Factional alliances had been coalescing for months, for as the availability of work narrowed, it was obvious to all that sacrifices would simply have to be made. And so it was that Popup Towers became a place of whispers and sideways glances among the voice acting team, as a hundred secret alliances blossomed and then withered overnight. And then there was the baking....

Learning Chinese? At the Intermediate level we try to present genuine Chinese dialogues prepared and presented without concerns over reducing the difficulty or sculpting the language spoken to make it easier for beginners. This means you get fully natural Chinese passages in speed, tempo as well as emotion. And once you can follow along at this level, you should be ready to step up to both native media as well as our more advanced shows.
 said on
March 19, 2013
"足够毒死一头非洲象", 那句话笑死我了!只要我能吃你们说的那个brownie cake,今天就会变完美的!
 said on
March 19, 2013
I have a question about this line: "这是为了我们好,也为了她好。你的痛苦,我的痛苦和她的痛苦很快就会过去" Why does Gao use "我们" and not 咱们? I know the general rules is that 咱们 includes the person you are speaking to as well, but I still find that I never feel comfortable using 咱们 and end up alway using 我们.
 said on
March 19, 2013
@minghan,

Both 我们 and 咱们 work here. Yes, your understanding of 咱们 is correct. I guess you are just not used to it. Don't worry. Give it a try sometimes, you'll feel more comfortable with time.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
 said on
April 2, 2013
Hey can you make a lesson (or do you already have a lesson) about particles? I really really want to practice using 咯,哦,嘛,罢了 and even 吧 ...I use "啊" a lot, but all the others sound really forced when I try them. I feel like these particles are important in sounding like a native speaker, and I thought that you guys would be the ones to help get the 语气 on lockdown for this kind of thing.
 said on
April 4, 2013
@minghan,

This article has some helpful rules about particles.

1、a o e i ü的后面写作“呀”

2、u ao的后面写作“哇”

3、n 的前面必是哪

4、儿化后面必是啦

5、其余都可写作啊

Full article: http://hi.baidu.com/sxjxyrb/item/201ab590103a7f1f924f413c

The author is very strict about these rules, probably too strict. From my experience, the Chinese themselves don't always adhere to them, especially online.

Of course the list is not complete, lacking 呗、咯 and the other particles you mentioned.
 said on
April 6, 2013
Cool thanks! I was hoping for a lesson with the voice actors just so I could practice mimicking their 语气。My textbooks will sometimes have a recording to go along with the dialogue, but it always sounds like the "voice actors" are bored and just reading straight from the textbook. It's good practice if you want to sound like an emotionless robot when speaking Chinese :p
 said on
April 14, 2013
@Brendan,

Nice work on the intro writing, very poetic. Kudos.
 said on
April 19, 2013
@Xiao Hu -- The intros are all David! A man of many talents.