|
The Thomas Crampton Channel
Why Web 2.0 works for learning MandarinPosted by Thomas Crampton, June 24, 2008 10:02 AM
Ken Carroll, co-founder of the Shanghai-based Chinesepod language teaching service, explains to Thomas Crampton why Web 2.0 tools work particularly well for learning Chinese in particular and languages in general. |
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
affordabe on
Blogspot unblocked, but Blogger is blocked
Adam J. Sc on
Snow in Beijing
Peter Kauf on
Bound feet in China
Media Partners
Visit these sites for the latest China news
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
 Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
 Xujun Eberlein's Apologies Forthcoming: Hong Kong's Blacksmith Books has published a short story collection by Xujun Eberlein.
Princess Der Ling: Two Years in the Forbidden City: Two years in the Forbidden City is largely a reminiscence of the minutiae of life for one of history's most powerful women, by one of her court attendants, a Manchu noble's daughter by the name of Der Ling.
Carl Crow's The Long Road Back to China: In 1939 Carl Crow - an American journalist, advertising executive and author who had lived in Shanghai for 25 years until forced out by the Japanese - travelled up the Burma Road from Rangoon to Chongqing on assignment for Liberty magazine － 'the most interesting assignment I have ever been given'.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ The 'national' in National Day (2006.10): Xiao Feng writes about China's national flavor, national curse, national bird, national car, and so forth, Dongfang Yu writes on the true meaning of China's National Day in the age of angry youth. + Don't ask so laowai don't have to tell (2008.07): An essay was written by Geremie Barmé, scholar, filmmaker and author of the new book The Forbidden City. + Religion and government in an uneasy mix (2008.03): Phoenix Weekly (凤凰周刊) article from October, 2007, on government influence on religious practice in Tibet.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky
 (on the mainland)or Feedburner  (blocked in China) Main feed: Main posts (FB has top links) Top Links: Links from the top bar Danwei Jobs: Want ads Danwei Digest: Updated daily, 19:30 |
 |
Chinese media, advertising, and urban life. |
|
tweet
facebook
bookmark
HaoHao
digg
Comments on Why Web 2.0 works for learning Mandarin
YouTube is so damn slow in China. Got a transcript?
Sorry about that! Have a near transcript in this posting.
http://www.thomascrampton.com/china/ken-carroll-chinesepod-praxis-shanghai-language/
Yeah its very complex...
How did such an inarticulate bastard become so successful? It's so painful to watch, not to mention his crow barring in a plug for that shitty website to boot
Man, Ken is a lot older than I pictured!
Yeah, Web 2.0 is great and all, unless of course you're on a China Telecom ADSL connection, in which case sites like Chinesepod are next to useless.
@Thomas Crampton: Thanks, much appreciated :)
@Anonymous: Chinesepod's streaming audio is basically unusable, but you can still download their MP3s and listen to them once they're done. If you got scared off before you should give it a try, it's actually really useful.
You can totally explore in a book on your own, too. But Chinese is really difficult, and benefits more from multimedia than say, a language more similar to my native language. (I could learn Spanish flipping through a book, but Chinese is a many-tentacled beast.)
I like ChinesePod. I pay them cash. I even opted for their Praxis Pass for an extra $10/mo to play with their other languages.
-danny