Survived the troll critics

Danish physicist Niels Bohr is supposed to have said that 'Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.' 哈哈

PS: I went to Contrlo Panel to "Add input langauge" but it is not offered.

I think a lot of our current politicians in the U.S. attended ivy-league schools. Hmmmm.....

It's interesting to read all of these comments (again for you guys, but I missed this discussion the first time around). After reading through all of the comments, I've got one question: Does anyone Chinese actually say "failure is the mother of success"? I've never heard it.

I wasn't going to say anything until I read this: "One cannot recieve a truly recognized academic credential from a website. While the whole world recognizes a Harvard degree, so-called learning credentials gained from “boiler shop internet podcasts” are simply laughable." So no one will understand my Chinese until I have a Harvard diploma hanging on my wall? Quite frankly, I don't give a $#!+ whether my "learning credentials" are recognized or not. It won't change the fact that I've learned something. I agree that Universities have their place, however, my biggest criticism is that they have lost the plot. Greater emphasis is being placed on the diploma than on actual learning. I learn because I *want* to, not because I have a strong desire for a credential. And IMO, learning should never cost anywhere near $40k per semester.

Dave, I've used that a small number of times and been understood. However, I've never heard a Chinese friend say it.

Henning, Haha, awesome of you to dig up that old comment a year later. Did you mark it on your calendar after it was initially stated? :)

according to Wenlin/ABC: 失败是成功之母 (shībài shì chénggōngzhīmǔ) or 失败为成功之母 (shībài wéi chénggōngzhīmǔ) : failure is the mother of success 转败为功 (zhuǎnbàiwéigōng) turn failure into success

thanks goulniky!

the naysayers are just afraid of the approaching paradigm shift ... when you have most of the top universities in the US giving away their lectures for free as podcasts, then you have to start asking, do we really need all these professors when they teach the exact same information every year? its it mostly static information that can be recorded and supplemented where needed... some online colleges have already figured this out...that they can compete successfully with larger universities using this podcast approach of canned lectures surrounded by support services... when lecturing has been reduced in many areas to mostly a support service for selling audio and video "textbooks", the so called podcasts... well...then what? it flips everything they know upside down... it also dramatically lowers the cost and access to education dramatically... The only thing missing at the moment is certification of what you have learn via podcasts... you don't get college credit for it... even though you perhaps have learned more than in an actual college classroom over time... that's the last monopoly to break... universal acknowledgment that you can learn in non-traditional ways .... but obviously their is no way at present to certify this knowledge without going to the monopoly of the university system...so what is this professor complaining about? :-) if some community college in middle america, said hey, we don't have a chines language program, but we are going to work with chinesepod to develop a college credit program where students listen to podcasts and by passing a series of exams they get college credits for it....then you're onto something there!

I hate to repeat idiotic comments, but just to illustrate his lack of insight and how ridiculous this "professor" sounds: " It is quite obvious that lecture podcasting is just a “passing fad” that people will initially see as “new and innovative” but will quickly abandon in favor of traditional classroom instruction, despite the more “cost-effective” approach." Hah! Not a "fad", not "abandoned." Go CPod!

Mongo, something similar is done in France with the university entrance exam. There are typically two or three foreign languages to choose from at the school where you will pass your exam, but there is a list of some thirty languages you can choose to take your tests in (you need two foreign languages to get your diploma). If you choose a language not available in your school, training is provided for you by correspondence course, in some cases supplemented by video conferences and the like. I think they're on to something in the sense that this isn't a zero sum game and traditional educational institutions have a lot to gain from learning to use these new technologies, but they're slow to catch up on new methods. The last I heard they were still mailing CDs to students in the mail, which is expensive and clumsy.

CPod is much better than cassette tapes because of the interactive element, and that the web is a much richer medium, e.g. I am a lazy learner, and when I studied French would never consider picking up a pair of scissors to make flashcards. Thanks for making my life easier!

Whats the "troll critics"?

I suppose you could just look at this in one dimension and view it as evolution from the walkman era cassettes to ipods era podcast... but, cassettes were too cumbersome to use and the content was not deep enough to live up to the their promises... In fact, use of cassettes and CD-ROM prior to a few years ago was still very localized into a few nitch markets or areas... even the much over hyped multimedia learning on cd-roms didn't really amount to much of anything really... But, with podcasts, I actually see major univerisities put their lectures on line....for instance: http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm Localized... well...I just can't help but think that things are suddenly changing faster than people realize... then, you take a look at what online colleges like walden university are doing and you start to think that times have changed.. this is not the same world that you started out in... prior to a few years ago you actually had to goto a library or bookstore to browse a book... but now look at what has happened: http://books.google.com you have access to the largest library in the world no matter where you a located.... sure there are issues with copyrights at the moment... but those will be resolved eventually...prehaps something like itunes...

italiana, I think "trolls", in the internet sense, refer to people who go to certain websites, not because they are actually interested in them (i.e., they want to learn Chinese, etc.), but because they want to make hate on them and make rude comments. So Henning's title, if I'm right, uses the term "troll" to describe this so-called "critic."

Critics like him are really behind the curve... I assume you have all seen the "The machine is Us/ing us" video. If not I really recommend you google it. Another little clip this professor should take the time to see is:

I'm sorry that some of you in China may have trouble viewing youtube content. I'm sure it's available elsewhere but am not sure where. :(

I got a new computer and it doesn't have the chinese on the language bar (for typing the hanzi). Does anyone have a website I can go to download it?

'First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win' - some indian dude. Basically, podcasting works for the same reason language cassettes worked. It's not a massive change in any paradigm, just the delivery method is better and more convenient for everyone and it facilitates the 'lesson format' that we know and love here at CPod. The pardigm shift is where you see podcasting being used for marketing, because previously this wasn't a way for businesses to send persuasive material to their audiences, it's the same with business blogging.. totally new shift. I'm thinking this 'professor' isn't very smart and couldn't see a new method of 'delivering' language teaching if it came and smacked him in the face, hard. If i was anything from a old man or a young girl and wanted to learn chinese, this would be one of the more effective methods.... and besides it's 'greener' as it uses less fuel.