User Comments - amitam

Posted on: Go to the Emergency Room 去看急诊

Hello Poddies

Another long time subscriber with a few comments for the new team. Welcome Grace and welcome back Jenny!  I've been around long enough to start with the excellent beginner lessons that had John's insightful language / grammar comments and Jenny's clear pronunciation. I've also been wondering if I should renew my subscription since I have little time to study these days but am excited to try out the new-look lessons. 

I'd just like to add my comments as an Upper Intermediate learner after a few years living and studying in China and now trying to maintain it in an English-speaking country, Australia (luckily there's loads of students and migrants to practise with):

* Practical scenarios that go beyond the textbook are what Chinesepod excels at. Whether it's the Emergency Room, Taobao shopping terms or attending a modern Chinese wedding or society trends. Putting them in more of a structured content stream would be great but don't lose the word-on-the-street feel. (At least one younger hosts obviously helps here too.)

*  Lessons that can be played as video or audio are both great for time-poor students. Sometimes I want to listen while I walk the dog. Sometimes I like to chill out on my bed with the video. (Stabilising the camera angles is much better in this video and I like the intro comments before the dialogue.)

* At this level, I want an English speaking host that has experience living in China for many years but still has enthusiasm. Fiona and John were the perfect examples. And a Chinese host who can engage and find the right phrases to respond quickly, like Jenny, is invaluable. I agree a male host alternating with Grace would be perfect.

* Add-on vocabulary is key for moving from Intermediate to Advanced. Eg, the different departments in a hospital. It is useless to flash them on the screen during the video though. Either explain them during the lesson or just have them in the secondary vocab list.

* I'd also like more Intermediate level News Stories to bridge the gap to the Advanced and Media sections.

* Finally, I liked the interviews with Advanced students like Kohl and the guy who went in the Chinese Bridge competition. Also the interview with the Australian diplomat Patricia about Women's Day. They are all good role model foreigners studying and speaking Chinese which is hard to find if you are not living in China or a group of fluent foreigners in China. It gives beginners something to aspire to. This content would be best in its own channel with Beijing Standard Time type topics.

Posted on: Learning words with 然 rán：当然,虽然,竟然,果然,不然

Great analogy. Will remember them forever! More outrageous stories please.

Posted on: "I Want to Pay..." 付 fù, 缴 jiǎo and 交 jiāo

After living in China for a year now, as an intermediate user these words were really confusing. Now it's much more clear. Thanks!

Posted on: Learning Words with 可: 可爱 Kě ài, 可怜 kělián, 可怕 kěpà, 可疑 kěyí

I also really liked this lesson. It explained a thought process that my Chinese teacher could not even after the third and fourth example of 可怜 came up. More similar lessons please.

Posted on: Is Home Cooking Safer?

Good lesson. Please do a Qingwen on zhiyu, guanyu and related words.

Posted on: Does It Suit Me?

I also wanted to say this was a really good Intermediate lesson.

Even after shopping every day here in China, I need some slightly more complex language like in this podcast to get the Chinese staff interested in helping me.

It took me a while to work out that Intermediate has more explanations in English and Upper Intermediate has mostly Chinese explanations. This is a good balance for me because I can listen to Intermediate ones in the gym etc but I know I have to pay more attention to Upper Intermediate lessons and probably refer to the text rather than just listening.

After listening to Jenny for a few years now, it is taking time to get used to listening to Fiona but I also think this is one of the best new lessons yet.

And it's funny that by coincidence, just yesterday, I bought my first 冬天 九份裤 on Taobao!