Norman Hamer, a newcomer to ChinesePod, asked a question today in a lesson thread that I thought was worth a treating here on the blog.
… Chinesepod conflicts with the Pimsleur method which believes that people should learn orally ONLY to start with. Does anyone have any ideas on the Pod vs. the Pimsleur approach?
I […]
Archive for the 'Learning Chinese' Category
1,000 members on the Forum
Published by January 13th, 2007 in Learning Chinese and About ChinesePod. 21 CommentsCongratulations and many thanks to Bazza, Marchey, Aunty, and Carl, and friends over at the ChinesePod forum. They have, as I now look, 1,000 members and a great community of smart people. Just looking at the sheer number of posts that the moderators have done, you realize the effort they put into it - Bazza […]
This post follows on from my post from yesterday on memorization. I can’t access the comments for now, so let me post some thoughts here.
First of all, there’s a difference between memory, which is obviously the basis of all learning, and rote memorization, the technique of cramming information. I was referring to rote memorization. […]
Memorizing and learning Chinese
Published by January 9th, 2007 in Learning Chinese and About ChinesePod. 33 CommentsI’ve been hearing a lot of people talk about memorizing as a means of learning Chinese this week, for some reason. (I just came across another reference from my fellow countryman at Peeling Mandarin.) I’ve alwas believed in different horses for different courses, and so on, but I must say I don’t really believe in […]
‘Does ChinesePod really work?’
Published by January 5th, 2007 in Learning Chinese and About ChinesePod. 32 CommentsDoes ChinesePod really work? Does it really help you to learn Chinese? That’s the question. You’ll find some objective opinions here. (I say ‘objective’ because they come from another source.)
I’ll stay out of this one because I’m, er, biased.
Update: The indispensable Lifehacker has a discussion on the topic of podcasts and language learning.
Ken Carroll
Your motivations
Published by December 22nd, 2006 in Learning Chinese and About ChinesePod. 36 CommentsI’ve been thinking about motivation all week and the different ways it affects people. Let me explore one aspect of this.
Our CRM data yields an interesting description of a ‘typical’ ChinesePod subscriber:a 30-something/American/male/professional. This demographic data tells us who he is. (He is, btw, under-represented on the blog/forums, possibly due to work/family commitments.)
Then […]
This chap may be in need of some encouragement. Why not give him some? What advice do you have for him?
Ken Carroll
What business are we in?
Published by December 8th, 2006 in Learning Chinese and About ChinesePod. 44 CommentsI guess I’m having a philosophical week. Here I am wondering about the big broad questions. I came across this little anecdote in a book and it got me started.
The railroads collapsed because they thought they were in the railroad business, when really they were in the transportation business.
They let […]
Learning Chinese characters
Published by December 5th, 2006 in Learning Chinese and About ChinesePod. 191 CommentsI’m spending this week trying to dig deeper into a question: What does the Big Brain want?
Yesterday we talked about personal growth. It seems that few of you actually have a compelling need to learn Chinese. You seem to be driven by other things - curiosity, self-improvement, etc. This obviously has implications for how […]
Personal growth and ultimate goals
Published by December 4th, 2006 in Learning Chinese and About ChinesePod. 25 CommentsWe’ve talked about personal growth before. I’m still interested to know what that means to you.
Some of the most active members in the ChinesePod community chose to come here for reasons of personal growth. This demographic tends to be based in the States, UK, Australia, and quite often without much direct contact with the […]
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