Popup Chinese show

Popup Chinese

Summary: Popup CHinese is the most convenient way to learn Chinese the way it is actually spoken and used. The site has Chinese podcasts and Chinese-ENglish podcasts suited for learners at all difficulty levels. It also has manually annotated texts with mouseover popups. Start with the free lessons, and in no time you'll be listening to music, watching films and television and engaging in the actual language. A vibrant community, and online study resources flesh out the service, making PopupChinese the most powerful and personal way to learn mandarin.

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Podcasts:

 Without a Clue | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 11:05

Our somewhat confused efforts to introduce the American board game Clue to our Chinese friends has resulted in a number of Friday pickup games near Sanlitun. But even after several months, the concept of the game seems strangely difficult for some people to grasp. And we sympathize, because knowing who killed whom with what hardly addresses the much more important why. Learning mandarin? At our intermediate level, we don't shy away from giving you native-speed, colloquial Chinese dialogues. And there really isn't much hand-holding in this episode, but if you find it too difficult don't worry - just head to our intermediate archives and find an easier lesson from among the hundreds we've already published. And let us know what you think anytime in the comments section below, or by sending us email at service@popupchinese.com.

 Buying Earphones | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 12:05

Learning Chinese? Our mandarin lesson for today features a short but simple dialogue covering the way real Chinese shoppers ask for prices. We expect it will come in handy the next time you're strolling down the street and see imitation Apple products available for one-tenth of their normal retail price.

 Party Congress Preview | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 45:54

With less than two weeks to go before the 18th Party Congress, speculation on China's upcoming leadership transition could not be more intense here in Beijing, where insiders are trading lists of potential Politburo Standing Committee members which disagree not only on who will be elevated to the highest ranks of China's leadership, but even how many members will be on the PBSC. How are things going to play out in the during the Party Congress and in the coming transition? Joining Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn this week for an insider look at China's upcoming leadership transition are three guests we are delighted to have here on Sinica: journalist and author John Garnaut from the Sydney Morning Herald, popular blogger and Tsinghua business professor Patrick Chovanec, and Jamil Anderlini who heads the Beijing bureau for the Financial Times. We think you'll enjoy what all three have to say. Trying to keep up-to-date on China? In addition to listening to new episodes of Sinica through Popup Chinese, we invite all listeners to download and share this recording as a standalone mp3 file. You can grab the audio for previous shows either through our Sinica archives, or by subscribing to our dedicated iTunes feed. We also welcome all listeners to share your thoughts either in the discussion section below, or on our dedicated Sinica page on Facebook.

 The Voice of China | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 12:58

American Idol premiered in the United States in 2005, and China has had a metric ton of song-related reality television shows since then. So what exactly is it that has turned The Voice of China into a nationwide craze? Since its premiere in July on Zhejiang Television, the show has become probably the most talked-about television series in the entire mainland, with a band of fanatical followers including some of us here at Popup Towers. Learning Chinese? If your Chinese is already at a relatively advanced level, join Echo, Andy and Gao today for an advanced Chinese lesson focusing on a lot of vocabulary related to The Voice of China and other reality television shows. Our conversation here is entirely in mandarin, but if you have any questions or problems, we encourage you to leave comments or questions in the discussion space below, or write Echo at echo@popupchinese.com

 From the Ruins of Empire | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 50:26

Today on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn host a discussion with Pankaj Mishra on his book From the Ruins of Empire, a history of Asia's intellectual response to Western imperialism in the late 19th and early 20th century. Also joining us for this wide-ranging discussion is Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Chinese historian, frequently published columnist, and editor most recently of Chinese Characters, a collection of essays on Chinese individuals by many well-known China watchers. Links to materials discussed are coming in the comments section below. In the meantime, let us remind you that it's easy to subscribe to Sinica through our RSS feed. To do this, simply click on the "Advanced" file menu in iTunes and select the option "Subscribe to Podcast". Copy the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica into the box when prompted. Or skip the whole fuss and just download this show as a standalone mp3 file for sharing with others.

 The CCTV Minority Show | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 14:45

Nathan struggled to make sense of the mugshots. The young banker could remember countless details about the previous evening: the costumes, the songs, even the taste of exotic milk-based dishes. But how could he ever pull the criminals out of a line-up? Almost everything about the evening had been designed to draw attention away from their individual appearances. Learning Chinese? This is one of our easier lessons at the Intermediate level, since we go light on difficult vocabulary, but if you're used to the slow and artificial pace of textbook Chinese you may still find it quite a challenge. So why not take a listen and see how much you understand? And let us know what you think by email at service@popupchinese.com.

 Mother's Secret Past | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 11:30

All through their autumn romance, Susan had seemed so eager that Michael meet her parents, and the two of them had planned a joint trip home at Thanksgiving just for this purpose. Yet now that the date was upon them, her enthusiasm had changed into an almost brooding depression, forcing Michael to wonder what could possibly have gone wrong. Had something in their relationship changed? Was she upset at him? Or had her parents heard something about him and disapproved of them being together? Learning Chinese? Dealing with relationship issues? Regardless of whether you have to meet the folks or not, we encourage you to listen to our lesson today as we stress the all-important point about how the Chinese language can sometimes be totally and utterly illogical, and how its easy to make amateur mistakes which will give you away as a non-native speaker simply by following all the normal rules outlined by your teachers.

 No Ancient Wisdom, No Followers | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 29:16

As China continues to subsidize inefficient state enterprises on a massive scale, an increasing number of critics - domestic and foreign - are questioning whether current policies mark a rejection or corruption of the vision championed by reformers like Zhu Rongji in the 1990s. Their complaints paint a stark picture of crony-capitalism ossifying to the point where entrenched incumbents become a threat to the future of a prosperous market-oriented China. Are they true? Joining Jeremy Goldkorn to speak about these issues today is James McGregor, former China Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal, chief executive of Dow Jones China's business operations, and Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce. James is also well-known as the author of the book One Billion Customers, and more recently No Ancient Wisdom, No Followers, a in-depth look at the way the Chinese economy has changed over the past several years. Care to subscribe to Sinica via iTunes? Just click on the "Advanced" file menu and select the option "Subscribe to Podcast" from the available choices. When prompted copy the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica into the box and you're done. We also encourage all listeners to download the Sinica show as a standalone mp3 file for listening or sharing with friends. Enjoy!

 Gangnam Style | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 10:57

Rich Koreans, carnivorous teddy bears and Nazis. Lest anyone think we are oblivious to pop culture, today we are pleased to present an Elementary Chinese lesson on the latest Internet sensation sweeping across China. Also, considering the continued availability of Titanic gear in shops nationwide, we expect to continue hearing about this for at least the next decade, so it doesn't hurt to bone up on it.

 An Evening of Romance and Laughter | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 10:15

June's colleagues had been so eager to set her up with Peter that she had resisted for over a month, coming up first with this excuse and then that one before finally succumbing to at least one date. But now that the two of them were alone together, she wondered why had she waited? He was handsome, and funny and charming. Even the waiters, ever sensitive to the delicacy of unfolding love, had slowly cleared the rest of the guests indoors, leaving the two of them alone on the candlelit terrace. Learning Chinese? Our show today is at the more difficult end of our spectrum when it comes to lessons for absolute beginners. In it, we cover a useful sentence pattern for telling other people how you feel about them... or life in general. But if it is too difficult for you, don't worry. Just hop back to our lesson archive for hundreds of even easier lessons for total beginners to the Chinese language.

 Wang Xiaobo - A Special Pig | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 8:39

Wang Xiaobo is one of the most well-known contemporary Chinese authors. Born and raised in Beijing in the 1950s, Wang was sent down to the countryside as a "rusticated youth" in his late teens where he lived in both Yunnan and Shandong before returning to Beijing in the early 1970s. In the mid-1980s he spent time in the United States doing academic work before returning to Beijing where he gained recognition through the next decade in part for pieces like this one. Although Wang Xiaobo died of a heart attack in the late 1990s, his literary reputation has only continued to grow after his death, surviving in a sizable collection of short essays which are frequently read and often compared to the works of Kafka. Wang also continues to be widely cited as a literary influence by contemporary authors and popular bloggers like Han Han.

 An evening at the Beijing Bookworm | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 54:43

On September 13, Sinica co-host Jeremy Goldkorn was delighted to chair a panel discussion at the Beijing Bookworm with authors Ian Johnson and Christina Larson, two well-known China journalists and now contributors to Chinese Characters, a collection of essays on individualism in modern China edited and published by Jeffrey Wasserstrom of the Asia Society and the University of California, Irvine. Our show today is a recording of that event, and while this is a bit more public than most of our recordings, it was a lot of fun nonetheless. So listen in to Sinica today as we revisit that evening two weeks ago when Ian and Christina joined Jeremy for a discussion that swept from mercantilist monks to renegade geologists before settling on the question of whether Peter Hessler's writings constitute their own independent oeuvre of literature on China, and what on earth is the man doing in Egypt these days anyway? Looking for the link where you can download this show as a standalone mp3 file? Well there it is. And here it is again too. Please feel welcome to download and share, or subscribe to our show through iTunes by using the RSS feed: http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica.

 A Sound of Thunder | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 14:35

As the time machine settled emerged from the plasma void, the world came back into focus through the tiny porthole. It was a jungle, and the jungle was high and broad and the entire world forever and forever. Sounds like music and sounds like flying tents filled the sky, and those were pterodactyls soaring with cavernous gray wings, gigantic bats of delirium and night fever. As the machine started its cooldown cycle, Eckles reached for his rifle and pursed his lips in satisfaction: after years of anticipation, it was finally time for the hunt to begin. Learning Chinese? Our shows at the advanced level assume that you're either relatively fluent in mandarin, or very close to being fluent. Because of this, we focus less on colloquial Chinese and more on the sort of problems that upper-level students face: advanced vocab acquisition and dealing with less colloquial Chinese. In this show, join us as we explore the problems of paradox and let us know what you think in the comments section below.

 Box on Head | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 9:28

You know the tin-foil hat wearing, conspiracy-paranoid crowd that started showing up almost overnight when X-Files became mainstream and that you'll still run into every now and again in the States, and especially if you live in San Francisco? Well... the good news is that China doesn't really have this kind of counterculture yet. The paranoid life is simpler here. More direct. And much less high-tech. Learning Chinese? The elementary level at Popup Chinese is where we get most of our grammar out-of-the-way, and today's lesson is no exception, focusing on what you'll come to know and love as the continuous aspect: the Chinese way of communicating than an action is ongoing. In this lesson we cover two common ways of doing this and talk about both the similarities and slight differences between these techniques. This is rarely taught in textbooks, but its the sort of thing that separates native speakers from second-language learners, so if you're working towards fluency be sure to give it a listen, and let us know what you think.

 The Island Imbroglio | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 35:34

As Xi Jinping has stepped back into the public eye this week, the reappearance of China's heir apparent has been upstaged by large demonstrations across the country as tensions mount over territorial claims to the Diaoy (or Senkaku) Islands. As memories of earlier episodes of over-exuberant patriotism resurface, the events have the Sinica folks recalling with some nostalgia that the last time both Xi Jinping and a bunch of islands were in the news, the excitement was over Xi's vacation stopover in Fiji on his way to a state visit to Latin America. This week on Sinica, Kaiser Kuo is pleased to host new guests: Damien Ma, analyst with the Eurasia Group, who also contributes frequently to the Atlantic Monthly, and Ian Johnson, former Beijing bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, now with the New York Times. We are also thrilled to be rejoined by Tania Branigan, ace correspondent for the Guardian in Beijing and soon-to-be member of our "stalwart" class of Sinica supporters. On a final note, we would be remiss not to mention that subscribing to Sinica via RSS is the easiest way to catch up on developments in China. To get started, either sign-up for an account on Popup Chinese or open iTunes, click on the Advanced file menu in iTunes and select the option "Subscribe to Podcast". When your computer prompts you, provide the URL http://popupchinese.com/feeds/custom/sinica and iTunes will take care of everything else, downloading new episodes automatically as soon as they are available. And for the less adventurous or iTunes poor, we're pleased to bring you this show as a standalone mp3 file as always. We hope you like it!

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