Chinese Pod Review — Language Software Comparison (2012)

Chinese Pod offers lessons in Mandarin Chinese on the Internet to learn and practice the Chinese language.  The lessons cover everyday topics a tourist or traveler would encounter “from buying a map to holding a business meeting.”  The lessons can be accessed on an iPhone, an MP3 player, or the website.  Using this variety of methods makes practice easy anytime you have a few minutes.  Each lesson is accompanied by a downloadable PDF transcript so you can review the written text too.  Each lesson includes a dialogue in Chinese with explanation of the vocabulary, cultural insights into meaning, and practice with repetition.  ChinesePod is offered by Praxis Language Ltd

There are many ways to access lessons in ChinesePod for practice:

• iPhone
• MP3 player
• Computer
• Downloadable PDF

You may reschedule classes if you will be unavailable.  The mobile access makes it possible to use a few minutes when you are waiting in line or riding on a bus.

My personal experience with online language study is concentrated in Biblical Hebrew.  Like Chinese, it requires the student to learn a new alphabet and transliteration for use with English.  I find this exercise more demanding than Latin or other languages.

InstantSpeak Chinese costs $59.99 for a 1 year subscription is now running a special promotion for $45.99.  Offer expires on January 1, 2011.  InstantSpeak Chinese does not advertise the iPhone application.

http://learnchinese.elanguageschool.net/ offers free online lessons.  The lessons are text only and you must first learn the alphabet.

ChinesePod offers these tools to help you learn, practice, and review Mandarin Chinese.

• 1,500+ award-winning Mandarin lessons
• PDF dialogue transcripts
• Expert online teacher instruction
• Vocabulary study tools & games
• Writing practice tools
• Comprehension exercises & review features
• Online self-testing
• ChinesePod iPhone and Android apps

There are 5 subscription plans.  1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 month periods.  The 1 and 3 month subscriptions automatically renew.  If you want to cancel, it is your responsibility to make sure the cancellation is complete.  The site observes holidays according to the Chinese calendar.  Discounts apply for the 6, 12, and 24 month subscriptions.

ChinesePod has three levels of classes with different pricing structures:

• Individual for personal use and travel
• Teachers and educators for teaching
• Companies and corporations for business contacts

 Aubree Sullivan said: I have the basic … If you are disciplined enough to write down the dialogue for yourself and actually study the words, basic is great. If you like extra stuff to supplement, it might be worth going a step up. The lessons are so rich in cultural information that the phrases come alive with meaning, which for me, makes recall so much easier..."— Thomas Wilber
Global Director of a Fortune 500 company

"...The module system, with short lessons, relaxed chat-like teaching style and the convenience of listening ‘anytime and anywhere’, made it widely welcomed..."— Tim Xie
California State University

The levels have different pricing structures, but $249 was the recent price for three months and the longer terms cost about $14 a month.  You may register for a free account.  The dashboard contains a discussion board to introduce you to cultural questions and information.  There is also a ChinesePod group on Facebook that discusses questions and offers support.