Newbies - I want to talk to you

Hello Ken,

I'm not a newbie either, but when I was I would have liked a more progressive approach to grammar. I'd still like to see this at Intermediate level too. As it is I have to look elsewhere for my grammar. I've found that constant exposure to even simple sentences in order to absorb patterns etc is not as effective as learning rules of grammar when I want to say what I mean in Chinese. 'Qing Wen' goes part-way to helping, but it is not very 'in depth', and i'd like to see more emphasis on grammar and structure in the lessons themselves.

I left Chinesepod for a year or so in order to give myself a more solid basis in grammar. It would be great to be able to use Chinesepod exclusively rather than treat it as just one resource amongst several, which is the way it is for me at present.

Mr Brick.

Ken, I'm a bit past newbie myself but I'm happy to help. I've got a very different learning pattern than most: I don't live in China, don't have a Chinese spouse, don't chat in Chinese at work much. CPod has constituted the majority of my language education.

I agree 100% with thecomakid's scaffolding approach.  I also would like to see a gradual, systematic build-up from a simple sentence to a much more complex sentence. 

Hey Ken,

Just wanted to let you know that a lot of the new features (Skritter writing practice, randomised exercises, more example sentences in audio reviews) are really positive changes and definitely improve the quality of the lessons.

Could I suggest that in the vocabulary sections of lessons you can launch the flashcard and memory games specific to that lesson as it would save the hassle of importing it into the user vocabulary list and tagging the lesson vocab with something specific in order just to practice those particular words. 

My main gripe, if it can be called that, is the audio review section. The first part, where you're tested on memorising key vocab is great. The second part of the audio review is only partly useful. It does give you examples of key words in different contexts (and like I said, the more recent lessons have been giving multiple examples of key words in different contexts, which is great) but they really only tests the listener on their ability to memorise the example sentences from the expansion section of the lesson, not thier ability to create new sentences using the words that they've learned from the lesson. 

I think it's a missed opportunity not to give the listener the opportunity to create extended sentences praticising with the vocab and structures from the lessons. For example, using vocab from the where is the super market? lesson you could get listeners to move gradually from short sentences to longer ones.

How do you say:

• the supermarket is not far
• the super market is not far, it's near.
• the super market is not far, it's near, it's up ahead.
• the supermarket is not far, it's near it's up ahead. it's a five minute walk.

I think this scaffolded way of progressing from short phrases to longer ones might help listeners to move up through the levels.

Personally I find there's a bit of a leap between elementary and intermediate lessons. I don't think I'm alone in that. Newbie lessons use short, simple sentences, elementary a little bit longer but as soon as you hit intermediate the texts are substantially longer with little repetition. I reckon giving the listener a bit more of a chance to start using longer sentences at elementary level might help poddies like myself get over the hump to intermediate.

Anyway, all of the above is just my two penneth and is not meant to detract in anyway from the fantastic job CPod are doing. The lessons are varied and interesting, the presenters enthusiastic and the quality of the product is top notch.

Keep it up, and thanks.

@mudphud Haha, that's fantastic! I hope you'll not be feeding your children 醉虾, though, however amused they were by the lesson?!

Again, thanks for the feedback. It's interesting to learn your technique of reviewing the lessons, too.

And I would add that I consider those to be minor quibbles. The discussion threads are perhaps a weak spot, but there is so much positive. I was playing the "Drunken shrimp" dialog to my wife (who knows ni hao and zaijian) and my kids listened in, too. They were all laughing at the scream at the end! Even though, they didn't know the language, their curiosity was most definitely piqued! The quantity in each lesson is pretty much perfect for a 30-60 minute study that can be reviewed throughout the day (which is a good way to learn the lessons: do one early in the morning and then review throughout the day). The topics are fun and inviting. We have an exchange student from Taiwan this year. She expresses surprise when I make a comment like, “神经病" (shénjīngbìng). You just don't learn how to call someone "mental" in one of your standard intro language books.

And I would definitely not mind a call from the one and only Kai-yen.

Mudphud, thanks for your suggestions. They are actually very much in line with the team's goal and approach; to keep lesson discussions relevant, collaborative and wholly positive, diverting everything else out to the general discussion boards.

Hopefully this will be achieved more fully in the coming months.

A couple of newbie gripes is about the discussion threads:

First off, a gripe about the gripes. I remember someone writing a comment complaining about how much Ken said "now". What?, I thought. Who cares? I certainly hadn't noticed it (and haven't noticed it after the remark). One wants to simply delete non-productive, non-constructive flames. But this would be bad customer service I guess. What one could do is gently move the comment to the complaint (or flame) thread and let them vent. One could respond politely. But it would get these inane comments out of the instruction thread.

And then there are the usual suspects that write paragraph remarks, entirely in Chinese, no pinyin, no English. Could we move these to an appropriate thread and give them a gentle reminder? I remember one commenter on a Newbie thread who started off. "When I was working as a translator..." Please.Why are these people even listening to Newbie lessons? I try to ask questions that others might want to know the answer to. I would much prefer the answers coming from C-pod staff.

I personally think that the C-pod rocks and tell my friends who tell their friends...

Hello(ni hao) everyone(da jia).

I 'm a chinese.

I (wo) 'm (shi) a(yi ming)  chinese(Zhong guo ren) .(wo shi yiming Zhongguoren ).

I(wo) want to(xiang) chat(liao tian) with(he) you(ni men).(wo xiang he nimen liaotian).

if everyone need me help, please contact me.  i am improving my english verbal level. Hope we help each other.  i live in Dalian ,in China.

my email: chenhongwei.kidd@gmail.com  or  chenhongwei.kidd@163.com

msn: chenhongwei.kidd@gmail.com    or chenhongwei.kidd@163.com

Subscribed about 1 year ago when I started making trips to China. I was just on the basic plan so I did not have any access to the tools.

A few months back I upgraded and have since moved to China.

I think that the biggest weakness is that there is no real explanation for sentence structure (maybe I am just missing something). The Grammar is somewhat difficult for me to grasp. I think that it is implied in the lessons but not really discussed. The more that I try to speak to people here in China the more I realize that I need stronger grammar skills.

Also, it would be great if there was some canned sets of flash cards with just single characters for the iphone app. I have tried adding words from the lessons but have not come up with a list that is extremely useful. Also have noticed that the shuffle function does not work so I am not sure if I am just able to recognize a pattern or if I truly remember the word (first card shuffles but the rest are in the same order). I have tried Rosetta stone and found this to be the case, I could pretty well click my way through the thing blindly after a listening a few times.

My personal opinion on the translations in the PDF files are that they are way too liberal. Just my opinion though.

Not meaning to complain, I actually love ChinesePod and have found it to be one of the best tools out there.

Keep up the good work!

Mike

I would be honored to assist Ken. It would be the least I could do to give a little payback for your great service.

I am an English teacher currently residing in Cambodia, but making my way up to China in the long-term. I am also quite well-read in various aspects of linguistics and have dabbled in ~ 5 different languages (to different degrees).

Feel free to email me at : misterlinguistix@gmail.com to set up further dialogue.

Ken,

I am a newbie, learning Chinese in the United States. I would be more than happy to talk with you, if you want, sent me a Chinesepod email and I will get you the specifics of my Skype info.

George

i was addicted to chinese pod from the first listen.  now having joined the website, i am surprised to find that the 'stars' of the pod casts are so actively involved with the listening community...way to go guys!  thanks ken for the thread.

k

One of the obervations I made in the beginning was that I sometimes found the expansion sentences more confusing than helping. I think it would help if the expansion sentences would be more uniform so that it's easier to pick up the patterns.

Hi Ken

I'm absolutely new to chinesePod, and my first impression is good. I like listening to your newbie lessons which are straightforward, easy and have a different approach compared to my textbook. I have studied mandarin before for ten weeks when I was studying abroad in Taipei, so my skills are currently above the newbie lessons i'm listening to.

I'm no longer in Taipei, so a reason i'm listening is to have the pronounciation input, which i know from first hand is important, otherwise locals don't understand a word of what you're saying.

Another reason is to keep myself practising everyday, and your pods come in handy since they are so easy to listen to.

I will agree with other people that the newbie section can be difficult to know where to begin. I myself have used my textbook to find pods that cover the same area.

Secondly, your newbie pods doesnt cover any grammatics. (Maybe, it comes at a higher level)

So to sum up

- lack of order

- no grammatics

+ pronounciation is very good to listen to

+ lesson are short and to the point

You can always contact me if you have some questions.

P.S. It bugs me that even though my settings are set for traditional chinese, when i use the flashcard function and concentration game i get simplified characters. If anyone knows where to change that please write me.

再見

baba

right on all counts

jealousy,

I suspect mikeinewshot was being facetious...I think he may be a tad jealous himself [of your username].

The name Jealousy is a song from X Japan that is called "Silent Jealousy"

X Japan is a Japannese band,if you want to know more click herehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Japan

fine to talk - call or email.  i split my time between the San Francisco and Shanghai.  So "overseas" is all relative. 

Observations as a newbie:

- where to start wasn't immediately clear

- organization of lessons sets wasn't obvious to me

- explictly defined tags could help with

- i think it would be helpful to have more on lessons on writing, but i know that is just me

maybe all that was here, but i just didn't notice

ni hao! im new, and im having problems to set an order in the lessons, well, i have been practice since last year, but im still a newbie, where shuld i star? lessons like whats your name are easy to me? please helm me to get an order!! i wiil be happy to talk!

jealousy - where did you get such an extraordinary name?

Nice to meet you.

My name is Jealousy.I come from China and I am a student.I may feel happy that if anyone can talk to me,we can learn each other!^0^

My MSN:xkurenai@hotmail.com

yeah, I'd be glad to talk with you about my impressions of ChinesePod

I'm probably not a newbie now; but just thought I would mention something about my experience with CP when I actually was one and tried listening to a couple random newbie lessons.

Honestly I was not impressed at the time at all -- luckily for me after a year or so I tried Intermediate and was instantly hooked -- the quality is really quite amazing there: the hosts are doing a wonderful job, and it is obvious that a great deal of work is done behind the scene.

As I recall the big issue I had with newbie lessons was that there was *way* too much English there for my liking -- perhaps they were oriented more towards a person who would sometimes listen to different English language podcasts as entertainment and would not mind trying another one and learning a couple Chinese words along the way. Which might well be a reasonable marketing decision given that many people probably get it from itunes; but it did not feel like a lesson to me at all, and I was feeling I was just wasting my time. Going to the next level was not possible either b/o I could not understand the hosts chatting -- I was a newbie and I had no other exposure to Chinese.

I think I would have probably preferred longer Chinese dialogue -- sort of like how an Intermediate lesson is done, but with simpler content, English explanations (either short & to the point or more technical on the grammar), and much more repetition (and with the Chinese host generally talking more). Something that one could actually listen to four or five times. Perhaps a more "intensive" newbie line could be of use to some potential listeners?

I meant that in response to Ken, but re-reading that it seems like a sincere response to amandamo.

Nice to meet you！My name is Neil and i come from Scotland. I am a university student~~~

i also can tell you many about Newbie.

pm me if you agree to skype friendship

呵呵！Nice to meet you！My name is Amanda and i come from china.I am a university student。

     now i really want to improve my English and make friend with you !And i also can tell you many about china!If you agree with my idea you can call me !   QQ：297763904

be happy to talk.  I have started at the Newbie level and I am finding the experience good so far.   I have just started however.

Yup yup.. happy for you to probe me any time you like Ken. If you want to call me on skype let me know. I'm a little beyond Newbie now but still in the very early stages of learning this language.