{"id":1906,"date":"2021-03-22T01:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T00:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saporedicina.com\/english\/?p=1906"},"modified":"2022-02-22T12:41:11","modified_gmt":"2022-02-22T11:41:11","slug":"chinesepod-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saporedicina.com\/english\/chinesepod-review\/","title":{"rendered":"ChinesePod Review – An alternative way to learn Chinese"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"chinesepod<\/p>\n

Click here for a 14-day free trial of ChinesePod<\/a><\/div>\n
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  1. Can a podcast like ChinesePod improve your learning process?<\/a><\/li>\n
  2. How much does ChinesePod cost?<\/a><\/li>\n
  3. What I like about ChinesePod<\/a><\/li>\n
  4. What ChinesePod offers<\/a><\/li>\n
  5. Common mistakes among ChinesePod users<\/a><\/li>\n
  6. Final considerations<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    This is my review of ChinesePod<\/a>, my favorite podcast for learning Chinese language.<\/p>\n

    The first version of this review was published in 2012. Because the product has changed a lot since then, we update this article every so often to add new functionalities. <\/p>\n

    I will explain how a podcast is different from a traditional Chinese course, introduce the main features of the product and the prices of the different kind of subscriptions. Also, I will point out the most common mistakes that people make when they start using a podcast to learn a language. <\/strong><\/p>\n

    Can a podcast as ChinesePod improve your learning process?<\/h2>\n

    In 2012 I came up with a daily routine to learn Chinese as fast as possible<\/a>. <\/p>\n

    I put a lot of emphasis on motivation, flashcards review, the use of a “traditional” Chinese course and the importance of listening to Chinese music and movies in a regular basis. I also stressed out the fact that I wanted to avoid quick burnouts so I would keep my studying time under one hour per day.<\/p>\n

    Following a strict routine helped me to keep the motivation and study every day. You can find my main mistakes and realizations with Chinese study here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Since I was walking one hour per day to reach my office, at some point I decided that I wanted to spend this time in a more productive way.<\/p>\n

    I was already listening to Chinese music<\/a> almost all the time I was on the road. However, I like bands like the Er Shou Meigui<\/em> that have a strong Beijing accent (which I can barely understand).<\/p>\n

    I wasn’t learning any new words through my listening practice (movies at that point weren’t helping that much neither). Nor I was improving my ability to understand Mandarin as you progress much faster when you understand what people are trying to tell you.<\/p>\n

    And even if I was living in China, when you spend all your day working in front of a computer your exposure to the language is limited. I’m not a student anymore and when I go out with my friends I often prefer to switch to English (or another language I can fully understand as Italian or Spanish), have a cup of wine, and relax.<\/p>\n

    The result is that I was learning most of my new vocabulary through flashcards. And, even if flashcards and SRS systems are a fantastic tool to learn a language<\/a>, this is not “healthy.” <\/p>\n

    The problem is that when you only rely on flashcards to memorize new words your brain kind of freaks out as you lack the context necessary to fix a new word in your mind. If you are interested in this topic, I wrote a whole article dedicated to the importance of learning Chinese words in a context<\/a>. <\/p>\n

    So I decided to spend one hour per day (the time that I needed to go back and forth from my office) listening to a Chinese Podcast. <\/p>\n

    And I discovered that podcasts are great to learn new words and improve your listening ability.<\/p>\n

    Why I chose ChinesePod<\/a> rather than another one? <\/p>\n

    Mainly because the host of the Intermediate<\/em> and Upper Intermediate<\/em> levels at that time was John Pasden, the guy that runs one of my favorite blogs about Chinese language, Sinosplice<\/a>. <\/p>\n

    How much does ChinesePod cost?<\/h2>\n

    The Basic subscription costs 14 USD\/month and the Premium subscription costs 29 USD\/month.<\/p>\n

    If you want to save a bit of money, you can also pay quarterly or annually. The prices are the following:<\/p>\n