Trapped on the roof and under fire from the encroaching Triads, our intrepid hero whips out his Hello Moto and speed dials our leading lady, who guns her Porche faster down the Second Ring Road in answer. "I'll be down in a minute," he says cooly before stepping off the parapet and plunging a few stories in a matter of seconds.

We will be the first to admit that life in Beijing is much like the movies. Except in real life our leading lady is Apple, and she's a bit more difficult to contact than you'd expect. In this podcast, culled from our real-life experience, we'll teach you the basics of telephone etiquette. Or the basics of repeatedly asking for someone until either you or they hang up in frustration.
 said on
February 24, 2009
Very helpful.
 said on
February 24, 2009
very nice dialoge. perfectly suited for beginners I find the creative element really sets Popup Chinese apart - keep it up.
 said on
February 24, 2009
@jim,

谢谢:)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
March 5, 2010
Would I forgot be 我算了?
 said on
March 5, 2010
"I forgot" is 我忘了(wo3 wang4 le)。

"To forget" is 忘记,so "Forget it" is literally 忘记它(wang4ji4 ta1). But the Chinese equivalence is “算了”.

Hope it helps.

-- Lanzi

lan@popupchinese.com
 said on
April 17, 2014
Really enjoyed this lesson!

So it's my understanding that you use "zai" only when asking about location? I couldn't say "Apple shi ma?"

Also, do you only put "ma" at the end of a question if it is a yes or no question? Can you still use "ma" even if there are many possible answers to the question being asked?

Thanks again, loving the site so far, I'm going to need to upgrade my account very soon! :)
 said on
April 17, 2014
@wadestaines,

Yes- when you ask for locations, you use"zai4" that means "where is ..", but sometimes you can ask"you3...ma5?"- "is there a...?" to get the location, too.

Yes- "ma5" is for yes or no questions. If there's a question word, say"how, what, why, who, when..." You don't use "ma".

Hope it helps out& thanks for the nice words.