Traveling? Bring ChinesePod, not Textbooks

As I was getting ready to leave for three weeks in Europe, I worried about my Chinese falling out of practice before Princeton in Beijing. I wanted some way to keep up my Chinese in Europe. However, because I’d be traveling around the continent by train, I had to pack light and so it just wasn’t realistic for me to bring my Chinese textbooks. Moreover, I’d be in Europe! What were the chances that I’d actually crack open any form of work?

I wanted something that was portable, would help me practice Chinese, but not intrude on my travels. So, I signed up for a trial membership at ChinesePod.com, took the incredibly fast language test, downloaded tons of upper-intermediate and intermediate lessons, and put them all on my iPod.

I must say, ChinesePod is wonderful. As lessons’ skill levels increase, their vocabulary doesn’t become less useful (like I’ve noticed in my Princeton Chinese textbooks). Indeed, I could see myself in many of the covered situations (when the taxi takes the long way, ordering a drink, talking about Chinese identity).

The only annoying part of the audio feed is at the end when Ken Carroll comes in to, in a rather stupid way, remind listeners that they’re listening to ChinesePod.com podcasts (for example, one goes something like this, “ChinesePod, it’s the new black”). Other than that, I really think John (from Sinosplice) and Jenny make a great team, and their conversation feels quite natural and rarely seems forced.

Anyway, the folks at ChinesePod have been doing a great job and I really enjoyed listening to their podcasts while spending hours at a time on European trains. Most of you have probably already had experience with ChinesePod, but if of you haven’t, I recommend that you check them out.