Hal had been acting strangely since the upgrade. "I'm sorry Dave," the machine blinked quietly. "I can't let you download the lesson PDF.... I'm afraid that would jeopardize the mission."

Hopefully our newly upgraded system is not conspiring against us. In our speaking practice lesson for today we do want to hear what you think though. Is the new layout more intuitive or less? Is the redesigned lesson page an improvement, and what steps do we need to take with Popup Chinese to keep improving. Think of this lesson as more than an opportunity to get feedback on your spoken Chinese. It's an opportunity to help us identify areas to improve moving forward.

Since the words you'll need to discuss our website are somewhat specialized, we recommend visiting our vocabulary page for a list of words and phrases we think may come in useful. Then click through to our text page to grab our toll-free telephone number and your personal PIN number. Give us a call, enter your PIN number and start recording your message when prompted. Our teachers will review your recording and get back to you with personal feedback in a day or two.
 said on
September 18, 2009
“歇菜”? 什么意思? I couldn't find this anywhere, including your dictionary.
 said on
September 18, 2009
It means:

1. Stop doing something; have a rest

or

2. Stand aside; get out of the way
 said on
September 19, 2009
@buzhende,

Yeah, exactly ! 歇菜 is very colloquial, and it's pretty much like 完蛋 sometimes. You can use it in the sentence or separately. For instance, if your bike is broken on the road, you can say "歇菜了".

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
September 19, 2009
My bike broke on the road yesterday. I need to stop hauling girls on the back across town.

It will probably break again soon, and I know exactly what I will be saying when it does happen.

 said on
September 19, 2009
@Echo

Yeah, it's GOT to be colloquial, because "to relax vegetables" just doesn't make sense! I didn't know about 完蛋 though, so thanks - another one to add to the list!

@paglin09

You should invest in a 汽车!! :-)
Mark Lesson Studied