I’d like to give you a heads up on a project we’ve been involved with in recent weeks.
As most of you know I’m Irish. You may also know that that country has been hit very hard by the global economic recession. In response, the Irish government hopes to develop a ‘smart economy’ and is [...]
chinterviewken-and-xiemixedHere’s an audio interview with Dr. Tim Xie, of the Asian and Asian American Studies department, at the University of Long beach, California. (Circa 18 mins.) Dr. Xie is a Shanghai native who has taught Chinese in the US for many years. He runs the Learning Chinese Online website. I think it’s safe to say that [...]
Some observations on creating language learning podcasts. These concern the role of context.
- Show, don’t tell. On one level, learning a language means learning semantics – the study of word meanings. Dictionaries, textbooks, and school teachers, all pretty much focus on semantic, literal, word meanings, but often by sequestering words from context. Such an approach is at odds with the medium of [...]
Posted in Learning | Tagged context, podcasts |
Last month, Kirsten Gillibrand took over Hilary Clinton’s New York senate seat. Kirsten is noteworthy, not just for keeping guns under her bed but also for her ability to speak Mandarin. Yesterday, David Chen provided more details and described how this is going down in Chinatown. Another little fact: she spent time in Taichung, Taiwan, as I once did. [...]
Like this. Can anyone make out what she’s saying?
More on the story here.
Ken Carroll
Here’s an article from the Asia Times that includes my interview on the subject of learning Chinese. The interview was done over the phone and there are actually some inaccuracies in it.
First of all, I don’t recall saying anything about iTalki in the interview, because I don’t know anything about them - though I did talk [...]
After a gap of a couple of years, we’ve decided re-start the ChinesePod blog. From this week, John Pasden and I will be posting here fairly regularly.
My focus will be on learning-related issues. In the last 4 years I’ve spent thousands of hours in the recording studio exploring audio-based learning objects. I feel I’ve learned [...]
Two notable individuals who have been using Chinesepod have blogged about their impressions. Rick Nigol is an e-learning expert who has been using ChinesePod for the last few weeks, as has Paul Dillon, aka, the Learning Guy. Both seem to like ChinesePod, and for similar reasons.
Community
Both cite community as a source of motivation, help, and [...]
CCTV are looking for a ‘free-lance actor’ to play the role of a foreign journalist in their Learn to Speak Chinese show. Details here. I guess this would give you the chance to work with the great Da Shan.
Ken Carroll
Helena on Introducing AI Speech Tone Practice
Ivor on Lessons to Look Out for in the Year of the Tiger
Walid Shaari on New Testing Features on ChinesePod
Sandra Rosenzweig on March Updates
Bill on March Updates
