Popup Chinese

Advanced: The World of Inception

Today we kick off Inception week at Popup Chinese with an advanced discussion of the film. If you're a film buff looking for some light film analysis, or are just curious how the key concepts behind the film translate into Chinese, join Brendan, Echo and David as they delve into the movie and lay out what we'll be doing for the rest of this week.

Premium subscribers please note: we haven't traditionally had speaking practice lessons at the advanced level, but have opened our telephone hotline for this lesson. If you'd like to share your thoughts on the film, please give us a call and let us know what you think. You can find your personal PIN along with our toll-free number on the text page.

barrister

said on

September 6, 2010

This is a great movie. Glad to see it getting some attention in China, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the podcasts.

rogers.colin

said on

September 6, 2010

Would anyone know where to get the Chinese language film script for Inception? I know www.imsdb.com are posting English film scripts these days, any similar resource in China?

davidwilljack

said on

September 6, 2010

Interesting lesson. For a deeper analysis of the movie: http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=13150.

orbital

said on

September 7, 2010

Interesting analysis guys. One of the most interesting things about the movie that someone (not I) noticed after the fact was the structure of the theme music, which is apparently modeled after the French song "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" used for the kick:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVkQ0C4qDvM

Worth checking out if you haven't seen it. They put a lot of love into the film.

helen.wallimann

said on

September 7, 2010

What I don't like about your pod is the mixture of English and Chinese. Why can't you do all the commentary in Chinese, explaining difficult expressions in Chinese as you go? Chinesepod does this better!! On the other hand, the vocabulary list is useful.

Xiao Hu

said on

September 7, 2010

@helen.wallimann,

I thought it was okay, Echo's dialogue was all in Chinese, and besides when you hear the English and Chinese together, for example: 一刀未剪 it is a good technique to getting us to understand new words within the context of conversation.

Anyway, in my eyes, Popup Chinese can do no wrong!

泡泡中文，万岁万岁！

trevelyan

said on

September 7, 2010

@Xiao Hu and helen.wallimann,

Thanks for the feedback guys. We try to keep everyone speaking their native language where possible out of principle. Even Echo speaks mostly Chinese at the Elementary level.

That said... Helen -- with the exception of our recent show on the new Dream of the Red Chamber television series -- you should find that most podcasts at the advanced level are either quite difficult listening tests, or Chinese-only podcasts. We're looking to put out more Chinese-only shows and revamping the format this fall. The challenge is actually finding interesting guests who are comfortable with more substantive discussions. Even our voice actors tend to self-censor until we tell them not to.

I think switching between Chinese and English is actually a good skill to have. At the end of the day, we're trying to get a good variety of materials, so that if someone doesn't like a particular show or format they can skip it. And thanks again for the feedback.

Best,

--david

Xiao Hu

said on

October 29, 2010

@David,

I think the mixed Chinese/English format is good, especially because one can pick up missed dialogue through the context of the English response. That being said however, I think if there could be more full Chinese podcasts, that aren't listening tests mixed in with the Advanced level that would be helpful, and perhaps tag the full-Chinese podcasts with some kind of icon so we can differentiate them and just listen to the ones we want.