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wjwilliam
January 10, 2015, 12:12 AM posted in General Discussion

Hello I am 17 years old and I ive in Sweden. I would really like to learn mandarin but my school doesn't offer mandarin lessons. I cannot move to China due to education and I will study for another six and a half years. Although I want to move to China after that. The question is, with all this time, do I need the premium or can I just spend six and a half year ps and hopefully some vacation in China to learn enough? I do not mean enough to read newspapers in Chinese or watch the news and understand perfectly. Just enough to move to China and then start learning it perfectly. What do you guys think? I would be really happy to get an answer.

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podster
January 10, 2015, 02:55 AM

If you study for six and a half years you will have a good foundation at least.   If after that time you go to China to study you will learn very quickly.  

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wjwilliam
January 10, 2015, 08:12 PM

I understand that 6 years is a good start but do you think that I need the premium option or is it enough with the cheaper plan? The one for 14 dollars 

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podster

Well you should start with the 99 cents plan to try premium for one month. But be careful!* CPod uses automatic renewal billing, so be sure to remember to cancel before the second month if you decide premium is not for you. For many intermediate and above users the additional benefit of a premium subscription is not worth it. However, if CPod is the only source you will be using to study and you are a beginner it might make sense for you. You should try using as much premium content as you can for the first month. Study a lot of lessons and do all of the exercises (which premium subscribers cannot) and try to vocabulary review functions, flashcards, etc. that don't come with the basic subscription. If you decide you really need premium you can lower the total cost of a full year by buying a full year subscription. Or you can try the $14 plan for a few months after your first month and see if you really feel like you are missing very much.

*I can't resist mentioning, one of ChinesePod's competitors that does not do automatic renewal of billing calls it "evil" on their own web site. I completely agree.

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newtonvsleibnitz

As long as you pay by Paypal and not directly by credit card, there is no issue with automatic billing. Just cancel the automatic payment at the Paypal end immediately after you make the first payment - CPod won't even know its been cancelled until they try to ask for money from Paypal a month later. There is no way for them to get around that.

And I agree - any site that uses automatic renewal is counting on people being forgetful to make a bit more money. There is absolutely no other reason for making automatic renewal compulsory, so it really amounts to deception and a lack of business ethics.

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wjwilliam

Thank you!

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Gwilym-ChinesePod
January 11, 2015, 12:11 AM

If you visit our facebook page you will see some great discount codes for all premium plans at the moment. After the end of the the discount period, the payment will rebill at the usual amount, so if you don't want to continue with us, make sure to cancel via settings, or via paypal like Newton suggests. 

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wjwilliam
January 12, 2015, 08:41 PM

Thank you!

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wjwilliam
January 12, 2015, 09:11 PM

I can't seem to find the 99 cent trial..