The medical establishment is slowly coming around to an incontrovertible fact: Popup Chinese subscribers are better looking, smarter, thinner and generally cooler people than the rest of the population. That's what our recent t-shirt promotion suggested at least, and while correlation isn't exactly causation, it's close enough that we can all feel good about ourselves.Which is why in this podcast we engage in some experimental and entirely unapologetic brand promotion. "I don't get it," Gail said after listening to this podcast, mere seconds before pulling out her credit card and ordering a subscription. If you also like what you hear and are looking to mix-up your own workout routine, we'd encourage you to take out one as well. Cutting the fat and keeping the Popup is healthy advice. Just ask your doctor.
bonita.delmonte
said on March 17, 2009
Enjoyed it.
jim
said on March 19, 2009
The site is intriguing, in a manner of speaking. Who are you? What is it about? Hmmm, is it a secret? Where is the about us link? Where is the blurb on the homepage that describes what this is and who you are? As I said, intriguing, but maybe not the best way to market the site.
Ok, that is my cavil. Otherwise, the site has potential. If you want to be an alternative to some (cough) other sites, a basic, four-line paragraph on the homepage giving people who end up here sort of randomly (like moi) an overview of what this is and who you are would be helpful. Just sayin.
henning
said on March 19, 2009
jim,
it is just a diet podcasting site disguised as a Chinese service.
BTW, since I discovered Popup I lost 10 pounds.
trevelyan
said on March 19, 2009
We *do* aim to be the podcast provider of choice for the skeletal and emaciated, henning.....And thanks for the feedback Jim. We're iterating to hopefully make it clearer to first time visitors what exactly it is that we do. I'm also a bit concerned that newer students who stumble onto us when we have more advanced materials headlining the page will run away petrified. On the other hand, we don't want to bury our content behind a splash screen, since I think its our content and variety and quality that really sets us apart from the crowd.What we've got to work with is the top right-hand column space. We've been using that for promotions, etc. to date, and will probably shift to some rotating graphics to make better use of the space. Between that and streamlining our default Welcome lesson, I think well be able to improve usability considerably. And your input is very much appreciated incidentally, and not considered petty at all. :)
maxiewawa
said on March 20, 2009
抗议：我听了你们popupchinese之后胖了！
Gail天堂的声音
said on March 20, 2009
我也胖了！ 那是因为popup营养太多！！！
orbital
said on March 20, 2009
@maxiewawa - less eating more listening man....
nadasax
said on June 7, 2009
sound seems to fade out half-way through the first line of text on the text page...all else seems good
jyh
said on March 28, 2010
Regarding the sentence
Zán liă shuō de shì tóng yī ge wăngzhàn ma? 咱俩说的是同一个网站吗?
It basically says (in a near-word-to-word translation): what the two of us speak of, is it the same thing?
Is it just the natural way of saying this or is it because when 说 has a direct object complement it means "say" rather than "talk [of]"? Would it have the same meaning to say 咱俩说同一个站吗吗？or 咱俩把同一个站吗说吗？[I suspect the answer is no]
This is the type of sentence that I have no problem understanding the meaning of when I hear/read it, but that I am also completely unable to produce on my own.
Echo
said on March 29, 2010
@jyh,
Literal translation for this sentence "咱俩说的是同一个网站吗?" should be "Is this the same website that we are talking about?" This is just the natural way to say it. Here we just say "说的", because the object is omitted. If you put the object back there, the sentence turns into "咱俩说的（网站）是同一个网站吗？".
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
sebds70
said on May 26, 2010
Hi guys,
这个播客是很好的。There are a couple of things I’m not clear on from it though.
First, the sentence 这在以前绝不可能。I’m a little confused by the 这在. Has this been explained in a previous podcast? Does the 这在 indicate the present? Like “Now以前”?
Also, the sentence pattern 要是 A 就 B。Can this be used for anything other than expressing a wish that something had happened? For example, a wish that something hadn’t happened, like 我要是没有学习就不好。(not sure if that made any sense) Or can it represent cause and effect more generally, like 如果 A 就 B?
谢谢你们。Sure hope you weren’t joking about the weight loss…
Sebastian
Echo
said on May 27, 2010
@sebds70,
你好！
Question 1: 这在以前绝不可能 is an omitted version of 这要是放在以前绝不可能（This is impossible if you put it in the past).
Question 2: "Also, the sentence pattern 要是 A 就 B。Can this be used for anything other than expressing a wish that something had happened?" —— Yes. The way to use it is exactly like using 如果...就, although the intonation is a bit stronger. For instance, 你要是不好好学习，就得不到好成绩。
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
sebds70
said on May 27, 2010
谢谢 Echo. :) This podcast was a toughie.
rvvanni
said on October 22, 2010
is the "yaoshi" meaning "if only" or "I wish" exactly the same then "yaoshi" meaning "key"?
orbital
said on October 23, 2010
rvvanni -- they're different characters, but the pronunciation is the same. I think you mean "xiang3yao4" or "yao4" for "I wish" though.
Echo
said on October 23, 2010
@rvvanni,
The tones and characters are different. Yao4shi4要是 means "if only". Yao4shi5"钥匙 means "key". Chinese is a tonal language, and we use tones to distinguish the meanings, so you want to be very careful of them.
--Echo
echo@popupchinese.com
pefferie
said on March 14, 2011
@trevelyan - "will run away petrified"? Given that petrified means "turned to stone", this is rather unlikely.
trevelyan
said on March 14, 2011
@pefferie,
That's true. Although not as bone-headed a mistake as failing to conjugate simple verbs properly, which I've done on quite a few occasions now....
--dave
seamus5
said on May 21, 2012
Hey! I have a question about the 要是A就B construction. I understand that this construction is essentially the same As an 'if... then' construction. However, some of my Chinese friends of pointed out that it does not actually have a meeting of 'wish'. So I am wondering if I missed something about how it was taught here to have that connotation. I am assuming it is because the sentence ends with 就好了。The difference being that with this ending it does not have an alternative ending to a different input. But rather the result would be good, and a good result is like a wish. Thanks!
amber
said on May 22, 2012
@seamus5, I also think it's 要是a就好了 have the meaning of "I wish". --Amberamber@popupchinese.com
Echo
said on May 22, 2012
@seamus5,It's "I wish sth good could have happened, but it didn't". For instance, 要是他在就好了 (but he is not here), or 要是他不去美国就好了（but he went to the US）.--Echoecho@popupchinese.com
seamus5
said on May 22, 2012
that's great, thank you Amber and Echo!
seamus5
said on May 25, 2012
Hello pop up peeps!I was just on the bus this morning and saw a commercial for 无烟北京。it made me think if the 要是A就B construction could be used in a different way. I'm not sure about the 'B' part of the sentence is correct, but the attempted message is: what did you think was going to happen?要是告诉人别吸烟就干什么呀。
Echo
said on May 25, 2012
@seamus5,Hmmm...hmm... no, I'm afraid you can't say that :( I think you are trying to say 告诉人别吸烟，你觉得有用吗？--Echoecho@popupchinese.com
seamus5
said on May 25, 2012
wow, you seem to have read my mind! You, my friend, are a wonderful teacher! Thank you for putting up with my 'linguistically experiments' and guiding me back to reality when I stray to far ;0)
naijahusker
said on May 23, 2013
Hey!In the line by line from 2:03-2:16 the voice actor says"是啊，就是那个有播客的网站。唉，我要是早知道就好了。"and Echo says"是啊，就是有播客的那个网站。唉，我要是早知道就好了。"is there any difference in meaning?
Echo
said on May 24, 2013
@naijahusker,Oops, that must be my bad :P Meaning-wise there is no difference.--Echoecho@popupchinese.com
naijahusker
said on May 24, 2013
@Echo谢谢！ You guys do a great job!
