How about re-doing some one the very early lessons, as in the pre-John P. lessons (ie. 2006, 2007…). The thing is these are some of the basic topic lessons like “buying tea”, “taxi directions”, (before they start to get more specific) so they are very valuable and useful base lessons - however, I’m sorry, but Ken is NOT good model when he speaks Chinese. It makes these lessons almost unlistenable. He’s was a great and entertaining host when speaking in English, but his Chinese is not what we want to emulate.
I think John and Jenny’s lessons are great, that will be perfect if can redo some old lesson(ie. 2006, 2007…), since ten years past, something need to update.
Hi there,
Thank you for your suggestion. We’ll take this in consideration for our upcoming lessons.
Cheers!
Betty
John and Jenny are great. Very good lessons. Please keep those.
I recommend people listen to the 2006-2013 lessons. Before that, Ken’s Chinese is terrible (he is fine speaking English). After that, I like Fiona and Gwillam, but those lessons are not great for learning.
Please keep the John and Jenny tapes as is.
I am the member of Chinesepod since last year and sincerely I get benefit a lot from Chinesepod.
I understand that there is some difficulties Chinesepod facing from beginning until now and there will be some difficulties which is
- Standardization of new content for a long term
- Good and experience host leaving from time to time
- Changing of structure organization and management
I believe Chinesepod are doing their best to give the best content.
I really enjoy some of the previous series example Chinesepod today, interview of the guest or some of the live in Facebook. But seem this kind of content has been stop from previous which I feel is a lost of good lesson to learn for me.
May I know is the Chinesepod today, interview of the guest or some of the live in Facebook will it continue in future? and What will be the direction of the new lesson and content will be provide in future?
Hi Eddie,
Sorry for the late reply and thank you for your feedback. First, yes it might continue in the future. The more interaction between students and ChinesePod, the better it is! As for the new lessons, we are making many new series now, for example some fun facts about Chinese, difference between Mandarin and Taiwan Chinese, science knowledge, synonyms, and so on.
Betty
Some of the earliest lessons were redone while Jenny was still there. The reason given was that it was “not up to current standards” or some such, but I’m sure the real reason was exactly as you cited.
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Betty,
“Taiwan Chinese”? I think most people in Taiwan would say that their official standard language is “Mandarin.” Obviously it has a “southern” accent, some alternate pronunciations for a few words, and some differences in preferred terms to describe certain things (such as different words for “software” or “bicycle”). At least in terms of the pronunciation though I wonder whether it is any more a different “Chinese” than the “Mandarin” spoken in a lot of provinces on the mainland. I think people in Hunan, for example, would be very surprised to be told that they are not speaking “Mandarin” just because their putonghua does not sound exactly like that spoken by CCTV news anchors in Beijing. Anyway, my point is that you can probably avoid some debates by choosing a way of describing the differences other than “difference between Mandarin and Taiwan Chinese.” Maybe you could say “Mandarin as it is spoken in Taiwan versus what is usual on the mainland.”
Respectfully submitted for your consideration.
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Please definitely keep the original lessons!! I love the “classic” lessons even if they are a decade old. It would be great to have new lessons on the same topics but I would be so, so sad if the old ones disappeared/got recorded over.