COOL NEW AUDIO FEATURE ON CHINESEPOD

kencarroll
June 18, 2007, 07:53 AM posted in General Discussion

I hope you don't mind the all caps in the heading, but I want to tell you about an important new audio feature, released today: the ChinesePod Fix

The Fix is designed to bring new elements to the learning: review, pronunciation, and the chance to articulate new words and phrases. You can get it on today's lesson page, below the media player - it has a NEW! label in yellow.

 I've blogged about it here (in another new feature, but never mind).

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dave
June 18, 2007, 08:17 AM

That is a great feature that I am really looking forward to using. Thanks!

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kencarroll
June 26, 2007, 08:49 AM

jinkeli, I missed your question. Yes, The Fix is for premium subscribers, as is Qing Wen, and maybe some other things in the pipeline...

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jinkeli
June 18, 2007, 12:52 PM

Maybe I am blind but I don't see it...ck

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kencarroll
June 18, 2007, 01:35 PM

jinkeli, Just go to today's lesson - Sweet Waterrmelon and scroll down the page a bit. On the left side, under the media player, you'll see a link 'The Fix MP3 Download'.

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goulnik
June 18, 2007, 03:46 PM

Not sure it's cool, but that's the sort of tool I've long wished was available working with old-fashioned handbooks. I think it's great, offers lots of new flexibility mashing up with dialogue only or full podcast (if only earlier podcasts could be retrofitted, that would be quite a fix indeed)

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mona
June 18, 2007, 04:02 PM

definitely useful. was it a deliberate decision not to get a person to read out the chinese, but to use the generic computer voice instead? i think it'd be good to alternate the voices - especially since there's a danger of us (i speak primarily for the newbies and eles among us) to get too used to jenny's impeccable tones and pronunciation. sure, it is important for us to hear these so that we can practice based on them. but it would be useful (even for newbies) to hear the new vocab in context as we are likely to hear it in "real life". maybe a male voice. or one that occasionally adds a bit of a twang or a slur, so that we can get used to them and listen out for them outside of the Chinesepod context. just a suggestion. i, for one, love listening to lessons at all levels (even to radio/tv/etc) even though i'm still far from getting even the gist of what they are on about. but there's that thrill factor to being able to single out the odd word or two - to me this is one of the most rewarding aspects of learning a new language. so yeah - "the fix" is a great idea, but one that can be played with a bit to make it even more effective (in my humble opinion).

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arneneithel
June 18, 2007, 04:08 PM

Is it just for a particular class of users? Because I can't find it anywhere on my page.

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f1b1
June 18, 2007, 04:18 PM

Surely not computer generated! They're in China.

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TaiPan
June 18, 2007, 07:19 PM

GREAT ADDITION! "One small step for Chinesepod, one giant leap for Chinesepod subscribers." This is exactly what I've been hoping for from Chinesepod. Any chance to include the actual lesson dialogue/full sentences in the third phase of the call and response items? We never actually have time to 'practice' the sample dialogue while the lesson is being played. It would make these longer (good) and more helpful (great). THANK YOU.

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RonInDC
June 18, 2007, 07:39 PM

Hey, I really like this! Very cool.

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kencarroll
June 18, 2007, 10:05 AM

We put a lot of work into this feature, but we're still open to suggestion. Feel free.

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mona
June 19, 2007, 09:51 AM

goulniky, i had the same problem...it seems that there was some internal restructuring that required disabling comments.....but they all seem to be back up now. :o)

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excuter
June 19, 2007, 10:16 PM

from many lessons the comment´s are gone. hopefully they come back soon.

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pauln
June 20, 2007, 04:01 AM

Will the fix be added for all previous lessons?

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kencarroll
June 20, 2007, 04:08 AM

For now, the Fix won't be added to old lessons, though who knows? ... maybe at some point in the future...

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pauln
June 20, 2007, 04:30 AM

I hope so - seems like a great new feature. Wrote a positive comment earlier about it on todays intermediate lesson.

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jinkeli
June 20, 2007, 12:35 PM

Being a freeloader (though I will upgrade soon now that I done traveling for a while), I think it does not show up. Ken, is that correct, you need to be a paying member to get 'the fix'?

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billgloverclosed
June 20, 2007, 05:53 PM

"The Fix" is brilliant. I've been struggling to find an off-line method for consolidating vocabulary (more on the problems with exporting another time). "The Fix" really fills that void. I must look a bit odd walking to work and saying the odd Chinese word out loud. But still, great new feature, thanks.

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mona
June 26, 2007, 08:32 AM

billglover - glad i'm not the only one :o)

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goulnik
June 19, 2007, 03:51 AM

weird, a number of replies to this post seem to have gone, including mine (which I thought was very supportive)