Hello, and welcome to another fantastic installment of the Friday Five here on the Newbie blog!
How are you folks doing? Getting used to V3, I hope? I see that some of the furor has died down and I hope everyone is getting back to the business of learning Chinese!
Today’s Friday Five interview is a great treat for me. While not technically on the payroll at ChinesePod, today’s special guest is an omnipresent force on this site and you can’t have spent any time here without having seen his name. I am, of course, talking about the mighty Bazza!
Come on! Let’s see what he has to say!
FRANK: How long have you been studying Chinese?
BAZZA: About one and a half years now. My level is probably around elementary/intermediate now, according to the ChinesePod listening test I’m low elementary and my spoken level is probably a bit lower than that as I haven’t really yet put much spoken Chinese into practise. I think my reading/typing Chinese is probably closer to intermediate as I use that quite a lot online with writing my Chinese blog and I also have Firefox, itunes and my ipod set to Chinese so I have to try and read it to navigate the menus etc. Additionally to that I also have a Chinese bible, the Chinese version of the Da Vinci Code and a Chinese altas of world (which is very cool). 
FRANK: Did you start learning with ChinesePod when you started, or did you use another program first and then find your way here?
BAZZA: I think I found ChinesePod a few weeks after decided to start learning. Before that all I had was a Chinese learning audiobook, which wasn’t particularly easy to learn as it was just a listen and repeat type thing, without any extra explanations. When I listened to it again recently though it did make a whole lot more sense now I have a better understanding of Chinese.
FRANK: You’re instrumental in the goings on over on the forum. For those of us who aren’t forum savvy, what’s going on over there and why should we check it out?
BAZZA: Well, I think the forum can be thought of a place for us ChinesePod students to just hang out after class and discuss.. well basically anything Chinese really. Although there’s also an off-topic section for discussing other shared interests we might have. We have a number of kind native Chinese helpers there that always seem more than happy to answer questions and aid with translations. We’ve also collected together a good select of Chinese Youtube videos and even have a topic on how to interpret the Chinese version of Firefox.
FRANK: Who are you, man? I see your name all over this site, but I know next to nothing about you! Give me a short personal bio!
BAZZA: Well I’m 30, living in Yorkshire, England. I work for a fairly small company that ’s a supplier of vehicle parts, mainly for offroad vehicles like JCBs, tractors etc. My main job is to produce 3D CAD models and dimensional drawings of parts, and I also help run the company’s quality system. I’ve been sky diving, been in a hotair balloon, swam the English channel (albeit in a swimming pool over a period of 10 weeks 
). I like visiting caves and potholes. I used to be quite into metal detecting but never really found much apart from a hammered silver coin from the 1300s. I usually play online Mahjong on a daily basis now, and of course a large amount of my freetime is now dedicated to learning Chinese.
FRANK: Why did you start learning Chinese, and how has it changed your life?
BAZZA: I just decided that I wanted to become fluent in a second language, I’ve tried a number of languages in the past but never really had much determination, this time I do. The reason I chose Chinese was mainly because I thought it would be a good challenge and I’ve always been fascinated by the beauty of written Chinese. It hasn’t really change my life that much so far, except I’m quite addicted to learning it now, but I’m also planning to visit Shanghai in October which will be my first time in Asia.
* * *
And there you have it, folks! I hope you all enjoyed today’s installment as much as I did. It was really a pleasure getting to know one of the founding members of our community in so personal a way. Thank you again, Bazza! You’re The Man!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
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Thanks Frank. I’m honoured to have been interviewed.
Great interview. I am blown away by Bazza’s effort. But you never asked how many hours he spends on average studying Chinese every week. You never asked him to name his top ten podcasts. You never asked him which Cpod employee he most wants to meet?
Could we have more interviews of Cpod students Frank?
Bazza - The pleasure was really all mine, sir. Thanks for taking the time to let others know you!
Michael - Ah, yes. I suppose I could have asked those questions (and more!), but then it wouldn’t have been the Friday FIVE, now would it? Haha! But to answer one of your questions, it’s pretty common knowledge around here that good ol’ Bazza has a Godzilla-sized crush on Ms. Jenny Zhu. And, really, who could blame him?
To the last… heck, yes! I’d love to! Who would you most like to see an interview with?
Auntie Sue
I’ll see what I can do.
Thanks Frank, but then I’m biased. I only come across those people who regularly post comments on Ken’s blog.
Nice interview. Its interesting how many people picked Chinese out of the bucket of languages to learn because of the potential challenge.