Chinesepod

I believe I mentioned on a number of occasions (1, 2, 3, 4) that I’ve been trying out Chinesepod. Well, seeing as I have plentiful time on my hands at the moment (between diapers and feedings) I decided to sign up for the free 7 day trial.

The materials and tools that you get when paying for a subscription are pretty well done. For the basic subscription you get a transcript and vocabulary list for each lesson. For the premium subscription you get almost everything they have to offer: exercises, supplementary vocabulary, flash cards and even games. Everything is well designed and the lessons are well done. You can also use the online tools to setup and maintain your own vocabulary list for testing and reviewing. You can track your lessons and progress for each.

The newest, and highest level gives you all the premium features, plus you get a 10 minute phone call from one of the teachers everyday to review your progress with and practice. Pretty good for somebody that doesn’t have access to a suitable and willing partner.

I think anybody willing to dedicate the time into learning Chinese without attending a class at a school could use something like this service. Having transcripts and already made online tools for testing and practicing are a big time saver. It also helps that everything is interconnected (add new vocabulary from a lesson to your own vocabulary).

The cost for subscription is pretty reasonable too, however, I’m not sure I am ready to shell out the bucks for it yet. The subscriptions expire after a while so it is tough to justify paying for something if I am not sure I’ll be able to dedicate the time to using it. If I knew I had the time and wasn’t going to be pulled into other things I would probably sign up, but for now I’ll just stick to using the podcasts, and my own materials, my own tools (like ZDT) and Sue.

BTW there are other services for other languages out there. The owners of Chinesepod are working on a Spanish podcast service now, too (based out of Shanghai China). I have tried out the other Chinese language podcasts and even took a look at the Japanese one. They don’t compare. The Japanese podcasts are just too much for me. They seem over done and not real.


2 Responses to “Chinesepod”

  1. sarah Says:
    March 5th, 2007 at 8:34 am

    neat! i’m gonna check out the spanish one.

  2. Shaun Says:
    March 5th, 2007 at 5:20 pm

    If they can do for Spanish teaching what they did for Chinese it’ll be worth it. The Spanish Sense blog and a couple of mentions on the Chinesepod forum are all that is publicly known about it so far.