Do you speak fluent Chinese?

[ChineseTalkeze]

I'm looking for guests for my podcast on iTunes. It's a show interviewing people who have achieved fluency in Mandarin Chinese. If you are not a native Chinese and you have learnt to speak fluent Chinese I would love to interview you.

[XiaoZhou]

Could you provide some links? I'm sure many people would like to know some more information about your podcast and perhaps to listen to a few episodes before they commit to being a part of it.

 

In general, the more relevant and useful information you provide people with, the better the outcome.

[艾墨本]

https://www.chinesetalkeze.com/

 

His website seems to be his account name. It also seems he is just getting going and there aren't previous episodes to listen to.

 

But let me save you a few clicks.

 

He is selling the "The Simplest Chinese Course: A Chinese course designed to help busy English speakers to achieve fluency FAST." which, in summary, skips right to speaking.

 

What makes him a qualified creator of such a course is having studied English himself and being a native speaker of Chinese as well as this snippet:

Quote

One day, it hits me. There is actually an easier way to learning a language and it's so much simpler and effective than the traditional learning method and I want to help you to skip that learning curve and achieve fluency in Chinese the fastest way possible.

 

Emphasis added. I would have to question what he means by the traditional method? Grammar-translation, perhaps? Communicative Language Teaching is the go-to way to teach English in most of the US now, does that make it traditional? The traditional way of teaching language in China? Because that is certainly not the traditional way in most other places in the world.

 

His first blog post is useful: https://www.chinesetalkeze.com/ni-hao-ma/

His poll asks people how to translate a phrase and then says they are wrong for giving the literal translation over the figurative translation. He probably could have skipped that and just gone right to his solid explanation of how to greet someone when you meet them for the first time in China. 

 

He offers lessons (the first is free) but you have to create an account to see more info about the pricing structure. I didn't create an account.

[roddy]

Good to see people are continuing the great tradition of discovering alternatives to the traditional learning method. And now 'instant fluency'... a great time to be alive...

 

Good luck with the venture and all, but I've seen enough "I discovered the secret" websites and "just give me your email address" free lessons for a lifetime. Talk pedagogy or go home.

[ChineseTalkeze]

Oh, wow. This is my first post on this forum and all that I'm trying to do is looking for some guests for my upcoming podcast. I'm not trying to sell anything here and I'm not promoting my website or my learning method either.

 

艾墨本 and roddy, I'm sorry if my post or my website seem scammy to you and I'm sorry if you are offended by the way I phrased my learning method on my website. Your feedbacks are valuable to me that I probably need to eliminate ambiguities in my wording.

 

Since you've made a few statements regarding my website, here I need to clarify a few things:

1. My method of teaching Chinese is not the Communicative Language Teaching method you've mentioned and it's not the traditional way of teaching language in China either. I would be lying if I don't believe my method of learning Chinese is not easier and faster than the teaching methods I have seen. I have no interest here to convince you on this point either because I totally respect what you believe works the best for you.
2. Regarding my first blog post, sure I probably could have skipped the poll but that would make that post much less interesting and less valuable. Be it the Communicative Language Teaching or the traditional way of teaching in China, at least that poll shows that most of the Chinese learners are not learning Chinese the right way. On the other hand, why would I even bother writing that post if I didn't make a poll to see if people are even making that mistake? 

Let me say this again, I'm here looking for guests to come on my show. I don't want to offend anyone and I don't want to waste anyone's time. Let's keep it constructive. No hard feelings.

 

XiaoZhou, thanks for the advice. My podcast has not launched yet and I would absolutely love to share with anyone who is interested via private message. 艾墨本 and roddy, I assume you are fluent in Chinese. By fluent, I mean being able to talk to native Chinese in Chinese without looking up dictionaries. If yes, I would also love to discuss with you about my show and you could be a perfect guest for my show. 

 

[pon00050]

Let me add to the discussion.

 

I will echo what Roddy said because that is exactly how I feel about this.

 

2 hours ago, roddy said:

Good luck with the venture and all, but I've seen enough "I discovered the secret" websites and "just give me your email address" free lessons for a lifetime. Talk pedagogy or go home.

 

 

However, ChineseTalkeze

is indeed asking for fluent speakers for the potential podcast. Whether or not the method is effective calls for another discussion, I believe.

 

Why should anyone volunteer to dedicate time/effort and cooperate with making the podcasts?

To me, it seems to me that ChineseTalkeze is the new kid in the block and this member has made no contribution in the forum so far. This post of his doesn't count since it's the very first one he made in which he managed to ask for people to make something together that will probably be used to promote his venture.

I would say 跟我们先做朋友再说吧.

[889]

(Better to add a 后 in there to contrast with 先.)

[Publius]

28 minutes ago, pon00050 said:

先做朋友再说吧

Life is short. 表跟偶打朋友牌。成就成，不成拉倒～

[Shelley]

I think that regardless of what anyone thinks of the OP's methods or way of asking for guest speakers, you have to admit that thinking Chinese Forums would be the best place to look for people who have learnt chinese to a very high level is very sensible.

 

I don't think its a problem that it is the OP's first post and they are asking for help without any preamble, stating the question first and then sorting out the details as they arise is not unreasonable.

 

If you don't want to help then you don't have to, its no reason to assume others will feel the same. Some people might feel it would benefit them to be able speak with the OP and practice their chinese or they are happy to share their knowledge and help others.

 

Don't dismiss this out of hand, you know very little about what is happening and about what might happen.

If my level was high enough, I might contemplate it. (My level is nowhere high enough so I won't)

 

[XiaoZhou]

I definitely agree with Shelly: Although some people may not be interested in donating their time to a newcomer, he made the right choice to come to these forums. Even though a lot of us (myself included) have the feeling of

Quote

I've seen enough "I discovered the secret" websites and "just give me your email address" free lessons for a lifetime. Talk pedagogy or go home.

there are probably some people who would be happy to chat with him.

 

ChineseTalkeze, are you currently located in Australia? I'd be curious to hear more about what your thoughts are about learning Chinese? Do you have some type of method/technique/strategy that you think is more effective, or are you simply trying to create some interesting content for learners?

[lips]

1 hour ago, ChineseTalkeze said:

By fluent, I mean being able to talk to native Chinese in Chinese without looking up dictionaries.

……

[Lu]

Some people in this thread are very harsh. While I appreciate Ai Moben's effort in looking into the OP's site and business, the OP didn't post here to sell us his product, he's asking for volunteers. This is not another Benny the Polyglot, this is rather a variant on 'please take my survey'. There are plenty of fluent (OMG I used that word) speakers here, which makes this forum a great place to ask exactly that question. Whether anyone here is interested in being interviewed is a different matter altogether, but anyone not interested can just refrain from replying, no? And for someone who's not yet jaded about being asked about how they learned Chinese, it can be fun to be interviewed on that subject.

[ChineseTalkeze]

7 hours ago, pon00050 said:

Why should anyone volunteer to dedicate time/effort and cooperate with making the podcasts?

Valid question. For a few reasons:

1. 30 minutes of your time will help and motivate people all over the world in learning Chinese. 
2. Free publicity. If you want to get your name, website, product or whatever out there, you'll get it with my podcast.
3. I don't like receiving help without giving anything back. I'll be more than happy to help my guest advancing his/her Chinese. 
4. You get to make a new friend. 多个朋友多条路

7 hours ago, Publius said:

表跟偶打朋友牌

迷彩打得不错

 

7 hours ago, lips said:

……

字句叫人死，精义叫人活。

 

Thanks XiaoZhou, Shelley and Lu.

 

8 hours ago, XiaoZhou said:

ChineseTalkeze, are you currently located in Australia? I'd be curious to hear more about what your thoughts are about learning Chinese? Do you have some type of method/technique/strategy that you think is more effective, or are you simply trying to create some interesting content for learners?

 

Yes, I am living in Australia. Yes, I do have a method/strategy that I think is more effective and I am creating content for learners. I'm happy share with you via PM. 

[陳德聰]

 As someone who also feels they have a 'non-traditional' approach to teaching Chinese, I am mildly interested in this podcast.

[Lu]

10 hours ago, ChineseTalkeze said:

Yes, I do have a method/strategy that I think is more effective and I am creating content for learners. I'm happy share with you via PM.

This actually sounds like the kind of thing that should really be shared on the forum itself, not just over PM, since it could be useful to other learners in the future. Perhaps start a new thread though, so this one isn't derailed further.

[Zbigniew]

On 14/03/2017 at 0:47 AM, ChineseTalkeze said:

I'm looking for guests for my podcast on iTunes. It's a show interviewing people who have achieved fluency in Mandarin Chinese. If you are not a native Chinese and you have learnt to speak fluent Chinese I would love to interview you.

I'm slightly unsure of the connection you want to establish in the minds of the people visiting your site between the fluent speakers you will be posting interviews with and the learning materials you presumably hope people will be persuaded to buy. Can you assure us that you will state explicitly on your podcast and/or site that none of the "fluent" speakers you end up posting interviews with became fluent thanks to your teaching course?

[ChineseTalkeze]

6 hours ago, Zbigniew said:

I'm slightly unsure of the connection you want to establish in the minds of the people visiting your site between the fluent speakers you will be posting interviews with and the learning materials you presumably hope people will be persuaded to buy. Can you assure us that you will state explicitly on your podcast and/or site that none of the "fluent" speakers you end up posting interviews with became fluent thanks to your teaching course?

 

 

Your request has made the following assumptions:

1. The guests will be showing off how good their Chinese are in my podcast or at lease the audience are made to believe the guest speaks good Chinese.
2. I will be implicitly or explicitly making my audience to believe that the fluent speakers learnt their Chinese through my course.
3. I am a liar and the sole purpose of my website and my podcast is to cheat people for money.
4. I am a liar and my course will not help anyone learn Chinese and even if my course does help people to learn Chinese it won't be any better than existing courses already available on the market.

Now, I'm offended. On what basis are you making these assumptions? On the other hand, how much do you know about me, about my podcast, about my method of learning Chinese and about what I do? And yet, you are filling in the blanks with your own judgemental imagination that serves the purpose no other than cyberbullying. 

 

Here's my reply to your request:

No.

 

For the following 2 reasons:

1. Your request and language are so offensive and disrespectful that doesn't even make sense in the context of my podcast.

2. 6 hours ago, Zbigniew said:

   Can you assure us

   This is like a nobody walking into a random supermarket and says to the store manager, "Stop cheating the customers. Can you assure us to put a label on every product you have in the store that says 'this product is not produced or manufactured by this supermarket'?" The manager would reply, "___________" (fill in the blank yourself)

Everyone have their right to form their own opinion, but it's unethical to hide behind the monitor and make disrespectful and misleading comments about others without basis. I am totally new to this forum and maybe there had been cases where people were cheated out of their money. Even if that is the case, you should not discriminate every newcomer with the bias that they are all fraud. 

 

Look, guys, why don't we let this discussion end here as this is becoming a waste of time for everyone? It's much fruitful to focus our time on creating values for others than littering the cyberspace. When I have time to spare, I would be more than happy to help others with learning Chinese. 

 

 

 

 

[艾墨本]

2 hours ago, ChineseTalkeze said:

On what basis are you making these assumptions?

Not much. That's the problem, I think. 

 

Perhaps an answer to this request would have been more worth your time:

On 3/15/2017 at 4:23 PM, Lu said:

This actually sounds like the kind of thing that should really be shared on the forum itself,

 

I also think you made enormous logical leaps to his claiming you're a liar. He was merely stating the conditions he would be comfortable getting on a podcast when all the information we have are 1) your website, 2) your initial post, and 3) our deductions.

 

Before I am willing to get on a podcast, I want to know what the podcast is about. In the absence of any podcast, I'm left with other sources to guess what the content of the podcast might be. It's for this reason I looked at your website and blog, information I had to glean from your username.

 

An interview requires trust. Trust that would have been easily come by with more information about the podcast. That's why I was excited to read your post, hoping to learn more about your potential podcast. I did not learn more about your podcast in your last post.

 

To use your metaphor from here:

2 hours ago, ChineseTalkeze said:

This is like a nobody walking into a random supermarket and says to the store manager, "Stop cheating the customers. Can you assure us to put a label on every product you have in the store that says 'this product is not produced or manufactured by this supermarket'?" The manager would reply, "___________" (fill in the blank yourself)

 

 

 

 

If I walk into a supermarket and there are no ingredient labels on any of the packaged food, I would not trust it. Currently, you are advertising a box that says "podcast with fluent speakers of Chinese from the creator of this blog and this website." Great, but what's in the box? And how would I feel if after asking the store manager what's in the box he replies with, "what you don't trust me?"

 

I like these forums because everything is met with a critical and questioning mind. If you look in some of the "Check out my new app" sections, you'll find that members have gone to great lengths to test an app and provide constructive feedback. I think if you drop your defenses a bit you'll find many willing to support you in your endeavors. 

 

I'm also still curious about this method you advertise on your website. Care to say more about how it works?

 

P.S. Very few are hiding behind monitors here. In fact, many are using their real names and linking to their personal businesses or blog in their signature, myself included

[roddy]

I'm sorry, but you, and hundreds before you, are setting yourself up as the purveyor of some unfeasibly unique method of learning Chinese (it hit you? Just you? Not someone with an advanced degree in language teaching?), all using cookie-cutter marketing techniques (free content, for only my email address?). I don't think any of these have ever gained traction on here - what gains traction is content - popupchinese, slowchinese, for example. 

 

If sites like yours gain success, they do it by sticking on the marketing track. Optimise your funnels, do your social media, pay for your Facebook and Twitter ads. Unless you have concrete and new* methods to discuss, there's really not much here for you.

 

*your site, I don't know. Usually these new methods come down to 'talk a lot immediately' and 'don't worry too much about mistakes'. These might look good against a paper tiger of poor quality classroom teaching, but they're hardly revolutionary. 

[Lu]

I am rather disappointed that this thread has turned so sour. OP might have found candidates for his podcasts, or at least might have met with thundering silence if nobody was interested. He might also have started another thread where we could discuss (or pile on, as the case may be) his teaching methods, after learning what they actually are. Who knows, he might have inspired someone while defending his practices, because they're probably decent enough, whether or not they are revolutionary. Instead, we got no information and no podcasts guests, just a lot of people angry at each other.