get practice with routine things like shopping and speaking to our ayi.

Thank you Cpod for all your hard work.

I've become less concientious with c.pod. I used to use all the features, and I'm glad, because it did a lot to support my literacy. But now I've found some book-based reading and writing stuff which works for me. Also, my tingli has improved since I've been here, so I get more out of the podcasts themselves. So nowadays I just listen, on car journeys etc.

I also listen to all channels bar Newbie. I reckon your ability to pick out words that you do know is independent of the size of your vocabulary, so I listen to Advanced and Media lessons for the Jabberwocky effect. And with elementarylessons the 'weight' of so much familiar context means the new stuff sticks really well.

These days, my CPod time is almost entirely taken up by lesson preparation - I'm coming up to the end of a 1-year practice stint, which has been good fun and tremendously helpful (thanks Vera), but extremely demanding.

I still publish in the News group but only occasionaly, sometimes Character Points, and rarely Cancer Stories as I guess is now obvious.

When this comes to an end, I'll probably go on to a new routine, but for now, with 2 advanced lessons a week in 4 conversation sessions -one is a review-, it's mostly vocabulary preparation. The session is in the morning my time, I do prepare ahead of time, but do get up early for the bulk of the work.

Concretly, we did Emotional Intelligence this morning (EQ, lesson 1008). What I do is collect all content (dialogue, vocab, expansion, comments, my own take on related / relevant terms or anything I may think of as discussion material).

I put them into boxes, lookup the definitions (in Chinese, recursively adding the vocab from those definitions) and get my script to nicely render so I can better learn. As an example, I uploaded the resulting EQ categories (you'll notice a few wrongly placed, and key vocab in bold) and EQ definitions... quite a bit of work, twice a week. That's ok, you can call me crazy!

And in the car back from work, I listen to podcasts from another source, all in Chinese, with no reading preparation, just for oral understanding (or not).

hi ken

i'm a scatterbrain so i don't follow any particular routine.  the abundance of lessons (at all levels) provides me a reference source for specific topics which i find useful.  I listen to most new lessons from UI above and scroll 请问, and of course i read pete's poems. i find the community section very helpful at times. i mostly access the site in my spare time at work.

i'm a tech quamby so I don't understand anything about platforms streams and plecos, its all battlestar gallactica to me.

i guess if i were not living in china i would use the site more studiously, and perhaps would buy an ipod and learn how to use it.

cheers for your interest ken.

btw, i took a look at epod and have begun recommending it to my students. the ele level at epod is about the equivalent of my advanced students here who are fed the line 四十五天突破英语听说！it's a cutthroat business.

I got a draft for the perfect schedule right by my side in the drawer. I will start learning according to it...soon. ;)

Meanwhile I follow my old course. This involves (levels Ele-Advanced):

• Listening to the podcast (usally on the way to work)
• Ele. + Interm. + UI: Relisten and copying relevant Language Points (which later appear in the "Grammar Points" thread)
• Going through the dialogue line by line (at lower levels: Including some sketchy writing)
  
• Listening through the dialogue again
  
• Going through the expansion (a lot more learning impact since the day we could switch the English on and off)
• Exercises (when not in the train)
  
• Advanced and some UI: Listening to the podcast again
• Going to another place for a short dose of more intense Grammar practice
• When there is time left: Go to Skritter for a while (this usually happens at the weekends)
  

I also try to catch up with Goulnik's news, but more irregularly. Recently, there have been several days each week without any Chinese due to work pressures. This condenses the schedule a bit.

I also feel that my motivation is degrading slowly, so I definately need to go to China again (July-August).

Hi Ken

My recent schedule for learning 5 lesons per week:

I begin a lesson at the night time. Having pre-printed the PDFs from all lessons given by my tutor Vera (Guided Plan), I copy and write out on paper the dialogue in pinyin.

First thing the next day with my coffee I go through all the five elements of the day's lesson, fix, exercises etc on my laptop. I download all the audio into my mp3 player, and put all new words (Hanzi) into the FullRecall flash card feature on my mobile, all for occasional review during the day.

Before I move on to the next day's lesson, I'll write out the lesson several times on paper, this time with Hanzi.

A most enjoyable part is my final review on Thursday. This is my weekly ritual of reviewing the week's lessons at the local Starbucks. I take along my note pad and pen, Windows mobile with 3G mobile internet, and use whatever tools necessary to complete the weeks lessons to satisfaction. Friday morning 7am (GMT) I enjoy my weekly review via Skype with Vera, altohugh I have a new tutor as of this week.

I store all Dialogues and Fixes of lessons I've completed on my Mobile (Samsung's Omnia i900) to review at random, usually during shopping, paying bills etc.

Hope this helps - thanks Ken

I have more like a weekly routine that I use to process all the lessons for a week.  The processing is somewhat dependent on the lesson level.  I've also been catching up on the old advanced lessons.

newbie, elementary - check for any new vocabulary or cultural insight

intermediate, upper intermediate - learn by sound mostly, copy the hanzi for the intermediate by hand, edit the dialogs for a repeat-after-each phrase kind of study while I commute.

Advanced - study the transcript until I can follow word by word

Media, qingwen, poems with Pete - listen to it to see if I can get something out of it.

The excercises and expansion sentences arre really cool, when I have some "extra" time.

Yes, it very much brings the learning to me.  I have a schedule that wouldn't allow for any kind of traditional class.