FYI - Holiday lesson schedule

Hi Mark,

Glad to hear the history lessons have become a useful part of your program! I still imitate them on a daily basis for speaking practice (mostly the male voice who does most of the chinese history half - the world history guy doesn't seem to have as much energy in his voice and so seems less fun to mimic).

Tim

I'm probably 20-30 media lessons from having exhausted Cpod's archive. I've been savoring them to supplement the weeks when there are no media or advanced lessons，despite the fact that they are mostly stale news . I've also been studying two chapters a week of 《上下五千年》。 Cpod's output has been shrinking as my ability to consume has been growing. 所以， 我开始感觉Cpod 不给力。

Think we're getting a bit sidetracked here...to my mind, the issue is this: if a good number of CPod staff wish to take time off over Christmas (which is a bit baffling in itself as the majority of CPod staff are, presumably, non-Christian Chinese), and conceiving of CPod as 'a publisher' and us lot as 'subscribers', why is it not possible for CPod to crank the dial up to 11 in November and get some pre-records in the bank, which can then be released over Xmas, thus giving the impression of a seamless, committed, reliable service. It's not rocket science.

Yep, Shimao's point is perfectly valid for those monthly subscribers who have exhausted the cumulative material at their level since 2005. But I suspect such people are in the minority. Unless the issue is that monthly subscribers only get access to new material issued since they subscribed - but I think cpod actually give monthly subscribers access to ALL history, so I believe my initial point stands.

really well said Rich, and jecarey - I agree with both of you

Yet I say this as a user since 2006 and not just a "team" member at ChinesePod, that yes, while I had always awaited the new lesson that day, a monthly subscriber is also subscribing to a vast resources of what is already here, including a discussion on the lesson they have picked. If someone was to get a monthly subscription to a clipart site or other resources, that doesn't mean there will be new material put out at the same speed. Yet I do agree that ChinesePod is about the new content, from a user's perspective, and having it get automatically pushed to your feed, yet I do recommend you all to keep "old" lessons alive, as we are still able to discuss on them. Maybe this Christmas we can open some of the oldies. :)

Bosh! Good point, well made.

But it is a big deal if you have a monthly subscription that includes that entire 3 week period.

I say this as a user since 2006 and not just a "team" member at ChinesePod, that yes, while I had always awaited the new lesson that day, a monthly subscriber is also subscribing to a vast resources of what is already here, including a discussion on the lesson they have picked. If someone was to get a monthly subscription to a clipart site or other resources, that doesn't mean there will be new material put out at the same speed all the time. Yet I do agree that ChinesePod is about the new content, from a user's perspective, and having it get automatically pushed to your feed, yet I do recommend you all to keep "old" lessons alive, as we are still able to discuss on them. Maybe this Christmas we can open some of the oldies. :)

I kinda agree. Everyone's brains need a rest at Xmas (and CNY, and birthdays, and various other days...). However, as a publisher of paid-for content, CPod needs to work that bit harder in late November/early December to get some podcasts in the bank, as it were, which can then be released with not a single spec of effort being expended over the actual Xmas break (even though such a thing does not actually exist in China, of course!). That's what I had to do when I was working in media. If CPod was free, this kinda thing would be entirely acceptable, but - as it is - there are a bunch of people who, I assume, are being paid a monthly salary and that needs to be reflected in the fact that they are (collectively speaking) productive over the course of 52 weeks.

Recent comments by staff suggest a bit of PR training might well be in order.

谢谢理解！

Since the doomsday didn't come (it is said it would happen at 3p.m. China time. now it's 5p.m. So I assume we are save now), we are preparing something new for next year. :)

'give your brains a rest'.The fact is 'our brains need a rest.'

I can definitely understand the staff needing a break from work. So a break is warranted given what Cpod has produced over the year. What I've never understood is why Cpod isn't able to produce more lessons over the year, given that Cpod has had about 7+ years to learn how to get good and efficient at creating and producing lessons. It could have spent some of that time producing lessons more efficiently, with fewer people or steps, or producing more lessons with the same people. I get the feeling that Cpod is still cranking out lessons here in almost 2013 using the same processes and procedures that it did in 2006.

Vera, you guys do a great job. The lessons are superb. The complaints are more on the frequency on the lessons for the upper levels and the fact that the service could have prepared better for the breaks and continued with the regular schedule throughout the holidays when many people have breaks (ie, more time to study).

I do think you will lose customers if the aforementioned problems are not resolved, but it will not be because of the quality of the lessons...the quality is top notch. Thank you for your hard work!

Oh yes, Europeans like me get a lot of holidays. :-D

The legal minimum for any job in the UK is 25 days per year. In some European countries it is even more. That said, China with its 2 weeks vacation plus 2 golden weeks isn't too bad. At least that's what my company gives Chinese employees. I heard some state companies don't give any leave outside of public holidays though.....

I know that it is Chinese to be humble but Chinese Pod, you are doing a wonderful job and there is no other product in the world market that I know of that can compete with you. Rest assured you will not be losing customers with your present performance.

My husband used to teach at the National University of Singapore and I sat in some of their Chinese classes and deal with Chinese speakers all over Asia. It might seem odd to say this to speakers who graduated from the top universities in China but I want to tell you that your Chinese is first rate. I can also see from your lessons that you love Chinese language.

I used your teaching method in my Bilingual 3 class and the children love it. One parent, a CEO who regularly visits China for business trips even thanked me that his children do not moan and groan about Chinese class now! I know I am dealing with American kids and stay away from rote memory as much as possible. See, even your teaching method is innovative.

Then, all industries have their slow periods and breaks, even school and university. And I believe European employees have more vacation days than the United States (yeah, this is of great interest to regular working folks like me).

Merry Christmas Chinese Pod and wishing you many good and prosperous years to come and thank you for making Chinese learning so enjoyable.

My first post (and 5th and 8th) here at cpod was in the 'not enough upper level lessons' debate, back in 2008, and the argument only seems clearer now, though the debate seems to play out in the same way - http://chinesepod.com/lessons/olympics-and-more#sthash.wjHAKwjb.dpbs . My breakdown then was pretty similar to Shimao's analysis above, though I do notice that I seem to have required more lessons than cpod recomends to advance...

The decision to publish so many new lower lessons seems to be about pleasing a base of lower level users who prefer 'exciting and new' lessons, mixed in with the apparent cost and complexity of producing upper lessons (though Mark has pointed out in some past reinactments of this debate that it would seem relativly simple to grab a clip of media and sit two of the hosts in a recording room to discuss it for 15 minutes and thus produce something like a media lesson more regularly, and honestly, the writing in the advanced lessons isn't oscar material, and it can't be all that hard to churn them out as opposed to the lower ones...or just have people in the office chat about some topic, transcript their conversation, and you have an advanced...)

One would think that the many lower level learners would also hope for more advanced lessons, as they would be planning on reaching that level one day and recognize that there is a useless glut in the lower levels (I became worried and made those posts at the beginning of lower Intermediate level). But I suppose the reality is that so many people will quit before the advanced levels, and tend to be focussed on the present anyway.

I got focussed on other materials around the time I hit UI and so never faced the question of whether there is already sufficient material in the higher levels, but I think from the comments of some others it seems there is still a shortage there...

CPod sold out to Bigfoot - contacting them to let them know that their new acquisition is for the first time ever slowly down production for a Western holiday - when essentially all Chinese companies are actually starting to ramp up production to prepare for Spring Festival in February, might help. Maybe it's Bigfoot's directive, or maybe no one in Shanghai really cares anymore as the ownership is no longer at the next desk.

Justin

I'm not sure why the lesson output would be affected in this way by a staff vacation:

1. Considering that lessons at CPod have always been produced well in advance (I trust this is still the case), wouldn't any staff vacation affect the output of future lessons, not those during the break.

2. I am not aware of any reduction of output due to previous vacations. Why has this only become an issue now?

Also, you have not addressed the issue of the reduction in value of a monthly subscription. Nor have you addressed the concern of some users that this might be a taste of things to come.

Regarding the output at the higher levels:

1. CPod recommends doing 50 Newbie Lessons before progressing to Elementary. The are currently 391 Newbie lessons.

2. You recommend doing 80 Elementary Lessons before progressing to Intermediate. There are currently 491 Elementary Lessons.

3. You recommend doing 120 Intermediate Lessons before progressing to Upper Intermediate. There are currently 435 Intermediate Lessons.

So if these recommendations are valid, why do you need so many new lessons at the lower levels? I'm thinking particularly of Newbie and Elementary. Is one lesson per week at each level not sufficient?

(Having said that, there is something wrong with those recommendations. Why would you recommend 120 Advanced lessons and 80 Media lessons? Are you saying that if you do that many you will be able to speak like a native?)

Justin,

Have you found that people really like all of the "supplemental" lessons that you have for beginners? (Qingwen, Vocab Tour, What's the Story, Pinyin Program, Menu Stealer, etc) These also seem like lessons focused on the beginners...

Could you get rid of them and focus on some more upper level lessons?

Justin,

I realize that you probably have many more beginners than advanced users...but most mid-level students will have the newbie, elementary, intermediate, etc to study already. You also have a huge library of these lessons for new students to pull from in these areas until they can reach the upper intermediate/Advanced level. Giving them 3-4 lessons a week is not too bad.

The advanced users only have the advanced lessons...and many of us have been with your service for years. (so we are loyal and also have already reviewed many of your earlier lessons, so the library is less beneficial to us)

If Chinesepod can not guarantee that we can get regular (weekly) advanced lessons, I think you will start to lose loyal customers. One of the best aspects of Chinesepod is that you have lessons for all Chinese levels. If you start taking away Media and Advanced lessons...then you lose this.

Just my two cents, i have my subscription coming up in a couple of months and I have loved studying with Chinesepod for ~4-5 years now, but I will have to re-examine the investment if my levels are only covering monthly. It is depressing coming on everyday and being disappointed that the last Advanced lesson was produced over a month ago...

Thanks,

Jeff

iaing,

Glad you are enjoying FluentU. I was doing some outside reading on the story of Houyi and the Ten Suns and Chang E flying to the moon, and I found related content on both CPod and FluentU, so that was great to get so much reinforcement. Have you seen the old video in CPod's library? There is some fun stuff in there too, though form the comments it seems people are having a hard time finding / discovering it under the revamped organization of the web site.

thanks, am finding FluentU to be fun, as well. Definitely a good supplement, particularly when motivation is low.

This looks fun. Thanks for the recommendation. It makes a change to get some video content. I think I will watch a few of these while I am waiting to get 'my' ChinesePod back :-)

i agree with that, the website looks like one big hot mess compared to chinesepod

has anyone checked out FluentU? Still in beta, and tends to be more "bite sized" in content delivery, but really promising looking as a concept.

www.fluentu.com

Oakleysteve, I tried an iMandarinpod lesson after reading your comments. There are some good points and bad points. Bad: speech is slower than natural; the influence of 应试教育feels a bit heavy. Good: discussion of lesson content includes parts of speech. I think their highest level lessons are about Cpod UI level, probably not anything beyond what you need for HSK level 4.

ok. thanks for the tips guys

Just briefly checked out the iMandarinpod website. Have to say, despite CPod's website being far from perfect, iMandarinpod looks absolutely awful. It's clearly been designed by designers steeped in the Chinese web tradition of 'loads of content, loads of navigation bars, loads of (small) text - bung it all on there and let them figure it out'. I may briefly check out a lesson or two, if there are trial options, but the website is not a great start.

I realise this is no skin off your nose (on the assumption you are not on commission from iMandarinpod!).

I've been using iMandarinpod.com. All of their lessons, except the very beginner ones, are done entirely in Chinese. Their pdfs have the entire lesson content word for word. Quite handy if you can't quite get it just by listening. The 3 and 4 star lessons can be quite challenging - my Pleco dictionary gets used a lot! It's been a couple years since I joined, I think you can listen for free, but if you want the pdfs you have to subscribe.

Mark, iaing, henning;

Do you guys have any recommendations on sites that focus on the UI/Advanced users? I'm worried Chinesepod has lost this focus.

I think for cpod targeting beginners is more profitable for them as I'm sure the overwhelming number who use cpod are casual learners who probably won't get past elementary.

I think that's why they have been creating so many elementary lessons and fewer intermediate and higher lessons.

Merry Christmas

Agreed. This is a bad sign.

It is only a minor error, and only sounds ever so slightly strange. I too hear it a lot from German speakers, but it rarely strays far from the mark. The same cannot be said for Indian speakers who seem to want to put every verb in the present continuous. (Or perhaps I am just thinking of some non-PC parodies of Indian people I see on TV.) And when I think about it, it seems to me that Chinese speakers of English avoid it altogether, except in the most obvious cases. I think I'll listen out for that to see if I'm just making it up.

BTW RJ, I saw a reply of yours here just before I went out, but it seems you have deleted it. I hope you didn't think I might be offended by it. I was planning to reply as soon as I got home.

Thanks for the corrections, guys! I learned something today. Actually, I think I learn more English here at CPod than Chinese....

@hezcurrah: Actually, we do not have an equivalent to the present continuous in German (if you neglect some dialects like Kölsch which I do not master). So there is no explanation for that mistake. It is just an arbitrary mistake.

This "I am always getting nervous when..." thing is something I hear a lot from my German friends in particular (not so often from French and Spanish friends for example) but I never bother to correct it because it is indeed a very minor mistake - so minor that I can't even be sure it is wrong, I just know I wouldn't say it that way. I wonder if it is related to the way it would be said in German?

I love these little ways that foreign people slightly alter English. I often use these mistakes to help me when I'm learning that person's language. For example you can very often hear Chinese people mix up "he" and "she" because they are both "ta" in Chinese (although different characters). If I'm stuck for how to formulate a sentence in Chinese, I think back to how my Chinese colleagues have said similar things to me in English.

Hi henning,

I hope you don't mind me mentioning a little error in your English. I do this, not for the sake of making corrections, but because it is one of those things that sounds a bit strange but leaves me unable to explain why. And I'm hoping that someone with more of a background in grammar can explain why.

Firstly, I have always been amazed at how well Germans speak the English language, and I mean almost flawlessly. This applies to your posts too - generally you would never know that you weren't a native English speaker. But today I've seen the first wrinkle.

And it is the one thing that always trips up foreign speakers - the damn present continuous. English speakers can just sense when it should be used and when it sounds wrong, but don't ask us to explain why - it just is.

The problem is with your opening sentence. It is OK to say "I am always getting nervous." and just leave it at that. But the moment you start to qualify it with "when", it sounds wrong. It has to be "I always get nervous when ...".

The same applies to "sick": "I am always getting sick." is fine, but "I am always getting sick when ..." is not.

Having said that, it is 100% understandable (and I'm sure many English speakers would not see it as wrong, and some may even say that), and I can't see any logical reason why it should sound wrong. I'm wondering if anyone can explain the reasoning behind this wrinkle in our language.

(As an aside, I wonder how many similar examples there are in Chinese grammar - usages which Chinese speakers just know are incorrect, but for which most Chinese teachers could not explain the logic.)

Mark,

I have to agree. If this is truly due to pending vacations they had all year to pack a few extra lessons into the pipeline. Vacations are not new. I too tend to double down on Chinese studies during the Xmas break, as I suspect many do. I am disappointed, but my greater concern is that they plan to make this permanent, hence this "experiment". There is no contractual obligation to provide any certain number of lessons, but there is a firmly established past practice and customer expectation that would be dangerous to fall short of. And to rub salt in the wound they tell us its for our "benefit". That's like my bank stealing money from my account so I don't have to spend so much time Xmas shopping.

Mark,

I agree, it sounds ironic for CPod to say "for your convenience we are reducing our level of service" (to paraphrase). In fact, the holiday is the time when I actually have more free time to devote to Chinese study. But I have a backlog of a few years of material at my current pace (I know you are current or nearly so) so I won't begrudge the CPod staff some time off; just wish they would call it that. I don't think the subscription agreement guarantees a minimum level of content, as a magazine subscription would make you expect an weekly issue, for example. At least this time they told us in advance, which is one thing we have asked for. I have had a lot more time to listen to podcasts recently, so have been going through a lot of Popup Chinese content recently, but they seem to have much more infrequent programming than CPod.

To avoid this, you could produce a few more lessons in advance and publish them over the break.....

Many people have the most time to study over the vacation.

Hoping to get an answer to this.

My plan for next year actually is to slow down on my Chinese Pod lessons and to go to the gym more regularly. I would also like to transcribe the Media lesson as part of my learning process but I will see how my schedule is next year.

Maybe after 2 years I would like to write more in Chinese but I will keep Chinese Pod because they update me on the new development in the Chinese language. I figure the Advanced lesson, Media, Upper Intermediate lesson and Qing Wen are very useful resources and will keep me busy for a long, long time.