Popup Chinese

In this week's episode of Film Friday, we venture deep into the 1980s, an era when both music and hair were undergoing strange and sometimes startling changes. We loved it then, and we love it in retrospect too. Listen to this week's show and see if you can identify our mystery film: Big (1988)

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

Reincarnated Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese

Reincarnated Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese

If you've ever worked in it, you know the hospitality industry is a tough game. You've got to have the patience of Job, nerves of steel, and - most importantly - the inventory that people want. In today's listening test we eavesdrop on a sales encounter that starts off normally, and ends up somewhere else.
For best results, we recommend listening to today's dialogue first, and then taking the quiz to gauge your comprehension. If you have questions about the materials after that, you can visit the text section for our line-by-line translation and mouseover popups, or ask questions in the discussion section. If you find yourself missing some of the vocabulary, we've highlighted the most critical words in our vocab section.
Good luck!

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

Reincarnated Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese

Reincarnated Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese

Despite its international reputation for stability, speed and open access, the Chinese Internet is not as infallible as often portrayed in the Western media: it too suffers from the occasional dropped packet, misconfigured router, and hoe-through-the-fiber-optic-backbone.
Now that we're running our own servers though, the hand is very much on the other foot when it comes to network quality. Listen in today as we play a short joke on our Chinese voice actors, slowly dismantling their network while they're busy checking email. There were laughs all around. Or were until Xiao Liu passed his fist through our monitor.

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

Reincarnated Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese

Reincarnated Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese

French may be the language of love, but let's be pragmatic for a moment: very few people speak it in China, so you'll need a better strategy for breaking the ice than dusting off your collection of compliments from college French class. Which is why this lesson focuses on learning how to strike up a conversation in mandarin.
In today's show we cover the basics of starting a conversation in Chinese, and you'll be using this stuff every day so get it down. Once you've mastered this, we think you'll be surprised by the warmth of the reaction. And while you can keep working on your French too, we think you'll discover that Chinese has a certain je ne sais quoi of its own: one-fifth of the world's population can't be wrong.

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

Reincarnated Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese

Reincarnated Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese

This week's mystery film is one of the most ingenious films we've seen in the last decade. As Echo found out, it's also quite a disturbing movie once you figure out exactly what's going on: The Prestige (2006)

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

Reincarnated Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese

Reincarnated Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese

You wrangled your way from Houston to Shenzhen a year ago, and started working with smaller players in the procurement trade. Now you've finally pulled off your first major contract, holding firm with your Chinese partners when necessary, but never letting anyone lose face, and making sure the deal stayed win-win for everyone. You are a rising star.
Think you're a hot shot? Consider these negotiations training for a far greater challenge: life with Mimi. She speaks only Chinese, is not the least interested in accommodating your schedule and wants dinner now. She's also cute, and not afraid to use her beauty as a weapon. We recommend extreme caution.

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

Reincarnated Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese

Reincarnated Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese

Pointing and grunting getting a bit old? You're in exactly the right place. Join us in this lesson as we learn useful words like this and that (trust us, these never get old). This is some of the most basic and useful Chinese to know, because it's a small step from learning how to ask for something to learning how to order 500,000 of them shipped to Pittsburg at pennies on the dollar.

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

Reincarnated Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese

Reincarnated Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese

Reading contemporary Chinese literature gives us the impression that while Hemingway, Fitzgerald and the rest of the Lost Generation were romping it up in Paris, Chinese intellectuals were locked in a competition to produce the most depressing fiction possible, with bonus points for bankrupting a publisher in the process.

As far as short stories go, "A Little Incident" is not really light reading. But the surprisingly uplifting ending and sheer skill in its exposition puts the story in a class of its own, and demonstrates why Lu Xun is considered one of the best writers in 20th century China. We hope you enjoy it.

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

Reincarnated Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese

Reincarnated Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese

Katie Holmes? Don't know her, but her husband was pretty good in Minority Report. Never a huge fan of Top Gun or Risky Business. But why would I be? Not like I was involved in filming it or almost got a hernia from that scene dancing with the vacuum cleaner. And I swear I've never been to China before, so those weren't my pictures you saw all over that place outside Shanghai. See? I can't even remember the name!
Yeah, so forget about the uncanny resemblance - I'm not a hyper-celebrity and that's the honest truth. Just here to "check out China" and take a break from the "rat race" with my beautiful wife. But yeah, we can take a photo together if you want. Call me John.

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

Reincarnated Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese

Reincarnated Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese

In today's lesson we cover all the vocab you'll ever need to know to engage in casual chit-chat while stripping down for work or fun. We also cover a core grammar point: how to ask questions with verb reduplication when our verb takes an object. Very useful for asking someone if they are - in fact - going to be taking off their pants.
And get your mind out of the gutter! There are a number of perfectly legitimate reasons you'll need to know this stuff, not the least of which involves visiting the beach, performing routine weapons checks, or showing off your spectacular tan-line at the World Economic Forum.

Navigate the reincarnated Popup Chinese archives, including the original customized word-to-word transcripts for this and every other lesson as PDF files:

Reincarnated Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese — Popup Chinese

Reincarnated Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese — Popup Cantonese