User Comments - mikeinewshot

Posted on: Boston

reigau

We seem to be pretty in close views (and level?) here!

Thank you very much for your thanks! Yes it took a huge amount of effort.  Then I would spends 2 or 3 hours a day at it as far as I remember.

But it was not just altruistic - far from that.  It really helped me and it gave me a sense of achievement by ticking off (then) all the intermediate lessons.   Uploading the words was easy.  I did build a Chinesepod banter word database in Exel which the compendium of all the words.  I ran out of steam eventually and are now completely swamped by the number of Chinesepod lessons that I haven't studied.

Occasionally I do another lesson at UI or Advanced but I need a new impetus somehow to get my head down again.  I enjoyed the achievement then. I want to find a way to enjoy again!

Posted on: Boston

So Chinesepod:

1/ Make real subjects (eg Advanced topics) relevant and fun at lower levels.

2/ Tackle the question of how to help learners get satisfaction of knowing they are progressing, which people usually get from following a course - this is the hard one for me with the Chinespod random subject and random lesson order philosophy.

Posted on: Saved by the Gong: Music Class

user42993

In this case, I would agree with you.  Instead of getting into a subject, it is dressed up with (by now) the same old classroom situation which dilutes the subject and can be rather boring.  Actually as I commented earlier above the music content was actually factually inconsistent.

In fact, I have penned elsewhere that unfortunately, I do find many Upper Intermediates contrived.

Please don't make the mistake of thinking that I don't like Chinesepod!!

My positive suggestion is to deal with topics that you pick for advanced level but make them accessible at Upper Intermediate.

Posted on: Boston

siteng

I do agree with you.

I have always thought that when all the fun finally stops, learning a language comes down to learning thousands and thousands of words.  When I refer to fun, I mean the grammar and the original aspects of the language etc. which I find fun.

So the problem that poses itself is how to internalise thousands of words.  Now Chinese is more difficult (for me and westerners) than many languages because neither sounds of the words or the way the words are written,  have any relation to any language that we already know. (Unlike for example an English person learning French when many words are actually almost the same only with a different pronunciation).

In Chinese more than any other language (for me), I have to learn to associate a random wierd sound (ie the Chinese pronunciation) with a meaning with which it has nothing in common.  So I need help - lots and lots of it.

So for new vocabulary, we need to play with it, use it in different contexts, analyse it, repeat it, and do this again and again before it sticks and become natural and automatic.

There are good examples of where the Chinesepod team take a word / character and do just this - discuss and play with it. but sometime as you say, they just tell you the translation - now what added value is that?!

Posted on: Boston

bobt

This request has been asked for many times in the past!

Since you don't want comments from people like me, let us see whether Cpod has changed its mind over the years.

Posted on: Boston

Henning

I am hurrying to get to work, but a couple of quick comments.  This merits more thought as it is fundamental.

I certainly agree about the new Advanced series - I am not convinced.  Actually it reminds me a bit of the series with the mysterious kidnappings (Jizhou), which frankly I did not warm too.

I also agree about Upper Intermediate being harder to follow sometimes than advanced.  That is why I sometimes find advanced more enjoyable.

I feel I get depressed by the never ending sets of new vocabulary lists in Upper Intermediate, whereas at least at advanced you can listen to the girls chatting in Chinese.

So at the moment I am struggling to find the discipline and motivation to work hard at Upper Intermediate level.  On the basis that the learning should be fun, I am dabbling and I fear that my progress has slowed/stopped.

One more thought now.  I like the Advanced topics more because they are 'real' - I mean real world topics and events.  Sometimes upper intermediate topics seem to be contrived - I am not sure whether I can substantiate that but I am in a rush!

Must dash

Posted on: Boston

I found this lesson a pleasure to listen to.  Partly because I think it was a good lesson, of course partly because listening to John and Jenny is pleasant, but also because I understood just about all of it without too much effort :-)

I usually struggle to get to grips with Upper Intermediate (and even the occasional advanced), but I rarely find the upper intermediates a pleasure.  I suppose it is just so much hard work with so many words to learn.  The dialogues are long and (to be honest) sometimes boring.

(Actually one reason I dip into Advanced is that I find them more pleasurable than Upper Intermediate).

The issue for me though is whether it is more efficient for me to struggle with Upper Intermediates which challenge and sometime bore me, or with intermediates which are much more enjoyable but are less challenging.

I suppose the answer is to do both!  I remember right at the beginning of Chinesepod, Ken talked about 'Input' which should be at the 'right' level for the learner, not too much or too little for optimum learning - I am not sure which of these strategies is optimum

Posted on: 沙漠寻踪

I have had a go at picking out words from the girls' dialogue and looked them up in MDBG.  I hope they are right:

探险 tàn xiǎn to explore
寻宝 xún bǎo treasure hunt
寻找 xún zhǎo to seek / to look for
踪迹 zōng jì tracks / trail / footprint / trace / vestige
考古 kǎo gǔ archaeology
奥秘 ào mì profound / deep / a mystery
谜团 mí tuán riddle / enigma / unpredictable situation / elusive matters
反对 fǎn duì to fight against / to oppose / to be opposed to / opposition
挖 wā to dig / to excavate / to scoop out
墓 mù tomb
反映 fǎn yìng to mirror / to reflect / mirror image / reflection / fig. to report / to make known / to render / used erroneously for 反應｜反应, response or reaction
魅力 mèi lì charm / fascination / glamor / charisma
边际 biān jì limit / bound / boundary
极度 jí dù extremely
恐惧 kǒng jù fear / dread / phobia
灵魂 líng hún soul / spirit
鬼魂 guǐ hún ghost
房屋 fáng wū house / building / CL: 所, 套
人体 rén tǐ human body
恍惚 huǎng hū entranced / absent-minded / distracted
晕头 yūn tóu dizzy
托付 tuō fù entrust
岔路 chà lù fork in the road
分支 fēn zhī branch (of company, river etc) / to branch / to diverge / to ramify / to subdivide
岔口 chà kǒu junction / fork in road
躲避 duǒ bì to hide / to evade / to dodge / to take shelter / to avoid (difficulties)
贬义 biǎn yì derogatory sense / negative connotation
口气 kǒu qì tone of voice / the way one speaks / manner of expression / tone
中立 zhōng lì neutral
中亚 Zhōng Yà Central Asia
范围 fàn wéi range / scope / limit / extent / CL: 個｜个
失踪 shī zōng missing / lost / unaccounted for
悬疑 xuán yí suspense
破除 pò chú to eliminate / to do away with / to get rid of
冒险 mào xiǎn to take risks / to take chances / foray / adventure
杜撰 dù zhuàn to fabricate / to make sth up / invented

Incidentally, there is a small mistake in the PDF where 瞒 is given as 'full' rather than conceal.

Wierd that a spanish guitar sudenly struck up in the middle of the dialogue!!

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

Hi Matt

I don't tend to have difficulties distinguishing qi and ji when I hear then (if that is what you mean), but zhang and jiang are really a test.

I also hate qings, xings and jings which I mix up regularly, not particularly because of the sounds but the meanings all seem to overlap - that statement is off the top of my head and may not be substantiable.

But I have never understood how on earth anyone can mix up ps and bs or ks and js as in Peking and Beijing.

What a language!  I heard some English comedian recently surprisingly knowledgably suggesting that Chinese clearly was unworkable and needed redesigning (or something to that effect)

Posted on: Business Card Gone Wrong

There I was thinking that shi was the problem and it turns out to be yi!  I am enlightened.

I just took a look at my rather small character dictionary and found that there are 52 yi and 48 shi, and 53 ji.

I conclude that most of the yi and ji must be pretty wierd and abstruce.  For that matter most of the shi too.  Actually that goes for most of the characters in Chinese whatever pronunciation.