Since I started at ChinesePod, one of my main goals has been working grammar into the site in some useful form. Well, I’m proud to announce that some of my hard work is now finally usable.
You have probably noticed that there are now grammar tags at the bottom of most lessons. (Grammar tags are intentionally left off of the Newbie lessons because we believe newbies do not need to be focusing on grammar yet, and left off of Advanced lessons because advanced learners should know all the grammar patterns already.) Now the grammar tags serve more than just an organizational function.
If you click on a grammar tag, you will be taken to a page listing all the podcasts marked with that grammar tag. Now, at the top of that page, you will also see the grammar tag in both pinyin and characters, followed by a brief explanation of the grammar pattern with a few usage examples. The grammar explanations and examples are totally independent of any particular podcasts. This way you can use the grammar tags to remind yourself how to use certain grammar patterns, and you can also use them to find other podcasts that feature those grammar patterns for additional practice.
The grammar explanations are short; they are not meant to be in-depth references. I mentioned before my idea about an extensive onsite grammar guide. These short grammar summaries are not that grammar guide, but we have plans to integrate the two in the future.
Dictionary rollover support for the sample sentences is coming, so please be patient. In the meantime, I hope that many of you find this new feature useful!
Like it. Good work.
GRAMMAR TAGS - oh neat. Click click click, it’s kinda almost like fun even!
John I’m really glad that you are doing this. Yes this tool is definitely useful. I read several of the descriptions and I find them clear and concise, and I love the links back to the lessons. You didn’t embed pinyin along with the hanzi in the text of the examples (it is OK for me, but since the transcripts do always include pinyin, maybe this isn’t consistent).
Selling grammar is like selling flu shots, isn’t it? I will say Ken’s approach of giving grammar a red-headed stepshild status has worked very well for me in terms of raising my communication ability very quickly (compared with my previous experience primarily studying grammar in a classroom). Yet I think the road to proficiency and fluency can’t be traveled without understanding and mastering the use of grammar, so I’m glad you are thinking through how to help us with this part.
My $0.02….we need a way to master grammar that has a fresh approach, just as CPod itself is a fresh approach to an old need. I did not see your posting about a grammar guide…I don’t know what you’re planning but I have 3-4 good grammar books already…the problem is that I dread reading them!! The beauty of CPod for me is that it is not dull, not boring, is somewhat interactive, and usually has some entertainment aspects to it.
Repetition is the tool of learning, and I don’t dread using CPod tools over and over until I master the content. I wonder if there is a way to similarly engage learners into grammar study so that they believe studying grammar is not boring (and perhaps even a little entertaining?). It seems unlikely because nobody has ever managed to do it, but I suspect it can be done.
If you need any feedback from the audience on ideas you have to integrate grammar into the process I’m sure you only need to ask for it…this group doesn’t hold back it’s opinions, right?
John
Nice! Only adds a bit more time to my study but is a nice reinforcement. I am looking forward to more of your efforts. Also out of place but your Chinese on the Calligraphy lesson was very impressive. It gives us all hope.
Mike in Jubei
Excellent! Bazza, I couldnt agree more.
This is a good addition!
I actually liked searching through the lessons to find the grammar rules. Maybe next we’ll have “GLOBAL GRAMMAR GAMES 2006″, which will be a little like the world cup, but without the cup. And the whole kicking the ball thing. But definitely the face paint.
TOO MUCH - I know it’s a little too much to ask, but like mom said ‘It never hurts to ask’, of course she never asked Suzie out, that rejection sure did sting. Anyway, if the results from clicking on a grammar tag actually brought up examples sentences from the lessons and expanded exercises, in addition to telling you which podcasts it’s in, that would be nice.
GRAMMAR EXPLANATIONS - I realize it’s a tough line to walk between very commonplace language versus specific accurate terminology. In the grammar note below the word ‘complement’ is used. I guess this means a short phrase or short string of words together, a ‘complement’ isn’t just one word, right?
It’s almost like I want a pop-up hanzi rollover for some of the grammer terms, I’d personally like the simple-Joe explanations with rollover for proper terminology. This would make it more accessible and ‘fun’ for me.
“There are short words or phrases (complements) that one can use to emphasize (the degree of) a verb or adjective. It will come after the verb or adjective and can be short, 做得很好 (“did well”) or longer like, 累得快走不动了 (“so tired [I] can hardly walk any further”).”
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V/Adj + de… V/Adj + 得
The degree of an adjective or verb can be commented on using what is called a descriptive complement. The complement may be short, as in 做得很好 (“did well”) or 说得对 (“spoke correctly”). It can also be longer, as in 累得快走不动了 (“so tired [I] can hardly walk any further”) or 高兴得跳起来了 (“so happy [she] jumped for joy”)
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BTW, in terms of grammar, pretty much the only terms I really know are noun, verb, adjective. Anything else and my American public school education starts to come thru, words like preposition, past participle, adverb, I recognize but wouldn’t bet my lunch money on being able to explain them.
Actually, I just re-read your grammar blurb, it’s pretty clear and straight-forward. I dunno, I like grammar–feel like I get a short-cut into the language, when do I get to a place where I can just ‘guess’ and ‘it sounds right’ in my Chinese like I do in English??
什么时候我能猜对我的中文的语法？你觉得我有够多的输入我的脑子可以自己想好了吗？每天我看电视，读小汉字,subtitles,不过我太懒好好认真写copy和慢慢学，这个句词有什么语法，这个不认识的汉子是什么。每天我看大概一两个小时多电视。越来越多时间我读多书但是我觉得我因该读多一点。每天半小时少。我也不太董哈日破特。我知道一个人是一个人不一样，不过我想问，你能说最快的方法一个人因该听多少时间，说口语每天几个小时？每天我觉得我有半一个小时的口语机会。现在我看自己的写字我觉得不像‘写字’，故事的字，像我自己的口语写出来。但是我现在可以看起来我用错了的汉子，很多按错的汉子，比以前好多了。每天用上网和Cpod写词是半个小时多。有人读过我刚才写的词，你能加前边一个‘难道’。
GOOD GRAMMAR - Today I started going thru some of the new grammar tag info that John and team has put together. I first went to the Podcast Archive, then clicked on the Grammar tab, and there displayed are all the grammar tags so far. I just started clicking and reading thru each one. The descriptions for the most part are REALLY good, simple, and with a nice relevant example or two. Apart from me not really knowing what an ‘adverb’ is, I did learn that ‘bu’ is one and it goes in front of a verb. Actually I already knew that, but it was a nice review and clearly explained. Looking forward to more. Keep it up!
Lantian,
Thanks for all the feedback. I’m glad you’re finding it useful. Pulling all the relevant sentences from the lessons in which the grammar patterns appear would be quite a lot of work. Our goal is to provide general information on grammar patterns as concisely as possible so that learners interested in grammar can apply it to the lessons.
If you want to learn more about complements, I recommend you take a look at this page.
Nice. Keep up the good work.
Since grammar tags went alive two weeks ago I have to say that I like them a lot, they are very useful. I think that using them help you when trying to understand mandarin and reinforce your knowlogment of the language. This is one of my favourite CPOD functionalities.
Thanks, John…I really like them too…their clarity and conciseness…I’m groping my way in the dark in most instances (depending on how accustomed I am to familiar phrasing) hoping my sentence comes out the right way. These will help to reinforce the patterns.