Thank you so much for these wonderful podcasts. They are clear, organized, thoughtful, and marvelous. I went to Beijing once in 1998 and have always wanted to go back. Im returning in sept for a bit and wanted to learn some chinese. I took chinese in college so its a review with some vocabulary. I have a bachelors degree in psychology. I really like the way you break it down into literal translations and help us learn about why word combinations mean new words.

I think Chinese Learn Online is definitely one of the better programs out there. It is a gradual course which takes the learner from total beginner with no previous knowledge, and builds up from there. I used several of the podcasts for a Conversational Chinese course that I taught at our local junior college, and the response from the students was very positive. The methodology is very sound, and the real advantage is that students are not overwhelmed in the beginning, nor are they permanently stuck in a lower level.