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Germanpod101 and Russianpod101 | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| mrpootys Groupie United States Joined 5403 days ago 62 posts - 69 votes  Speaks: English* | Message 1 of 24 15 December 2009 at 4:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Does anyone have any experience with these packages, and if so how good is the material. Also, what package did you purchase? Thank you
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| Volte Tetraglot Senior Member Switzerland Joined 6231 days ago 4474 posts - 6726 votes Speaks: English*, Esperanto, German, Italian Studies: French, Finnish, Mandarin, Japanese | Message 2 of 24 15 December 2009 at 5:33pm | IP Logged | ||
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Learning from podcasts isn't my cup of tea. I've listened to (but not purchased) a bit of Japanesepod101 and Germanpod101, but I'm not really familiar with Russianpod101.
That said, they contain some good content. Germanpod101 has quite a lot of bite-sized lessons, on everything from basic German to cultural events (and their associated vocabulary). At least some of the lessons are both at regular and slow speeds, which is useful for pronunciation - and there are also some pronunciation lessons, which cover some useful details, some of which are often left out of resources on German pronunciation. Hopefully someone else will chime in soon with a more informative comment. Disclaimer: I'm a friend of the people who do Germanpod101 - although I've done my best to keep this post objective. Edited by Volte on 15 December 2009 at 5:35pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| jondesousa Tetraglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/Zgg3nRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6056 days ago 227 posts - 297 votes Speaks: English*, Portuguese, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Latin, Mandarin, Spanish | Message 3 of 24 15 December 2009 at 7:16pm | IP Logged | ||
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I, like Volte, can vouch for Japanesepod101.com and Germanpod101.com. I also know one of the hosts of Germanpod101.com. I find that the lessons are excellent for me as a beginner (in German) and the Japanese podcasts are reasonable, but don't get to as high a level as I would like; however, I have no experience with Russianpod101.com.
As for the packages I chose, I have been a member of Japanesepod101.com for about 3 years now and have been using their Basic package signing up once a year for around $60US; however, I am not renewing it this year as the content is not advancing much past upper intermediate level and they are now mostly rehashing introductory lessons in even more simplified explanations. For Germanpod101.com, I have only signed up recently and hope to continue with it as my German is basically at level zero. I find the lessons move quite well and the format works well for me. Hope that helps. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6262 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 4 of 24 20 December 2009 at 9:47pm | IP Logged | ||
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:-)
I believe it is not a secret on this forum that I'm the project manager of GermanPod101. That is, I get a salary from the mother company that is behind all the ...Pod101 sites and I am limited in terms of lesson format, mandatory ad texts, site look and the like, but on the other hand I can plan the different series and the content pretty much however I want, and hire collaborators to record lessons and help with any tasks. As such, I'd be happy to answer forum members' questions, as long as they are specifically about GermanPod101's content. Let me already summarize recommendations for each level, since GermanPod101 is not publishing one course for each level but many, and the sorting by release date can make it difficult to find everything. For absolute beginners who dislike grammar: the newbie series and the new beginner series season 3 starting in January For absolute beginners who like grammar & false beginners: the beginner series season 1 For upper beginners: the "emotion series" aka beginner series season 2 from lesson 18 onward and the "vocabulary-building" series. Both of these are also great if you're planning a trip to Germany and need to review/expand your knowledge of German for practical situations. For lower intermediates: the intermediate series, season 2 For intermediates: the new intermediate series coming out in January For upper intermediates: the intermediate series, season 1 aka "German through songs" For advanced students: the advanced audio blogs, all seasons, including the new ones in January.These also make good L-R material if you're getting the PDFs. There are also some specialty series on GermanPod101: pronunciation / accent improvement, understanding verb prefixes, survival phrases (phrasebook-like) and vocabulary grouped by topic. Edited by Sprachprofi on 20 December 2009 at 9:49pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Quabazaa Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 5401 days ago 414 posts - 543 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German, French Studies: Japanese, Korean, Maori, Scottish Gaelic, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written) | Message 5 of 24 20 December 2009 at 11:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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I thought GermanPod101 was ok, the material is definitely useful and everything. But just personally I can't stand how fake the "banter" is between the hosts. Compared to, for example, Arabicpod.net, the GermanPod ones seem sooo commercial and fake. But in the end I suppose it's the content that is more important, if you can stand listening to people who seem to be pretending to be friends. Just my experience :) Probably in real life they really are friends, but it sure sounds scripted and awkward to me.
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| Oyalt Diglot Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4814 days ago 2 posts - 3 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian, Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Italian | Message 6 of 24 11 March 2011 at 2:37am | IP Logged | ||
I wonder since you are the project manager of Germanpod101, if you know by any chance when the Intermediate levels of Portuguese will be released. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6342 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 7 of 24 11 March 2011 at 4:25am | IP Logged | ||
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I use russianpod101 lower intermediate as a listening supplement, since I'm a beginner. I use the upper
intermediate japanesepod101 and thaipod101 advanced audio blogs mostly for reading supplements. I've tried chineseclass101 and was unimpressed - not as good as some other chinese podcasts. Frenchpod101 upper intermediate is very good, but too easy for me now. Regarding Russianpod101. The beginners series season 1 was really nice, with Eric and Anna. Amazing chemistry between those two. Unfortunately, the rest of the beginner and intermediate series were taken over by Eddie and Svetlana. Eddie has this terrible monotone style of speaking. I swear it sounds like he's announcing a horse race. His Russian accent is poor too, which makes him an unfortunate choice for a podcaster. Svetlana is much better than Eddie, but not quite as fun as Anna. Very good content, sufficient explanations, etc. My friend was evaluating this to become his primary study method, but decided against it due to lack of material. Apparently, things like the grammar bank, dictionary, flashcards, etc are still in development. I have a basic subscription because they are developing new lessons rapidly, and I want to be at my leisure downloading them. I recommend joining for free and downloading everything in site in the first week (unlimited access for the first week), or getting a basic subscription. How about those frenchpod101 upper intermediate voice actors JP and Virginie(sp?)? They should get a room. They win the prize for chemistry. Thaipod beginner lessons are the worst I've heard; not even an attempt at humor. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sprachprofi Nonaglot Senior Member Germany learnlangs.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6262 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 8 of 24 11 March 2011 at 10:18am | IP Logged | ||
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Sorry, no idea about Portuguese.
At present, the company is requiring all conversation between the hosts to be written down beforehand, to make it easier to present no banter lessons or complete transcripts of everything that is said. This greatly limits what hosts can do while recording and I'm the first to admit I can't read the ad pieces the way they're written and pretend it's my idea that I'm just coming up with - I talk differently. By the way, considering this thread is from 2009, there are now more choices in GermanPod101 series than the ones listed above. For complete beginners I would now recommend Absolute Beginner Series 1. This one seamlessly leads into Upper Beginner Series 1, and from there into the Intermediate Series 4 which we'll publish this summer. Intermediate Series 2 and 3 can be studied one after the other, and the story from the third series continues into Upper Intermediate 1. Yes, I wish there was a better way of indicating story lines and recommended sequences. At least the descriptions of the series on GermanPod101 now tell you which series continues from where you left off, and which series focus more on living in Germany, more on tourism, more on work vocabulary, and so on. I believe that everyone should look into GermanPod101 as an option simply because there are more than 350 solid lessons (not even counting Survival Phrases or video lessons) - covering many things that printed courses have no time for, even Assimil pales in comparison. Edited by Sprachprofi on 11 March 2011 at 10:20am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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