The most convenient way to learn Chinese the way it is actually spoken and used. Start with our basic lessons, and in no time you’ll be listening to music, watching films and television and engaging in the actual language. With free daily podcasts, a vibrant community, online study tools and much more, PopupChinese is the most powerful and personal way to learn mandarin.
Absolute Beginners - Let me do it, myself
Apr 28, 2015
Show notes
One of the things we're proud of at Popup Towers is our hard-fought ability to wring natural dialogues out of less-than-natural voice-actors, a skill that usually involves unleashing Grace at them in varying degrees of rage. And since recording a dialogue this way can take up a bit of time, the result is that we usually end up with a number of variants for each one, usually getting more and more natural as we go along.If you're totally new to Chinese we suggest coming back to this show later -- the lesson is a bit tricky for the Absolute Beginner level -- but we wanted to showcase it here for two reasons. The first is that this show features not one but two dialogues. The interesting thing is that the first dialogue sounds a bit stilted while the second sounds extremely natural. And since they basically saying the same thing, we wanted to contrast and compare them, to learn what it is that makes mandarin sound forced and what makes it more colloquial.
Advanced - From the Archives of the CBC
Mar 11, 2015
Show notes
Classical pianist Glenn Gould, the most improbable sex symbol in Canadian music history, set the world ablaze in the 1960s and 1970s with his emotional reinterpretations of Bach's keyboard repertoire. But what really distinguishes Gould from his contemporaries is the sheer volume of experimental recordings he bequeathed the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on his death, recordings made at home during his final years in recluse and only now available to the public for the first time....Note to Listeners: we tried to keep this show focused on classical music, but then Grace kept mentioning how much she doesn't like Taylor Swift, and David felt forced to wave his populist flag, and that is how our podcast descended into nonsense shortly after our two hosts offhandedly diagnosed the vast majority of the Chinese population with obsessive compulsive disorder.
Advanced - Intrigue at the National Gallery of London
Jan 15, 2015
Show notes
The tip-off? It had come from an old landline in the basement of the National Gallery, so the caller could have been anyone associated with the institute, and possibly even the director himself. But finding out exactly who had made that call was proving more troublesome than Inspector Zhang had anticipated, since the phone had been wiped clean of prints, and none of the staff - even when questioned privately - showed anything but bewilderment at any suggestion of impropriety.So who had snuck into that backroom, and was there any substance to their allegations of artistic skullduggery? Complicating matters further was the demand for extreme discretion coming down from his supervisors at Scotland Yard, who themselves were now under pressure from Downing Street and the House of Windsor, both parties well aware that with the integrity of the Royal Collection at stake, the nation itself might face a public scandal that could threaten the integrity of the monarchy itself.
Intermediate - Negotiation and Fortune
Jan 07, 2015
Show notes
As a professional negotiator with more than twenty years experience on the force, Richard had dealt with hostage cases before and knew that this would be a particularly tough one to crack. And his was an impression confirmed by the grim visages on the faces of the SWAT team. Holed up on the upper floors of the National Bank, the kidnappers had settled into a defensive position that would make storming the building a disastrous exercise in bloodshed, making a negotiated settlement the only practical option.
Absolute Beginners - 10 signs you may have an asshole for a husband
Nov 11, 2014
Show notes
As the whirlwind romance that preceded Mary's honeymoon faded, it became increasing clear that her ill-fated marriage had thrust her into a conjugal death march. Yet despite her husband's passive aggressive hostility, Mary lived in the hope that sheer enthusiasm could somehow break through his frustrated silence, and so continued to ask after him and express an interest in his affairs, and all despite the fact that -- let's face it -- the man was an unremitting asshole.
Intermediate - American Hukou
Oct 27, 2014
Show notes
The admission process had already taken four months. Four months of school tours, and meetings with first the principal and then every fourth grade teacher on payroll. Four months of paperwork, paperwork and more paperwork as Jonathan sat sullenly at home wondering when he would finally be able to go back to school. It had been a long wait, but today, at least, his parents would get an answer to that question.
Elementary - Shattered Dreams
Sep 30, 2014
Show notes
Rather than a regular podcast, today we are pleased to publish a longer Elementary dialogue designed to test your listening comprehension. The language used here is not terribly difficult, but it is spoken at native pace and with the sort of emotional inflection you'll find living and working in China. So take a listen and click through to our quiz to see how much you understand. Our annotated transcript is there as always in case you have difficulty.
Absolute Beginners - The Public Security Alarm
Sep 12, 2014
Show notes
Through many countries and over many seas I have come, dear brother, to this futuristic society in which you live, only to find myself astonished and humbled by its paradoxical embrace of social monitoring tools which seem to assure social order, yet also remain respectful of individual privacy and democratic rights. But alas! What is that pale cry? From whence comes that demonic shriek which fills the air with groans of woe, and strikes my soul with fear?Learning Chinese? This is a fairly easy beginning lesson that covers the basics of asking and answering questions, such as asking what things are. We also give you a great phrase you can use to make yourself seem more understood, and help you apologize as you push yourself off the subway. So if you're just getting started with mandarin, check it out!
Intermediate - Beijing, 2015
Sep 01, 2014
Show notes
The government had first dismissed rumours of the city's impending water scarcity, yet as the months dragged on and the supply trucks grew less and less frequent, public denial morphed into slow acceptance as the city baked. In time, even the moat around the Forbidden City drained to nothing, its dry stones picked clean by the dessicated husks of those who remained, parched shadows of their former selves.Learning Chinese? This is an upper-level recording that features an original movie trailer. If your Chinese is getting up there, take a listen and see how much you understand. While we don't walk through the recording line-by-line, David and Grace do point out some of the more difficult bits, including some revolutionary language you may not yet know. So take a listen and let us know what you think.
Advanced - Zhu Jing and Her Music
Aug 14, 2014
Show notes
“梦想是很单纯的”、“当你无法左右这个世界的时候，就去创作吧”、“妈妈，我希望下辈子你可以做我的女儿，这样我就可以像你爱我一样来爱你”……今天，让我们一起走近朱婧——一位才华横溢的创作歌手，去了解她与音乐的不解之缘，去聆听她歌声背后的一个个平凡、真实又感动人心的故事。那时，那人，那天籁般的歌喉……
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