Chinese Learn Online
 
In the comments on my Mango Review, Vinay requested that I check out ChineseLearnOnline.com and give my opinion of the site. I was surprised that anybody actually read my reviews and found them helpful and excited that there was another Chinese instruction podcast out there that someone deemed worth ditching Chinese Pod over. So of course, I took the challenge! Here’s what I thought.
 
When I logged on to the site, the first thing I noticed was the clean look of the graphics and easy navigation bar. One of my problems with ChinesePod as it currently stands is that the older version of the site (pre-Praxis) was much easier to navigate and was more intuitive. So, provided these guys don’t change things drastically, they have a more useable navigation system than Chinese Pod, which is great.
 
Under the “Course Outline” heading on the navigation bar, there are 4 choices, the first of which is “Schedule”. I don’t use Google calendar, so I’m not sure exactly how this helps, but I’m assuming it helps users keep track of their lessons to make sure they’re getting the most out of the site’s podcast offerings. The other 3 choices correspond to the different levels of learning on the site, levels 1 through 3, with 1 being (logically) the lowest. So I chose level 1 and clicked it…
 
…what came up on the page was what appeared to be a comprehensive list of all of the level 1 lessons they’ve had, including the titles of the lessons, and links to PDF notes on the lessons. Each lesson has a summary of the vocabulary listed below its heading, which is helpful for knowing exactly what the lesson is about. At the top of the page, there’s a feature that allows users to click on one of four modes to have the vocabulary below each lesson displayed in Pinyin, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, or English. Hovering the mouse pointer over any given word in the vocabulary will pop up the English translation of that word, which is pretty helpful if you only need help remembering one word and don’t feel like having to go through the whole lesson again to find out what it means (see the picture below). On the down side, I noticed quite a few places in the vocabulary lists where the Pinyin was incorrect for a given word, and since tones are so important to the proper pronunciation of a word in Mandarin, users should beware of relying on the site’s vocabulary lists without listening to the actual podcast and comparing what’s written to what’s actually spoken or checking the word elsewhere, such as in a Chinese dictionary. Moving on to the PDFs…
 
Course Outline, Level 1
 
Only lessons 1-4 have available PDFs without paying to become a member, so those were the only ones I was able to look at. I only checked out the PDFs for lesson one, assuming that the other lessons will be about the same thing:

  • The first PDF is a general write-up of what lesson 1 is about and has information on the four tones and the origins of Pinyin. The information on the tones is really important because without proper tones, you’re gonna bother anybody listening to you and may even thoroughly confuse them.
  • The second PDF is a complete transcript of the lesson, which is always helpful for hard-of-hearing users.
  • The third PDF consists of tips for keeping yourself motivated and learning the language better.
  • The fourth PDF is the complete transcript again, only translated into Spanish this time.
 
Clicking on any of the 4 gray buttons beside a given lesson’s name on this page will give you the same basic information that you get in any of the PDFs, but with added features like audio pronunciation where appropriate. And of course, clicking the orange button to the left of the gray ones will lead to a page where the podcast can be played using the page’s embedded player, with the transcript up above for your reading pleasure.
 
Moving on to the “Resources” button…Clicking on this button instead of using the drop-down menu that I got when I hovered my pointer over it, I came to a page that gave me several options, which are only available for a few selected lessons to non-Premium members:

  • Flash cards - These are exactly what they sound like, online flash cards. But since they’re online, they also have audio pronunciation in addition to the typical visual parts, which is good for helping with listening comprehension.
  • Tone and Pinyin Practice - the top of the page says, “Practice your tones and your Pinyin by reading the following script aloud. Move your mouse pointer over the text to see the meaning. Record yourself reading it, then listen to how the speakers pronounce it.” Not bad!
  • Music - This is actually a great concept that’s just lacking a little in the execution. It’s a page designed to introduce users to Chinese music, but it doesn’t have a lot of variety. If you don’t like pop music, you’ll be pretty disappointed by the lack of selection.
  • Word Bank - Clicking on this button allows users to search for words in any of the podcasts on the site. The free trial version only searches lessons 1-4, of course, but I performed a quick search and got good information, which you can see in the image below (for the eagle-eyed only):
    word bank
  • Audiobooks - Click on this, and you’re brought to a page that offers 3rd party material for learning Chinese. Of course, it features Pimsleur, which I highly recommend to anybody wanting to learn a language.
  • Bulk Downloads - This takes users to a page where they can download the lessons from the site in bulk, 10 lessons at a time. I haven’t subscribed to their podcast yet (my 4GB iPod is running out of space quickly), so I’m not sure what their archives are like in iTunes. This page may or may not be practical, depending on what the options for downloading older podcasts are like in iTunes.
 
Moving on to the “Community” button…Clicking it takes users to a page with three options:

  • Pong Audio Forum - The page says this about how it works, “The Pong Audio Forum is an exciting new addition to the Chinese Learn Online system. One of our teachers will provide you with tasks for you to complete and answer in Chinese. An example will be recorded and posted. You can then respond by recording yourself and posting your answer to the given task. You can then compare your result with other users and the teacher.” This seems useful, but I have a feeling it’s going to be used mainly by show-offs looking to show people how great their pronunciation is. If you suffer from low self esteem, beware.
  • Updates Blog - Just what you’d think it is. It’s a blog where they announce updates about the site…As of the writing of this, it looks like the Pong Audio Forum is about to be replaced by something similar but less resource-intensive. So all you show-offs may still have your place to hang out and stroke your egos.
  • Insights Blog - This is a good idea, as well. It’s a page offering ideas and tips for learning Chinese better and overcoming frustration. Learning any language can be frustrating at times, so knowing what to expect and maybe getting tips to deal with the rough spots really helps a lot.
 
I didn’t bother clicking on the “Premium Feed”, “About Us”, or “Contact Us” buttons because for review’s sake, that would be pretty pointless. I’ve probably already insulted your intelligence enough by being ridiculously thorough with this review; no point in taking it any further. No, I don’t think I’m better than you are. I just get carried away with explanations sometimes.
 
Now that I’ve told you a lot of things you could probably figure out for yourself, I’ll give my comments on the podcasts themselves….
 
I think the podcasts are really good. The grammar explanations are well done, they give good attention to teaching proper tones, and the subject matter of the lessons is on par with what Chinese Pod covers. They certainly don’t cut any corners. And since the teachers aren’t all from just the mainland or just from Taiwan, listeners are exposed to the slight accent, vocabulary, and tonal differences they’re likely to encounter in their daily encounters with Chinese people from different areas of the world. That’s a big advantage that this site has over Chinese Pod because not everybody who speaks a given language speaks it with exactly the same accent. So the more exposure you get to different regional accents, the better your listening comprehension will be. You still won’t get as much exposure to as wide a range of [bad] Chinese accents as you’re likely to encounter in real life, but that’s actually a good thing; you don’t want to learn sloppy Chinese, anyway. It’s a difficult thing to achieve balance between exposing students to what they’ll encounter in real life and teaching them correctly, and they do a good job with it. It could potentially prove a bit confusing to beginners, but as long as they keep in mind that the differences are simply a matter of accent, they’ll be just fine.
 
In conclusion (man, that sounds so academic…sorry), ChineseLearnOnline.com is a solid site for learning Chinese. The podcasts are very well presented and put together, the material taught is great, and the site has a lot of extra material to help with learning Chinese as well. Unfortunately, I’d have to deduct points for the numerous discrepancies between the way words are actually pronounced and what’s presented in the vocabulary lists. If the site can get a handle on that problem, maybe with an extra level of proofreading before material is published, I’d give the site an A. For now, it gets a solid B.
 
Update: I’ve been in touch with Adam over at ChineseLearnOnline.com, and he brought something to my attention that I didn’t realize when I reviewed the site. Their lessons are a lot like Pimsleur’s lessons in that the lessons are progressive (each builds on previous lessons), which is extremely useful in helping students remember new words. That isn’t something that Chinese Pod does, but I’ve always wished they did. All they need to do is market this feature better, which they’re working on. Keep up the great work, guys!