Slow Chinese

Readers looking for Chinese podcasts to help them develop their listening comprehension skills may be interested to know that there's a new podcast on the block : Slow Chinese (慢速中文). I came across the podcasts on iTunes last night and saw that you can find transcripts to all of the podcasts on the author's blog.

The Slow Chinese podcasts cover a wide range of topics, including the Wu dialect (or language, if you prefer), the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics and traditional Chinese festivals. The podcasts are exclusively in Mandarin but the presenter speaks at a slower pace than normal, which will allow students to get used to the sound and rhythm of spoken Mandarin. You can listen to the podcasts via the blog or iTunes or you can download the MP3 files and save them on to your MP3 player.

I've listened to a number of the podcasts and feel that they are geared towards intermediate students. The transcripts are ideal for those learners who, like me, need visual aids and text in their language learning.

Do check it out if you're looking for a way to spice up your Mandarin language learning.

Slow Chinese

Podcast Lectures - East Asian Thought in Comparative Perspective

I came across an interesting series of podcast lectures via the DIY Scholar blog a few days ago. East Asian Thought in Comparative Perspective is a series of lectures presented by Victor Magagna, an Associate Professor at UC San Diego's Department of Political Science. In it, he explores the ancient roots of East Asia's modern-day social and political systems and he dedicates a lot of time to discussing Confucianism and the other key philosophical models which have helped shape East Asian society and culture over the centuries.

I haven't had the chance to listen to all of the lectures as yet. Each lecture is around 2 to 3 hours long and I've only just reached the halfway point in Lecture 2**. Nevertheless, I can certainly recommend this series of podcasts to anyone who is interested in East Asian culture or is interested in learning more about the way business is conducted in China, Japan and South Korea.

** There is approximately 10 minutes of silence at the start of each podcast, so you will probably need to use the fast-forward button on your MP3 player or iTunes.

Podcast Lectures - East Asian Thought in Comparative Perspective