Here’s a nice way to end the year: Time magazine includes ChinesePod in their list of Top Podcasts for 2006. Others in the list include Ze Frank, NPR, Slate, etc. This is a great honor. (I’ve always wanted to say that.)
The author doesn’t put podcasting into any broader perspective, so maybe I will. I see podcasting as one part of a veritable revolution: the shift/decentralization of publishing and broadcasting power away from the highly centralized mainstream media, towards the individual, and the smaller organization. This is big. I mean very big. We’re talking Gutenberg-size change afoot.
But this shift is actually part of an even bigger revolution - the Grand Design that social computing holds in store for us. At the heart of it is a kind of democratization. The IT thing is in its infancy, but it will affect everything, everywhere, in the next few decades. (How’s that for sweeping?) In the context of work, we’re seeing a process that began when we went from the farm to the factory, and from the factory to the office. I don’t know what’s next, but I won’t miss the office, I can assure you.
In the educational sphere, I think we’re looking at new scenarios for life-long learning that will bring many traditional practices into question. Control over the learning will almost certainly shift away from institutions, towards the individual, and that is a good thing. Democratization again.
All of this has huge political implications, as it involves an obvious democratization in how we can make our voices heard. This too, is good. (I know you’ll all have comments on this.)
So, where is this going in 2007? I’d like to know what you think about that. As for me, I’ve always said that there are 2 types of entrepreneur: the one who worked out the whole plan in his head, and the one who tells you the truth. (I have no idea what’s going to happen to ChinesePod or anything else in 2007.) But in the interests of some end-of-year fun, I think some guesses and wild speculation are OK. Feel free.
Let’s hear from you (democratically).
Ken Carroll
Great news.. that’s huge. Very well deserved…
I listen to 锵锵三人行 a lot when I’m working.. I don’t find it distracting since I don’t understand a whole lot, lol.
Great news. Congratulations to the whole team and to all of us who support and learn thanks to CPOD.
“I have no idea what’s going to happen to ChinesePod or anything else in 2007″ : You really like to scare your employees before new year’s eve.
The actual podcast and internet evolution is not a movement of Democracy but a sign of Individualism.
Everyone decides what he wants to do with his life (what he wants to learn also) but has less or any influence on family, social groups, state or country.
Very soon it will be the same everywhere in the world (USA, China, Europe, India). Peoples choose private-live for themselves but country leaders (elected for individualism reasons) choose life direction for all.
We call it Individualism and Authoritarism.
Congratulations! You sure earned it!
But like kmk I also found the sentence “I have no idea what’s going to happen to ChinesePod […]” very, very scary…
I find the thought that Ken isn’t sure what is going to happen very very reasurring.
I am sure that huge changes are afoot, I wouldn’t trust anybody that was certain what is going to happen. The trick of it is agility, you cannot be certain how the huge wave will break as it hits the shoreline because it is so unprecedented. This doesn’t stop a good surfer from having confidence that he will be able to ride it.
My prediction: A slowly growing but eventual huge kaledoscopic influx of material generated, remixed, and just dumped for interest by Mandarin learners.
A sudden realisation that like many other languages, more people are learning Mandarin outside of acedemic institutions than inside them.
A increasing sychronisity between Westerners learning Mandarin and Chinese speakers learning English (eventually far beyond the initial experiments on Skype).
The Chinesepod podcasts are not directly threatened by this but I would expect that Chinesepod will maybe make changes to increase the amount of feedback and material(very important) that students can push back.
只是我觉得 (just my thoughts).
Awesome. Good job, guys. This should give you all a boost. Good for you; must be rewarding for the hard and creative jobs you do. Heck, it even gives me bragging rights!
Perhaps, you all can plug in a ‘email this’ onto your blogs. There have been a few of interest to friends that I would have done (yes, I’m lazy ;-))
Congratulations! 干杯！
Some spontaneous ideas what might be big in the 2007 CPod Universe:
- Video Podcasts with actual lessons, subtitles etc. I guess the videos are a step in that direction, but to tell the truth I didn`t find them as interesting/entertaining as I imagine an actual video lesson could be.
- Even more interaction in the learning process using IM tools eg. Skypecasts,..
- More “multimedia” material provided e.g. the picture maps, images, chinese songs to support learning.
Congratulations! Ken.
I did a blog here: http://www.mobinode.com/?p=121
Well done to everyone at ChinesePod…I work both in IT and in teaching and it is certainly a fantastic time to be involved with both….I am just glad to be onboard with Ken & his crew who are innovative & are likely to be first with trying out anything new that comes their way. Likewise, the ChinesePod community seems to be full of good ideas so surely 2007 will be a time of growth & experimentation & challenge for us all……& hopefully a time when my Chinese will improve significantly!
Ken,
I’ve learnt that it’s best to live without expectations as if you do have them, you’re invariably dissapointed as the reality never meets what you’d wished for, if you live without expectations, life has a way of rewarding you. I too have absolutely no idea where I’ll be and what I’ll be doing in twelve months time, but you know, I’m excited rather than worried by the prospect…
Here’s to a great 2007 for everybody.
Cheers,
Al
Congratulations!
I don’t know about all this democracy and individualism talk. To me it seems more like Buddhist philosophy being played out here. For example there are three jewels: the language, the teachings, the community. Nobody is encouraged to accept anything on faith but rather to see if it works for you before accepting anything, we follow the noble podcast path, we accept the impermanent nature of the web, strive but avoid desires for the unattainable, and in this way we reduce suffering.
You see, whatever your frame of reference, you will be able to experience it here and could easily attribute those values to ChinesePod. It doesn’t mean that ChinesePod follows what you believe in, that others here believe in the same things, or that you can use it as a vehicle for those beliefs, but simply that it accommodates all of our diversity.
I think it’s great news for ChinesePod to get such well-deserved recognition, but I don’t buy Ken’s paradigm shift. Heard the argument before, brings me back to Theseus MBA 15 years ago. Democratization, shift of power from the big publishing houses to the individual, excuse me, who owns most of the entertainment and publishing business nowadays?
If ChinesePod business model is as effective as its podcasts are successful, it’ll be copied and/or bought out by one of the big guys. Ken won’t have to worry about the future and will take his innovation drive into a new, independent venture.
Yv
Henning,
I can assure you that there’s a CVhinesePod plan, and that we will execute it to the best of our ability in 2007. In this sense we DO know the future. One year ago, however, I could not have guessed that I’d be talking to Henning Baars about being selected by Time magazine.
There are many many things abvout ChinesePod that have developed in the last year that I did not expect. The idea of using discreet lessons has come to mean something very, very significant to me personally, because it squares with so much of the resarch in moblie learning, PLEs, etc. I didn’t know that a year ago, but I’m temendously excited about where it could take us this year. It’s in this sense that I say I don’t know the future.
Aunty,
I don’t know about the Buddhist metaphors, but you mentioned one word that has great resonance for me at he moment and that is ‘values’. In many ways, this community is as much about shared values as anything esle. I want to try to elaborate on this point in the coming weeks.
Thereare some other very good suggestions in this thread, but I have intermittet net access so I’m trying to post quickly.
Ken Carroll
Ken,
in that regard it makes 100% sense: One year ago I would have never dared to imagine making such a tremendous progress with my humble Mandarin “abilities” - the language seemed to be a mirage at that time, never getting any closer.
Then on April the 7th I read that short and somewhat dismissive Spiegel Online article on Podcasting where the following small little paragraph struck me: “Den Anwendern empfiehlt Charlene Li, Podcasts beispielsweise für Sprachkurse zu nutzen und verweist auf die chinesischen Podcasts, mit denen sie ihr Mandarin auffrischt. Na dann: xie xie Mrs. Li.” All I waited for.
I wish you a tremendous increase in your user base for 2007 & a steady but prudent growth! I could imagine that you heap up even more learning tools for a broad spectrum of learning approaches, continue producing a variety of professional podcasts, and develop the storyline / entertainment approach somewhat further. Maybe somewhere in the future we have not only a soap-opera but also a Chinesepod-thriller-series and a Chinesepod-scifi-series that bind paying subscribers already for the sake of entertainment…
All the best for 2007!
Let me allay a few fears. Ken is a total visionary. When he talks about “where ChinesePod is going,” he always thinks big. He thinks in terms of trends, chain reactions, and revolutions.
Of course he knows about a lot of the specifics about what’s going to happen at ChinesePod in 2007. I’m knee-deep in these new changes at the office every day, and they’re very exciting. But Ken is always the visionary…
Back to the Time magazine mention — it felt great to be chosen as the only language-learning podcast of the bunch. Our competition was big budget news and entertainment productions!
Happy New Year, everybody! It’s going to be a great one…
Here is a suggestion for the New Year. For increasing revenue stream and expanding Chinesepod.com’s reach, Has anyone plugged the idea of a “shanghainese.com”? I would think that many folks are struggling with learning the local dialect. There are more Shanghainese speakers than the populations of entire countries. I was raised overseas hearing Shanghainese constantly up until the age of 17. As a Mandarin student, my memory of Shanghai dialect has definitely helped my study. Nevertheless, the struggle to fluency continues… It would really be fun to learn both Mandarin and Shanghainese or perhaps inviting disaster would be more appropriate!
Xin Nian Kauile,
B. Hsiang
San Francisco
Chinesepod,
Congratulations to us all! It is very impressive to be named to the Top Ten List especially as John mentioned when you look and see that all the others are BIG established media centers. No doubt if they had a category for Best Saturday Show in the Whole Damn World, WE know who would win. Does anyone know how the selection process was made?
As to predictions for 2007 for CPod in 2007 why not ? Here are a few of mine.
1. Jenny will be sited on one of her one day rocket ship rides in the Players Box at Wimbeldon as Roger is playing.
2. With Irish chutzpah Ken will lobby the Olympic Committee to include CPod as a nation (successfully) so we can all get together in Beijing next year.
3. John and Lantian will publish a No 1 Bestseller entitled “The Art of Chinese Grammar ”
4. Two Poddies will fall in love and propose to each other in Chinese on the site.
5. Bazza will do something incredible that will take most of us a while to figure out how to use it. While Bill Gates and Steven Jobs will be rushing to take the train to Bazza’s house to wooo him to join their companies.
6. It will turn out Zhangliang and Lili are modeled after a certain twosome in the CPod HQ.
7. Apple will announce a Teal colored Nanopod already loaded with The Greatest Saturday Show in the Whole Damn World
8. Hank will ink a deal by which McDonalds will play CPod continously in all their stores in the US as part of their effort to transform their image of poisoning people’s bodies and brains.
9. Mike in Jubei may cease to exist but be transformed into Mike in ……..?
10. Aric will sign a deal to star in CSI -Shanghai and beg FuDa Wei to get his cousin to co-star
11. CPod will have continued success. Harvard and Oxford will come to Shanghai to ask Ken for help.
Happy New Year
Mike in Jubei
Mike in Jubei, that was really funny and if one of this happen (except number 9), I’ll buy a Premium Subscription (I swear).
But I personally like to stay well on the ground and keep focus (especially after a crazy and alcoholic evening like this one).
Ken should now use quickly this new Time Magazine’s statut to bring famous chinese people on air in the podcast.
Jenny Zhu is great, but if Ken could put 赵薇 (Zhao Wei), 周迅 (Zhou Xun), 王菲 (Wang Fei) or 范冰冰 (Fan Bingbing)in a lesson or a saturday show a huge number of new frenzied poddies will immediately descend on chinesepod.
推波助澜 (but in a good way)
Thanks, Obrigado, Gracias!!.
From Brazil a greeting to the fantastic team that develop this great concept. Thanks Google to find you and as newbie, I just would like to say that the teacher voice is like a princess then it is a pleasure to learn.
Let me figure out future enhancements..
(a) Video cast
(b) More educational games
(c) Other baselines languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French per example.. Let me know when you would like a collaboration for first ones).
(d) The art of writing.. honestly first inconvenience is how to do it in the right way.., either on my PC.. I have found some material on web but good to have it here.
(e) The grammar it has no reference about what it is.. it is a great discovering process but could be better tagged or organized.
At the end.. just a brainstorming thinking on the future.. giving a feedback.. because it is a great site..
Welcome to the future.. My greeting to Ken.. the princess and all the team.. when you would like to come to Carnival.. just let us know.. a good module could be done in Rio.
Have a great 2007… enjoy.
Edgar,
Good suggestions and a really good invitation! I’m looking for an excuse to vist your part of the world.
Ken Carroll
Ken,
Following on from discussions on another CPod blog, I’d like to see CPod start Cantonese podcasts, as most of my visits to China are to Hong Kong and Guangdong, and whilst Mandarin is the (non-English) business languange in Guangdong, a knowledge of Cantonese would be very useful. The manufacturing output of Guangdong is one of the main growth drivers for the Chinese economy, and you’re bound to attract more subscribers amongst foreigners doing business in that part of China if you offered Cantonese as well as Mandarin podcasts. Also Cantonese is the most widely spoken Chinese language abroad, as well as being spoken in Hong Kong and Macau. So whilst Shanghainese podcasts would be relatively easy to produce with your current resources, it probably won’t expand your subscriber base significantly in the same way that offering Cantonese podcasts would, as the Shanghainese podcasts may largely consumed by existing subscribers, rather than attracting new ones.
Perhaps one answer is to expand and open up CPod offices in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou/Hong Kong/Macau etc. and recruit local talent to produce podcasts catering to the local accent/dialect, and would allow some part of the existing Shanghai office to diversify into producing Shanghainese podcasts, without worrying about neglecting other Chinese languages and dialects. All these satellite offices would of course be under strict CPod quality control (I know you wouldn’t have it any other way), and I’m sure Jenny can fit in regular day return trips to each office as she covers the length and bredth of the country at her usual lighning speed!!
Cheers,
Al
How do typical Chinese people actually celebrate New Year (31.12.)? Is it a major celebration, or only considered very minor, because of 春节?
Do people also explode fireworks? Do people get drunk? Or is it rather a quiet event? Do people have to work on the on the 1st of January?
Phil,
In Yueyang at least (and maybe other parts of China although I am not sure) people explode fireworkds every single day, any time of day, multiple times. In fact almost every 20 or so minutes you can hear them. This is apparently because it was illegal until several months ago, and now that it is legal the whole world (well.. almost) is nuts about them and explodes them all the time. This is what I have been told, but if it is wrong please correct me and accept my apologies.
Also, C-pod … i tell all my Chinese friends here about you guys.. one suggestion for 2007 and i think this would be super big how about an E-Pod?? (english-pod)
Julie
PS 1 - 3 Jan is a holiday but at least in my institute that meant that all people went to work on saturday and sunday 30-31st to make up for three days of no work monday-wednesday..
Chinese people work very hard…
I agree with Al, there’s a glaringly untapped market for Cantonese lessons everywhere outside of China. The first beginners level Cantonese learning podcast will get my subscription without question, because within a week I have the chance to speak Cantonese in the street daily with real life people of my own age. Unfortunately I don’t think that’s going to be ChinesePod though, because as enthusiastic as some of us are, they have no hard evidence that the new feature would pay for itself and not detract from their current work on Mandarin.
AuntySue don’t be entirely sure that your fledging attempts to speak Cantonese would meet with success. I have anecodatal evidence to suggest that the situation in the UK would not mirror the bubbling enthusiasm received when attempting Mandarin with young Chinese speakers.
I have attempted speaking Mandarin face to face now with three young - youngish Chinese women (always got a good enthusiastic response) one young Chinese male (colder but still postitive response). Also I have attempted to speak to one older male (mid-fifties ish) and got a very strange response. He had been in England for two years and was atonished, although I successfully transacted the purchase of some Wolf-berries entirely in Mandarin he moved around as if in a trance and completly failed to answer me (just gave me the wolfberries). Then I had a brief conversation with his young assistant (the public face of the business) in a mixture of Mandarin and English. He wished to impart some information and still used the assistant as go-between even when on occaisions she repeated exactly what he said (she kindly tried to use as much Mandarin as possible only resorting to English on the numerous occaisons I got lost). Suddenly when I haltingly explained I was looking for opportunities to speak Mandarin his face split in a big grin and he stated I was welcome to pop in for a chat anytime, this time directly to me (although I only caught welcome and chat so needed a little help). I am lead to believe that I could have similar issues accross the board with Cantonese. One slighly worrying incident is when I failed to speak Mandarin to the lady at a Chinese supermarket, upon finding that she spoke Cantonese (and very good English) I said something like “I would like to learn a little Cantonese” to which she responded slightly coldly with “why?”.
To be fair I think in some areas an American tourist that attempted to speak “a little Welsh” whilst on holiday might be greeted with a similar response and actually on one level it is slightly patronising to know a little of some languages unless you actually live there down where it is spoken day to day (and even then you may be stonewalled if they speak your language). I have seen a dilema regarding Cantonese expressed in a couple of places now. How do we prove that we take their language seriously, by speaking it well of course. How do we learn to speak it well if nobody thinks we are taking it seriously?
This all may seem irrational from our persepective, but if you examine the motives from the other side of the fence, do we wish to be able to say hello, goodbye and thank you in Cantonese to give the Cantonese speaker a buzz or because/and it will also give us a glow of self-satisfaction.
Is it polite to learn a few words in someone elses language when they live in your country, or is it rubbing it in their face if they are not satisfied with their own progress in English over the years they have lived there? I would suggest that depends on the language, local culture and many other factors but is not a clear issue.
I personally would like to learn a reasonable amount of Cantonese but not unless I can be confident how much is enough, that I have some good resources to learn from (more than a single podcast series) and that I will get some postive communication. Sadly none of these boxes have been ticked as of yet.
Ken,
Congratulations on the listing in Time magazine! In just over a year that’s a hell of an achievement (then again, ‘we’ all made the cover ;-)).
As for the ‘revolution’, I suggest taking a look at the history/political science book ‘The Sovereign State and its Competitors’ (http://www.amazon.com/Sovereign-State-Its-Competitors/dp/0691029105). The ideas in there are quite pertinent even if the direct subject matter seems different. Basically, within Europe a number of competing forms of governing organisation sprung up, but only one, the sovereign nation state, became the model for all states afterwards. The book looks at the alternatives and asks why that one ‘won’.
To me the ‘move away from the instituion towards the student’ looks like one alternative among many. It may indeed be the revolutionary change that wins out… if the economics are right, if governments allow it (or do not disrupt it), if the telecoms infrastructure remains as open ie. in its current form, if alternatives do not out-compete in a broader way, if if if… etc…
My question is: What is it inherent in podcasting and social computing that gives it long-term advantages, and over what competitors?
Chris(mandarin student),
I’m inclined to agree with your assessment. In Germany, it got quite annoying that the moment my accent was picked up on, many shop-keepers etc… wanted to practice their English, whereas I just wanted to speak German. The bottom line is ensuring everyone knows and agrees on why a particular language is being used and is happy with that choice. Though, first stating you wish to practise is probably enough.
Congrats on the accomplishment. What I wish is to have more “portable” premium material. A plan or guide on learning characters (aside from brute force) would also be nice. As an “older” Chinesepod student, I have not taken advantage of the social computing thing as much as younger people. To me the value of Chinesepod is first the content itself (the lessons are engaging, they have that xi1yin3li4), and second its portability (use anywhere, anytime). To supplement, I usually ask a chinese coworker on how words are used, etc and I signed up for the adult chinese class at the local kids saturday chinese school in order to have some real life practive with the laoshi. As for “I have no idea what’s going to happen to Chinesepod…” make sure you stay in business unitl 2008 as I’m about to extend my subscription for a whole year
Guillermo,
We’ll be here. Have no fear.
Ken Carroll
First, I would like to wish all CPod staff a happy New Year, and thank you for the valuable service you are providing to the “internet community”, you are the best language site on the internet, bar none. As a businessman who comes to China several times a year you made a significant improvement in my learning processes.
Here are my wishes for 2007 concerning Chinese Pod Blogers;
Please leave your personal opinions about Politics, Religion and infatuations about the certain CPod staff out of blogs, we come here to learn a language and a culture not your thoughts about these subjects. Blog only about “The Learning Process of the Language” and the culture.
Happy New Year.
Brent
Brent I think you are missing the point of blogging, a blog can be whatever the blogger wants it to be, people have a choice whether to read it and some bloggers may not even care if anybody reads it.
If instead you mean the lesson comments then yes these can get too random in my opinion, but to start restricting blog topics or comments in the manner you suggest would be as pointless as trying to restrict the chat in the student bar or cafe. Bloggers are not paid. I am not a Chinesepod blogger but I do use Chinese pod and blog about learning Chinese. I tend to be quite focused on the language learning but also read a variety of other students blogs with a wide variety of approaches and agendas and enjoy doing so.
Chris, what you say is quite true. In addition, some of the older migrants from Southern China feel that their schooling in their own language was inadequate, and then they have forgotten a lot of it in the years of speaking English. Someone learning Chinese might present questions they cannot answer, adding to the years of humiliation over their poor English. One guy told me that he feels ashamed that, although he speaks three languages, these days there does not exist any language that he knows well.
I think being able to say hello and thank you is respectful and fun. Any more than that, and you’d better make sure they know what you’re doing and why. But in the case of people who’ve raised families here and never learned any English, Cantonese is the only way to communicate. It’s still best to open with the statement that you’re learning the language, beg their indulgence, and to thank them for the chat, because it takes a lot of patience to listen to a learner, the kind of patience that has rarely been offered to them.
The problem with this article is that it is simply a “top 10 list” without any objective criteria to explain how Chinesepod merits this rating. Heck, I can watch the David Letterman Show and get lists that are just as meaningful.
Don’t just give me a list Time Magazine ! Otherwise, this is just about as useful as nominating everyone in the world as “person of the year”.
Does Chinesepod deserve such a high ranking ? Based on what ? Number of visits to the website ? Customer satisfaction surveys ?
In China, a popular chengyu for top 10 lists is “about as useful as a pi feng in a windstorm”.
機靈屌 says:
The problem with this article is that it is simply a “top 10 list” without any objective criteria to explain how Chinesepod merits this rating. Heck, I can watch the David Letterman Show and get lists that are just as meaningful.
So, what’s wrong with top 10 lists then?
I think Chris/Rich answered Brent’s point reasonably well. My view is that we should allow people the freedom to do what they want.If the community generally wants to take the discussion off in different directions, then it’s up to them.
Clever Dick,
I think the Time selections were necessarily arbitrary and subjective. There’s no way their journalists could have the hard data on things like visits or customer satisfaction to compare. Each of the other lists was based on a journalist’s, choice - subjective, but perhaps interesting.
Ken Carroll
Thinking about how ChinesePod got on the top 10 list, in my opinion there are a lot of reasons one could say ChinesePod is not just famous in those that use it. It was featured on CNN on Sept. 24, 2006; I got introduced to ChinesePod through an email sent to a friend by his friend (and he’s never even been here yet I think…he has a Chinese girlfriend so I guess there isn’t much need like me). ChinesePod’s website is professionally done with a great business model (not just saying it because Ken says that in the CNN interview, but it’s true). If you look at other language podcast sites, they are kind of chaotic and not fun to listen to. I thought I would try a Japanese podcast to see if it would be as interesting and want me to listen more… NOPE! Read also why Time picked it… because this isn’t just like a “repeat after me” lesson, but it gets into the confusing points of understanding both the language and culture of the Chinese people. I’m sure Time also wanted to list a language podcast because podcasting is useful in this area, but noone else has 500 lessons (yes, ChinesePod just reached that if you count the intro lessons, Buzzwords and Saturday Shows! So the number alone should make it a top podcast, no?) So much going for ChinesePod, and looking forward to seeing what will happen in the new year! Great job Ken and all of you there… just writing this makes me more in awe of you.
Ken,
All that reminded me that I was hoping you could share a little history of ChinesePod. First, how long has “ChinesePod” been around? I take it from the podcasts I have its been almost a year and half? I was also wondering how some of the podcast categories, like Buzzwords, News, and the Saturday show came about. I actually just came across the Buzzword blogs today which lead me to go searching for the MP3 files I didn’t have in my media library (which don’t seem to be that obvious from the lessons page, and I assume they are what got the Saturday Show going?), and listening to a few of them from last April, it sounds like Aric wasn’t working for ChinesePod at the time, right? Where was he working before and how did you/Jenny decided to team up with him to make WOS, Saturday Show, and Buzzwords?
So in short, would like to hear a little history about how your staff came to be (such as John getting involved more and more with the intermediate lessons) and how some of the podcast shows came to be, if you care to share. If this is all written elsewhere, please point me in the way. Thanks!
-R
Rich,
If I recall, the Greatest Sat Show evolved from Cpod’s response to listener requests for more podcasts and even weekend postcasts. They came up with a creative mix that finally clicked. Previously they had supplemental schedule/news updates, Word on the Street, extra lessons, etc. It’s probably a lot to siff thru but the blog threads are still there to puruse.
Sounds like a good idea to have a timeline, especially of some of the stuff that is out there. I think a newbie to the site wouldn’t know where to look for most of the extraneous but great stuff that’s been produced. Have you looked at the Wiki under the Community tab?
Lantian
Long time listener, too many times poster.
Let’s wish ourselves all the joy and content in 2007! Chinesepod is almost my surrogate family. I love the fun of being around doers all around the world who aspire me to be a great one myself. Chinesepod also has a magical power of bringing people together. I was talking to John today about how precious it is to feel excited about coming to work everyday(yes, we started working on the second day of the new year.) You simply get addicted to the site and the sense of community. Like a Blizzard from Diary Queen, we just have the perfect mix. But instead of mushy ice cream with brownie bits topped with almond crunch, we are people who get excited about doing what we love.
May all of Mike in Jubei’s predictions come true!
虽然有点老套（cliche），不过还是最衷心地祝大家新年一切快乐！
Probably there are some Time staffers using CPod to learn Mandarin.
As for me, there’s no question of CPod’s worth: a year ago (almost to the day) I learned how to say “ni hao”; today I can read and understand Jenny’s New Year’s Hanzi missive.
CPod, your grammar tags kick ass. (I have the tags bookmarked, because the only way I know how to get to them is from a tag on a lesson.) Anyway, here’s a thought on how to leverage the Big Brain: make is possible for wiki entries to use tags, so that tags link not just to podcast lessons but to the Wiki. I realize the Wiki is a bit underused, but integration, in a Web2.0 way like the tag system, may be key to changing that.
Oh, I forgot to add: congratulations!
Blogs are forums created by people with same objectives, let people talk about what they want a talk about is a tired old cliche, I am not a Blog Police, and did not suggest a restrictions, last time I checked this site is called Chinese Pod not “Any subject Pod”. All I did was,”I wish” to talk about related subjects that are stimulating to the learning process, if you want to Blog about certain subjects than you should Blog in related subjects forums.
Brent
Blogs are not forums, forums are forums and there is a Chinesepod user forum which is not a blog (at least in this Internet context). There is some debate on the Internet at the moment about exactly what a blog is, for example some people would say that if you do not allow comments it is technically not a blog, others would disagree. There is a clear disctinction between a blog and forum. I have yet to find anyone claiming that a blog has to have a limited scope.
Seeing as both forums and then blogs are relatively new arrivals (at least compared to bulletin boards) on a relatively new medium I don’t see how they could have aquired any tired old cliches.
As now I am not quite sure which elements you feel are off topic I can’t really say for sure what the problem is especially as most of the ‘blog’ posts I have read are at least loosely connected to learning Chinese. The forum was developed independantly by the user community and pulled in under the Cpod website at a later date. It is therefore very independant and often things may get a bit off-topic however if you look around in there you will find a whole bunch of things and information that are very stimulating to the learning process.
I don’t think lesson comments are blogs either, they are comments but I can see an arguement for at least suggesting that they should remain on topic (I think the trend waxes and wanes here and other people have made similar requests in the past). Assuming your are talking about lesson comments then I am sure that some will understand your point of view. Either way you are entitled to express an opinion, I just wanted to clarify what we are talking about.
Here is a suggestion (and a wish of mine): perhaps there is a way to tag the comments (e.g.: tag them with “related to learning chinese” and “everything else”). This way, those who are short of time, but want to benefit from the community discussion on the language itself can just read the relevant comments. Since the blogs are somewhat moderated, the cpod staff can do the tagging… This will work best in the podcast comments…
I rest my case, just enjoy learning Chinese, please.
Brent
So you were talking about lesson comments Brent???
Ken,
Another idea/want/desire/wish:
Was wondering, have you guys thought of having a chat room for all of us poddies to meet in? I sometimes use the one at http://www.zhongwen.com, but would be nice if it was tied into our account/forum logins and could also chat with Chinese characters, english, or whatever we’d like… just to get to know each other and hang out that way. It would be kind of nice, and maybe even have ChinesePod staff show up once in a while.
-Rich
Lantian,
Yeah, but looking at http://www.chinesepod.com/podcast.php?cat=7, and how it died out in April, News died out last summer, it seemed like The Greatest Saturday Show evolved from that, but I’m sure it was backed by users’ requests. When I first listened to these non-lesson podcasts, and hearing Aric, I first thought he worked for a totally diffrerent organization (which I guess he did) and then switched to TGSS, all the sudden it wasn’t a podcast for two companies. Was kind of nice. So I guess WOS is solely ChinesePod now (I haven’t listen to it in a while), or does another website have this podcast too, like Shanghai Daily or something?
“Democratically?” Isn’t that a little culturally insensitive? Don’t you mean “Socially with Chinesepod characteristics?”
Wait … I truly believe that I’ve never before heard someone give such an awe-inspiring description of their job:
“Like a Blizzard from Diary Queen … the perfect mix … mushy ice cream with brownie bits topped with almond crunch …”
Jenny! Oh, God, I can’t take it! Life doesn’t get any sweeter than that! It goes down so smoothly that it simply must be savored with three repetitions (preferably with different pacing).
:) 
Congratulations!
Yes, many zhu ni yu kuais, mazeltovs, and congrats. You guys work hard and you deserve recognition for having figured out how to do a good idea properly. The schedule of my days has changed hugely since CPod began, and my listening recognition, according to my teacher, has become surprisingly good. It must be thanks to you, although I wonder why, if my listening recognition is so good, that I can’t understand anything.
Congratulations and thanks to all you guys.
Ken,
Have you planed to have some sort of association with PLECO this year ?
A good PLECO version 2.0 will be released soon and as public-image/public relation is really poor for this company, I think chinesepod can offer Pleco some sort of association and a good complement.
More than v1.3 this v2.0 seems to be a futur great tool to learn chinese.
推波助澜 (in a good way)
PS: I’m not part and have no interest in PLECO company.
Here are some predictions.
1. You are going to follow-up your first game with at least 2-3 more.
2. You are going to work with educational institutions abroad in helping them incorporate your materials into their programs. They will largely need to adapt to your way of instruction rather than vice-versa. You will look at this initially as an experiment. Ken or a member of the staff will speak at next year’s Chinese Language Teachers convention along these lines.
3. You will try to make your program more interactive looking for (more/better) ways to help people learn to SPEAK.
4. You will find ways to better organize and structure your content perhaps in preparation to helping people use your content in a rudimentary PLE or in a school environment.
5. AND FOR THE REALLY BIG PREDICTION. You will be named as the official Chinese language, distance learning providers for the 2008 Olympics by at least one government organization.
Ken,
Congratulations! That’s quite an achievement. Next milestone to be crossed: the cover page of Time; Issue: Man of the Year.
David
Ken congrats man!
I really admire your achievement!
Thanks for sharing
I’d prefer reading in my native language, because my knowledge of your languange is no so well. But it was interesting! Look for some my links: