I love the updates!!!
There IS something I have long wanted to request, though ā additional search functionality allowing vocabulary/phrase search of the entire ChinesePod dialogue library (and maybe also of all of ChinesePodās expansion and grammar sentences) as a corpus (actually corpora, since I think the dialogue library should be one corpus and the additional expansion/grammar example sentences another corpus, since the dialogues provide MUCH more useful context than individual example sentences are likely to).
Here are two questions I had today which could likely be answered if this search functionality were available ā and that without this search functionality can probably only be answered if I can find (1) a native Chinese speaker who (2) speaks English and (3) is naturally sensitive to how language works and is good at explaining it.
In the recent ATWTI lesson on "åŗčÆ„ēā (and other Chinese ways of expressing something like āYouāre welcomeā), I wanted to get a sense of how often åŗčÆ„ē is used relative to, for example, ę²”äŗ. I also wondered to what extent (if at all) āåŗčÆ„ēā connotes that what the person has done is only what they SHOULD have done (and therefore is not worth someone thanking them for). . . .or if åŗčÆ„ē instead is just an automatic response like the English āYouāre welcomeā that may or may not express that the respondent REALLY welcomed the bother of doing whatever it is they did for the speaker?!? Given the size of the ChinesePod library, I think itās likely some lesson DOES already exist explaining at length the nuances of åŗčÆ„ē vs. other forms of āYouāre welcome.ā However, without corpus search functionality of the kind Iām describing, I think I have no way of locating this (probably already existing) lesson. (None of the lessons you linked in the practice tab have dialogues including åŗčÆ„ē.)
Similarly, I just watched the hilarious (and so very memorable) lesson on āMisunderstanding the Doctorā and was wanting to see more examples of the phrase ęęÆčÆ“ to get a sense of whether this sentence can ever be used by someone lower in status speaking to someone higher in status or whether that would be rude. Again, given the size of the ChinesePod library, I think thereās a good chance I could figure this out on my own if only ChinesePodās dialogue library and example sentences were searchable as a corpus ā but currently, I can only ask my Chinese roommate her thoughts. (However, Iām a little concerned that I might not, in fact, get an accurate answer from her even if I DO ask because I know from doing corpus research as an applied linguist in English that sometimes native speakers arenāt the best at answering such questions off the top of their heads because they tend only to consider the question in the one context the question-asker gives and DONāT think of potentially several other contexts where that phrasing IS indeed possible and appropriate.)
Therefore, I would very much like to request that ChinesePod-as-a-corpus search functionality be added to the search bar. Thanks VERY much for your consideration of my request!
Monica