Comments on: About the ChinesePod Integrated Chinese Blog

By: A Pi

A Pi — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 04:16:24 +0000

Thanks, John, for doing this blog. IC seems to be the best of the bad as far as Chinese textbooks go. I my (fairly limited) experience, there aren’t any really good Chinese textbooks out there. I much prefer the selection I had when I was learning French.

In the second book of part 1 the grammar sections get a bit confusing. I notice that this blog–and Chinesepod–focus on vocabulary instead of grammar. Will you pay attention to the grammar sections as you move through the book?

By: jeff in NJ

jeff in NJ — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:50:56 +0000

The choice of books, I think, is a matter of personal learning styles. I started with the Kung Fu series used here at Rutgers, but, didn’t find it good. The supporting CDs were of horrible quality.

I moved onto NPCR, which, again, for me, just didn’t work.

Thus far I have found IC with all the supporting materials to work best with my learning style. I particularly like the very clear integration of the CDs with the materials. There is always an English intro to where precisely in the text you are. None of the others have this.

Zaijian

By: Brian

Brian — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 06:46:40 +0000

Wow! Wish I had something like this a year ago when I was starting my own self studies. At the time Chinese Pod provided the ultimate in convenience, but I found it very difficult to work with language exchange partners or tutors with strictly CPod at stay on task. Using a textbook makes weekly goals and benchmarks much easier to stick to. Finding appropriate CPod lessons to reinforce a given chapter was difficult at the time, but this is a good way to augment things. Very novel approach guys and a good way to keep the site’s content fresh.

By: Buzz

Buzz — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 16:28:15 +0000

Gee, I just now payed attention to this promotion. Although I don’t qualify for the special reduced rate, I think it’s great that Chinese Pod is trying to augment IC (since I’ve been using IC in private lessons!). I am particularly happy to see the efforts at mapping material from the text to related lessons on Chinese Pod, an activity that I’ve found a little tricky. I agree with the above poster that the IC books aren’t perfect, but the Chinese Pod materials will certainly combine with IC to make a very strong curriculum! The best of both worlds.
Thanks again,
–buzz

By: Eric in Portland

Eric in Portland — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 05:52:44 +0000

Here is an online resource some students may be interested in. These are primitive, but useful, FREE materials that provide exercises and practice for Integrated Chinese, courtesy of UC Berkeley.

http://www.language.berkeley.edu/ic/gb/toc.html

Check it out.

By: Eric in Portland

Eric in Portland — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 05:25:59 +0000

Hi John,

I am suprised to find Chinesepod is such an advocate of Integrated Chinese. The New Practical Chinese Reader is a much better textbook. There are several reasons for this. NPCR introduces the language at more gentle pace and the vocabulary is well chosen. The content of the book is more cohesive and the dialogs are more natural – containing sentences one is likely to encounter in conversation. Both books use hanyu pinyin and simplified characters, which is good. But the most important for the beginner is that the audio material is superior, being both clear and engaging. Another strong point is the homework and exercises which do a better job of reinforcing the vocabulary and grammar. The arrangement of characters and pinyin on alternating lines (in the first volume only) works better that putting it on alternating pages. Finally, the price of NPCR is significantly less: $20 for the book and $30 for the CDs. These are the reasons we have chosen this text for our school “Effective Chinese” located here in Portland Oregon.