ChinesePod in the New York Times

kencarroll
February 17, 2008, 02:36 AM posted in General Discussion

 

 

Here's the New York Times article about ChinesePod (and, er, other things). It features a nice photo of a Vancouver-based learner, Mike Kuiack studying rather assiduously. So, that's how it's done!

 

 

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lordstanley
February 17, 2008, 04:03 AM

I like the article too. I first heard about ChinesePod through media coverage in one outlet or another about a year after its launch, so it was neat to be able to chip in on this piece.

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zimmou
February 17, 2008, 11:17 PM

You got at least one new member from the publicity! About a year ago, I stumbled upon a lesson in the iTunes directory, but thought it was too easy to be of use to me (it was probably beginner level). I had no idea Cpod had such a nice, organized website with so much content. I love that you can set up a customized feed to go automatically to the iPod. This is exactly what I need to improve my listening. Anyway, I look forward to chatting with you all.

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laorui
February 17, 2008, 04:48 AM

Ken, A good article that's bound to score you a few new customers. No mention of Jenny though. Bazza won't be impressed.

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lordstanley
February 17, 2008, 04:49 AM

It's actually the lounge of my condo building/hotel, John, so it's a nice place to study, not to mention a nice oasis upon returning from overseas business trips. My family and I had just come back from Vancouver's Chinese New Year parade. I had to laugh because the very accomplished photographer was a fascinating woman who had just returned the day before from months in Middle East war zones, so our hour or so session a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean on a quiet Sunday surely represented a big change of pace.

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henning
February 17, 2008, 07:16 AM

In the article CPod is presented as a pure business oriented resource. In my opinion, the site should be at least be marketed to be a resource useful for *all sorts of* professionals. We learn a lot more than "business Chinese" and there are in fact a frew other professions benefiting from it (we had lessons on University teaching, autism, photography etc. etc.). Besides, I am actually missing at least one additional clause: "Many lessons include business-based vocabulary on topics like how to hire a courier in China or how it is to be killed by a Ninja when you are becoming too boring"

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kencarroll
February 17, 2008, 07:23 AM

laorui, No mention of Jenny. She deserves her own article, nay, column! Lordstanley, I appreciate your time, your comments, etc. Well done. Henning, On the mark as ever. The story was in the busienss section, so the author wanted that angle. I think ChinesePod is flexible enough to accommodate the business executive. I think this and the slick photo also helped to contrast us with Live Mocha, which is good.

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wei1xiao4
February 17, 2008, 07:40 AM

Lordstanley, nice picture! Well done!

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John
February 17, 2008, 04:29 AM

lordstanley, Are you studying in a hotel there? Looks nice...

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kencarroll
February 17, 2008, 08:06 AM

Ah, 'slightly mature'!!! I didn't notice I'd said that. We're all 'slightly mature', as opposed to 'slightly more mature' around here.

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trevelyan
February 17, 2008, 10:11 AM

Yeah. LordStanley makes us all look good. I'm curious about the second photo there, since it looks like a printout of the Vocab Manager page rather than the PDF. Do a lot of you guys do this? Do we need to add a "print this page" function or something to remove the column on the left? just curious.

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rsmith91
February 17, 2008, 10:35 AM

Wow - I’m really pleased ChinesePod is getting coverage like this in the world’s most respected newspaper. :) Hopefully it will inspire even more people to come to ChinesePod. One thing lordstanley said that really summed up ChinesePod for me was: “Part of the reason I’ve made so much progress is that they [the podcasts] are so enjoyable.” That’s the thing that makes ChinesePod so unique for me. Well done ChinesePod!

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lordstanley
February 17, 2008, 10:54 AM

Trevelyan, I had a binder of lesson transcripts with me but they were marked up with pen in many spots so would not have been so "clean" for a photo. But I also have a binder of all my Vocab Manager pages. This photo is just of a random page from it, the column from the left would have been the lesson-by-lesson labels before I deleted them. I may be unusual here in that I rarely use the flashcards function and instead actually do print out the Vocab Manager as a way of reviewing and, if lucky, retaining previously-added words.

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bingge
February 17, 2008, 04:51 PM

Well said, rsmith91! Congrats all around :)

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henning
February 17, 2008, 07:42 AM

Ken, makes sense! Lordstanly, I agree, well done. And you look impressively diligent on that picture. Regarding the article: At least I fit two of the three definition components that define the target audiance: "thirty-something, slightly mature, with some kind of business connection to China". It would be a pity if there was not some immaturity left here and there, wouldn't it?