ChinesePod - Beginner

Elementary | Forks and Spoons

True, asking for a fork is pretty much "giving up" when you're living in China, but there are times when it's not so frowned upon. And a spoon is basically always OK; eat

Elementary | Can I Sit Here?

Noisy, crowded restaurants and cafeterias are especially common in China; it is the largest country in the world, after all. This alone may not be too jarring for a newly

Elementary | Can I Eat With You?

A new workplace can be intimidating at first if you don't know anyone and especially if no one is speaking English! The first step to breaking the ice and becoming more f

Elementary | Big Numbers

Today's podcast is all about massive numbers in Mandarin Chinese. We're talking the numbers used in high-occurrence discussions on the population of China, US debt to Chi

Elementary | Buying High-Speed Train Tickets

If you're a fan of traveling (and if you're in China or planning a visit, you almost undoubtedly are!) then chances are you're going to need to buy train tickets at some

Elementary | Exchanging Dollars for RMB

One of the first things you're going to need to do in China is change some of your hard-earned cash into spendable RMB. Today's dialogue follows one such traveler as they

Elementary | Words of Encouragement

It's been a rough week. The work piled up over the holiday last week and all your dutiful employees have been working long overtime hours. What's the best way, other than

Elementary | Spending Money in Hong Kong

As one of Asia's premier shopping cities, Hong Kong has more than a few places to spend your hard-earned cash. No matter what it is you buy, your coworkers will undoubted

Elementary | A Present for Mid-Autumn Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival, which is celebrated every year on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, is a celebration in honour of the moon, and sharing mooncakes is one of the ha

Elementary | Photocopying and Printing

What do you do when you're thrust into an office environment with little English and a multitude of tasks to complete? ChinesePod offers a solution with today's lesson on

Elementary | Finding the Office Building

You've gotten directions to the office and gotten your friend to tell the taxi driver where to go. All you need to do now is find your way out of the taxi to the correct

Elementary | Buying a Prepaid Cell Phone Card

So you've just had an hour-long argument with your landlord about the electricity bill or exchanged a few hundred texts with your significant other; either way your phone

Elementary | Restaurant Recommendation

Each person has his own preferences, but the Chinese way to finding a good restaurant is -- no, not Yelp or Dianping -- asking friends, face to face, the good old-fashion

Elementary | Directions for the Taxi Driver

Why bother to even ask for directions at all, when you can just hop in a cab, call your Chinese friend, and have her tell the driver where you want to go? In this lesson,

Elementary | Getting to the Office

You'd normally just check online for the fastest route via public transportation to get to your destination, but you're out of data on your smartphone and can't find wire

Elementary | Afternoon Meeting

Afternoon meetings are a fact of life in many offices, but in many companies they're on a dangerous collision course with the Chinese "afternoon nap" custom. In this less

Elementary | Boxing Day

No, Boxing Day has nothing to do with the big fight on Pay-Per-View. It's that semi-mystical holiday celebrated by the loyal subjects of the queen. Apparently it's all ab

Elementary | Getting an Official Receipt

If you intend to claim something as an expense in China, you need an "official receipt" (AKA "fapiao"). So don't just fight over the bill -- make sure you get this govern

Elementary | Choosing a Room

You've had a long day and finally arrive at your hotel, ready for some much needed R&R. But alas, the room you desire isn't available! What is to be done? Today's unlucky

Elementary | The Better Man

If you're going to treat men like objects, it's important to be able to compare them like objects. In this Chinese lesson, a group of ladies in the office compare two of