Even though I have spent many years at university and am used to studying on my own, your podcasts and transcripts are the difference between me learning Mandarin or not. One can learn a European language on one’s own, I learned German and Spanish that way before learning to acquire it fluently in the relevant countries but I think one cannot possibly learn Mandarin that way; the grammar is easier but the sounds are just so different and often so much softer than anything the Western ear is used to. I have listen to your podcasts on trains in Finland, in cafes in Milan, on the beach in Nice, in the dessert in Syria and walking my dog every night in Ireland. I cannot say how much I appreciate your programme.
Rest assured Serge that there are many people learning Mandarin who would not be doing so without your efforts.
Thank you again and I wish you ever success.

Sincerely,
Timothy

Thanks for the help, 谢谢你帮助我 你太好了,
Benjamin 本杰明

Like others here I would like to sincerely thank you for creating these lessons. I have completed lesson one and I truly enjoyed it. your teaching style is very pleasant and “down-to-earth”or comfortable. I hope that within a year I will gain an understanding of basic Chinese.

Thank you,
Dian from The Bahamas

Thank you for the Chinese lessons you have made availabe on the webside. I enjoy listening and learning from your way of teaching. I hope that in a year or so I will be able to speak and understand basic Zhongwen. Esterina

P.S any suggestions?

Let’s work it out, it’s quite easy.

So first, let’s get access to the transcripts. I have sent you an email after you signed up with the instructions, probably you did not get it.

You will need your user name and password and to follow these steps.

1) Login from the sidebar and arrive at your Website membership area. ( you need your own login name and password )

2)In that area(control panel), in the left upper corner, there is a link that says ” 6 months”, it’s under the “Your Subscription” title.

3) Click on it and you will see a page with links to all transcripts and worksheets on it.

I just did so using your user name and everything works.

Now about the iTunes and iPod. So I assume, you have an iPod and would like to download and transfer all lessons to it. In order to do so, the first thing you need to make sure is that iTunes is working properly.

What’s your version of iTunes? Is it very old? Does it have a “title” “Podcasts” on the left bar when your iTunes is open? Because in very old versions, I guess before 2005, there is no such item. If you need iTunes, you can download a new version of this program for free from http://www.apple.com/itunes/

So, let’s assume you got iTunes working. Go to my Website http://www.melnyks.com and click on the iTunes icon on the sidebar. Your iTunes program will start to launch. Once it finishes opening up, you will see my podcast page with a photo, description and a list of lessons at the bottom, all in the iTunes now.

On top, next to my photo, there is a small button that says ” free Subscribe”. Click on it.

Now you need to click on the “Podcasts” title on the left of your iTunes screen that I mentioned earlier. You will see that iTunes automatically downloaded the latest lesson, let’s say Lesson 103 and under it, in grey color, there is a long list of all lessons, lesson1 to lesson 102.

Look at the very top of the list. You will see a small button “get all”. Click on it and iTunes will start downloading all lessons. This may take a while, depends on your internet speed.

When this process is finished, you will see that all lessons are downloaded and they are now in black color not in grey as before.

If you plug your ipod now, your iTunes should synchronize with it, this is enabled by default. iTunes will create an exact copy of itself in your iPod, so all lessons will be transfered to the iPod. If you delete smth from iTUnes, it will be automatically deleted from your iPod as well.

After the transfer of files is done, you will be able to find all audio lessons in your iPod under “Podcasts”-”Language Courses” section.

I really hope you can work it out. Please let me know how it goes.

Best,

Serge

Thanks for the site. I’ve been listening for around six months to the podcasts – now I have subscribed to start learning from the transcripts and worksheets also.

I speak French and German and my mother tongue is English. I’m finding that Mandarin is not like learning a European language – so I am carefully planning my time to dedicate to learning. Hopefully I will be able to visit Great China -or Taiwan again in the next couple of years – either for business or for a holiday.

I’m hoping that the next six months will bring me some serious progress!

Kind regards

Alan
Lancashire, England

Do you have iTunes? Why don’t you subscribe to a feed(automatic MP3 files downloads)?

There is a button for iTunes and another “feed” button next to it. If You click on that orange button, you will get a list of all Mp3s on one page.

Best,
Serge

I just had found your place, I only can say it’s great, easy to learn, and very useful.

Thank you a lot for your great job and dedication in developing this.

Guillermo Rivero, Lima, Peru

Iris

David

thanks, very good. It seems very useful. keep on going!!!

Hope to learn a lot,

Paulo Marques, Portugal

Thank you so much for your Mandarin lessons. I have been waiting for something like this to come along for a long time. I’m an American and have always been fascinated by Chinese culture, language, history and philosophy, yet, I work and do not have time for classes. It is great to listen to your podcast and I hope you continue it–your lessons are well-thought out and easy to follow.

Thank you again for this wonderful opportunity.

Sincerely,

Anthony (“Tones”)