User Comments - xiaohahaha
xiaohahaha
Posted on: 酒鬼
June 13, 2007 at 3:23 AMvery funny! I am serious about changing "Upper Intermediate" to "Advanced for Newbies" though!! I listen to chinese radio a lot, I understand about 50% of what I hear! Every word that I understand came from what I read on Taiwan News or other books, not one word did I learn from listening to the radio or even from chinese class! Can you imagine if somebody explained to me in plain english what I was hearing on chinese radio, how much easier it would be for me to become fluent much faster? It really would be a good trick if I was able to learn by listening without knowing the word before hand, that would be really magic!!!
Posted on: 酒鬼
June 13, 2007 at 2:12 AMI don't think we can allow Taiwan to re-join China! Seems to me the Strait of Taiwan is much too important to us!!! I was sure we used to get a new lesson everyday! now we are lucky to get one a week. So what's everybody doing at Chinesepod? I still think that the Upper Intermediate should be replaced with "Advanced for Newbies" or "Advanced for Dummies" "Advanced Explained in Plain English" especially since everybody must have a lot of spare time these days!
Posted on: Going on a Diet
June 11, 2007 at 2:16 AMsimongrant I'm just trying to cut to the chase. The end goal for me is to be able to understand what I hear and read. With that I will be fluent in Chinese!!! It's as simple as that! I'm so close that I can taste it!!! The problem is nobody teaches the direct route to that end. Everything is indirect or going around the goal in never ending circles!!
Posted on: Going on a Diet
June 10, 2007 at 3:45 AMWhat I’m asking for, I know works! before I was learning Chinese, I was learning Spanish. For several years I tried everything, I went to most Spanish countries for my vacations every year. I just couldn’t understand anything on Spanish radio which also meant I couldn’t hold a conversation. Then I bought a Spanish language tape that had real life conversations from radio, and interviews on the street. It was all explained in plain english!! Just like magic, after that I was able to understand more than 50% on spanish radio. I was almost immediately able to be understood in Spanish. I have tried with my favorite Chinese teacher to do the same with Chinese since she is also on chinese radio, She had everything to do it, but the problem was the other students. It was a ho-hum situation. Just like here! Nobody was interested, except one girl, she is now in Shanghai learning chinese in a chinese environment! I won't blow her cover though!!!
Posted on: Going on a Diet
June 9, 2007 at 3:56 AMI think I have it all figured out. The newbie's & elementary are explained in extraordiary detail, to the point that it's hard for me to listen to. I have to download the short version. As the lessons become more complicated though, less and less is explained in english to the point that any explanations become useless because they are in chinese. I would have thought that the more complicated a dialogue is, the more explanation would be given in english to help us understand it better, but the opposite is true. I would think that the newbies wouldn't need any explanation because anybody should be able to understand it just by reading it once!! It's the more complicated ones that need the explanation!! I would
Posted on: Lili and Zhang Liang 15: Uncomfortable Encounter in a Bar
June 9, 2007 at 3:46 AMcoljac I just listened to this one for the first time. I understand most of what I hear. I would prefer all lessons to be at normal speed. We absolutely need to train our ears for real life speed if we ever hope to be able to speak. Understanding and speaking are directly related!
Posted on: Resisting Relocation
June 8, 2007 at 2:37 AMA lot of times I just say 你好，then they say "you pronounce so good!!" When they say that, the rest of the conversation is in english, I think they do that on purpose just to make sure that I don't speak anymore chinese! You can be pretty sure that anything I would say after that will not be so good "pronouce" My Acupuncturist always says that and I've known her for many years!
Posted on: Going on a Diet
June 7, 2007 at 10:10 PMJenny, Yes, that's what I mean. I realize that it might be classified as Advanced, but it really needs to be explained at the intermediate level. The problem I see with the Advanced is that most chinese words are explained in chinese. Possibly we need another level called "Advanced Explained" There is a lot of crucial dialog that is more real life like, that is passing me by. News snippets would be perfect. I'm sure everybody listens to news everyday anyway. You and John do make the perfect pair and a joy to listen to.
Posted on: Going on a Diet
June 7, 2007 at 4:12 AMIt's like the girl in one other post said, in Shanghai people talk a lot faster than on Chinesepod. Somebody then replied to go to the Media section. I think that's what would happen if a radio broadcast was used as a lesson, then it would be in the Media section where it would be almost useless to those that aren't super advanced. I need to hear real world dialogue if I ever hope to be able to speak. The two are directly related. But it needs to be explained at the Intermediate level. Just a thought.
Posted on: 酒鬼
June 14, 2007 at 1:46 AMman2toe I guess the topic of the day was perfect for my topic! matleena Did you see that some people in the Newbie's section commented that the musuem lesson was a really great lesson? If they were excited with that lesson, just imagine the excitement with this Advanced lesson if it were "Advanced for Newbies" I think I know what's going on here. cpod doesn't have anybody to translate the Advanced lessons to english!! The guy that could have helped Jenny was last spotted by Kitty in some back alley..