One of the most successful Internet entrepreneurs related to China is probably the Irishman Ken Carroll. Ken created ChinesePod, a great example of successful small niche web business.
The primary goal of ChinesePod is to teach spoken Chinese to foreigner by using podcasting. I love their podcasts and usually listen to them while working in the office!
The idea would be to create the contrary: a "ChinesePod" to teach Chinese people another language. I am Spanish, so let's say teaching them Spanish. I like the appraoch of Chinespod much more than that of hablame.tv. By the way Ken Carroll is also behind "Spanish Sense", a project to teach Spanish to English speaking people.
I used to have a Chinese teacher in Beijing who is currently learning Spanish at the Cervantes Institute. I will see her in two weeks in Beijing and will ask her how she is doing with her Spanish.
The problem is that no many people learns Spanish in China. The first foreign language to learn is of course English. many people also learn French. But not so many learn Spanish.
There may be several reasons:
- Spain and Latin America is not very present in China.
- The image of Spain in China is very bad. Every time I am in China I enjoy discussing with the taxi driver. When I tell him I am Spanish, the always answer me two things: bullfighting (90% of times) and football (10 %). I feel like crying!
I am a bit confused abut this idea:
- Do you think a "SpanishPod" for Chinese people would work?
- I know I enjoy foreign languages but .... do I want to become a Spanish teacher?
