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Germanpod101 and Russianpod101

  Tags: Podcast | Links | Japanese | Russian | German
 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes Post Reply
24 messages over 3 pages: 1 2
leosmith
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6550 days ago

2365 posts - 3804 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Tagalog

 
 Message 17 of 24
14 March 2011 at 1:12am | IP Logged 
I base it on all the language podcasts I've listened to, including several pod101s, but not Germanpod101. I know for
a fact that some of the pod101s are not sequential as you say. Thaipod101 for example has no intermediate
lessons, and there is no logic in the words the audio blogs decide to define as vocabulary words.

But I'll take your word for it regarding Germanpod101 progression. So you're saying the first 25 lessons of each
level is sequential. Would you say that if I take the first 25 lessons of your first 4 levels, and used them like assimil,
the results would be as good?
1 person has voted this message useful



Sprachprofi
Nonaglot
Senior Member
Germany
learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 6470 days ago

2608 posts - 4866 votes 
Speaks: German*, English, French, Esperanto, Greek, Mandarin, Latin, Dutch, Italian
Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Swahili, Indonesian, Japanese, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese

 
 Message 18 of 24
14 March 2011 at 10:59am | IP Logged 
Quote:
I know for a fact that some of the pod101s are not sequential as you say.
Thaipod101 for example has no intermediate lessons, and there is no logic in the words
the audio blogs decide to define as vocabulary words.

Local teams are supposed to create sequential lessons; can't say more than that because
I've been too busy to listen to the other sites in the past months.
ThaiPod101 was created half a year ago; give them time.

Quote:
So you're saying the first 25 lessons of each level is sequential.

Not quite, I'm saying that all lessons of a season are sequential, and most seasons
comprise 25 lessons. The seasons are independent of each other. There are several
seasons of intermediate lessons for example, and any of them will bridge the gap
between upper beginner and upper intermediate. That is, any except the first, because
when I started out creating lessons in 2008 I didn't have as much experience, and today
I would classify my first intermediate series as an upper intermediate series. It has a
"German through songs" theme.

Quote:
Would you say that if I take the first 25 lessons of your first 4 levels, and
used them like assimil,
the results would be as good?

Pick one season from each level (Newbie or Absolute Beginner, Upper Beginner,
Intermediate, Upper Intermediate), ideally seasons that were designed to be studied
sequentially, don't skip over anything and you will come out of it with a vocabulary of
at least 1500 words and a complete understanding of German grammar, including fringe
cases like the Konjunktiv 1. That corresponds to what Assimil usually delivers.

This accounts for 100 lessons. Then there are ca. 90 advanced level lessons and 25
special topic lessons (accent improvement lessons and verb prefix lessons). With more
than 350 core lessons in total, this means that already there are almost 150 spare
lessons at the beginner or intermediate level after covering what Assimil would. These
lessons signify your freedom of choice: for example, for the intermediate lessons, you
can choose between an emphasis on a) speaking German with friends and colleagues or b)
getting practical help for moving to Germany (with topics like writing a German CV,
interviewing for a job, understanding apartment ads, filling out visa forms etc.). And
the upcoming intermediate series will focus on German for people coming here on
business. This way, you can pick the series that is most relevant to you, or you can
study one series and later cherry-pick interesting topics from the other series of the
same level.

For somebody intending to listen to more than one podcast per day, I recommend using
two seasons of the same level at the same time. This way the materials won't be
overwhelming; vocabulary and grammar will reinforce each other, while the different
theme of each season ensures that you still learn enough new things in each lesson.

Edited by Sprachprofi on 14 March 2011 at 11:15am

6 persons have voted this message useful



GREGORG4000
Diglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5523 days ago

307 posts - 479 votes 
Speaks: English*, Finnish
Studies: Japanese, Korean, Amharic, French

 
 Message 19 of 24
14 March 2011 at 8:08pm | IP Logged 
I would totally look at more podcasts if they didn't conduct themselves in "that way", with all the red text and videos and faux-personal-messages. You can't even see the prices of the course without signing up, and they don't give any indication that it's mainly a paid website until you do so. I wish they had a better parent company, since these decisions don't seem to rest on the shoulders of the actual podcast makers.

Thanks much for the explanations, Sprachprofi, that's a very understandable explanation of how one would go through these courses.

Edited by GREGORG4000 on 14 March 2011 at 8:45pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



leosmith
Senior Member
United States
Joined 6550 days ago

2365 posts - 3804 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Tagalog

 
 Message 20 of 24
15 March 2011 at 1:04am | IP Logged 
Sprachprofi wrote:
Quote:
Would you say that if I take the first 25 lessons of your first 4 levels, and
used them like assimil,
the results would be as good?

Pick one season from each level (Newbie or Absolute Beginner, Upper Beginner,
Intermediate, Upper Intermediate), ideally seasons that were designed to be studied
sequentially, don't skip over anything and you will come out of it with a vocabulary of
at least 1500 words and a complete understanding of German grammar, including fringe
cases like the Konjunktiv 1. That corresponds to what Assimil usually delivers.

I'm impressed. For personal reasons (I prefer my CD player and a real book to my MP3 player and a
printout/computer screen, I prefer real voice actors, I dislike the commercials, etc) I will probably never use them as
my mainstay, but I'll continue to use them as a supplement, and appreciate the education.

And I still believe that one can get through Assimil's 100 lessons much faster than 100 podcast lessons. Definitely Apples and Oranges:)

Edited by leosmith on 16 March 2011 at 1:00am

1 person has voted this message useful



Lucky Charms
Diglot
Senior Member
Japan
lapacifica.net
Joined 6949 days ago

752 posts - 1711 votes 
Speaks: English*, Japanese
Studies: German, Spanish

 
 Message 21 of 24
23 March 2011 at 3:53pm | IP Logged 
If anyone here was considering registering for one of the paid Pod101 accounts, now would
be a good time to do it, as 50% of all subscription payments this week will be donated to
relief efforts in Japan.
1 person has voted this message useful



mrpootys
Groupie
United States
Joined 5611 days ago

62 posts - 69 votes 
Speaks: English*

 
 Message 22 of 24
23 March 2011 at 6:41pm | IP Logged 
Seeing as I created this thread almost a year and a half ago, I thought that it would be fitting to give my new opinion. Since 09' I have used Germanpod, Russianpod, and Japanesepod, and I would recommend them to anyone. As far as material go those three have been around for a while and have enough material for you to use for a long time, especially the Japanese. The entirety of those lessons was something like 30 gigs. But, its also been around for about 6 years. So, the newer podcasts youll have to give some time to.
1 person has voted this message useful



CaitO'Ceallaigh
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
katiekelly.wordpress
Joined 6857 days ago

795 posts - 829 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Russian
Studies: Czech, German

 
 Message 23 of 24
24 March 2011 at 9:09pm | IP Logged 
I'm using Frenchpod101, Russianpod101, and Germanpod101, and I'm getting a kick out of all three.

I'm not too bothered by the banter that I did once find annoying. I listen pretty much only once, and use Anki to learn all the words and phrases I don't know.

There's quite a hardsell before you subscribe, which actually turned me off from subscribing for several months. And I also found the act of subscribing to be confusing if not maddening, though I can't remember the details right now (because they're too confusing to remember).

I bounce around from the most recent lessons to all the different levels. Overall, I'm finding it very enjoyable, and I wish something like this existed when I was a kid. I've used a lot of different products, from Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone to LingQ and reading whatever I can get my hands onto, and I find this series to be my favorite.
3 persons have voted this message useful



aucuneidee
Pentaglot
Newbie
Lebanon
Joined 4906 days ago

6 posts - 13 votes
Speaks: French*, English, Arabic (classical), German, Spanish
Studies: Russian, Dutch, Swedish, Mandarin, Japanese

 
 Message 24 of 24
21 July 2011 at 1:38pm | IP Logged 
I usually dislike podcasts, because they use too much L1 and too little L2. It kind of hinders you from thinking in the language you're learning and decelerates the learning process.

On the other hand, I've gone through a couple of Pod101-lessons for German, Japanese and Russian, and they seem to be pretty useful. I like the material covered in the lessons and, unless I'm mistaken, the language taught is up to date. Plus, the situations and the dialogues used are pretty interesting, and I barely felt bored.

So I'd advise you to suscribe for the 7-days-trial version (free) so that you know whether you appreciate it and whether it works for you.

:)



3 persons have voted this message useful



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