Some basic questions
klortho
August 29, 2008, 02:51 PM posted in General DiscussionI could have sworn I already submitted this question, but now I don't see it .... anyway, I have some very basic questions, being new here.
What is an "expansion sentence"? Also, what level of subscription does one need to be able to use your software? Is Basic enough?
Thanks!
andrew_c
August 29, 2008, 03:04 PMWhen you go the web page for each lesson there are different tabs: Discussion, Dialogue, Expansion, Exercises. If you click on the Expansion tab, then you will be presented with a bunch of sentences written in Chinese characters, with red play buttons next to them. When you put your mouse over the characters a tooltip pops up containing a simplified and traditional character, pinyin, and literal English translation. These are the expansion sentences.
A basic subscription is not enough to use this software. This software merely downloads and reorganizes the expansion sentences, which are unavailable unless you have a premium or higher subscription.
andrew_c
August 29, 2008, 03:33 PMHi klortho,
I was just thinking more about your question, and would like to ask you, why do you ask? As a basic subscriber, is there content that ChinesePod is providing to you that isn't as accessible or as fully optimized for (mobile) learning as you would like? If you have any ideas, I encourage you to share them.
klortho
August 29, 2008, 08:51 PMAh, the reason I ask is that, being cheap, I just signed up to the basic plan, and want first to see what I get for this, the least amount of money.
As far as mobile learning goes, I've already burned the lesson mp3s onto CDs to listen to in my car, but from what I've heard so far, the expansion sentences sound like they'd be pretty useful -- kind of Pimsleur'esque, maybe? Just listening to the lessons is better than nothing, but I don't think it will really be enough to learn the vocab.
andrew_c
August 29, 2008, 09:05 PMThe Audio Review, also premium content, is what you're looking for to practice in the car. That contains the vocab and some of the expansion sentences. In my opinion it's not as good as the way Pimsleur does it, since they don't break the sentences down. Another huge drawback, is that they still only include a few expansion sentences.
The mp3 file produced by WLCP contains all of the expansion sentences, but there is no English, and is therefore unworthy of being compared to Pimsleur. I'm not able to practice these in the car without learning the sentences a few times with the HTML file first.
klortho
August 30, 2008, 04:17 AMAre the expansion sentences the same as appear in the glossary? For example, in the recent 80/20 (Upper Intermediate) lesson, I found example sentences with audio for these vocab words: 推广,调整, 针对, 分析, 不足, 魔术, 方案, 一大堆, 凡是, 凑合. Does that match what they have for "expansion" in the premium content? (I think, divulging this information should be okay, right? I'm not actually asking you to send me any premium content.)
andrew_c
August 30, 2008, 01:21 PMYeah those are expansion sentences. So as a basic subscriber, they actually provide you with expansion sentences via the glossary? Do they have audio for you? If so, I think that's pretty goofy of them.
lostinasia
August 30, 2008, 04:57 PMOn goofiness: I'm not even a subscriber at the moment, and NON-subscribers can use the glossary and view the sentences - with audio!
For those sentences in the glossary: I think they're actually NOT the expansion sentences - I think they're all the different dialogue lines where the vocabulary item has appeared. In general they can serve the same purpose, however.
andrew_c
August 30, 2008, 05:14 PMThere are definitely expansion sentences in there, I checked. I'm sure that you're right that it also includes dialogue sentences, but those are also presented as premium-only content on the dialogue tab.
Anyway, this is pretty disturbing.
klortho
August 31, 2008, 02:49 AMWhy disturbing? In the glossary, their not really all that easy to access -- definitely not worth the hassle, unless someone automates the process. For premium $, you get the service of having them all neatly laid out for you, plus online review tools.
klortho
August 29, 2008, 02:57 PMHi, sorry, I found my post from yesterday here: http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/3117. I'm still learning how to navigate around this community section -- not intuitive! I think yesterday I somehow neglected to post to this group. Anyway the question was answered.