Hi everyone,

I'm an elementary student (1-2 years of study here in the States) but am dissatisfied with the progress that I've been making in class. I've been listening to a couple of online podcasts and have learned quite a bit, so am considering investing in one of the premium subscription services. Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? I'm torn between taking out a subscription to Popup Chinese or ChinesePod? Can only afford one.

I really like the emphasis on standard mandarin at Popup, but their site doesn't seem to have as many podcasts as CPod. They do have more variety though, and I like that. Has anyone subscribed to either? Something else? Was it worth it?

--john

Definitely ChinesePod. Much bigger range of lessons, really fun, great revision sets, video, PDFs, etc.

ChinesePod is HUGE - the best Podcasts online - Stick with them - u can't go wrong.

I used to like ChinesePod, but lately they only make newbie podcasts available. I guess I need something more challenging and with more variety so I am starting to enjoy Pop-up Chinese more.

I guess I should mention that I don't pay for any of these... thus the newbie. Certain sites I am willing to donate money to but depends on the content.

You can always find some of the Chinesepod casts through bittorrent files if you don't care abou the legality of it.

In fact, a online relationship network like http://asiafriendfinder.com would be the fun and easy way to learn Chinese. You can make new friends in live chat room with Chinese speaker, even find romance, dates with Chinese girls. Good luck!

Hi John:

Yes Chinsepod is very popular among foreigners in China,but one of my foreign friends he is learning chinese online too.He recommended me these lessons online.You'd better try this sample they offer you free lessons,mp3,mp4,ipod,iphone,video and audio.Anyway chinesepod you need to buy the membership,i have downloaded some of the lessons and pratice everyday.It not bad try that!

While Chinesepod is generally good, I also think that for beginners if you want to learn phrases you need to use quickly, then you may find that sometimes they spend too much time introducing things in English rather than just diving straight into the lesson and teaching you the expressions you need.Why I recommend Chinese-ilab.com is because they take you straight into the lesson, teaching you key phrases and words you need so you are learning almost immediately. That is how I started learning Chinese. Chinese-ilab has gone further to have video slides for each lesson to careter for all learning styles and above all, it is free.