FSI-RIP

I quit the FSI course. I might come back to it later. I did learn quite well about asking where someone is from and what their name is.

I'm back to CPod again. Having used bittorrent to download all the lessons and getting then organized into levels (so I don't have to right click, save as, etc on each lesson) makes it much easier to choose the lessons and put them on this.

After spending more time with the podcasts and especially the Premium features I have finally put my finger on why I don't like the other materials I've come across. There is simply too much there.

I have a short attention span. I need information, of nearly any kind, in small chunks. I go to class for 2 hours a week but I know going in that I will only retain a portion of what I heard. That's why I take as many notes as I can and record the class on this. I can always go back and dig in later without worrying about what I might have missed. With ChinesePod I know I'm getting portions appropriate to my learning ability and level of proficiency. The podcasts are interesting. I actually enjoy them. I cannot say that much about the discs that came with either of our text books. They are not overwhelming. Though we are spending 2-3 weeks on a chapter with 40-50 new words, it seems like too much. If they gave you 10 new words here, then a few pages over another 10-15 words, etc, I would enjoy it more.

I'm almost disgusted with myself, I sound like an advertisement but I swear I'm receiving nothing (other than what any other Premium subscriber gets) from CPod.

I'm going back to early lessons and the premium features are somewhat lacking. I'm looking forward to getting to the lessons which included additional sentences that you can click on for expansion. You can click to your hearts desire. I've noticed I will repeat sentences after the reader, working out the tones and repeating them back. It's helped a lot. I liken it to acting, imitating what someone else is saying.

Ultimately I've found that the material I've worked with and enjoyed from ChinesePod has stuck with me the best. Even the non-language stuff like Jenny talking about dressing her mother in leopard print from this lesson.

Just some observations to note at this point. More on characters another time.