Overpass Experiences

The Eric Wroolie Blog

Popup Chinese

by Leave a Comment

I spend a lot of time listening to podcasts—far more than I do watching TV these days.  There are so many good podcasts out there dealing with so many specialised topics.  The podcasts I regularly view or listen to include Diggnation, NBC Nightly News (nice to able to do this in England), Scott Hanselman’s  “Hanselminutes”  (along with DotNetRocks to help me keep up with the .Net tech industry), and the new 37 Signals Podcast.  From time to time, I’ll add or remove other podcasts based on what I’m interested at the time.

There are a lot of podcasts out there to help you learn Chinese.  A few years ago I sampled loads of them and even subscribed to a few.  Most of them were too much on the beginners side for my liking (I’m not counting the news broadcasts in full-speed, faster than fast, Mandarin).  Most of them were very dry and not much different than listening to a short Pimsler Basic Chinese Course lesson each day.  “Today’s lesson: Should we bring an umbrella because of the rain?”Learn Chinese

So a few weeks ago I took another look at the Chinese learning podcasts out there and found one that I now include among my favourites.  It’s called Popup Chinese.  The Popup Chinese podcasts gives 3 lessons a week at Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced level which each last between 5 and 10 minutes in length.

The dialogs in the lessons are really what differentiate the lessons from all the other ones out there. Here are a few examples of the lessons they’ve had in the past few weeks:

  • How to Start a Business in China – Dialogue between a school principal and a child’s parents about how their child has started the other children with gambling and sniffing glue.
  • Performance Anxiety – A dialogue between a performer on an American Idol type show and the judges.
  • How to Defuse a Bomb – A bomb is about to go off and a former policeman comes to the rescue but is not sure which wire to cut.

Each lesson is pretty funny and irreverent.  Even with some vocab that you will never use, there is a lot of very good instruction on grammar and common speech.

The show is presented by two American and one Chinese teacher in Beijing. 

It’s a great podcast.  If you are past the beginner stages and into the intermediate and advanced stages of Chinese learning, you should check it out.

Thanks to my new friends in Dalian and Shanghai

by Leave a Comment

I’ve been back for two days and am finally getting over the jet lag from the business trip to China.

In Shanghai and Dalian, I met with 9 software companies in an effort to find more offshore partners for Overpass.  I learned a lot from the companies I visited.  They ranged in size from a few companies with thousands of developers to companies with only two developers. 

Some of the software companies were located in large software parks with state of the art facilities.  A couple were located in residential-area office buildings far from the centre of Shanghai. 

There is definitely a lot that China can offer the software offshoring world—in fact, they already are.  On this trip, I was also advised to look at Sichuan, Chengdu, and Nanjing as some other destinations.

I also met with some expats in the area who gave me a great deal of insight into the software development situation in these cities.

I came home with piles of notes to record and thoughts to put down before they evaporate.  It’s been busy the past few days—so this post is pretty brief. 

It was a great trip and I am totally in awe of the hospitality I was shown there.  I thank everyone who showed me around, showed me their companies, and generally made me feel very welcome.

I’d also like to recommend the China-Britain Business Council (CBBC) who set up the meetings for me.  If your looking to get into China, give them a call.

Now, the real work begins.

5 Days in Shanghai

by 2 Comments

I’m sitting on a plane from Shanghai to Dalian for my next set of meetings with software developers in China.  I haven’t blogged in a while.  This is a small plane and there is no entertainment.  This is the perfect time.

I’ve spent the last 5 days in Shanghai.  It was my first time to the city and I, like most people generally, am very impressed with the size of it.  Shanghai is huge!  There are so many people and it makes London look tiny.

The Expo is less than six months away and there is a lot of pride that it is being held there.  The Expo logo is everywhere.  I hope to return in the summer when it is held.

I stayed in a tiny room at the Rayfont Shanghai Xuhui Hotel.  I wouldn’t recommend it, but it wasn’t too bad.  My room was so small, I could see every part of from any angle.  The shower and toilet were separated from the rest of the bedroom by a clear sliding glass door.  Luckily I was by myself or I would have look away when someone used the toilet.  The internet was slow.  When I paid the expensive price for the breakfast buffet in the hotel, I could get bacon, eggs, crinkle cut chips, and spaghetti.  However, I was on the 31st floor of my building (the hotel has several tall buildings) and had a nice view of the city.  I even watched a thunderstorm roll in over Shanghai, which mixed with the lights of the evening, was strangely beautiful.

I got around mostly by taxi but took the metro when time permitted.  I felt much more comfortable on this trip to China than I did on my first trip in August.  I tried to get by on Mandarin as much as possible and many very hospitable people helped me around.  Generally, everyone pretty much found my Mandarin to be amusing.  I’m really glad I can speak it—there are many people (especially older people) that I would not have been able to talk to at all unless I could do it in Chinese.  This was important, since travelling by myself got pretty lonely.

Most of my days were spent in meetings.  I met with 6 software companies in Shanghai—ranging from huge companies to very tiny ones.  It’s been a very educational experience. Most of the time, I spoke with General Managers and chairmen, but I really enjoyed getting a chance to talk with people on a technical level.   All the companies were very hospitable and I made some new friends.  Some people even read this blog before my visit which was nice.

I didn’t bring a good camera and mostly took videos of everything I saw.  The trip was for business rather than sight-seeing.

The flight attendant on this plane just announced that the temperature in Dalian is below zero right now.  It was hot and muggy when I arrived in Shanghai on Saturday.  I’m looking forward to Dalian.

In Dalian, I’m going to meet with a few more companies and a few friends.  I’m looking forward to the trip.  Dalian, I hear, is big in outsourcing but mainly focuses on Japan and Russia.  They don’t do much business with the West.  Still, I’m eager to see what they are like and discuss some things with them. 

Hmmm. Adventures in software development.  Who would have thought it would be this exciting.

Sorry if this post is all over the place.  It’s been a long day.