Qiang’s provided comments below about the writing of pinyin (PinYin), and I heard this week from a journalist, Michael Erard, who specializes in language about a Shanghai-based website called Chinesepod, reviewed here for Slate. I’ve just signed up and will report after my trial week.

In the meantime, Liz and Tom have been drilling me, gently, and we’ve actually had some short conversations. I’ve asked them to focus on phrases like, “Please speak slowly”: Qing ni, shuo man yidian. They’re great teachers, and you can see our whiteboard here (double-click to see a larger version).

Technorati : learning chinese, mandarin, podcasts