Newbie | I want coffee!

You were *this* close to taking the Trans-Siberian Line from Beijing to Moscow (8 time zones!), *this* close from starting at Tiananmen Square and ending in Red Square…and what stopped you? You didn’t...

11 Jan 202118min

In our previous newbie tone change series, we have introduced the tone change rules for 不, 一, two third tones, and three third tones. Just like many other aspects in the Chinese language, tone changes...

8 Jan 202115min

So… ummmm, hi… I was…ahem, wondering (cough) if you… ahhhh, are doing…anything tonight? Think that’s hard in your own language? Try it in Mandarin Chinese! In this socially awkward podcast, Ken (never...

6 Jan 202114min

In Chinese, you often encounter single characters that have multiple related meanings. This has the potential to confuse learners because sometimes it is hard to make connections between component cha...

4 Jan 202110min

You could try and mime your way through it to ask for someone’s email address (piano fingers and tongue clicking). You could simply call them every time you needed to speak. Or, you could just listen ...

1 Jan 202116min

Chengyu are Chinese idioms that consist of four characters. Although they originate from classical Chinese, Chengyu remain as an important aspect in both spoken and written language. They may seem err...

30 Dec 202011min

Think you don’t need to talk about the internet? You’re positive? Okay, tell you what, think very, very carefully about your life sans web…no email, no news, no CHINESEPOD, ye gods! In this podcast, K...

28 Dec 202017min

In today's lesson, we are teaching you how to ask questions using the A not A sentence structure. Practice this structure in daily conversations, but be careful not to ask too many questions in a roll...

25 Dec 202014min