The Backstreet Boys

Elementary: The Backstreet Boys

As Napoleon once commented, "China is a sleeping giant. Let her sleep, for when she wakes she will truly rock." We may be paraphrasing slightly, but it's impossible to under-emphasize the passion with which Chinese youth have embraced the concept of the Western boy band. Truly the Middle Kingdom is a place where everything old is new again. Join us in this podcast and see for yourself.

On a side note, we should mention that our dialogue this lesson is at the upper-end of our difficulty spectrum for the Elementary level. We were almost tempted to put it at the Intermediate level, but the vocabulary is still pretty basic and our sentences are still relatively simple. So don't worry if you find it more challenging than usual. Just add oil.

paglino9

said on

November 10, 2009

If only America could claim Rick Astley as our own. However I think there is a little known rule that if you perform at Macy's Thanksgiving day parade, you are granted full citizenship.

Brendan

said on

November 10, 2009

It's true -- Garfield actually gets four votes in every election because of this.

benchannevy

said on

November 10, 2009

非常有意思的课。加油！

paglino9

said on

November 12, 2009

I'm curious how to say "One hit wonder" and "washed up" in Chinese.

Gail天堂的声音

said on

November 12, 2009

@paglino9,

one hits wonder can be translated as 昙花一现tán huā yī xiàn. and 昙花is a kind of flower called epiphyllum...

Ian

said on

November 13, 2009

Wow Rick Astley 2 times in one week, the other was someone in Aus released a jail-brocken iPhone worm virus， that put up a pic of Rick Astley on the home screen aaaaaaagggg.

The almost last single "Incomplete" from the 后街男孩 is actually quite good, nothing like their other 胡说

@Gail what was it you said, after Brendon asked if Astley 先生 impressed you?

Gail天堂的声音

said on

November 13, 2009

@ians,

I said,没错儿，他像一个小猴儿。。。。

it really is, he looks like a little monkey in the MV...:D

Xiao Hu

said on

November 14, 2009

@Brenan & Travelyan

Sorry if this is off the topic of boy bands, but...

I need to get a Visa for my move to China, what's the best way to get a Z-Visa while still in the United States?

I was contacted by a school a few months back who wanted me to go teach, however I wasn't prepared to pick up and leave so soon, my goal is to be in China right before Spring Festival. The school said to just come to China and we'd get the Visa squared away when I get there and sign the contract, but I'd feel better if I could get a work Visa while still in the US.

Brendan and David, you guys have both been in China for a long time, how do you keep getting a Visa renewal? Can you give me some information about the process and what I'm going to have to do to stay in China?

Xiao Hu

said on

November 14, 2009

BTW:

Is this Popup Chinese's idea of Rickrolling? We think we're getting a lesson on Boy Bands, and then we get Never Gonna Give You Up?

trevelyan

said on

November 15, 2009

@Xiao Hu - We used to have a friend of the family take care of us when we were kids who was *always* playing this Rick Astley tape. So I personally feel it's less of a rickroll and more a delightful surprise.

On the visa front, in my experience it's tough to go through the legit handle-all-the-paperwork-yourself routine if you want to get your visa cleared ahead of time. I did that once when working for a state-owned translation company in Beijing (they had no idea how to handle this sort of thing so the paperwork fell on me) and it was basically a nightmare. I can only imagine it would be more of a pain trying to do it from the States as well. Usually if you need to leave the country to turn over the paperwork you'll be looking at a quick trip to Hong Kong.

Also, there are a lot of forms and procedures for the Z-visa (i.e. medical checks) that can cost a lot of money if you need to do them in the States, while this sort of thing can be taken care of in China in an hour at the local hospital for next to nothing. They have special clinics that do all the paperwork in Beijing and Shanghai and don't charge much. If you're dealing with a school they're likely to either use an agency or local contact to process the paperwork which means you may get out of things like the medical check too. Most people will come in on a tourist visa and get it turned over in country.

We've had some good experience with a visa agent here in Beijing and I'm happy to pass along the contact info if you want (send us an email if so, i'd prefer not to post publicly). If you go down that route you'll still have to handle things in country though. So if you trust the school I wouldn't worry about their ability to get you a visa. Just make sure they take care of it right away once you get there. Once you're in China you should be able to find something that will give you a teaching job and visa on short notice in case things fall through anyway.

One last point - if you are coming over on a tourist visa don't put down that it is to find work on your visa application. Vacation plus some opportunity for language study should be more than enough to get the big red carpet.

Xiao Hu

said on

November 15, 2009

@Trevelyan

Thanks a million! What a load off my mind. Actually my original plan was to go over on a travellers Visa and have the school get me a work Visa. The lady from the school in 重庆 said to just come over and if they employ me, the school will handle the rest for me, but of course I wasn't 100% sure, and the girl in 重庆, being, ya know, Chinese and all wants me to have all the t's crossed and i's dotted before going over. That's one thing I really like about Chinese, they don't want to ever leave anything to chance, whereas we Westerners alot of times just fly by the seat of our pants. I can't wait to get over to China and start doing things the Chinese way.

Actually I do have another question, my current travellers Visa has a total of 34 spaces that they can stamp, I was told that they will keep extending your Visa until you run out of stamps and then it's time to fly to Hong Kong and get a new one, is that true?

Is there anything else you can think of that I need to be aware of?

Thanks again for all your help!

小虎

Xiao Hu

said on

November 15, 2009

@Trevelyan

Actually when I heard Rick Astley playing I laughed long and hard, I thought for sure it was a Rickroll. A 有跑跑中文特色的 Rickroll!

I wonder what the Chinese language equivalent of Rickrolling is?

zombie_chris

said on

August 10, 2011

I managed to work this podcast into my regular visits to my local 串儿 stall. Three guys turned up looking for a late night bite to eat wearing identical boardies and t-shirts. My American friend commented that they looked like a boy band and I couldn't help translating it as "they look like the Backstreet Boys". Which was followed by a long, long conversation on what exactly the Backstreet Boys were. Didn't even dare go near explaining who or what Rick Astley was.

dainichi

said on

February 15, 2013

I notice that when the voice actor says "liúxíng", he says it in a different way from Gail. The voice actor's pronunciation sounds a bit like "liúxiáng".

Am I imagining things? If not, is this part of a particular dialect or register?

Echo

said on

February 18, 2013

@dainichi,

Sometimes a same word sounds differently if people say it with different intonation, but the pinyin doesn't change.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com

danmasse

said on

March 14, 2016

My dictionary has the pronounciation of 熟 as 'shu2'

In the dialog, it is 'shou2'

Is this a dialect thing or can it be pronounced either way?

Thanks

oldgabe

said on

March 15, 2016

Apparently shu2 is rather used for written language. In everday Mandarin you would probably use shou2.

jaq.james

said on

August 27, 2016

Why is there a "的" after "听"? Is it okay to just say ”你在听什么“？

trevelyan

said on

August 29, 2016

jaq.james,

The 的 is turning what precedes it into a noun phrase ("that to which you are listening"). We cover this in a few lessons at the elementary and intermediate level. And - yes - there are lots of ways of expressing basic ideas. As before, your best strategy for these sorts of questions is doing a quick search on a search engine in Chinese.

jaq.james

said on

August 29, 2016

Thanks Trevelyan

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