The use of the monolingual method for language learning, i.e. using Chinese to explain Chinese via paraphrasing, periphrasis and a metalinguistic toolkit, is highly effective and conforms to recent discoveries in the science of language acquisition. The material is clearly and insightfully targeted toward learners at least inasmuch as grammatical and lexical structures are deployed pedagogically. In this respect, the explanations and discussions that precede and follow the dialogues are actually the richest material and it would be immensely helpful to have transcripts for those. Even for advanced learners like myself (professional linguistics fieldworker in rural China) it is occasionally tough to reconstruct some utterances in allegro tempo.
However, every other podcast presents a highly stereotypised and infantilised view of "China" or "Chinese culture" vs "the West" or "the world" which is highly disappointing and scientifically baseless. In the case of this particular podcast, the speakers keep equating 国外 with the arbitrary idiosyncrasies of the United States and Northwestern Europe. Most of the world, and certainly a huge proportion of Chinese learners, does not behave like or care for the stereotypes that you keep presenting as a baseline point of reference. It would be good to get some perspectives from people from places like Indonesia, Spain, Brazil, India, Japan, Egypt or Nigeria to decolonise and de-infantilise your cultural perspectives.
Posted on: 中国的职场文化
December 7, 2021 at 7:33 AMHello，
I have some methodological comments.
The use of the monolingual method for language learning, i.e. using Chinese to explain Chinese via paraphrasing, periphrasis and a metalinguistic toolkit, is highly effective and conforms to recent discoveries in the science of language acquisition. The material is clearly and insightfully targeted toward learners at least inasmuch as grammatical and lexical structures are deployed pedagogically. In this respect, the explanations and discussions that precede and follow the dialogues are actually the richest material and it would be immensely helpful to have transcripts for those. Even for advanced learners like myself (professional linguistics fieldworker in rural China) it is occasionally tough to reconstruct some utterances in allegro tempo.
However, every other podcast presents a highly stereotypised and infantilised view of "China" or "Chinese culture" vs "the West" or "the world" which is highly disappointing and scientifically baseless. In the case of this particular podcast, the speakers keep equating 国外 with the arbitrary idiosyncrasies of the United States and Northwestern Europe. Most of the world, and certainly a huge proportion of Chinese learners, does not behave like or care for the stereotypes that you keep presenting as a baseline point of reference. It would be good to get some perspectives from people from places like Indonesia, Spain, Brazil, India, Japan, Egypt or Nigeria to decolonise and de-infantilise your cultural perspectives.
Keep up the good work!