I listen to ChinesePod mp3s everyday. It’s free and I can listen anytime. CP has really got the formula right and is now the leading example of a Web 2.0 language learning service.

The podcasts are short, usually around 15 minutes and they are generally quite entertaining. I take my mp3 player everywhere with me and often listen to 4-5 a day.

I have been meaning to pay for the premium service, which gives you access to a huge amount of written resources and a vibrant community of learners, for a very long time. But I have found that my Chinese classes provide enough written material so I just supplement that with the mp3s.

Chinese students in Taiwan may well ask if CP materials are available in traditional characters, apparently they are. I found the information below on Forumosa.com:

Once you’re logged into CP, click on the tab that says “Your Feed”, scroll down to “Step 3″ and click on the “PDF Transcript (Traditional)” checkbox. Be sure to click on the “Save” button. Then copy and paste the feed url into your podcast aggregator. You can then download both the transcript and the podcast.

A browser plugin can also be used by Firefox users:

For Firefox users CP also recommends a browser plugin that:

• works with Mozilla Firefox (versions 1.5 – 2.x)
• replaces simplified characters with traditional ones on the dialogue/expansion/vocabulary pages
• adds traditional character support to vocabulary lists/games/etc.
• replaces the link to the simplified PDF with the link to the traditional PDF

Things it won’t do:

• work with other browsers (without tweaking – see below)
• alter content you already have in your vocabulary list
• change Chinese text posted in comments, introductions, titles, ID3 tags, etc.

To download the plugin visit the ChinesePod blog.

http://chinesepod.com/

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