At Popup Chinese we are strong supporters of science. Which is why our Intermediate podcast for today teaches a turn of phrase we think you'll find particularly useful the next time you're writing an academic grant proposal, updating colleagues on your post-doc, or reanimating Tom Hanks in your secret basement lab.
 said on
April 7, 2009
Nice podcast guys. Loved the laughter at the end.
 said on
April 7, 2009
Okay, I confess to laughing out loud on the subway this morning when I heard that a still-beating heart was going to be inserted into the cold, lifeless body of Forrest Gump. Well done.
 said on
April 7, 2009
@toneandcolor,

哈哈,没错,我跟你的感觉一模一样!
 said on
April 7, 2009
Guys,

It's a short but stunning dialogue.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
April 7, 2009
Off topic, but do only girls write things like "偶素不素可以。。" and "偶不几道" and 口耐 instead of 可爱?Is this like trying to sound cute or what?
 said on
April 7, 2009
@stratman1,

Well, I guess maybe you just met some "90后" or some girls trying to sound cute (although they are not). Those sentences/phrases are more like 网络用语. If people on the street speak this way, it's actually pretty strange and improper.

Also, haven't heard from you for a while, how's everything? :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
April 7, 2009
http://www.maxiewawa.com/2009/04/07/special-price-just-for-you/

^A funny thing that happened to me, and made me think immediately of popup chinese for some reason.
 said on
April 8, 2009
Hey Max,

Huh? This woman *told* you she was selling it to others for 80 RMB and then doubled the price for you when you asked? Even if you weren't wearing the exact same pair that behavior is totally ridiculous. Maybe she was just struggling with cognitive dissonance at having you talk to her in Chinese. There's also - quite seriously - the lead poisoning hypothesis. Chinese stats are off the charts.

For some reason as soon as I walked off I thought of Popup Chinese, a site for learning Chinese. While entirely fictional (I think!) their site features funny little dialogues in mandarin Chinese like the one above. My one is true though!

Awesome. I'll admit that yesterday's podcast was entirely fictional, but some of the stuff we record actually has happened. We change the names to protect the innocent, except for the ones involving Apple.

--dave

p.s. you can always give your blog some Pagerank love by wrapping links in any comments in HTML tags. Site supports basic HTML markup.
 said on
April 8, 2009
Thanks for the tip Brendan老师!
 said on
April 8, 2009
stratman1,

偶同意Echo滴观点。但似偶觉滴桑网滴时候则么用的确挺cute滴。。。

ggjjddmm们追啦,平时苏话似不能这样滴。

Translation:

我同意Echo的观点,但是我觉得上网的时候这么用的确挺CUTE的。。。

哥哥姐姐弟弟妹妹们注意啦,平时说话是不能这样的。
 said on
April 8, 2009
@Gail,

Translation...lol...

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
April 8, 2009
@trevelyan - lead poisoning wouldn't surprise me. Also nice to attribute my own failures at communication to the basic cognitive deficiencies of the other party.

As far as the sandals go, I'd have offered 10 or 20 RMB less than I purchased them for originally just to see if she'd go with the sale. Less than $10 for a decent pair of sandals is a good deal if you're happy with them. I pay about 150 RMB for decent shoes here.
 said on
April 10, 2009
@Echo

I've been good, but busy, I'm in the middle of final exams..

@Echo&Gail

Thanks for the help, you two are hilarious. I think stuff like 口耐 sounds bad but the 不要=表,"表这样子" makes me laugh.
 said on
April 10, 2009
@orbital

Where do you buy your shoes??

I didn't find it was worth it to buy shoes in China, at XiDan it was about 150RMB (after a long bargaining process) for uncomfortable, piece of shit shoes (at least they looked good) that would fall apart in a month or two. I love fake shit, but for something as important as shoes I'll pay for quality.
 said on
April 10, 2009
@stratman1 - I buy them at a local market, but not the tourist markets. Hardest thing is getting the right size.

Found something I liked so keep going back (avoids repeated haggling). And the shoes aren't fantastic quality, but they last about a year before something splits, which isn't bad for $25. The laces go first though and I'll be damned if I know where to buy them, so I've started getting them to include two pairs on purchase.
 said on
July 24, 2009
There is a problem downloading the character writing sheets.
 said on
July 25, 2009
@ameristar888 - seems to have been a bug with our PDF production code (the comma was setting it off). Fixed for good, thanks.