ChinesePod - Beginner

The COVID-19 pandemic is sweeping across the globe right now. Although 病毒 - virus, 无情 - doesn’t discriminate, 人 - humanity, 有情 - has love for one another. Through sharing the love, we can help each other out and get over with the pandemic swiftly. Watch to learn more about general newbie vocabularies, as well as phrases to use amid such tough times! All in all, everyone 加油! Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/4295

13 Jan 202120min

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 know how to ask for a ticket! Let’s remedy that today, shall we? All aboard, next stop: Chuga-chuga, chuga-chuga, Chinesepod! (Make a fist, put your arm at a 45 degree angle and pull down). In this podcast you will learn how to enquire about train tickets in Mandarin Chinese. Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/0103

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 are more nuanced than the rules you see in textbooks. That's why for the elementary tone change series, we decided that we would reinforce the rules with the help of dialogues that you hear in everyday conversations. Practice and familiarize yourselves with the sounds, and you'll be a tone master in no time! In this episode, we're going to learn and practice the tone change rules for 不 [bù] through a phone conversation inside a noisy club. Let's check it out right now! Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/4292

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 does this, honest) and Jenny (doesn’t like you in that way) teach you how to invite someone to a meal. Once you put all the effort into this lesson, how can they say no?! Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/0097

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 characters and their meanings within multiple-character words. That's why we created this Character Mind Map series, where we focus on characters and the words they make up. Today, we're talking about 走 and all the interesting words using this character. Let's check them out! Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/4287

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 to this lesson, where you will learn how to ask for someone’s email address in Mandarin Chinese. Good choice, now, you can use that money you save on long-distance phone bills to buy us presents (we’re a 33×34). Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/0094

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 erratic and confusing to you at first since they don’t follow the usual sentence order and their meanings depend heavily on context. But don’t worry, in this Chengyu series, we will introduce simple Chengyu made up with all the characters that you already knew, and you can infer the actual meaning by looking at the separate characters! In this lesson, let’s take a look at three Chengyu with numbers 三 (three) and 四 (four) in them! Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/4283

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, Ken (An Irish Spicoli) and Jenny (Our Little Surfer Girl) teach you how to talk in Mandarin Chinese about surfing the internet. The Chinese love their electronics and you’ve got to fit in! Listen and this lesson will teach you how. Episode link: https://www.chinesepod.com/0092

28 Dec 202017min