Is this kind of like what ChinesePod is like to native Chinese speakers?

[amandagmu]

I found this English learning video today on the web and thought I'd share. If this is what ChinesePod sounds like to native Chinese speakers then maybe I finally understand why they laugh at it....

http://effortlessenglishclub.com/the-fluency-engine

[roddy]

In the unlikely event you actually want an English version of Chinesepod.com, you'd want to look at . . . Englishpod.com. No really, it's the same company.

[amandagmu]

Yeah, but does it also make you a "fluency engine"? 我要成为一个流利发动机！

[imron]

to native Chinese speakers then maybe I finally understand why they laugh at it....

Do native speakers laugh at it?

[amandagmu]

At ChinesePod--yes, I've had a few of them laugh at the topics of choice and the people doing the program. But I think it's also partially a biased perspective. In one case it was colleagues of mine in Chinese history at the PhD level so they saw the CPod topics as trivial; in other cases it was native Beijingers who thought the Shanghai accents on CPod were sounded incorrect (or maybe they just thought I should learn from Beijingren and not Shanghairen?). Nevertheless, I found the above English video just.... I don't know, awkward and silly at times, both in terms of high-pitched accent and flailing his arms around to describe things.

[imron]

Oh I definitely agree that the above video comes across as awkward and silly

[anonymoose]

Yes, it's a crock of... Well, never mind. But if your English is at such a level to need that kind of input, then inventing phrases such as "fluency engine" is not very helpful.