The Latest Mandarin Chinese Language Lessons
Excellent Materials for You to Learn Chinese Mandarin Language
Latest Lessons
Beijing/Shanghai and Being a Good Guest Dear Amber
In this week's Dear Amber one of our listeners, Arthur Cookson, who is a self-proclaimed "Beijingren", joins us with a tale of two Chinese cities. Plus, Amber is on a diet after a food-filled visit to a local friend's place for lunch, and Jenny gives us some guidance on how to be a good guest at your Chinese friends' home. Visit us in the comments section too and share your stories and views on what we talked about today.
Yang Jie's Fury Elementary
Men everywhere know about the fury of the woman scorned, but that holds nothing in comparison to that of a hormone-raging, pubescent, Sweet Valley High novel-reading youth. In this podcast we revisit our Chinese friend Yang Jie, and this time, she's furious. Follow along as the diary leaves the page and turns into a reality-show-gone-bad lesson in Mandarin.
people, relationships, Diary Series
#39 Movie Madness
We get a little R rated this week. We can only stay family friendly for so long. We bring you a Hollywood cast who all just so happen to speak in Mandarin Chinese. Crazy...I know. So get your crazy guesses into Clay or Amber and you just might win a free month of premium access at Cpod!
What's up? Newbie
If we were slangpod.com, this lesson would be called 'whattup.' But for the sake of warding off potential improper English critics, we'll stick to the Queen's English just this once. Enough about English, what about Chinese? How do you greet your peeps? Listen in to this podcast and get the lingo down, bro, in Mandarin. Word.
greetings, daily life
London Intermediate
Stand out historical moments in the history of Londontown: The Great Fire of 1665, The Great Plague of 1666, but greatest of them all, surely, The Great ChinesePod London Meet-up of 2006. Now, the next history-making London event--this podcast. Dive into this lesson like you would a good Dickens novel and learn all about "The Big Smoke" in Mandarin.
travel, town and city
Making Comparisons Using 比 bǐ Qing Wen
In this week's episode, we teach you the extremely useful structure that allows you to tell everyone how much smarter you are than them. The best part is... it will be true after you listen to this podcast.
Bank Hours Elementary
You've camped out for U2 tickets, queued for boxing day sales... but the bank? Waiting outside the bank before it opens is a national pastime and community social event in China. So take your number (ah, so this is why they line up at the screech of dawn), take a seat and hunker down for your lesson in patience. While you wait, listen to this podcast on bank hours in Chinese and secure your teller time.
business, money, time
Time for Class Newbie
Now that 2008 has been declared the "International Year of Languages" by the UN, it's time to buckle down and study Mandarin for world peace. Start with this podcast and learn how to understand your teacher so you don't end up in the detention hall because you confused 'sit down and shut up' with 'stand up and sing a Chinese rendition of 'Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting.'
directions, education
Long Distance and Cultural Mysteries Dear Amber
Today on Dear Amber we help long distance lovers stay in touch as economically as possible with some advice on calling home. We also take a moment to reflect on all those things that we don't quite 'get' as foreigners in a foreign land--some mysterious aspects of Chinese culture divulged. Visit the comments section to share what perplexes you--grantors of enlightenment welcome!
Registering with the Police Station Upper Intermediate
The bureaucratical love affair with forms and hassle. In this podcast, a pain in the butt cracked open for all you waiguorens living in China. Listen to this lesson, and pack yourself down to the police station to register. Throw in a kowtow or two for good measure and turn on some Chinese charm--hopefully, you'll get a nice chain-smoking official who won't care that you're 362 days late...
accommodation, government, travel
#38 Movie Madness
We are mixing it up here at the CPod factory. Take a listen to see what we are talking about, and then take a listen to see what they are talking about on this hugongous hit of a movie dubbed into Mandarin Chinese. Send your votes on in to Clay or Amber, and vie for the free month filled with all the ChinesePod goodies not available to those less fortunate listeners.
Equestrian Elementary
Long before Catherine the Great made equestrian famous, people used to jump things on horseback. But not in China. Considering their stature and overuse of the word ma, if any nation should dominate a sport, it's the Chinese in equestrian. Sadly this isn't the case, due to an ancient declaration of karaoke as the national sport. In this podcast, learn about this Olympic sport, in Mandarin.
animals, Olympics, sports
Behind the Scenes at the Beauty Pageant Intermediate
After a loooong sabbatical during which some of the contestants were convalescing from some much-needed plastic surgical procedures, we welcome back our blogger beauties in this episode of the beauty pageant series. Listen in to this podcast as we go behind the scenes and try to find out if Liu Jia is really willing to sell herself for fame and dubious fortune, in Mandarin Chinese.
fashion, relationships, Beauty Pageant Series
Hot Soup Newbie
The humble soup. Brought to life by a symphony of slurps... worthy enough to elevate eating to an oral concerto. In this podcast, get 'drinking' with a Chinese lesson to teach you to embrace, celebrate, and justify mouth noise. Take it from us and start gulping--table manners are sooooo passé.
food
还是 háishi OR 或者 huòzhě Qing Wen
Lemme get this straight, there are two words for "or" in Mandarin? Isn't this language hard enough as it is? Let the QW gang (sans two week vacay Connie) take a stab at clarifying this tricky little fella.
简体字与繁体字 Advanced
简体字方便！繁体字好看！简体字破坏汉字结构！繁体字浪费宝贵时间！关于繁体字和简体字的争论有很多呢！你学汉字了吗？你学的是简体还是繁体？你觉得繁体字好还是简体字好呢？让我们一起在中文播客学习和讨论吧。
studies, language, traditional characters, simplified characters, characters, writing, 简体字, 繁体字
To Love or Be Loved Upper Intermediate
That is zee question. At ChinesePod, relationships are simple: we love you, you love us. It's a match made in heaven. As for the real world, we give you this podcast on a profound and much-loved topic of conversation in China (little known fact: Chinese people hide their romantic side under a cloak of practical business sense.) Get in on the debate, in Mandarin.
emotions, feelings, relationships
I Have Class Newbie
No, we are not talking about the Ron Burgundy type of class, we are talking about the kind you go to...or at least supposed to go to. So don't skip class, and definitely don't skip this podcast. You will slowly become as wise as a miniature Buddha with yet another Chinese lesson under your belt.
education, studies, time