User Comments - ElijahW

Posted on: Venice flooding 洪水猛兽--威尼斯水灾

辛苦了Elsha！你最近需要考虑的事情真不少。

Posted on: 小太监进宫四

我和辅导老师决定了：我的作业就是我下次去在中国的饭店点一下一碗龙凤保胎汤，看服务员有什么反应！

Posted on: Online Shopping 网上购物

When I study the Shanghai-written dialogues with my tutors, so many times they laugh and giggle and say something like, “Wow, this is so different from all other materials. This is EXACTLY how we really talk about these things! Where do you find such great dialogues?”

I actually had a situation when I told my teacher that these dialogues had come from ChinesePod, and she said something like, "ChinesePod? 不会吧！ChinesePod很无聊，我有另外一个学生让我教他ChinesePod。没意思。怎么跟你学的这么不一样呢？" Talking further, we found that she was talking about the Fiona lessons. (Sorry Fiona fans! Nothing against Fiona! She's a great teacher! Really! I'm just talking about the dialogues! Please don't send me any anthrax!)

Posted on: Online Shopping 网上购物

我刚问了五六个人，他们的回答一致：还说，但是没有以前流行。

Posted on: Online Shopping 网上购物

Hi Pierremathieu,

The ChinesePod method and levels were established seveal years before the HSK levels of 1 through 6 existed (those came out around 2010), but there is a rough correspondence, since both look to the European Common Framework. The level divisions were deliberately designed for spoken Chinese only, and some of that work is publicly available at AllSet Learning’s Grammar Wiki.

The corpus was taken, not from the most commonly used characters in general, but from studies on what words are actually commonly spoken. This makes it quite different from the HSK, which has a much greater emphasis on written Chinese - loaded with words that are often printed, and rarely spoken.

Like I said, ChinesePod had its system all laid out years ago, but in 2018 there have been a lot of cooks in the kitchen, mixing up all kinds of random ingredients for any level, without the strict guidelines of previous ChinesePod generations. It has turned into a regrettably confusing and frustrating situation.

I’ve found it quite perplexing that ChinesePod is trying to re-invent the wheel, especially when there are thousands of lessons already in place that had maintained that system for a decade. Should those lessons all be eliminated in favor of a new, exam-focused system? I hope not!

Regardless of what kinds of tools and extras ChinesePod begins to offer, I’d love to see it return the Newbie through Advanced lessons to their original system and vision. In the process, it would be great for there to be further explanation on the site on how it’s supposed to work.

Added helps and tips on how to plan HSK preparation with ChinesePod would be great, too. If you go to the Playlists, you’ll find some great work has already been done to that end. If you’re preparing for the HSK, I’d skip the newest lessons and stick with those HSK playlists.

There’s lots of test prep materials out there. There’s lots of reading stuff out there. But, when it comes to helping people “Speak like a native,” the options are far more limited, and quite frankly, frequently awful. Only the old ChinesePod will tell you the exact words a Chinese couple yell at each other when they’re breaking up.

But back to the issue at hand: When comparing to the Common European Framework, I think the rough equivalents should be what I’ve written below. If you can talk like the dialogue, then you are:

• Newbie = A1
• Elementary = A2
• Intermediate = B1
• Upper Intermediate = B2
• Advanced = C1
• Media = C2

I’m happily working my way through older Advanced lessons, and they’re just right for me. I recently received “Advanced High” speaking certification from the ACTFL, which would put me at a C1 on the CEF scale.

If you’re wanting to do an HSK comparison, it gets tricky for a couple of reasons. First, Hanban claims that the HSK 1 through 6 correspond to the CEF A1 through C2. International experts disagree - and so do I. HSK tests are too easy by one level. I’ve passed the HSK 6 twice, and I’m NOT a C2; I’m a C1.

Second, for speaking, the HSK actually only has 3 levels: Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced. I easily passed the HSK Advanced speaking test back when I had just started Upper Intermediate ChinesePod lessons. But, since hardly anyone even takes the HSK speaking test, I’m not sure it even matters.

In spite of the difficulties matching level, I personally find ChinesePod to be the very best preparation for the HSK I know. It’s far more interesting than the other materials I’ve used, and I’ve found that, in learning Chinese, speaking drives the other skills. If I can master something in spoken Chinese, then I can handle listening, and learning the related reading and writing becomes far more manageable.

Posted on: Venice flooding 洪水猛兽--威尼斯水灾

我终于抽了点时间听这节课，我觉得算是今年的课程中比较好的一节，就是很不适合Upper Intermediate，应该是Media。

今年的课还是有很多缺点（包括词汇和例句录音的质量），觉得今年的问题ChinesePod应该快点解决：要么完善要么删掉，否则ChinesePod的名誉就会更有危险。

我自己还是学习2008到2014的Advanced课程。学完了，大概要试一下Fiona的Advanced。听说她和Constance讲的很好，就是课文没有以前的有意思。

Posted on: Venice flooding 洪水猛兽--威尼斯水灾

Hi Sebastianbrady,

ChinesePod is going through some transitions right now, but the older lessons are still the best, most consistent thing out there.

If you’re looking for interesting dialogues, try Upper Intermediate lessons made between 2008 and 2014. If you’re looking for skilled teacher instruction, try lessons made between 2015 and 2017. 

If you’re interested in poetry, the Poems with Pete show can’t be beat  

I’d like very much to hear what you think of these other materials. The lessons coming out this year are only a tiny piece of what’s on ChinesePod. 

Posted on: Time for Attendance

Ha, yes, I see that now. Sorry I missed that. I just never look at the English any more unless someone holds a gun to my head. Or points out a problem. Either way will work.

At the beginning of the dialogue, it’s translated as “fellow students,” but toward the end of the dialogue, it’s translated as just “student.”

Have you tried reporting the mistake? If you’re on the website, there’s a button for that.

Posted on: Chinese Drinking Culture

Hello sebastienbrady!

I felt the same way when I was in that in-between stage. I came up with a half-and-half solution that I actually really enjoyed:

First, I’d listen to an Upper Intermediate “Full Lesson,” such as Turbulence. I did it just for listening practice, and to prepare for a future day when I’d actually study the lesson. Then I’d immediately move to an Intermediate lesson, such as Godzilla in Shanghai, and go straight to the Dialogue mp3, Expansion, Exercises, and Lesson Review mp3. I wouldn’t bother listening to the Full Lesson.

I would then mark Godzilla in Shanghai “Studied,” and leave Turbulence “Bookmarked,” but not mark it studied, to save it for the future.

Maybe the next day I’d start some series, and listen to the Full Lesson for Detective Li 1: The Bath House Murder for listening practice, then really work my way into learning the dialogue and vocabulary in first episode of the Lili and ZhangLiang story.

Another option would be to find a somewhat easier Upper Intermediate series, such as JiZhou.

Posted on: Chinese Drinking Culture

That’s my understanding as well. And I actually came across a situation where there was tension between two Mainlanders over the meaning: One from the North, and one from the South. I can’t remember which is which, but it went something like this:

A：我很喜欢我们的宿舍。

B：“我们的宿舍”？！是咱们的！

Person B felt that since person A used 我们 instead of 咱们, he was trying to exclude the person he was speaking to. Person A thought it was strange for the other guy to react that way. Person A concluded that it was a North/South difference of perception on how the two words should be used.