Levels on ChinesePod?

sotrapa

November 02, 2008, 08:08 PM posted in General Discussion

Is there any standard, anything the ChinesePod levels are roughly equivalent to, expressed in college semesters, the HSK levels or the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, something like that?

I just stumbled upon ChinesePod and it has immediately rekindled my interest in the Chinese language ;-)

There's just some lingering confusion about the levels, I hope someone can give me a clear explanation.

Having studied Chinese on my own without a tutor but occasional feedback for about a year before work kept me from progressing for 3 months, I suppose my comfort level is somewhere between Upper Intermediate and Advanced. This strikes me as a little unusual, seeing as most non-native speakers could hardly be described as "advanced students" even after several years of studying a language at school. Furthermore, I'm nowhere near actually being fluent in Chinese. I was fluent in Spanish after one year, but Chinese is a different matter.

Any thoughts on this?

mayor_bombolini

November 02, 2008, 10:42 PM

sotrapa:

Here is my anecdotal analysis. I use the New Practical Chinese Reader (NPCR) Text Books.

a) Newbie level is roughly equivalent to NPCR Book 1 which is a 1st year first semester book.

b) Elementary level is roughly equivalent to NPCR Book 2 which is a 1st year second semester book.

c) Intermediate level is roughly equivalent to NPCR Book 3 which is a 2nd year first semester book.

d) Upper Intermediate level is roughly equivalent to NPCR Book 4 which is a 2nd year second semester book.

I'd be interested to hear CPOD's answer.

mayor_bombolini

November 03, 2008, 11:09 PM

tvan, sebire,

I agree some of the dialogues can be less than natural at times (strength of CPOD is very natural language). I think they were working with a rule set where they were trying to squeeze in a certain amount of characters.

Not sure about the practice book, I've never used it.

I think below is the dialogue tvan was mentioning. My take on it is they were trying to point out it is not acceptable to lick one's fingers in China:

王小云：。。。如果手指上有点儿食物，就舔手指，有的中国人看了也很不习惯。

马大为: 用刀叉吃饭，把手指上的食物舔干净，那是我们的好习惯。力波，你说是不是？

丁力波：是啊。我们从小到大都这样做。

henning

November 03, 2008, 10:52 AM

sotrapa,
there is no direct translation into HSK as CPod focusses on spoken Chinese, but a rough matching would be HSK Intermediate = CPod Advanced.

Meaning: When you can comfortably follow the Advanced shows and only every other show learn a new word (including the ability to read all and write most of the characters in the script) you should be at about HSK Intermediate with listening and vocab. Of course, at that level you also need additional input, esp. newspaper articles.

mayor_bombolini

November 03, 2008, 03:07 PM

RJ,

I like the series. I learned to read using them. There is a gradual build up in the complexity of the material.

I need a little structure, otherwise I'd only study about eating, drinking, and traveling. The language used is less colloquial than CPOD (I think these are sort of the government approved text books).

There is a running story line with a set group of actors. The approach is balanced. Each lesson has a couple of dialogues with new vocab, notes explaining the dialog, drills and practice, reading comprehension, grammar, and instruction on writing characters. There is a consistency in the material in that it all relates back to the current dialogue.

Each lesson has recorded material on CD. Pronunciation is very standard. There is also a DVD where the actors speak at natural speed. In level 3 they add subtitles like Chinese TV. The video is pretty good, with some of it shot in travel locations with good scenery, for example: 黄山，三峡，北京。

I'm guessing book 1 & 2 are going to be too easy for you. Maybe try book 3.

Best regards, Bill M.

RJ

November 03, 2008, 03:32 PM

Thanks Bill, do you use the workbooks?

sotrapa

November 03, 2008, 05:38 PM

@henning Quite humbling, isn't it? Looks like the fun part has just begun ;)

mayor_bombolini

November 03, 2008, 06:05 PM

RJ,

I've never really tried the work books. I got a quick look at one and it looked redundant to the textbook material. The textbook has a lot of exercise material.

RJ

November 03, 2008, 10:35 AM

Bill - how do you like the readers? I have used integrated Chinese but never tried the New Practical Chinese Reader series. Do you recommend these?

sebire

November 03, 2008, 07:15 PM

I have NPCR book 2. I have to admit, I haven't used it much, because the first lesson was about changing money at the bank and I just haven't found the motivation to learn about that!

Only a very tenuously related note (due to reading from textbook), but does anyone have problems in terms of speaking/reading aloud and getting their tongue tied up in knots? It's really annoying me, because I can read the word in my head, but the message from brain to mouth seems to get frazzled. Is this a common problem, or just me? Even after 1.5 years, it seems to be as bad as ever.

henning

November 03, 2008, 07:33 PM

sebire,
tried beer yet?
;)

Seriously: Try to follow xiaohu's advice and read the dialogues aloud. Look up the pinyin whenever you are unsure about the tone.

And, yes. Of course I had that experience and still do - On a good day it feels as if that phenomenon is nonexistent. But beware of my "bad China days". It can get really, really, ugly.

sotrapa

November 03, 2008, 07:39 PM

@sebire I'm usually lucky enough to avoid messing up at the "brain-to-mouth"-stage, but I frequently misread words because the actual word shares the first character with a far more common or just as likely word, like 工资 and 工作, although I'd never confuse them when reading quietly. Happens at least four times per text.

sebire

November 03, 2008, 07:43 PM

Yes, actually, I have tried beer and it works wonders! It's like magic speaking juice.

To be honest, I can't actually read aloud in English. There is something definitely not connecting in my head somewhere. Or I need to develop some muscle memory.

Back to NPCR, having looked back at this lesson, I can see why I find it slightly irritating. The dialogue is a bit random. It starts off in a bank, then the guy says "oh, your clothes are very pretty today" and then starts talking about exchange rates and buying postcards, which I am sure are all very worthy topics, but make for lousy chat-up lines.

tvan

November 03, 2008, 09:24 PM

My college used the NPCR books; my classes used books four and five. In my opinion, book five was a big improvement over book four. (In one of the earlier texts, I remember the American patiently explaining to his Chinese hosts that licking one's fingers following a meal was considered polite in the U.S.) According to my instructor, NPCR's strong point was that it was designed to prepare one for the HSK exam.

Where did you get the answers for the practice book billm?

RJ

November 03, 2008, 06:44 PM

Thanks Bill - that was my impression also. I ordered one of the books to try out. I need a change of pace also. Im already sure this is a life long hobby.