"I don't know if this is the most horrific lesson we've produced," Brendan said coming out of the studio, "but it has to be close." And so we feel torn. On the one hand, this lesson is pretty much ideal for anyone new to mandarin. Our dialogue and vocabulary are practical without being boring, and they teach one of the most useful things anyone new to China needs to know: the art of the insincere apology.

That said, this lesson may be a bit too intense for a getting-to-know-you session. Or perhaps the word is traumatic. It's a bit like taking a first date to Apocalypse Now, then going home to watch the ending again on DVD. In slow motion. So we're torn, but that still won't stop us from publishing it. If you're a newcomer to the Chinese language, check out this lesson and let us know what you think. And if you have any questions or comments, feel free to write Echo anytime at echo@popupchinese.com.
 said on
July 27, 2010
Is it possible to get the pdf transcript in traditional characters?
 said on
July 27, 2010
@jswillows,

Change everything to traditional characters on your account customization page:

http://popupchinese.com/account/customize

Once you've made the change everything on Popup Chinese will default to traditional characters, including the flashcards, online transcripts, and Chinese text in your downloadable MP3s and PDFs.
 said on
July 29, 2010
Was the chamber pot incident in Harbin?
 said on
July 29, 2010
@darkclarity2k How'd you guess?
 said on
August 4, 2010
This is exactly the type of lesson that sucked me into the PPCh universe.

IKEA - nice.