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Absolute Beginners - Advanced Chinese Telephone Kungfu
Sep 13, 2011
Show notes
The Henan factory boss remained prone on his office desk when the phone rang, but Stephen nonetheless froze in alarm. It was true the workers on the assembly line rarely disturbed their employer in his private enclave, but a failure to answer a direct internal call would unquestionably attract attention. Which was when the spy realized his original escape plan was doomed, and damned his superiors at Langley for their failure to purchase a discounted group subscription to Popup Chinese.Note: we're not saying that this Chinese lesson is actively designed to fill a critical gap in Western intelligence training. It's actually a snippet of something we caught in our recording studio. But we do marvel at the lack of practical Chinese lessons elsewhere on how to impersonate chain-smoking middle-aged Chinese capitalists. Because while anyone can talk about their hobbies in mandarin, it's the ability to answer the phone like a power broker that separates the rhetorical men from the boys. Which is why we touch on this today, if only after covering how to say hello on the phone and some other basics.
Intermediate - Seafaring in the Industrial Age
Sep 12, 2011
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As the merchant clipper sailed north, the leaden gloom that had settled on its crew gave way to levity. With the treacherous passage around Cape Horn complete, the sailors began to speak of their arrival as a fait accompli, driving the cabin boy so positively giddy with anticipation that he begged them to regale him time and time again with stories of the riches that awaited them in Peru. These tales then grew in the telling until the mere sight of a seagull would stir them all to dreams of a wealth beyond imagination.Looking for a taste of something different? Let us be the first to admit our Chinese podcasts are occasionally somewhat eclectic. And this is among the more eclectic of them, so if you're easily offended please stay away and spare us the lecture. That said, we believe this is genuinely useful material to know, and you're not likely to learn it anywhere else. So if you've already got a fair bit of Chinese under your belt and want to know the language inside out, join us for this Intermediate lesson. You'll be speaking like a sailor in no time.
Elementary - Innovation in the Chinese Dairy Industry
Sep 08, 2011
Show notes
Longtime listeners to Popup Chinese know that we're big fans of the Chinese dairy industry. As such, in addition to forcing our staff to consume unhealthy amounts of milk and yoghurt on a daily basis, we also promote the industry by coming up with new and interesting uses for traditional dairy products. This podcast has been inspired by one of our more recent inventions, a product which brings respite from the summer heat and moisturizes while it cools.Want to learn Chinese? This Chinese podcast is designed for students at the elementary level. That means that while we're past the basics, our dialogues and lesson materials are still relatively short and easy to understand. So if you've been studying Chinese for at least six months but less than two years, check this out and see how you do. And if it isn't right, just signup for a free account and visit our Chinese lesson archive to find something more at your level.
Intermediate - Insider Gossip
Sep 06, 2011
Show notes
We stood in the hallway watching 9527 ease her hairpin into our lock. "It's Fujianese design," she said biting her lip in concentration before simultaneously twisting the pin and jerking the lever sideways. There was the brief sound of metal scraping reluctantly against metal and a brief shudder that ran up the door frame before the lock gave way and the door popped open. We're still not sure if 9527 was talking about her hairpin or our home security, but changed the locks shortly afterwards and no longer consider it accidental that most of the locksmiths in Beijing come from down south. But regardless of where and how 9527 learned that particular skill, let us share this Chinese podcast with you that reveals how deep an impression she has made on her fellow voice actors, most of whom have no idea that she actually has a Chinese name and is not really on the lam.
Absolute Beginners - The Interrogation Room
Aug 31, 2011
Show notes
The world was blue and Stephen floated in it. He could not be sure if he was truly awake or asleep, and it was even possible he was underwater. But why would he be underwater? There seemed to be a dim light somewhere above him which tapered off into darkness below, but it was hard to be certain in this world of translucent color. His sense of direction was lost. And the last thing he could remember was....And then his vision cleared and reality came rushing back: the months of eavesdropping, the sting operation, and the betrayal that rendered his plan a suicide trap. And now this bleak warehouse, the ache in his left ribs and the look of terror in his partner's face, all the while their captor scrutinized him for consciousness, waiting to finish this grim mission.
Advanced - Death in the Boardroom
Aug 29, 2011
Show notes
As Susan prepared for her board presentation, the junior saleswoman at Cantor Williams reflected on the irony of her position. Despite the fact that her company specialized in selling downsizing packages to the Fortune 500, she had been saddled on this sales call with a partner who seemed at his most efficient when checking email or making lunch arrangements. Why had Connor been assigned to shadow her, and what possible benefit did the company gain from over-staffing?Susan had complained about the situation to her manager, but he had simply told her "this is how it works." From their very first day with the firm sales associates were paired together in a process designed to promote solidarity, but which in fact pitted the groups against each other in a winner-take-all competition to climb the corporate ladder and make partner. Susan grimaced at the thought of Connor riding her coattails to the top, yet had to admit the extra pressure was effective at pushing her to the limits of her own ability to perform under pressure.
Absolute Beginners - They came from the sky....
Aug 24, 2011
Show notes
There you'll be, ready to collapse into bed after an exhausting day doing whatever and just when you're about to drift off you'll see the first one get brave enough to buzz down from that hole in the ceiling, or out from behind the power sockets, and sooner than you know there's a group and holy $%#! if the one taking the lead is not the most massive insect you've ever seen airborne and even the dog is unnerved by it and you have a sinking feeling that maybe coming to China was a bad idea, and if the job paid a lot more than staying in Denver now at least you know why.Hate mosquitoes? As you can tell, our Chinese lesson today is all about the repellent bloodsuckers, perhaps in part because August just happens to be the worst time of the year for them in Beijing thanks to all this humidity. That said, in the spirit of keeping our prejudices educational we also talk a bit about the past tense, and how to describe things that have already happened. If you're learning Chinese this is really useful stuff, so be sure to check out our podcast and let us know what you think.
Elementary - The Chinese Ice Phobia
Aug 22, 2011
Show notes
Any chance you remember that scene from Goldfinger where James Bond is trussed up on the cutting board, and he turns to the villain who then says something about expecting Bond to die in the slowest and most painful way possible? Well... if Goldfinger were a Chinese film we could replace his laser with a glass of iced water and show our villain laughing maniacally from the certain knowledge that Bond's mere proximity to the glass would usher in a fate at least as bad as and quite possibly much worse than death.What we really mean to say is this: Echo and Brendan are in our studio today, and they both spend a non-trivial amount of time ignoring our dialogue in order to argue about the relative merits of Chinese medical superstitions involving food temperature. That may or may not be your thing, but if you're learning Chinese we think you'll find this lesson useful if only because it features an incredibly common sentence pattern you can use whenever you want to say "whenever". This is the 一/就 pattern and it's one of the most useful sentence structures to know in Chinese. So listen up and be sure to let us know what you think of the show in the discussion section below.
Intermediate - The Shared Apartment
Aug 17, 2011
Show notes
For months after purchasing his condominium, Henry Martin found himself experiencing episodes of almost religious transcendence, as if another universe had brushed up against his reality and somehow distorted it. He felt that time had somehow dissolved and his apartment strangely belonged to another family whose presence could be felt but never seen or otherwise known. The entire episode lasted for weeks, and gave him a profound sense of dislocation, and an unsettling suspicion there was more to life than his five senses could feel or perceive.Learning Chinese? Our intermediate lesson series at Popup Chinese is designed for students with at least two years of experience at the university level. At this level we accelerate towards native-level fluency with Chinese lessons that feature native-level dialogues around thirty seconds in length. So if you already speak some Chinese and are looking for a way to get even better, listen up and see how you do.
Elementary - Classified Information
Aug 15, 2011
Show notes
Richard Thorpe eyed the customs officer with suspicion. Although his mission came down from the highest levels of government, he was certain that it would cause a scene regardless if homeland security found an intoxicated and possibly drugged cat in his backpack. As he reached for his passport, the former merchant banker decided to play his trump card.Learning Chinese? Our lesson for today is a relatively short discussion of the strange behavior of measure words. We all know the basic rules for using measure words: put them in front of countable nouns and try not to mix them up too much. But as we learn today, that's not quite all there is. In fact, there are two situations in which Chinese speakers will commonly drop measure words, even if it's grammatically correct to include them. Listen to our podcast for the juicy details.
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