2007-04-02 18:00:00 Boston Mike
Some mp3 players, like Windows Media Player, can be set to display the embedded captions when playing a mp3 file. Many of your mp3 files have embedded captions with Chinese charters and pin yin in then. This is very helpful. The pin yin helps with the tone and pronunciation. This mp3 file has Chinese charters and English but no pin yin as embedded in the mp3 file. Please return to embedding the pin yin into the mp3 file. This is very helpful when trying to pronounce the words. The Chinese charters are also nice to have. You can leave off the English because we understand English when we hear it on the file. Thanks]]> Boston Mike
Some mp3 players, like Windows Media Player, can be set to display the embedded captions when playing a mp3 file. Many of your mp3 files have embedded captions with Chinese charters and pin yin in then. This is very helpful. The pin yin helps with the tone and pronunciation. This mp3 file has Chinese charters and English but no pin yin as embedded in the mp3 file. Please return to embedding the pin yin into the mp3 file. This is very helpful when trying to pronounce the words. The Chinese charters are also nice to have. You can leave off the English because we understand English when we hear it on the file. Thanks]]> AuntySue
By the way, has anyone else set up their computer to play last night's podcast downloads each morning when it's time to wake up? Or am I just being a geek again?]]> AuntySue
By the way, has anyone else set up their computer to play last night's podcast downloads each morning when it's time to wake up? Or am I just being a geek again?]]> 海宁 / Henning
AuntieSue, although I always read the lesson comments, because usually there is some language in there, I agree 100% with you regarding the communication issues. I would recommend putting a note on the CPod *front page* and in *all* current CPod emails that CPod is in the midst of a major transition. The blog is not enough - I remember that it took me several month after I actually began reading the blog messages. There are more issues besides the PDF ones that will be easily tolerated if (but only if) one only *knows* that there is a good reason for all that. An example is the latest Advanced show - almost all relevant new content vocab without popups, definitions, and is also not yet inserted in the Glossary. I happily endure all that because I know it is a matter of weeks (?) and we will have the next generation Chinesepod. But I am not sure everybody is informed about this.]]> 海宁 / Henning
AuntieSue, although I always read the lesson comments, because usually there is some language in there, I agree 100% with you regarding the communication issues. I would recommend putting a note on the CPod *front page* and in *all* current CPod emails that CPod is in the midst of a major transition. The blog is not enough - I remember that it took me several month after I actually began reading the blog messages. There are more issues besides the PDF ones that will be easily tolerated if (but only if) one only *knows* that there is a good reason for all that. An example is the latest Advanced show - almost all relevant new content vocab without popups, definitions, and is also not yet inserted in the Glossary. I happily endure all that because I know it is a matter of weeks (?) and we will have the next generation Chinesepod. But I am not sure everybody is informed about this.]]> AuntySue
It was sheer fluke that I found dave-l's post about the traditional characters. A minute earlier I had tearfully resigned myself to finding new learning materials because I'm not the slightest bit interested in ever seeing any simplified characters in my learning. I had understood there was going to be more support for traditional characters students and after looking at this week's PDFs it seemed obvious there'd been a change of plan. I don't usually bother looking at the lesson comments, oh, I might poke my nose in on one every three months. How many other students have not chanced upon this particular page to see the reason, and assume it's a permanent change? This is a major and potentially damaging communication problem. It should be explained where everyone will see it through their tears, or before tears fall, so others don't get the wrong impression like I did. But I was very pleased (no, actually envious at the time because it was the wrong script) to see the characters larger than the pinyin and English. That will make it a little easier to get those naughty eyes to fixate on the least readable script of the three. The difference in appearance between pinyin and english is also helpful. The heading section seems smaller too, which is good. The PDFs have always struck me as designed more for appearance and PR than for usability. If you print, it's important not to use too many sheets of paper and not to have things split inconveniently across pages (e.g. one line of a section) purely for visual beauty when there is so much superfluous white space already. If you paste into another application, it is important that the paste works nicely. For me, I need to paste the hanzi into a file, remove or number the pinyin, and save it as Big5 to import it into my Palm, which is a drag but it sure beats looking up each word with a dictionary and typing in the traditional character with a stylus like I'm doing for this one. :-) But why am I writing all this here? Nobody will see it unless they happen to be studying this particular lesson and also happen to read through all the comments. I'm doing the very thing I criticise! P.S. Bravo for knowing that "all right" is indeed two words. When the English is excellent it makes me feel confident that the Mandarin and its explanations in English will be reliable too.]]> AuntySue
It was sheer fluke that I found dave-l's post about the traditional characters. A minute earlier I had tearfully resigned myself to finding new learning materials because I'm not the slightest bit interested in ever seeing any simplified characters in my learning. I had understood there was going to be more support for traditional characters students and after looking at this week's PDFs it seemed obvious there'd been a change of plan. I don't usually bother looking at the lesson comments, oh, I might poke my nose in on one every three months. How many other students have not chanced upon this particular page to see the reason, and assume it's a permanent change? This is a major and potentially damaging communication problem. It should be explained where everyone will see it through their tears, or before tears fall, so others don't get the wrong impression like I did. But I was very pleased (no, actually envious at the time because it was the wrong script) to see the characters larger than the pinyin and English. That will make it a little easier to get those naughty eyes to fixate on the least readable script of the three. The difference in appearance between pinyin and english is also helpful. The heading section seems smaller too, which is good. The PDFs have always struck me as designed more for appearance and PR than for usability. If you print, it's important not to use too many sheets of paper and not to have things split inconveniently across pages (e.g. one line of a section) purely for visual beauty when there is so much superfluous white space already. If you paste into another application, it is important that the paste works nicely. For me, I need to paste the hanzi into a file, remove or number the pinyin, and save it as Big5 to import it into my Palm, which is a drag but it sure beats looking up each word with a dictionary and typing in the traditional character with a stylus like I'm doing for this one. :-) But why am I writing all this here? Nobody will see it unless they happen to be studying this particular lesson and also happen to read through all the comments. I'm doing the very thing I criticise! P.S. Bravo for knowing that "all right" is indeed two words. When the English is excellent it makes me feel confident that the Mandarin and its explanations in English will be reliable too.]]> Bazza 白锐
Or you could just get Hanzibar for reading characters.]]> Bazza 白锐
Or you could just get Hanzibar for reading characters.]]> Barry
Thanks for getting back to me Dave. Hopefully it'll be sorted in the near future. Thanks also to Lantian and Bazza (two very prolific contributors to this site!). I'll check those resources out.]]> Barry
Thanks for getting back to me Dave. Hopefully it'll be sorted in the near future. Thanks also to Lantian and Bazza (two very prolific contributors to this site!). I'll check those resources out.]]>