Listen to Chinese Audio Podcasts w/ PDF transcripts and tons of dialogs

[Serge Melnyk]

Nihao everyone, and thanks to Roddy who let me post this here.

I'm Serge Melnyk, I've been producing podcasts teaching Mandarin Chinese online since 2006, some of you may have heard of them. If not, you can search iTunes or Google for "Serge Melnyk".

The reason why I'm posting here today is because I have updated my Mandarin online course with new listening materials.

So, since I started making podcasts in 2006, I've so far recorded 237 audio lessons and enclosed a 5-7 page PDF transcript and a practice worksheet to each of them. I've been receiving many requests from learners worldwide to provide stand-alone version for each dialog.

It was a tough task to go back and re-record all of the audios ( over 80 hours of listening materials), but I'm glad that we did it.

Now there is individual, stand-alone version of each situational dialog in Mandarin Chinese, recorded by professional voice talents (type of voice you hear on Chinese radio and TV) and you have the PDF transcripts that can help you identify every single sound in pinyin.

In total, there are 282 situational dialogs on a really wide variety of topics, from basic greetings to how to get a Chinese wife , they can play automatically on your computer, iPhone or iPad--great for reviewing the podcasts!

You can listen to the lessons and situational dialogs here:

http://www.melnyks.com (along with full PDF transcripts in pinyin and characters)

Happy Holidays!

Serge Melnyk

[roddy]

People have been mentioning your podcasts for years, about time you turned up in person

[Serge Melnyk]

Glad to be here, if anyone has any questions, I'll be able to answer them!

[Wang7]

Serge; how about giving us a little background on your Mandarin studies? I'm sure everyone would like to hear your story. Shengdankuaile!

[prateeksha]

Serge, have been listening to your pods for quite sometime. Great to see you here!

[Serge Melnyk]

Thanks for listening!

My background on learning Mandarin is kind of a long story! Everything began a long time ago, when I was in high school, I think it was year 1989, I was like 15 or 16 at that time. I think those years were very popular for Bruce Lee, Jacky Chan and other kung-fu movies, this is where everything started: with interest towards Martial Arts. So fascinated by Oriental culture and traditions, that I decided to learn an Asian language and, for some reason, it had to be Japanese. I remember myself in school showing off the newly learned phrases from Japanese phrasebook: konnichiwa (hello), watashi no namae wa.....(my name is.....), I still remember those phrases. But as I got more and more exposure to Chinese culture, mainly through the kung-fu films, I quickly realized that Chinese culture and traditions are more 'colourful', coming in more variety of different styles, more emotional as it seemed to me, while Japanese culture looked pale and lacking those colours and emotions. This was just my personal perception of the differences between Chinese and Japanese cultures. And you know what, Chinese culture won . It was a coincidence that exactly at the same time, in the science magazine that I was subscribed to, there was a new series called "Chinese in 4 weeks". That caught my attention of course, and I was carrying this magazine with me everywhere I go trying to learn the vocabs and the texts. They were very simple texts and phrases with explanations, written in pinyin, very basic stuff, but very high frequency vocabulary. I blasted through all 4 weekly magazines and then reviewed another 100 times. I felt like I can speak Chinese, yay!

This was how everything started. Then it was pure interest which grew deeper and deeper and I decided to continue self-study Mandarin Chinese. So I just continued, without a teacher, just by myself. I wasn't even sure if I pronounce the sounds correctly! Songs did a great deal of work.

I was listening to the songs a lot and followed the texts written in characters and pinyin (enclosed with the tapes). I continued to self-study for about 2 years. I wish I had all the modern tools, including podcasts at that time, but unfortunately I only had had tapes with songs and radio on which I was listening to "Radio Vatican", Mandarin service which helped me to train my ear. . To be continued....

[Wang7]

I am finding it somewhat disheartening as I try to "train my ear." Most difficult.

[Serge Melnyk]

I know, it is hard. But you should give yourself time. Honestly, when I was listening to that radio, I was only able to understand that this is Mandarin, not Cantonese, but I wasn't able to make any meaning from the sentences, only occasionally, I was able to hear the familiar words. There is no magic. Once you hear something new, like a new word, try to look it up in the dictionary and try to remember it. I know, memorizing sucks, it's what the traditional Chinese learning method is build upon, but if it's only about playing and having fun, you won't go too far.

[mazztech]

Hi guys! I've been browsing the forums for a bit of time and finally decided to sign up! I wanted to comment on Serge and his website (and no I'm not affiliated with him). Just want to express my experience compared to other methods I've used.

I've used quite a few methods let it be College Courses, self-study Pimsleur, Chinese-pod, Melnyks, and currently some private tutoring.

What I've found for self study is that College courses have been beneficial depending on my instructor (I no longer take them because I feel the money isn't worth it, but I had a great instructor in the US). Pimsleur was slow, and didn't incorporate any reading or writing. There was no homework and I felt I wasn't building a large vocabulary. Chinese-pod is good, but I don't like how the instructors have such a relaxing atmosphere, I came to learn. Additionally I think its too pricey.

Serge's lessons, I found them to be paced well and he really takes his time in his pronunciation of words and gives lots of historical context along with his lessons. Additionally he provides grammar structure when appropriate. The homework's (I only only speak for the first 25 lessons or so) are enough for you to get practice, but I'd prefer more. It is differentiated though where he has you translate, fill in punctuation, fill in grammar structures ect. Additionally, he has answered each one of my questions fairly quickly. The price is right too.

I think this is a fair assessment, I hope it helps someone make a decision on a system thats right for them, but no matter what system you use, you just need to keep working at it!

[Serge Melnyk]

How's everyone doing?

[levietbao]

Dear Serge Melnyk, Could you open more free podcast (only audio) from your website?