User Comments - WillBuckingham

Posted on: Pre-Valentine's News

Not, I feel I should add, that there is anything wrong with those earlier podcasts - they are still impressive. But what I like about Chinesepod is that it is clearly underpinned by ongoing serious reflection on pedagogical issues, and that the results of this show through.

Posted on: Pre-Valentine's News

Just a thought on the "highly technical and academic" aspects of the changes talked about on John's blog post. I've been listening recently to a few Chinesepod podcasts from the early days, and I'm struck by the extent to which the Chinesepod approach has been been honed and refined since then. This is no doubt in part due to trial and error, but it is also in part due to a lot of serious reflection on academic and pedagogical questions. The end result of this reflection is not a more "academic" (in the worst sense) approach, but a more effective approach. Or so it seems to me.

Of course, you don't need to know about a chef's methods (to use your metaphor Paulinurus) to appreciate the end-product, or to say that this pastry tastes beter than that one. But at the same time, these methods do have an effect, and one aspect of transparency is having an open-plan kitchen so that you can see the chefs at work...

Posted on: Thoughts on Returning Home 回乡偶书

I'm always up for obscure but important areas of scholarship (the only thing better are obscure but unimportant areas of scholarship: as Borges said "There is a kind of lazy pleasure in useless and out of the way erudition.") Another great lesson, and good to let the poem have a bit more breathing space.

Posted on: Language Power Struggle

The thing about communication, it seems to me, is that like water it tends to flow along the easiest route. The trick, perhaps, is to find contexts where you simply have to use the language that you are learning, where there is no other option. 

Anyway, great lesson. One of my first intermediate lessons, and I can confidently say that I understood at least 50% of the dialogue first time around...

Posted on: Seeing off an Old Friend 渭城曲

Those are the kind of Buddhist poets I like, the ones who are not averse to sharing 一杯酒 with you...

Great stuff, although it left me wanting more.

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 7: A Firing Afoot?

Thanks! That's useful. Best wishes, Will

Posted on: Lao Wang's Office 7: A Firing Afoot?

Just a quick question for clarification. The PDF and recording have:

这也是没办法

Whilst the pinyin on the PDF and the text on the dialogue section of the site have: 这也没办法

Does the absence or presence of 是 matter? I'm guessing it might add a bit of stress to the sentence, but can be done without as well; but, as I said, I'm only guessing...

Posted on: Farewell, Son 游子吟

Great to see that you're up and running with the poetry, Pete. I confess, however, that I could have lived without the video (poetry is inherently interesting, so I'm not sure we really need Elvis to help grab our attention...); although this may simply be one of those things that tends to divide the audience. I also suspect you could push the boat out a bit and make future podcasts a bit longer. My hunch is that you probably have far more to say than four and a half minutes will permit. But thanks for taking the plunge with this, and I look forward to the next one.

Will

Posted on: Plants Need Watering

Thanks for the information on 快乐, 高兴, and 幸福. That's a lot of happiness for a Tuesday morning.

My own houseplants, to survive my unfortunately less than assiduous care, suffer a somewhat cruel Darwinian struggle for existence... Some nevertheless thrive and seem to be 快乐 despite everything; but in all fairness, none of them could be considered 幸福...

Posted on: Guided Plan Gets Better! Plus: Poetry is Pending

All sounds fantastic. The double ellie thing is a good idea. And I'm hugely looking forward to the poetry.

All the best,

Will