Q: What makes you different?
A:
1. Our teaching philosophy - constructing your own knowledge by following your curiosity and learning by asking. We've found that only through interacting in a suitable environment is language acquired most effectively. We've applied this teaching method most strictly in the "Build It" series. To learn more about "teaching by asking", read here.
2. Diversification - different types of lessons with different styles. There are "current events", "coffee talk Chinese", "grammar", "culture notes and tales", "word master", and "build it".
3. Integration - exercises linked to the lessons you study; listening and reading quiz.
4. Adapation - we're constantly striving to improve our services and re-invent ourselves in response to customer feedback.
Q: Are your lessons free?
A: Yes, all lessons are free. We charge Canadian $0.05 each time you do an exercise or a quiz (the first quiz is free). When you register, you will receive 25 cents to try these features.
Q: What are included in a lesson?
A: Each lesson has an MP3 file, which you can listen to online or download, a PDF printout. For "Buid it!" and "Coffee talk Chinese" lessons, they also include the MP3 of "pronunciation station". In addition, we provide you several different types of exercises associated with each lesson you choose.
Q: Why do you charge me $20.00?
A: If we charge $0.05 directly from your credit card, we can't afford the processing fee. That's why we charge a larger amount upfront and then deduct the small fees from it.
Q: Do you refund the money unused?
A: Yes. If you pay by Paypal, we require you to make the refund request within 60 days of the date you made the payment; otherwise, Paypal won't refund us the processing fee.
Q: Why do you charge Canadian dollars while you are based in China?
A: Will, one of the founders, is a Canadian. He is in charge of daily operations of the site. There is significant red tape and costs involved in establishing and maintaining a business identity in China. For the time being at least, we're choosing to devote our time and financial resources towards creating innovative content and providing tangible benefits to our customers rather than on bureacracy.
Q: OK, I've signed in. Now where do I go?
A: We suggest that you first click on "library" to access the archive of all our lessons. The "library" button is located near the top of the screen. The lessons are divided by topic as well as by level of difficulty.
Q: Do you want to be a practice partner too?
A: You will find this question when you are filling out the member registration form. If you check the box, a few more boxes will appear below asking for more information such as your contact information, the language you need help with, as well as the language you are expert in.
The purpose of this feature is to make others aware of your interest in not only learning Chinese, but helping others in your native language as well. This is completely optional, however. You can still register on studypond.com without checking the box.
Becoming a practice partner means others who are on our website can look you up. Your information will be found in the "practice partner" section on our site. Others will simply click on "search" in the "new practice partner" section on the home page to find you. The most recently registered practice partner will appear on our home page. If you"re not a registered practice partner, you can still search for practice partners in this section.
Q: Is there a place I can learn Pinyin?
A: Certainly. We have a full Pinyin chat with audio at here.
Q: Audio stops playing on Firefox. (OK, it is not an FAQ but we post the solutions here anyway.)
A: Synopsis:
On lesson details page (the page with vocabulary section), sometimes the audio stops playing although the display shows "playing" but nothing is being played. Further, none audio can be played on the same Firefox instance, even it is on a completely unrelated site.
Cause:
It is confirmed as a bug of Adobe Flash version 9.0.115.0 or 9.0.124.0. Read this page for more details.
Notice it only happens on Windows with non-IE browsers like Firefox and Opera.
The bug will be fixed in the upcoming Flash version 10.
Solutions:
Using IE temporarily; (just temporarily a short time away from your beloved FF)
Or
Do not scroll down the vocabulary section, because it will trigger the bug;
Or
Download and install Flash 10 Beta version.
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