User Comments - schilg

Posted on: When to get a new car

Very happy with this lovely lesson! Clear structure, great explanations, examples and expansion, natural conversation strictly related to what counts - in this case the language and its finer points (without any waffling like in some of the other newer lessons). Thank you, Joy and Elijah, you are perfect hosts! Keep it up like that - also for higher levels. :) 

Posted on: 2018 Google Most Searched News

Thank you so much, Elijah, for the great examples and your commitment to the development of the new Chinesepod with your profound yet benevolent analysis of the new lessons' flaws. I sometimes let myself get carried away with disappointment given all those years of so many great lessons, but your well-informed approach should be of great help to the development of future lessons. It gives me hope, so 加油！

Posted on: 2018 Google Most Searched News

新年快乐！Best wishes for the new year to everybody. 

I waited a bit with my comment, because I feel a little bad starting the new year with criticism, but I try to make it constructive, so it could be part of Chinesepod's new year's resolutions :)

Basically I think the lesson is based on a good idea. However...

1. Please keep working on getting the right level. For an Intermediate lesson this is far too ambitious: the so-called "dialogue" is too long and too difficult. It is a media lesson in disguise. This cannot be made up for by briefly bringing up a few easier words in the discussion.

2. As for the "dialogue": oh, where are the good times when a dialogue was actually a dialogue - spoken by voice actors, with a certain dramatization, situational background noises etc.? 

3. The interaction between the hosts is really awkward - first it seems rather hostile and then ... is Ash actually hitting on Rebecca?? If this was meant as a joke, I don't get it.

4. I didn't count how many users have already pleaded to stop changing the camera angle since the "renewal" of Chinesepod... 

Posted on: My boss is younger than me 打破论资排辈──上司比我年轻

P.P.S. Why isn't even the title vocab "打破论资排辈" in the vocabulary  - would that be expected to be already known by learners of this level?

Posted on: My boss is younger than me 打破论资排辈──上司比我年轻

P.S. Please, please go and study how the older Upper Intermediate lessons are designed and structured! The same goes for Intermediate lessons, by the way. I am so frustrated. So far there has not been one usable lesson since the changes in Chinese Pod! 

Posted on: My boss is younger than me 打破论资排辈──上司比我年轻

I like the hosts and I think the lesson dialogue is appropriate for upper intermediate, BUT: I don't see any structure in the lesson as a whole: what exactly is the teaching objective? Most of the hosts' dialogue is topic chit chat and not related to the lesson dialogue. Moreover, it's unclear when the hosts are just talking about the topic in general and when they are relating to the lesson dialogue and its language. samthomas's questions also clearly show that the whole lesson is way beyond upper intermediate: New vocab should be in the lesson dialogue and then it should be explained and expanded in the hosts' dialogue; so the latter should be using intermediate vocabulary rather than more upper intermediate or even advanced vocabulary.

Posted on: Online Shopping 网上购物

Exactly my thoughts. Also not happy. 

Posted on: The New Coworker

1. If you listen to the dialogue and read along there are a couple of really obvious differences. Try it! 

Two sentences in the spoken dialogue are not in the written dialogue:

对，就是她。他叫小乔。

怎么说？

This sentence is in the written dialogue but is not part of the spoken dialogue:

你怎么问那么多关于她的事，是不是对她感兴趣啊？nǐ zěnme wèn nàme duō guānyú tā de shì，shìbùshì duì tā gǎnxìngqù ā？

2. 刚从北京办公室调到上海。should be:  gāng cóng Běijīng bàngōngshì diào dào Shànghǎi。

not. like in the written dialolog: gāng cóng Běijīng bàngōngshì tiáo dào Shànghǎi。(which is another pronunciation for 调 as a 多音词, but not the right one here)

Posted on: The New Coworker

As far as I can see, there has nothing been corrected in the written dialogue - still something missing from the spoken dialogue and still the last sentence in the written one which is not in the spoken one ... I've also submitted that twice at "Report a mistake" (along with another correction, i.e. 调到 should be diao4 dao4 in written dialogue). Errors happen, but if we make the effort to correct your errors, I'd expect you to check and correct them rather quickly. After all it is a language learning site, so these things matter more than elsewhere. I hope "Report a mistake" is not just a dummy function. 

Posted on: The New Coworker

I agree with you, A222222, with the positive first impression of the hosts and the lesson.

And I would like to support the suggestions regarding the changing camera angles (would also prefer a static shot at both hosts) and trying to integrate more Chinese into the discussion at this level. :)