Longtime listeners to Popup Chinese know that we're big fans of the Chinese dairy industry. As such, in addition to forcing our staff to consume unhealthy amounts of milk and yoghurt on a daily basis, we also promote the industry by coming up with new and interesting uses for traditional dairy products. This podcast has been inspired by one of our more recent inventions, a product which brings respite from the summer heat and moisturizes while it cools.

Want to learn Chinese? This Chinese podcast is designed for students at the elementary level. That means that while we're past the basics, our dialogues and lesson materials are still relatively short and easy to understand. So if you've been studying Chinese for at least six months but less than two years, check this out and see how you do. And if it isn't right, just signup for a free account and visit our Chinese lesson archive to find something more at your level.

 said on
September 9, 2011
@Echo, 'wo zai suannai pingr li zhaodao de'

is this a sentence structure using 'zai .. de'

same as 'ting .. de'

must not forget to add 'de' at end of sentence.
 said on
September 9, 2011
@richard,

It's actually not "zai4...de5", but "shi4...de5". The sentence should be "wo3 shi4 zai4 suan1nai3ping2 li3 zhang3da4 de5". "Shi4" was just omitted here.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
September 10, 2011
Hey Echo,

Just a quick note to say happy teachers' day. And I guess happy Mid-Autumn Festival in advance too. :)
 said on
September 10, 2011
Ditto, happy teachers day Echo!

老师节快乐!

(那,把一块虚拟巧克力赠送你)

:)

- 小虎
 said on
September 10, 2011
@orbital & Xiao Hu,

Thanks :D

虚拟的巧克力味道不错~

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
September 11, 2011
@Brendan,

我怎么不知道你已经结婚了?希望你婚姻中的生活比对话里的夫妇安宁。

我虽然自己没有在酸奶瓶长大的,不过我却几乎在辣椒酱瓶长大的,你呢?
 said on
September 11, 2011
@Echo,

那块虚拟巧克力就是我花几块钱比特币用心给你买的。就是生活在我们现在的虚拟世界中。还好虚拟巧克力的滋味儿不错,要不然老师会虚拟的不理我。:(
 said on
September 12, 2011
笑死我了!
 said on
October 13, 2011

@Echo,

Quick question here: when using the sentence 我在酸奶瓶里找到的, could we use "发现" instead of “找到”? 都一样吗?

If there is a difference between the use for both words, I'd like to have a quick explanation.

Thanks, and keep up the good work, you guys are terrific!!

陶威
 said on
October 14, 2011
@vincent.topping - 发现 sounds fine here, but there's a slight difference in meaning. 找到 means "found (after looking)," while 发现 means "discover," without necessarily implying that the person had been looking.

@Xiao Hu - Missed your comment until just now. Thanks! We got married in late May, and my wife has so far been a lot more tolerant of my general slobbishness than I've had any right to expect.
 said on
October 14, 2011
@Brendan,

Congratulations on your marriage! I hope that married life is treating you well. Slobbishness seems to be a general male trait that we all share. I'm much better now than I used to be, at least the pile of dirty laundry is all neatly placed in a basket as opposed to scattered throughout the apartment. I can't say it's actually clean now, though...
 said on
October 15, 2011
@vincent.topping,

Exactly like Brendan said :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
April 8, 2012
A quick pronunciation question: in the sentence "我在酸奶瓶里找到的!" it almost sounds like the woman says "pingr ni" instead of "pingr li"... am I hearing that wrong? If not, why?
 said on
April 8, 2012
@user37749,

Yes, you are hearing this wrong. These two sounds do sound similar though.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
February 15, 2013
@Brendan,

What was that "deal with it" phrase (sounded like "renzhe" or "renzhi")? I can think of SOOO many situations where this would come in handy with my 7-year-old. Also, does Chinese have an equivalent to "because I said so"?
 said on
September 25, 2015
I'm not sure if anybody reads these comments anymore, given that it's been four years.

I am just wondering if these dialogues aren't just a bit "westernized". I taught University English classes in Sichuan Province for two years and I still keep in contact with my students via QQ. On QQ空间 I put a transcription of this dialogue in Chinese... and not a single one of them could understand it. They're using the phrase 没看懂... which I believe means it is unintelligible, not that they can't understand the content.

However, I checked it multiple times, and the way I've written it is legible. It's a simple enough conversation...
 said on
September 25, 2015
I don't think it's westernized, it's just that underwear in the freezer is indeed more of an issue in northern China. Also, if I may put my two fen in, you really shouldn't ask your students about their yoghurt.
 said on
September 27, 2015
@toronado282, oldgabe,

We have a friend in Brisbane who mentioned us to a local teacher who had been struggling getting into mandarin. He came back to her a week or two later telling her how much he liked the shows, but he was curious if the tone was particularly Chinese, since it didn't seem Western.

"对呀," she told him proudly. "那是我们中国人的幽默感...."

 said on
September 27, 2015
I usually listen to the podcasts while eating breakfast and I make my 北京人-SO listen because why not. Her reaction to them is similar to her reaction to my jokes - she will inadvertently laugh but still insist that they're not funny.