
Newbie | Are You Tired?
Discovering these 800-plus podcast lessons, likely you've been up for days, listening. You're not tired yet, due to the language-learning high that doesn't wear off until after lesson 452. However, a ...
19 Helmi 202414min

Elementary | Paris
We've got the Summer Palace; they've got Versailles. We've got Shaolin Temple; they've got Notre Dame. They've got stinky cheese; we've got stinky tofu. They, eau de toilette; us, squat toilettes. We'...
16 Helmi 202418min

Newbie | Upset
Reports churning out of celebrity Los Angeles have sparked concern over the latest anti-aging fad: drinking of the tears of young Asian girls. We, Chinese-English speakers of the world all have a resp...
14 Helmi 202411min

Elementary | Olympic Excitement
08-08-2008. The day we've all been waiting for. The factories are closed, the cars are parked away. The buildings are ready, the skies are blue (hopefully). The world has arrived in Beijing and we at ...
12 Helmi 20247min

Newbie | Where are you going?
Little did you know when you started learning Mandarin that you would be placed in the thick of an age-old war of 'where' words. Decide which camp has your allegiance--the roll of your tongue 'nar,' f...
9 Helmi 202412min

Elementary | Rock, Scissors, Cloth
The debate over who invented this game is not as heated as the one about who invented the noodle, thankfully. Perhaps the noodle debate could be settled for all time by a nice round of rock, scissors,...
7 Helmi 202413min

Newbie | Getting Nationalities Straight
Contrary to popular notions, no, we're not all Americans. The nationality guessing game: favorite exchange of bored cabbies and their captive audience passengers. Expressing nationality in Mandarin Ch...
5 Helmi 202413min

Elementary | War Zone
We assume you will never be a foreign soldier in a Chinese army, and sincerely hope that world peace is attained and this lesson will soon be obsolete. However, after 955 lessons it was about time tha...
2 Helmi 202411min





















