The Latest Mandarin Chinese Language Lessons
Excellent Materials for You to Learn Chinese Mandarin Language
Latest Lessons
No Kidding Elementary
It may seem quaint or funny, maybe even a little melodramatic, but when you need it and find yourself flailing in the green, oolong, bubble tea sea... your coffee compulsion is no joke. When desperation begins to lead you down the path to instant Folgers, a $10 cup of coffee may just be what stands between you and the point of no return. Listen to this podcast, and learn to pay the price of dependency, in Mandarin Chinese.
travel, town and city
#33 Movie Madness
Aaaaw yeah, a Movie Madness with some great vocab about substitute teachers and all that sorta fun stuff. This week a chance to escape the grind of romantic comedies and epic dramas with a comedy movie. Listen in and compete for the best prize of all... a one month free premium membership to ChinesePod! Leave your guesses at Amber or Clay's profile... you have one whole week to mull this one over!
Getting Your Hair Done Intermediate
Inspired by actual events: a young woman's twenty-seven traumatic breakdowns after China hair salon debacles. This Chinese lesson is your hair intervention. In this podcast, save yourself from becoming just another casualty of the dreaded over-zealous scissors... avert the blight of bad hairdos, in Mandarin.
appearance, fashion, preferences
Extreme Chinese - 不得了 (bùdéliǎo) Qing Wen
Today on Qing Wen, we go crazy with a great word. The three of us always love to pepper our Chinese with a little drama! Now you can too, as we give a few tips on going over-the-top with a word called: 不得了 (bùdéliǎo). You're gonna love it 得不得了 (de bùdéliǎo)!
Bumming a Smoke Newbie
Your doctor tells you to quit, the surgeon general's cancer warning on the pack kinda freaks you out, but the artist in you can't get those wispy smoke-filled 'In the Mood for Love' scenes out of your mind. You didn't come to the only place on the planet where smoking in pubs hasn't been banned yet for no reason. This is your last hurrah. In this podcast, learn how to bum a cigarette from a stranger in Mandarin Chinese.
questions
Too Picky Elementary
You may feel that it is your God-given right to not have the eyes of your shrimp staring back at you from the plate. Or that bones in your fish are nothing but a potential throat-lodging disaster. But keep in mind, there are others in distant lands who feel that chewing a bagel with cream cheese has a texture like snot smeared onto a worn out shoe sole. So don't be picky... and listen to this Chinese lesson to hear how fussy sounds in Mandarin.
food, preferences, personality
The Non-Chinese Speaking Tourist and Toilets Dear Amber
This week we have a visitor stop by from America. Elliot doesn't know a word of Chinese, so listen as he tells us his experience of China through the eyes of a complete newbie! Can you get around? Can you communicate? Do you really need to take a tour or can you make it on your own? He fills us in. Plus, we answer a question on the toilet experience in China, squat vs. western... can we find a common ground? Don't forget to visit the comments section and share your own toilet, tourism, or combination of both, experiences.
Lost Cell Phone Intermediate
There's nothing more traumatic than losing your cell phone. That is, until some good Samaritan dials the 'home' number and calls your wife, and lets her know he's found your phone in the back of a taxi outside of a nightclub in Shanghai… especially after you told her you were 'just working late at the office.' In this podcast learn how to handle the trauma of losing your cell phone in Mandarin Chinese.
communications
After You Newbie
It's only been rumored to have ever happened in this city once, and that was from a Canadian tourist who was visiting from the Niagara falls region, and to this day we haven't found any witnesses to confirm this ever took place. In this podcast, a model lesson in Mandarin Chinese from a model world where chivalry is not dead. And if it's not dead... someway, somehow, somewhere, it could happen to you too...
etiquette
#32 Movie Madness
We're back with a great movie that most girls (and maybe guys too) can relate to. A little neurotic romance and some great dialogue to go with it. That's hint enough for all of you! Sit back, and come on our Movie Madness journey this week. A great prize too! Send your guesses to Amber or Clay's profile and keep your fingers crossed.
Bad Service Restaurant Upper Intermediate
Cold tea, warm water, sticky menu, dirty chopsticks, and why in the world won't they bring the stinking rice--isn't this CHINA?! You're starting to recall why it was you don't tip as your 'fuwuyuan' shriek is drowned out by the clamor of the raucous beer-swilling luncheoners beside you. You are not alone. Listen to this lesson and learn how to stand up and yell for the waiter without shame.
food
Preparing for the Heat Elementary
When you come to Beijing in August for the Olympics, you'll meet a sea of umbrellas and wonder if you watched the wrong weather report. If the Chinese know one thing, it's how to stay out of the heat. Listen to this podcast for a Mandarin lesson on how to keep your cool... even when you get a spoke in the eye due to haphazard umbrella management.
Olympics, weather
Using Verbs 不出来 , 得出来 Qing Wen
Now we all forget names, voices and faces, but perhaps before we didn't quite know how to explain it in Chinese. Well, thanks to this wonderful resultative complement, verb 不出来 (bu chūlai) verb 得出来 (de chūlai) and your three friends at Qing Wen, you'll have no problem making out this grammar structure!
complement
Singapore Intermediate
Manicured landscape, clean streets, not a piece of trash in sight, humidity... no, you're not at Disneyworld, but you might as well be... it's the most sterile city in the world, Singapore. Cliches aside, it's another cool place you can go and try out your Mandarin skills. Listen to this podcast, and get practicing-la. Or just go to Disneyworld... there's Chinese people there too--they love Minnie.
location, travel, town and city
The Final Jizhou Pieces Upper Intermediate
Taking a lesson from the other go-on-forever saga of 'lost' people, we have decided to conclude this story without opening the hatch. Tune in to today's podcast, where all is revealed, without a single polar bear sighting. Learn in Mandarin Chinese about what really was going down in Jizhou, and put to bed for all time those disturbing flute arias.
people, Jizhou Series
Trip to the Chinese Doctor and a Special Guest Dear Amber
This week on Dear Amber a fun trip to the Chinese Medicine Doctor, where you'll find so much that will intrigue and entertain you... and make sure to take your medicine! Plus, we have a special interview with one of our poddies who hails from Austin, Texas--Professor Orlando R. Kelm, from the University of Texas at Austin, who shares some interesting insights into the Chinese people's view of doing business with Americans. Enjoy!