Mandarin Blueprint on Stitcher

20 minutes | 13 hours ago

Peter Byrd Finally Found Success In Mandarin After 20 Years Of Trying

Check out more testimonials here, and click to learn more about The Mandarin Blueprint Method. Peter is a professional ballroom dance teacher who has been trying to learn Mandarin Chinese for 20 years, with limited success. After using the MB curriculum, this has all changed for the better. Now, he can’t wait to start conversing with his Chinese students in Mandarin! Note: Apologies for my relatively poor audio quality. I had just moved house and hadn’t had a chance to set up the studio!

42 minutes | 14 hours ago

116. Beginner Or Intermediate?

欢迎光临! Welcome! You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or you can subscribe by copying the following URL into your favorite podcast APP: https://www.mandarinblueprint.com/feed/podcast The Mandarin Blueprint Podcast focuses primarily on The Mandarin Blueprint Method online curriculum. Creators Luke Neale & Phil Crimmins answer questions and comments, discuss topics related to China and Mandarin learning and have special guests. 0:00 Affiliate Link & Reviews Become a Mandarin Blueprint Affiliate Leave us a Google Business Review 🙂 Leave us a Facebook Review 1:20 Comments & Emails Ric Santos on ANKI DECKS INSIDE – Now Just LOOK at how SOLID that Foundation Is!Thank you Luke and Phil for a well-thought-out course – the Foundation Course. You are both very good educators at heart and in practice. Both of you were able to extract from us the best that we could give and the most that we could reach. Like doctors, you also give gradual dosage and warn us of possible counter-indications so as not to get “sick of Mandarin”. You know when to let us fall, commit some mistakes; you treat each of us differently when the circumstances call for it, and you answer most of our questions; you encourage and praise when needed and recognize quiet efforts. Like developers, you keep the door ajarto attract us to the next level. Like trainers, you constantly challenge us to do just a little more +1. About the intermediate course, you have forewarned us of the vast plateau (and flat-too) that lies ahead. But even if the rugged mountains are behind I hope there will still be gentle streams and plenty of breeze to go with during this intermediate course, before we barrel through again to the tunnel of hard rocks! Thanks for preparing us in the foundation course! I enjoyed it so much. 4:32 Gavia Arctica by CommunityHi Luke & Phil! I signed up on Hello Talk today!!! What a fun and addictive way to start practising Chinese and see the characters “come alive”! I had learned some Chinese before starting the MB course but had not tried to communicate with anyone during my MB time because I wanted to build a more solid base before I try my skills again in the real world. Now I was just amazed how much I could write, probably not correctly but it seems that it was all understandable and it feels great to see that I can read short messages written in Chinese by real Chinese people, I was actually COMMUNICATING IN CHINESE! It literally felt like the characters are “coming alive” little by little and there were some longer sentences that I could not understand at all at first sight but after rereading a few times I actually could read everything, guessing the missing characters/words from the context. I don’t know how to tell you how amazing it feels!!!!…Thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you do, today has been one of those… I don´t know how to call them…. amazing “I can do this!” moments! I have been just patiently following the course for the past four months or so, no time to do anything else than just a few new characters a week and review, review, review – but now that I put my Chinese to a “real world” test again I noticed how much I have actually learned! Even if I already “knew” from before all of the characters I have studied in the course so far, I didn´t know anything, but NOW I know how to USE them because I have seen them in the context in the course sentences and what a difference that makes at the time of actually starting to test my Chinese in the real world! 8:16 Lucy Haley on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 来自You guys are absolute legends.Was wondering how you felt about copying the sentences to practice writing?Also at what stage (I know it’s a while away yet) where you would suggest we start speaking? (eg iTalki)Thanks! 14:46 Ann Bihari on ANKI DECKS INSIDE – Now Just LOOK at how SOLID that Foundation Is!I’m super excited to have reached the end of the Foundation Course. So stinking cool!! Thank you for creating such a wonderful course!I’m 56, working full-time remotely, living in Texas, and a little over a year ago I decided to try Mandarin for fun. I started with Pimsleur and Paul Noble on Audible for my commute supplemented with an assortment of apps. At some point, I stumbled upon your podcast which eventually led me to the online course. I started the free trial with the Pronunciation Mastery course on June 1, 2020 and I was instantly hooked.One of my favorite things — the triggered emails when a course level has been completed. I know it seems like such a small thing, but I really looked forward to them and they would often push me that little extra bit to go ahead and learn 3 or 4 more characters that night just to get the email.About 3/4 of the way through, the sentences started to overwhelm me in Anki, so I took your suggestion to only unsuspend the red tagged ones. That helped, but I still have a couple of hundred review sentences that are backlogged, so I’ll take this week to get those cleared out before moving on.I’ve loved reading other’s comments, questions, prop suggestions, movies, etc. Thanks y’all!I need to summon the courage to find a tutor so that I may practice conversation skills, but I’m a shy introvert with ADHD, so all the things… Does anyone have someone they’d like to recommend?Looking forward to starting the intermediate course in about a week! 18:20 Oscar Haglund on It’s a Word! 怕In the first sentence, 很 means “very” but in the second it means “is”. They seem grammatically the same, why is there a difference in translation? 19:38 Alex Sumray on Vocab Unlocked from 秋Hi all,Just wondering;When do we use 季 as opposed to 天 when talking of the seasons? TaNotes: 季节 jìjié = Season/Period季度 jìdù = Quarter (of a year)旺季 wàngjì = Busy Season淡季 dànjì = Off Season 21:49 William Beeman on It’s a Word! 火Hi, in 我火了，所以我现在一点儿也不想和我妈说男朋友的事 what is the function of 也 in this sentence? Thanks!Examples:我一点也不知道 Wǒ yìdiǎn yě bùzhīdàoI haven’t the foggiest (idea)我一点都不想出名。 Wǒ yìdiǎn dōu bù xiǎng chūmíng.I do not want to be famous even a little. 23:17 Maxwell Lane on Level 13 Complete I had a very similar experience, I got a few days behind whilst clearing all the sentences and then worried a little that I doing as many new characters/videos. But I’m now all caught up and getting used to reviewing sentences, the point you made earlier Phil, that when you start sentences is when they are going to be the hardest gave me great comfort and was so true.I’m now much more efficient getting through sentences, it was quite draining at the start as reading the sentences was quite slow and laborious but my language module is starting to get up to speed now and it was well worth the effort to get here. Great work to everyone else who’s made it this far let’s keep going! 24:56 Jessica m on Make a Movie 土Any tips on not confusing 土 with 士（of which， I already know a handful more of these will come like 往 and 住） 28:13 Movies! This blog post explains the theory behind Movie Scenes and learning characters. Hank Elliott on Make a Movie 共My childhood friend Greg (g-actor) is in the locker room(tone) of my gym (gym=strong= ong-set). He is rapidly trimming his terribly long leg hair(prop, and he is a very hairy guy) with a giant pair of shears (prop). It’s ALTOGETHER gross. He is trimming in time with the piped in gym muzac station playing the Beetles “Altogether Now…” All the guys in the locker room are grossing out ALTOGETHER. The sound of scissors snip snip sniping, combined with the gong-show-like sound of someone banging on the lockers to make him stop become ALTOGETHER deafening. Snip-snip-gong-gong! “Altogether now “…Ahhhhhh 31:16 Ric Santos on Make a Movie 低Wow. Princes Diana 亻went to my childhood home and at the entrance gate she was speaking in a low 低声 voice softly mentioning her family 氏 name 丶(dropped her name) ever so softly to keep a low 低 profile. 33:41 Robert Carver on Make a Movie 露Note I do not condone the events depicted in this scene.ICE Agent Luke Skywalker (Lu) is in the bathroom at Dad’s house, hunting illegal aliens. He hears a sound behind the shower curtain and uses the force to pull the curtain off the rod, EXPOSING a terrified Frodo Baggins (⻊). With shaky hands, Frodo pulls out a passport (各) and pleads that he’s legal, but Luke again uses the force to summon a solitary raincloud (雨) that pours rain over Frodo, running the ink on the passport and EXPOSING it as fake, thus EXPOSING Frodo as illegal. 35:38 Will R on Make a Movie 硬KEYWORD: 硬 yìng HardActor: yi-Set: -(e)ngRoom within Set (tone): ToiletProp(s): 石 (Sword in the Stone), 更 (Jabba The Hut)Make a movie:1. yi- at -(e)ng’s Toilet2. Jabba The Hut (更) is there is to battle yi- and he is a very very HARD opponent3. yi- sees the Sword in the Stone (石) next to her and tries to pull it out – but it’s very HARD (硬)4. yi- finally pulls the Sword in the Stone out after a very HARD pull5. yi- strikes Jabba The Hut, with a HARD blow from the Sword in the Stone6. After a big HARD slash, yi- defeats Jabba The Hut 38:29 Nick Sims (戴燚）on Make a Movie 其Qi-Qi (qi-) is practicing her Kung Fu forms in the kitchen (2nd tone) in my childhood home when she is confronted by a clan of samurai warrior Klondike Bars (甘) armed with nunchucks (八); of many different varieties. Qi-Qi gives them a deathly stare and advises THEM, HE/HER, that she is THEIR master. She quickly stuns THEM each with a ninja star (一) to the gut, as the realize that she is not like any OTHER.

113 minutes | 8 days ago

115. A New Chinese Learning Landscape

欢迎光临! Welcome! You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or you can subscribe by copying the following URL into your favorite podcast APP: https://www.mandarinblueprint.com/feed/podcast The Mandarin Blueprint Podcast focuses primarily on The Mandarin Blueprint Method online curriculum. Creators Luke Neale & Phil Crimmins answer questions and comments, discuss topics related to China and Mandarin learning and have special guests. 0:00 Affiliate Link & Reviews Become a Mandarin Blueprint Affiliate Leave us a Google Business Review 🙂 Leave us a Facebook Review 13:41 Comments & Emails William Edmeades by EmailHey guys,Is 又 more of a quick way of saying 和? I ask coz I often see 又 in situations where ‘n (as in “fish ‘n chips”) would be a suitable translation in English rather than ‘and’.For example:青岛的大虾既便宜又好吃QingDao’s prawns are cheap ‘n tasty (as opposed to 便宜和好吃 – cheap and tasty)如果你吃水果又菜，你会长大强大又好看If you eat fruits ‘n veges, you will grow up strong ‘n good looking (as opposed to 水果和菜 – fruits and veges, and 强大和好看 – strong and good looking)I’m not sure if I’m making sense but let me know your thoughts :pWilliam 16:51 John Grist New Vocabulary Unlocked! 它们Should 小猫 translate as kittens ? 20:13 Alex Sumray on Vocab Unlocked from 规I thought I was getting better at the old ‘的’, but it’s stumped me in the following; 事物总是变化发展的,我们需要打破常规。Anyhow, 1000 is quite remarkable. All credit to Luke and Phil for such an amazing course.It’s funny, I had to leave China early due to you know what, but I doubt I would have ever have found The Blueprint and got to 1000 so soon without you know what. If there’s any silver lining for me this year, it’s this.I’ve never known such a complete and wonderful course; even if there isn’t a global lockdown forcing you in for half the year when you start and it takes you a year or two or beyond, with the right tools and a bit of motivation, 1000 scribbles on a page will soon become legible words which will in turn become legible stories and ultimately access to a billion new friends!Thanks again and all the best to all those zooming towards the end of the intermediate and indeed beyond. 27:43 William Yeung on Introduction & Pronunciation MasteryI have gone through most of the hard grind as a beginner and am now probably an intermediate. Can I jump into the past the beginning stage and save some time? 32:28 Kim Krings on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 分开Does this only relate to relationships and people? Or could this refer to the separation of physical parts? 34:13 Oscar Haglund Time to Get Real About SentencesShould I be reading the sentences in my head in chinese or in my native language until I understand it.Reading it out (internally) in Chinese with correct tones takes significantly longer but has the added benefit of reinforcing the pronunciation and not just the comprehension. 39:00 Georg Lohrer on Make a Movie 虽Maybe I misunderstand it, but I have choosen the childhood-set, not the “ei”-set. 42:02 Chris Lewis on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 总是I’d love to see your first recommendation for how to memorize these words like ‘schimming’ 说明. Does anyone have a suggestion? 45:25 Jason Pon on BONUS: “How Does What” – Adverbs of RangeLove these as always. If feedback was invited, I would suggest a supplementary to these videos to assist for natural visual learners like myself (and probably for lots of others in this course now who may have adapted to visual learning!). It would be great to have a little 1 page cheat sheet pdf page for each grammar point video that helps to illustratively lay out and summarize all of the main points without the detailed explanations above. I think the main benefit from a visual perspective is just lay out the main takeaways (i.e. adverbs before verbs, the different categories of the grammar point; in this case Luke explained there are a few words here that convey the general meaning of ‘only’), etc. 46:19 Jason Pon on BONUS: “How Does What” – Adverbs of RangeOops – another benefit I want to mention is that in addition to a visual summary, it also helps with quick reference. I could simply save them as photos on my phone and refer to them (similar to how I have saved the MB pinyin chart as a photo that I often refer to). These videos are great for periodic deep reviews, but sometimes when I want to quickly check in or even pop quiz myself, these quick guides would be very helpful and accessible. 51:02 Jessica m on Level 10 CompleteTwo topics:You say “remember to note your scene in your flash cards.Should I be summarizing the scene in the notes section of the flashcard? 53:41 Jessica m on Level 10 CompleteQuestion 2 of 2:You say that “not only can you understand it from reading, but you can understand it from listening.”This is not my experience learning chinese. My listening comprehension didn’t improve until I spent a lot of time with a CI teacher. (which as you know from my response lead me to make the comment about this not being for beginners until they had some TPRS instruction). the question is: from the point of view of anyone here that is actually starting from scratch and this is your first L2, can you understand spoken chinese consisting of the 80 characters you know? 58:35 William Beeman on 外国人看中国Thanks for this fun story. There is a lot of everyday usage here varying from textbook models that I wish I could internalize. I’d love to see a kind of list or guide of how phrases can be shortened without losing comprehension, on the order of 没有-->没.But I was especially interested in the last sentence: 那么多没意思. Does 多 in this sentence mean, roughly “so”(or “really,”)? as “That would be SO/REALLY uninteresting?” 1:07:15 Julie Hentschel Lund on Level 16 CompleteI saw a video somewhere – maybe the pronunciation mastery – but the one where you describe how to combine different subdecks on Anki. I would like to make the Pronunciation Mastery into just one deck. Do you have an idea where I can find it?On a side note, I’m in love with Mandarin Blueprint! This is the best mandarin learning platform out there! So a huge thanks to you guys! And I would also love to be in one of your case studies soon, to share my progress so far 🙂 1:08:21 William Beeman on 外国人看中国One more question. In the sentence 我认为美分很多种, reading it, I thought that 美分 meant something like “beautiful ‘parts'” or some such, with the sense for the sentence that “I think that beauty has many forms/aspects,” But it seems that 美分 can also be translated as a “U.S. penny coin.” Am I not segmenting the sentence correctly? Is this some usage that is colloquial? 1:09:38 William Beeman on 外国人看中国Thanks! Ah, once again I have misread the sentence. Because 美·分 is in fact a noun (meaning “American penny”) I didn’t get that 分 in this sentence is actually a verb. This is a great example for my work on morphemic flexibility. It seems that the sentence could be read: “I think that American Pennies have many types (Lincoln head, Indian head). Or am I really stretching it? 🙂You mentioned that Da Shan does standup comedy. I bet that puns in Mandarin are not highly valued--too easy! 1:11:53 Julie Hentschel on It’s a Word! 美Is there a reason for double 人? Is it the same as 人们?人人都爱美。 1:12:53 William Beeman on 孩子和父母Hi guys, could you go over the phrase 这份爱太过分 a little? I get the general meaning, but it looks like 份 is being used as some kind of a measure word for 爱, but I’m not sure, and I seem to have missed a beat in understanding 太过分, which I think is “too much.”Since 份 and 分 seem to be variants of each other, working out this relationship would be helpful. Sorry if I am being obtuse. 1:14:38 Alex Sumray on Vocab Unlocked from 夫I take it 夫人 is just a more formal, possibly polite way of saying 太太? 1:15:28 Lucy Haley on It’s a Word! 点Would it be okay to make the character associate to the word ‘order’ rather than ‘dot’? 1:16:28 Micaela Ellison on It’s a Word! 再A couple questions about usage 1. Could I add 另 into the first sentence So: 我想再吃另一个这种面包. Also, I used to say 请再说一次 to my Chinese teacher and she told me to say 再说一遍. I never really understood why. What’s the difference? 1:20:23 Micaela Ellison on It’s a Word! 再Thanks! That makes sense. So if I said 我想再吃这种面包, does that simply mean I want to eat this type of bread again at some point in the future, but not necessarily right now? 1:21:39 William Beeman on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 水果HiIn 这个小男孩从不吃水果和菜，只吃肉, it seems that 来 (after 从) was omitted/is allowed to be omitted to give the meaning “never.” Is this generally permissible? So is 从不 the same as 从来不? 1:24:22 Lucy Haley on It’s a Word! 面Wait – so it doesn’t mean face-to-face? Or it means face-to-face, noodles, face, and surface hahaha 1:26:08 Billy Blithersunson on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 点菜有的人会去中国饭店 – what is the use of 的 in this sentence? Is it to make有人 a plural? 1:26:37 Micaela Ellison on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 可以 I don’t see it here, but the Anki deck has a short conversation with the question 你可以说英语吗. This is translated as “Can you speak English with her?” I have typically heard 会 used in this context instead of 可以. This implies 可以 also has the meaning of “able to do something.” Or is that just in certain contexts? 1:27:49 Robert Carver on Vocab Unlocked from 原I’m having trouble grasping the differences between 原来，原有，原本 and 本来. Can you give a few more examples of how these differ?ANSWER：In terms of parts of speech, 本来 is usually an adverb and 原来 can be an adverb, adjective, or even a noun. One way to use 本来 as an adverb is to indicate that your plans have changed. You originally 本来 wanted/was going to/should have done something, but now things have changed:计划改变了，我们本来想看书，现在要去看电影了。 – Level 26我本来想买那栋房子，可是房主在抬价。 – Level 43You can also use 本来 with 就 to express that something is “supposed to” happen or that “it goes without saying”:学汉语本来就得日常学习。It goes without saying that learning Chinese requires daily study.老板本来就应该好好准备工作人员的任务。A boss is supposed to thoroughly prepare the worker’s tasks.You can also use 本来就 to stress your tone and give an opinion, often rhetorically:Harry本来就是个好人，你怎么还不要跟他约会呢？Harry’s a good guy, how is it that you still don’t want to go on a date with him?When 原来 is used as an adverb, it can indicate “it turns out” e.g.:原来是你做的，我以为是小王做的！It turns out you made it, I thought it was Xiaowang!原来，美女是在考验男人，这个男人做得非常好。 – Level 32It turns out, the beautiful woman was testing the man, and he did very well.When 原来 is used before a noun as an adjective, it means “original, former”:我们还住在原来的地方。 – Level 37We still live in the original place.原来 can also be a noun means “the past” or “the time long ago”:这里在原来是一个军事要塞。 – Level 54In the past, this place was a military stronghold.原本 is, for the most part, merely a more formal version of 原来 when used as an adverb, but you can also use it to indicate that you “thoroughly from beginning to end” did something, and you’ll often double it up:她把发生的事原原本本地告诉了我。She told me everything that happened from top to bottom. 1:38:35 Movies! This blog post explains the theory behind Movie Scenes and learning characters. Will R on Make a Movie 学KEYWORD: 学 xué To StudyActor: Saddam HusseinSet: -eRoom within Set (tone): KitchenProp(s): ⺍ (Sonic the Hedgehog), 冖 (THE KING (Burger King’s Mascot)), 子 (Macaulay Culkin)Make a movie:1. Saddam at -e’s Kitchen2. Saddam Hussein wants TO STUDY how to make a WMD3. Macaulay Culkin (子) is hired there to help Saddam craft this new weapon out of household objects4. Suddenly Sonic the Hedgehog (⺍) and The King (冖) rush in to oppose Saddam’s plans5. Sonic and The King says: “We did some STUDY of our own and we learned where you were hiding Saddam”6. Macaulay Culkin says to Saddam: “You should have STUDIED (学) how to beat fictional heroes first” 1:40:06 Will R on Make a Movie 孩KEYWORD: 孩 hái ChildrenActor: h-Set: -aiRoom within Set (tone): kitchenProp(s): 子 (Macaulay Culkin), 亥 (Dirty Dozen)Make a movie:1. h- at -ai’s kitchen2. Macaulay Culkin (子) is there misbehaving3. h- says: “Why don’t you get out the Dining Hall and go and play the other CHILDREN outside?”4. Macaulay Culkin says: What other CHILDREN?”5. h- says: “Those CHILDREN over there!”6. h- points to the Dirty Dozen (亥) doing military trainingoutside the kitchen window7. Macaulay Culkin says: “They’re not CHILDREN, they’re the Dirty Dozen”8. h- says: “Oh right I forgot, CHILDREN (孩) don’t play outside anymore” 1:41:30 Robert Carver on Make a Movie 海Hulk Hogan is in the bedroom of my -ai set, trying to rescue Mother Teresa from the clutches of Jabba the Hut. Jabba, being part slug, is allergic to salt so Hulk fills a Water Balloon (氵) with SEA water and throws it at him. It has a small effect, but Jabba just laughs. That’s when Mother Teresa rolls her eyes at Hulk’s poor rescue attempt, then puts her hands together in prayer and the floor instantly transforms into the SEA, swallowing a writhing Jabba as the other two swim to the safety of the floating bed. 1:42:50 Will R on Make a Movie 火KEYWORD: 火 huǒ FireActor: Mr. HankySet: -oRoom within Set (tone): Living RoomProp(s): 丶 (Drop), 人 (Slenderman), 丿 (Samurai Sword), 火 (GhostRider)Make a movie:1. Mr. Hanky at -o’s Living Room2. Slenderman (人) appears to battle Mr. Hanky3. Mr. Hanky Drops a magic Drop (丶) on the floor and FIRE springs up from it4. Ghost Rider comes out of the FIRE5. Ghost Rider slashes Slenderman away with his Samurai Sword (丿) on FIRE6. Slenderman disappears in a puff of FIRE7. Mr. Hanky says to Ghost Rider: “Boy you are on FIRE!” (火) 1:44:09 Will R on Make a Movie 灯KEYWORD: 灯 dēng LampActor: DSet: -(e)ngRoom within Set (tone): Front DoorProp(s): 火 (Ghost Rider), 丁 (Nail)Make a movie:1. D at -(e)ng’s Front Door2. D hears a knock on the door, D answers it and Ghost Rider (火) is there3. Ghost Rider says: “This front door looks kinda dull. Give me any item and I’ll turn it into a fiery LAMP for you to place atyour door”4. D gives Ghost Rider a Nail (丁) and Ghost Rider with a big puff of fire, he turns the Nail into a fiery LAMP5. D says: “Ok I now have a LAMP to light this front door at night.” 1:45:02 Chris N on Make a Movie 史The Rolling Stones mouth is riding a lawnmower, and is using itto run over my sh- actor. The mouth is yelling “You’re HISTORY!” 1:45:46 Ric Santos on Make a Movie 声Seems like a soldier during flag ceremony singing bravely his national anthem without any background music. He makes up for it by striking the flagpole with a small stick with the beat in his heart singing with a loud VOICE. 1:46:20 Will R on Make a Movie 窄NOTE: For this scene I use an “Acme joke factory portable hole”as a prop from the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Watch thisvideo know what it is: https://youtu.be/cQ1ygyUQZikKEYWORD: 窄 zhǎi NarrowActor: zh-Set: -aiRoom within Set (tone): Living RoomProp(s): 穴 (Acme joke factory portable hole), 乍 (Native American)Make a movie:1. zh- at -ai’s Living Room2. Native American (乍) rushes in and says to zh-: “Can you hide me, people are coming to get me?”3. zh- grabs an “Acme joke factory portable hole” and puts it on the Wall4. zh- says: “Squeeze through that NARROW hole”5. Native American squeezes through and says: “This is Indeed NARROW”6. zh- takes the “Acme joke factory portable hole” (穴) off the wall and the Native American is hidden from danger now inside the wall7. zh- says to himself: “I did a good job in a NARROW (窄) amount of time.” 1:48:19 Will R on Make a Movie 情KEYWORD: 情 qíng EmotionActor: qi-Set: -(e)ngRoom within Set (tone): KitchenProp(s): 忄(Data from Star Trek:TNG), 青 (Nurse in Cyan clothes)Make a movie:1. qi- at -(e)ng’s Kitchen2. Data (忄) comes along and says to qi- : “I wish to feel human EMOTION”3. qi- calls over a Nurse (青) to come over to the Kitchen and the Nurse operates on Data, so he feels EMOTION4. qi- looks at how happy Data is and says: “This is so EMOTIONAL” (情) 1:49:13 Chris N on Make a Movie 任Chuck Norris and Captain America (my soldier) are sparring in my set. Chuck wins the match, by bringing a sword down against Captain America’s head. My R- actor steps in and says “You’ve done well, so I will ASSIGN this dangerous mission to you.” 1:50:28 Georg Lohrer on Make a Movie 第My di-actor stands together with Robin Hood (archer) in the backyard of my childhood-home. The di-actor with her Samurai-Sword, Robin with his bow and arrows. They have to get through this Bamboo-thicket in front of them. Robin commands: we do that alternately, you take THE 1., I take THE 2., then you again THE 3. and me with THE 4., and so on. 1:51:24 Will R on Make a Movie 象KEYWORD: 象 xiàng ElephantActor: xi-Set: -angRoom within Set (tone): ToiletProp(s): ⺈ (Rope), 口 (Mouth), 豕 (Ms. Piggy)Make a movie:1. xi- at -ang’s Toilet2. xi- walks in to see the Mouth (口) tieing Ms. Piggy (豕) up with a Rope (⺈)3. Mouth says: “What you gonna do to stop me? You got an ELEPHANTor something? haha”4. xi- calls her pet ELEPHANT along and her pet ELEPHANT tosses the Mouth into Orbit using its trunk5. xi- unties Ms. Piggy from the Rope and Ms. Piggy says with a loving voice: “My, that’s a fine ELEPHANT” (象)象 = Stampy the Elephant

48 minutes | 15 days ago

114. When to Speak & Foundation Building

欢迎光临! Welcome! You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or you can subscribe by copying the following URL into your favorite podcast APP: https://www.mandarinblueprint.com/feed/podcast The Mandarin Blueprint Podcast focuses primarily on The Mandarin Blueprint Method online curriculum. Creators Luke Neale & Phil Crimmins answer questions and comments, discuss topics related to China and Mandarin learning and have special guests. 0:00 Affiliate Link & Reviews Become a Mandarin Blueprint Affiliate Leave us a Google Business Review 🙂 Leave us a Facebook Review 1:38 Comments & Emails Jessica m on BONUS: From FAILURE to HSK 6 Exam in ONE YEAR!Having found RTH a complete waste (memory collisions used out of context. Very similar keys) and Chinese Blockbuster hopefully but lacking a clear path to applying it, it seems you’ve solved it. I am excited to have you guide me over the intermediate gap where my problem is primarily related to word and character frequency drop off and acquiring vocabulary.Coming at this after a year, I think your system isn’t for beginners. It seems to me that someone would benefit from 100-200 hours of oral CI instruction first and cold character reading up to at least a 200 character level so they understand how it fits together and then this system will rapidly increase their vocabulary and reading level. 12:45 John McCann on BONUS: “How Does What” – Adverbs Expressing Tone of VoiceThese grammar points are very helpful, and I periodically go back and review them, Keep up the good work, and they are not too much information. 13:20 Christine on ANKI DECKS INSIDE – Now Just LOOK at how SOLID that Foundation Is!Whoohoo! Just about 6 months to get here. Interesting to see the variations in speed and approach from different people. I am very happy with my progress, and also just want to add my voice to the others to say how awesome this course is. Thanks so much for your hard work on this, you guys rock. 14:50 Christian Solem on ANKI DECKS INSIDE – Now Just LOOK at how SOLID that Foundation Is!What a ride! It took me exactly 100 days to finish the Foundation Course, with no “zero days” (but a few days of only doing Anki reviews with no new characters added when I was particularly busy at work). Thank you to Luke and Phil for a fantastic course! And congratulations to all my fellow students for reaching this milestone. See you all at the end of the Intermediate Course! 15:56 Lance Kaufman on Moving Forward: ShadowingI just came across this article that appears to be from one of you:https://www.quora.com/How-effective-is-the-shadowing-technique-to-learn-languages.I have a hand full of sounds that I struggle with, such as: -iu (i skip the o unless I am hyper-focused on it), yv (my native speaking language partner regularly complains about it, either because I move my lips during vocalization or because I don’t complete an “ee” sound at the end. But I don’t hear all native speakers make the ee ending), -ian (use a sound instead of eh sound). I also have some trouble with keeping my tongue on lower teeth when combining q- or j- with retroflexed consonants. Other than that I feel pretty confidant with pronunciation and tones. I find shadowing very effective at picking up grammar and vocabulary, but after reading your Quora article I am wondering if I am shadowing too early, and at risk of fossilizing my problem areas? One thought I had was to practice “silent” shadowing while I correct my remaining pronunciation issues. Do you have any other thoughts? 21:52 Lucy Haley on MAKE A MOVIE 活Is it bad if I skip other people’s own explanation of their character scripts? I find it helpful when I can’t think of anything, but sometimes I can get confused and start merging parts of their story with mine. 22:52 Nacho En on REQUIRED: How We Present Phase 5 MaterialsIn my case, I’ve been reading all the paragraphs at least once. So I think before to move one step forward I’ll come back and check and study all ’em because I want to be ready for those big stories and I want to do it right, not rushing. 24:15 Andrey Yusupov on Nasal Final IANG (YANG): 样 yàng，一样 yíyàng，两个 liǎng geAll of these intricacies and exceptions/inconsistencies to pinyin pronunciations (there are a lot!) would be solved by teaching students Zhuyin (all sound are depicted exactly as they are). Why don’t we? 25:45 Heath Campbell on Make a Movie 者Is this a little like adding ‘er’ to an english word? eg, carpenter, mugger, lawyer, sweeper and so on. 27:31 James Tretheway on ANKI DECK(S) INSIDE – Level 6 CompleteHey guys! James here, first-time commenter, long time fan. When counting the vocabulary it leaves out certain words, like Kou (mouth) it has ren Kou (Population Or Ru Kou (Entrance) why is Kou (mouth) not counted as a piece of vocabulary on its own?Just as an add on to this, I just went back and reread your explanation of Chinese characters, talking about how they are morphemes. So is “Mouth” used differently in mandarin than it is in English, in that it can’t be used alone? similar to your description of “Chàng” (sing)? 29:52 Jessica m on BONUS: What WILL & WON’T Make You Fluent in Mandarin“If you sat in front of a chinese television for ten years that would be a very bad way to learn chinese” I agree —Though with the right material it would eventually work. Remember Stephen Krashen presented a case study of a child who learned mandarin watching, he estimated, about 500 hours of cartoons on TV. My spanish teacher learned perfect native american accent english watching TV. It can and often does work. But in Chinese, it doesn’t make you literate. And literacy in Chinese is a real barrier to acquiring vocabulary. 34:09 Jessica m on BONUS: This Secret Will Put You LIGHT YEARS Ahead in ChineseMan-oh-man. I wish my first Chinese school listened to this. They measured success in terms of output and I left with poor comprehension of anything one said to me even though I had memorized a decent amount of vocabulary. I switched to a CI teacher online and worked over the last year on a CI base and wow, what a difference. 34:58 Lucy Haley on It’s a Word! 过Is it okay if we are reading sentences and feeling confused by the translation?For example, I recognize 马 as a horse in the following 我要过马路 but that obviously doesn’t translate well. I’d assume it’s some cool language/cultural thing with crossing roads and horses or something haha.Love this course – highlight of my day. 36:26 William Beeman on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 觉得Hi, Can you say something about the use of 还 in 我觉得他比我还聪明? I think of it as “yet, still, etc.” so could the sentence be “I think he is still smarter than me” ? 37:23 Dima Karanda on 我家的狗最近不一样了I’m a little bit confused about this sentence: 不乱吵也不乱叫。 What does it mean exactly and why we use word: 乱？Thank you for the answer in advance. 39:12 Movies! This blog post explains the theory behind Movie Scenes and learning characters. Ric Santos on Make a Movie 雪Unlike the rain, after the snow, there is a lot of shoveling 彐 / cleaning to do. 41:22 Ric Santos on Make a Movie 矮Threatened by an arrow ( crossbow 矢), a woman 女 carries a heavy load of grain 禾over the shoulders…and appears short. 42:12 Della Fuller on Make a Movie 弟Donna is in the backyard of my childhood home with Katniss Everdeen. Donna has a samurai sword and Katniss has her bow and arrows of course. Donna’s LITTLE BROTHER is tied up to a stake with horns attached to the top of his head. Both Donna and Katniss are trying to be the first to knock the horns off of Donna’s LITTLE BROTHER’S head. Donna may not have a LITTLE BROTHER for much longer… 43:24 Della Fuller on Make a Movie 谁Sean Connery is in the lobby of Bard on the beach (where I go to see plays). He has a microphone in one hand and a very angry turkey in the other. He is desperately looking around the lobby asking, “WHO has lost his turkey? WHOSE turkey is this? WHO does this turkey belong to?” He eventually gives up with a shrug of his shoulders and asks instead, “WHO wants this delicious turkey?” The turkey gets decidedly angrier. 44:53 Will R on Make a Movie 收KEYWORD: 收 shōu To ReceiveActor: Sean ConnerySet: -ouRoom within Set (tone): Front doorProp(s): 丩 (USB stick), ⺙ (Mormon Missionary),Make a movie:1. Sean Connery at -ou’s Front door2. A Mormon Missionary (⺙) knocks at the door and Sean Connery answers the door3. The Mormon Missionary says: “Hello, I would like you TO RECEIVE (收) this wonderful USB stick (丩) full of spiritual data that has been made for you”4. Sean Connery replies: “RECEIVE this!” and slams the door in the Mormon Missionary’s face 46:32 Christine on Make a Movie 洋I struggled to get an association between a sheep and the ocean, so in desperation I Googled ‘ocean sheep’. I was not disappointed. Here is a link to an ‘Ocean sheep’. My scene is therefore that my sister (my Yi actress) needs to build an aquarium for these little ‘leaf sheep’, which live in the Ocean. She attaches a hose (my water drops prop) to the tap in the kitchen of my -ang location and fills a tank to to make a home for these cute little Ocean sheep.https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-HFzC7w_1nPTVhNCx27s6hClHAsAc-zo/view?usp=drivesdk

74 minutes | 22 days ago

113. Chinese Vocab Mnemonics

93 minutes | a month ago

112. Two Types of Expat Life in China

欢迎光临! Welcome! You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or you can subscribe by copying the following URL into your favorite podcast APP: https://www.mandarinblueprint.com/feed/podcast The Mandarin Blueprint Podcast focuses primarily on The Mandarin Blueprint Method online curriculum. Creators Luke Neale & Phil Crimmins answer questions and comments, discuss topics related to China and Mandarin learning and have special guests. 0:00 Affiliate Link & Reviews Become a Mandarin Blueprint Affiliate Leave us a Google Business Review 🙂 Leave us a Facebook Review 7:11 Comments & Emails Jonathan Glazier by CommunityOk, I am Jonathan from Cambridge UK. I am a “creative” in that I help make and create TV shows around the world. I also Direct and Executive Produce. Asia’s Got Talent is one of my claims to fame! Although there’s a reason I work behind the scenes, I have been described as a “Functioning Introvert”. I am 61 years old, I think I am stuck at around 27 years in my out look. I am very privileged to work all over the world and the one thing I know is that any effort to communicate on a local level is a mark of respect and rewarded (often with laughter!) but with broad smiles and great relationships. On AGT we have 17 countries and so many languages. I hope I can at least say thank you, welcome and good luck in all of them. I can also say Happy Bunnies in many. I’ve been learning Mandarin for about 2 years and have never progressed as far at such a pace since taking up MBP.I am dyslexic and even my own language can be a challenge, but I have the compensation of a really good visual mind, so MBP was a gift. I was drawn to Mandarin because of the challenge, I love of the culture and a work necessity in that I was offered a contract there (Covid put paid to that). Being able to read the characters was one of those light bulb moment for me, I remember most of mine, from understanding relativity and differential calculus to pitching our family geodesic tent. This course is just brilliant, so enjoyable and the community around the MBP is brilliant. As are Luke and Phil, so responsive and above all passionate about sharing their knowledge. I said in my case study that this course is one I can’t recommend highly enough. I look forward to meeting you all. JG 11:18 Heath Campbell by CommunityHi all,I just wanted to share something that I found was really exciting. I had added Mandarin subtitles to a tv show I was watching called Cobra Kai. It didn’t allow for Mandarin dubbing but it did for subtitles. They flashed up way too quick for me to read but I did notice that I recognized many of the characters. This alone suggested to me that everyday speech is probably not as complicated as I think it is.The exciting bit came when one of the characters spoke Spanish to her daughter. It was naturally translated into Mandarin. I hadn’t anticipated that. So I paused the scene and read it in Mandarin. To my delight, I understood the translation of what she was saying and even got the joke she made. From Spanish to Mandarin, to English!I don’t expect a Matrix style of transition with Mandarin. I relish being able to read bits of signs on Chinese restaurants or understand some words spoken by a Chinese business owner in their store. I almost clapped for joy when I first heard and understood a shop owner say 一个, even if he was only directing his staff to get me a roast chicken. It’s a process…no, it’s a journey and the journey is sometimes the destination. 14:00 Email from anonymousHi guys,I was reading the article that was sent out recently about maintaining healthy habits for studying and I felt it really resonated with me. I graduated from university in 2018 and lived in China for a year until summer 2019. I tried to learn Chinese and managed to get a grasp of the basics but I was completely lost as to where to begin etc and studied so inefficiently. I fortunately found the BMPM course during my final month there and started to learn Chinese properly and kept it up until now.I was also living a very unhealthy lifestyle during my time in China. I had a pretty bad drinking problem which had been worsening over time. Then add in all the bad sleeping habits and endless cigarettes etc. This really stagnated my progress in anything I did as a human being and of course my already inefficient Mandarin learning.I decided to come back to the UK and live for a year and regather myself. Then, return to China to study for a year as a new person (obviously covid has changed that for now). I quit drinking and everything that came with it over a year ago and have been working through the MBPM curriculum alongside working in a regular job. I have about 400 characters left. This course has helped me immensely not just in learning Mandarin. It has also helped me learn about discipline, keeping good routines and having a sense of purpose. All this during a period of my life where I have been making big personal changes to become the person I want to be.I would like to keep this private as it is slightly personal. However, after reading the article about the healthy habits yesterday I felt obliged to let you guys know how much I appreciate this course. 31:01 Lucy Haley on Other Pronunciations That Use CH: 车 chē，茶chá，出 chū，出去 chūquHey guys – this course is fantastic! I was wondering if your thought it would be okay to study this course and your rapid acquisition course at the same time? I like to dedicate my first hour of the morning (6-7am) to language study, but because I live at home with brothers and parents (who like to sleep a little later) it’s a bit too early to be loudly pronouncing Chinese words!I also started listening to Coffee Break Chinese podcast in my car – do you think it’s helpful to have background noise/practicing pronunciations like that?Thanks! 33:20 Lance Kaufman on YOU DID IT!!!Thanks for the incredible work on this course. It may be the best online course that I have taken. I plan write up a more thorough review after a few days to let the experience ferment.Great job guys 34:16 Ric Santos on It’s a Word! 牛这头牛很肥：可以用 “ 很胖” 吗？ 35:37 Ann Bihari on It’s a Word! 浅curious if the meaning of shallow here can also apply to a personality like it does in english?肤浅 fūqiǎn 36:39 Jonny Johnathanson on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 简单Gents,Am i reading too much into word/character order or does this make sense in comparison:这个问题对我来说很简单 – this is a simple question for me (emphasis on the question)对我来说这个问题很简单 – in my opinion, this is a simple question (emphasis on my opinion)Im thinking both make complete sense but with different emphasis on seperate parts of the sentence. Please correct me if i’m wrong. 38:34 William Beeman on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 收到Hi! In 你收到我送你的勺子没？Is the 没 a kind of “tag question? Like “or no?” or “or not?” 40:20 Micaela Ellison on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 办法In the example response, could you also say 没有办法? Is there a difference between 没办法 and 没有办法? 41:40 Lucy Haley on (BONUS) The Language Learning Tripod: AttitudeHi again, I start studying Chinese at university earlier next year. Would you suggest working with a program like yours whilst studying? So you get the theory and the actual language learning input?You guys are the best 48:58 Nick Sims (戴燚）on 用手机还是去银行寄钱Okay, this is intense but I actually know many of these characters!! How many times should I review this video and shadow before moving on? 10, 25, 50, 100? What’s my signal to move forward knowing that I’ll need more practice? 48:25 Lance Kaufman on Welcome! 3 Things to Do Right AwayI am 2/3rds of the way through remembering the hanzi volume 1,(about 95 percent retention of characters, but I only knowpronunciation for around 10 percent of the characters.) How do you recommend proceeding in this course?I can group the characters into three groups, 1) Can reproduce from muscle memory without needing to think of the components, 2) Can reproduce by thinking of the components, but don’t need to rehearse my mnemonic, and 3) Still dependent on recalling mnemonic to recall the components. 52:25 Lance Kaufman on Simple Final Ü (YU): Introduction with 鱼 yúIs the u after q, j and x always pronounced with the v sound? 53:49 Lucy Haley on ANKI DECK(S) INSIDE – *MUST WATCH* How to Review with TMBMWhy wont it let me keep studying? It keeps saying ‘congrats you’ve finished this deck for now’ but I have literally only just downloaded it? 55:11 William Beeman on 我也想找男朋友Thanks so much for your elegant explanation. It was very helpful. Just so you know, I am doing this course to get enough Chinese under my belt to do some comparative lingusitics, but I find I am having a great deal of fun, so it is really a pleasure.And you guys’ enthusiasm for the language and explanations of grammatical points are really enjoyable and informative. I’m sorry I couldn’t study with your excellent professors. 55:40 William Beeman on 我也想找男朋友Well, you asked, so here is way more than you wanted to findout. 🙂 Ignore if it is too boring (but not to me).My immediate project is to compare Chinese, Japanese and Arabicmorphology to try and show that grammatical form classes based onWestern (Indo-European) languages (noun, verb. etc.) are too rigid. Chinese is really ideal for this exploration because of the fluidity of its morphology, So many morphemes in Chinese can serve multiple gramatical functions, we need some new conceptual categories to encompass them. By the way, this is also true of American Indian languages where “nouns” are expressed as “verbs” and vice versa, so in Shawnee the English sentence: “The stone fell” would be most accurately rendered as “Stoning (happens) in a downward direction”My ongoing project deals with grammatical aspect (how an actionextends over time--imperfect, perfect), and modality (the attitude of a speaker/writer toward what they are expressing) in language. I am still not confident enough to tackle this in Chinese, but it is really exciting to explore these two dimensions of expression in Chinese. There has been some research on this, but the field is really wide open. I have written about this in Japanese, Persian, Indonesian (Javanese), Arabic and German. So working with Chinese is immensely engaging as another comparative dimension for human language.Finally, I have written a great deal about hierarchy in language.Language levels expressing status and class differences are hugely interesting. We can start with the 你／您 (Nǐ/nín) distinction and then the topic explodes from there, and has hardly been dealt with in non-Chinese literature. Chinese kinship terms which are hierarchical in the extreme. I don’t know if MB folks are aware of the enormous range of kinship terms in Chinese wtih older/younger and but one of my predecessors, the great linguist Yu Ren Chao wrote a definitive article on Chinese kinship and address forms some years ago.Chao, Yuen Ren. 1956. “Chinese Terms of Address.” Language 32 (1): 217–241.An exploration of “polite” speech/behavior 礼貌 (lǐmào) The first character can be glossed as “etiquette” but look at the second character made up of “badger” and “appearance!” What’s up witth that? How does the badger get into this mix? (More research needed).So I am very sorry that I am not much younger, coming to Chinese shows that there is an infinitude of interesting things to explore, and I am finding it enormously enjoyable. 1:03:20 Christine on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 新闻I am not quite sure what the role is of 我们*Sentence:最近新闻说有一只狼来了我们这儿。EnglishRecently the news said that a wolf came here.Top-Down Words: 狼 láng – wolf 1:05:07 William Beeman on 外国人学中文不能太心急Is the translation of 某些人才开始学 supposed to be “Some talented people start studying . . .” I’m trying to get my head around 人才 meaning “talented.” Is that right? If so, 才 functions (in Western grammatical nomenclature) as a noun, a verb, an adjective, and a preposition. A lot of work for a little word.Full Context:某些人才开始学，一共学了不到一百个词，就想和中国人用中文交流了。 1:08:18 Lucy Haley on (BONUS) 4 Components of Habit Building Part 3: RewardDo you have any good ideas for short term goals? Obviously the big overall one is to be able to have a conversation in China or read a book but what do you think are good smaller interim goals for absolute beginners? 1:15:41 Jason Pon on BONUS: Connector – Conditional “If-Then” Statements with 如果…, 就 & 要是…的话Thanks for such a thorough and comprehensive grammar structureas always. I always look forward to these 🙂 It’s the ‘ah-ha’ moment that, as you said, allows me to pick the concept up so much more naturally since i’ve been ‘exposed’ to the sentence with the grammar so many times already! 1:17:25 Carys Scott on (BONUS) The Language Learning Tripod Part 3: TimeOn my home screen of my phone, I just moved the Facebook and the Facebook messenger apps to my 2nd screen page and replaced with the Kajabi app and Anki app 😁👍 1:17:57 Carys Scott on Problem Initial CHI: 吃 chī，好吃 hǎochī，吃饭 chīfàn，吃饭了吗? chīfàn le ma?Can hâochī be used to say a drink is delicious? For example you could have a really tastey cocktail or a delicious hot beverage like hot chocolat. Thank you 😁 1:19:02 Movies! This blog post explains the theory behind Movie Scenes and learning characters. 1:09:07 Ric Santos on Make a Movie 卖Aside from the change of location and tone (3rd-4th) from 买 to 卖, I used 十 as a quick distinguishing mark for 卖, that whatever he it was that bought, he later sold it for 10 Dollars more (on top of it !) 1:20:15 Ric Santos on Make a Movie 牛Ni-actress in the kitchen of -ou set: She draws the front face of a cow… but with only one ear. Wow , is that something new ( niú ) !?ps. it is still a mystery what happened to the other ear, perhaps a samurai cut it ? 1:20:50 Ric Santos on Make a Movie 特A cow inside the temple is really something Special. 1:21:19 Nick Sims (戴燚）on Make a Movie 艮George Foreman (g-) is in Karen’s (-en) bedroom (3rd tone) feeling awkward because he is playing dress up with his daughter.She’s playing a sun in her dance recital and asked him to dress up too. George has a Sun (日) mask on with a tutu (𧘇). He looks in the mirror and is as BLUNT as possible, I look stupid. 1:22:12 Stephanie Arapian on Make a Movie 艮Greg is sleeping off his hangover in the platform t(en)t. The Sun puppet strides is on Skates and begins singing the ‘good morning ” song, in a bright overly cheerful voice, while rolling around the tent.Singing: “The bright sun comes up, the dew--Hrrrrggk!” Greg has Hooked (literally) the sun, and caught it in a chokehold, using the hook as a Blunt instrument.“Let me be BLUNT. Sunshine and mornings doesn’t happen until I say it does. Got it?” The Sun nods, and runs when Greg released him. Greg rolls over back to sleep. 1:23:22 Nick Sims (戴燚）on Make a Movie 服Kung Fu Panda (fu-) is cooking in the kitchen (2nd) at my childhood home. He PUT ON his apron so he doesn’t make a mess. He works from morning until the moon (月)comes out. Poe makes Robin (又) the best dumplings ever. Robin agrees and puts his wax seal (卩) of approval TO CONVINCE everyone that they are awesome. 1:24:24 Will R on Make a Movie 分KEYWORD: 分 fēn To SeparateActor: F-Set: -enRoom within Set (tone): Front DoorProp(s): 八 (Spider), 刀 (Trusty Pocket Knife)Make a movie:1. F- opens -en’s Front Door2. A Spider (八) is about to burst in through the door and attackF-3. F- pulls out his Trusty Pocket Knife (刀) battles the Spiderback out4. F- then actives his Star Trek Force Field To Separate (分)himself safely from the Spider5. The Spider is now permanently Separated from F-(分 prop = Star Trek Force Field) 1:25:19 Ann Bihari on Make a Movie 足 keyword – feetactor – zeusset – childhood homeroom – kitchenprops – rolling stones mouth, rocket launcherZeus is sitting in the kitchen of my childhood home with his giant FEET up on the table. The rolling stones mouth is using a rocket launcher to massage those big ol’ tired FEET. 1:26:02 Ann Bihari on Make a Movie 票keyword – ticketactor – patie (pronounced PAY-she)set – tremont houseroom – bathroomprops – cowboy hat and large video displayPatie needs to buy TICKETs to the galveston mardi gras parade. She’s in the bathroom at tremont house and is getting ready. She puts on her sparkly cowboy hat and, looking at the giant video display (which also acts as a mirror), realizes that she can purchase her TICKETs directly from the video display. she enters in her room number and selects how many TICKETs she wants. they are added to her room bill and the mobile TICKETs are sent to her phone. she’s all set. 1:27:05 Ric Santos on Make a Movie 经The Manager 经 of the silk shop is my J-actor outside entrance of -ng set. He says: Handicaps 又 working 工 with the silk 纟industry is good for the ECONOMY. 1:28:04 Will R on Make a Movie 到KEYWORD: 到 dào To ArriveActor: D-Set: -aoRoom within Set (tone): GardenProp(s): 至 (sleeping beauty),刂 (Broad Sword)Make a movie:1. D- at -ao’s Garden2. Sleeping Beauty (至) has been lying there waiting for D- TO ARRIVE3. D- gets his Broad Sword and stabs it in her to wake her up4. Sleeping Beauty wakes angry saying: “You took your time didn’t you? You and Broad Sword (刂) have ARRIVED late”5. D- says: “A wizard is never later, he ARRIVES (到) exactly when he needs to” (Gandalf/Lord of the Rings reference) 1:28:59 Christine on Make a Movie 茶This came together for me very well using my props but it mightnot work for everyone.Charlie Chaplin (Ch actor) is in the kitchen on my a- location.He wants to make some tea.In my home country, there is a make of tea called ‘5 Roses’, witha distinctive red box and a stylised picture of roses on it. Thisis my Rose prop.My other props are:Straw, conical hat and a Bonsai tree.So to complete the tea making ceremony (and the movie for the character), Charlie has to wear the straw hat while plucking the tea leaves from the Bonsai tea bush. Then he has to fill the little bags of 5 Roses tea with the leaves so that he can brew the perfect cup of tea. 1:30:01 Kathryn Nixon on MAKE A MOVIE 马It takes place in the living room of a childhood friend A.She has her black n white telly on and Michael Jackson is on screen. In her living room are three horses which she is training to copy Michael Jacksons moon walk. Eventually they become so good at it that I tell her she should dress them up as unicorns and enter a talent contest. I roll up some card, stick on glitter and then attach the unicorn horns to the horses faces with elastic. My friend is ecstatic. At that moment magic happens and Michael Jackson appears in the living room, and rides the three horses back into the telly to become part of the thriller video.My friend is crying cos she lost her three horses and Michael Jackson has stolen them. 1:31:03 Georg Lohrer on Make a Movie 邦Boris Becker in front of my ang-set. He has built his own little corral using hay-stacks and small brick walls. He somehow has gotten megalomaniac – he’s started to declare his own NATION. 1:31:40 Georg Lohrer on Make a Movie 帮Boris Becker continues to build his own nation (see 邦) in front of my ang-set. He now wants to raise the German flag. He immediately gets some HELP. Someone brings a towel and some color sprays to HELP him painting the flag.

76 minutes | a month ago

111. But WHY, though?

欢迎光临! Welcome! You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or you can subscribe by copying the following URL into your favorite podcast APP: https://www.mandarinblueprint.com/feed/podcast The Mandarin Blueprint Podcast focuses primarily on The Mandarin Blueprint Method online curriculum. Creators Luke Neale & Phil Crimmins answer questions and comments, discuss topics related to China and Mandarin learning and have special guests. 0:00 Affiliate Link & Reviews Become a Mandarin Blueprint Affiliate Leave us a Google Business Review 🙂 Leave us a Facebook Review 10:44 Comments & Emails Liam Llamazares on YOU DID IT!!!Hey guys,I just finished the pronunciation mastery course. I just wanted to quickly pause to thank you guys for all the effort and passion you’ve put into this course. It’s bursting through the seams of this program and it has helped even a complete newbie like me achieve a good base in pronunciation. Likewise thanks for answering all my questions. It’s been a great help! I’m looking forward to starting the rest of the program and getting to the memory techniques. They sound like a lot of fun! 😀 16:23 William Beeman on 我也想找男朋友HI in:有什么办法可以找到一个对我又好长得又好看的男朋友呢The phrase 又好长得又好看(的) seems redundant to describe the desired boyfriend. I get that he should be “good looking” but this seems to be kind of stated twice. Can you explain how these coordinated phrases work together?ANSWER:Take a look at this simpler sentence:有什么办法可以找到一个又好又好看的男朋友呢又 + 好 + 又 + 好看又 + Adj1 + 又 + Adj2Now back to the original sentence:有什么办法可以找到一个对我又好长得又好看的男朋友呢对我 + 又 + 好 + 长得 + 又 + 好看VP1 + 又 + Adj1 + VP2 + 又 + Adj2 20:32 Jason Pon on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 慢慢司机慢慢走了过来。Why isn’t 得 used here to describe how the action is being done, which we’ve seen before like 你说话得太快了?Could the sentence also be arranged as 司机走了过来得慢慢 or something like that? (Sorry if my grammar order is off).ANSWER:的 – Possession – Noun 1 + 的 + Noun 2 = Noun 1 posesses Noun 2地 de – Adjective + 地 + Verb得 de – Verb + 得 + Descriptive Phrase司机慢慢走了过来。司机慢慢地走了过来。司机走得很慢。 Jason Pon on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 慢慢Phil – Thanks so much. This is a very helpful answer. The only things I would say if I may be allowed to elaborate on the motivation of my question here: 1) I feel like I am at the point in my learning where I need to start to understanding things in a more systematic, holistic, and structured approach when it comes to acquiring my grammar. Anki is helping to passively input grammar points (which I am fully aware has been emphasized as part of this course). I am not undermining the usefulness and tactical benefit of it, but I know how I learn and have learned other things (including other languages) and I work best when Ican categorize everything and absorb things in buckets of rules (for instance, this trifecta of using ‘de’ in the form of 的,得, and 地 is perfect for someone like me to start seeing things top-down now that I have enough bottom-up). 2) I appreciate your point on ‘if it is wrong, stop there & do not question the “why” because at that point you will start to ask questions of a linguist.’ I totally understand and agree. So I guess I am not asking ‘why is that sentence wrong’ (I completely admit that it is) but instead of stopping there and moving on, the question I should and will ask is ‘what should the right sentence be’ because I believe that it’s by making these mistakes, being cognizant of them and fixing them with appropriate grammar is how I’ll learn, and it kind of weaves into my point #1 in that my passive intake has its limits and I need to be more self-aware of the language from a top-down point of view not that I amdeveloping my bottom-up foundation.Once again, thanks, and I hope I explained my thoughts well! 32:57 Kairi Shikari on It’s a Word! 贵Regarding the phrase 可能二十元左右, I know that 左右 means ‘about’ but I’m not sure why 可能 is here, as the English translation doesn’t seem to indicate its use. 35:48 Corinna on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 关注In the first sentence, there’s 上 – what’s the meaning of it in this context? Is it only a kind of “helper” in this context? E.g. can I translate is as the “on” in “I’m following you ON Weibo.”?ANSWER:上在微博上zài wēibó shàng…On Weibo…在杂志上…zài zázhì shàng…In the magazine…在报纸上…zài bàozhǐ shàng…In the newspaper…在书上…zài shū shàng…In the book…在车上…zài chē shàng…In the car…下在他的指导下…zài tāde zhǐdǎo xià…Under his guidance…在这个情况下…zài zhège qíngkuàng xià…In this situation…中在你的演讲中…zài nǐde yǎnjiǎng zhōng…In your speech…在过程中…zài guòchéng zhōng…In the process…里 lǐ – inside在家里…zài jiā lǐ…In the home…在学校里…zài xuéxiào lǐ…In the school…在办公室里…zài bàngōngshì lǐ…In the office… 40:53 Corinna on It’s a Word! 得Why does the first sentence 你骑马骑得太快了。need the character 骑 two times?I’m trying to think of different scenarios for why it’s needed twice, but I’m just not sure so I thought I’d ask. 🙂Also: Could I say 你骑得太快了。and have it mean “You ride too fast.”?ANSWER: Verb + 得 + descriptive phrase你·骑马·骑·得·太快了他·说话·说·得·有点儿乱我·开车·开·得·很开心你骑得太快了他说得有点儿乱我开得很开心 44:57 Georgia Swanson on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 椅子 Regarding the first example sentence “椅子不能坐，坏了“，is it just implied from context that this is passive voice and the chair “can’t be sat on”? Of course chairs themselves cannot sit, so I guess I’m wondering if this is one of the instances where you would just use the contextual clues and your amazing common sense skills to determine that it’s not the chair itself that cannot sit? 谢谢！ 46:45 Lisa Leutheuser on BONUS: “How Does What” – Adverbs of DenialSo in the first example, we have bu before the verb, such as: 不说话And in the second we have verb + 不 + result, such as: 找不到 Can you also say: 不找 ? I.e. turn it into a ‘bu before the verb” construction? Or can some verbs only use the verb + 不 + result construction? 49:47 Andreas Lienemann on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 吃饭I’m assuming that in the sentence 吃饭时别大声说话, 时 indicates the concurrent happening of 吃饭 and 大声说话, correct? 51:44 Jason Pon on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 只有只有看这本书才能明白I’m able to make this sentence out but am just confused about theusage of 才 in here and what it is expressing. Can you explain please? 54:00 Christopher Weeks on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 另外In the sentence 我的一个朋友在外面玩儿，另外一个朋友在里面工作… why is used 我的一个朋友 instead of 我有一个朋友or 我的朋友？ I wasn’t we could use 一 after the particle 的。Similarly, could I use 另外朋友，另外的朋友 or do I have to use 另外一个朋友？ 57:36 Movies! This blog post explains the theory behind Movie Scenes and learning characters. 57:55 Heath Campbell on Make a Movie 鱼I learnt this word a long time ago when using another course. To me it always looked like someone casting a net over water to catch fish. Not sure I’ll be able to change that. It’s pretty stuck in my head. 59:06 Will R on Make a Movie 期KEYWORD: 期 qī Period Of TimeActor: qi-Set: -Ø childhood homeRoom within Set (tone): Front doorProp(s): 其 (Other), 月 (Moon)Make a movie:1. qi- at -Ø childhood home’s Front door2. qi- waits with the Moon (月) to battle The ‘Other’ (其)3. They wait a long Period Of Time until things change4. The ‘Other’ springs up for battle5. Moon says to qi-: “The Period Of Time (期) for waiting is over” 1:00:29 Robert Carver on Make a Movie 垂Pikachu (chu-) is in the kitchen at my (-ei) set, fighting a T-1000 (千) with twin katanas (二) for arms. Pikachu tries to summon his most awesome power but instead accidentally conjures up a Rose (艹) , which immediately DROOPS in his hand. Pikachu, of course, is immediately impaled, and his head DROOPS down as the life leaves him. 1:02:01 Soren Korsbaek on Make a Movie 除I’ve got my chu-actor (Chef from South Park) using a toothbrush (阝) to REMOVE the stones of the apple core (余), then giving a speech about how it can be eaten now the stones have been REMOVED. 1:02:48 Nick Sims (戴燚）on Make a Movie 交Janet Jackson (ji-) is outside (3rd tone) of Lifetime Fitness (-ao) with a tight yoga pants outfit getting ready to enter the building. The Godfather (父) walks up with a Top Hat (亠) on and is completely stunned by Janet. He asks if they can MINGLE and offers to take her on a vacation making her dreams come true. They not only develop an instant FRIENDSHIP but they immediately have the desire for INTERCOURSE. Love at first sight. 1:04:44 Will R on Make a Movie 饱Make a movie:1. B- at -ao’s Living Room2. B- is hungry so he orders from the Food Menu (饣) on an app he has3. The food later arrives in a big Heavy Bag (包)4. B- eats the food from the Heavy Bag till he is FULL from food (饱)5. His belly button turns from inny to outy due to being so FULL(like Homer Simpson’s did: https://youtu.be/dPZfIYY6-p0 1:06:22 Stephanie Arapian on Make a Movie 衣Idina Menzel is on the front sidewalk announcing Idina’s new CLOTHING line to fashion reporters. After the grand announcement, music starts playing – “Short Skirt Long Jacket”. And then, Idina steps out the front door, sashaying down the front steps in a Tutu and TopHat… and boots. Cuz they’re made for walking. 1:07:37 Della Fuller on Make a Movie 备Ben is waiting in the backyard of Bard on the Beach (plAYs) when he sees a sloth trying to cross the flooded rice field across the road. He shakes his head when he sees how unPREPAREd the sloth is. He grabs a raincoat, rainboots and an umbrella and goes to rescue the sloth, because he is now PREPAREd for the wet crossing. 1:08:48 Soren Korsbaek on Make a Movie 趣Churchill has no INTEREST in exercising. Yet, he finds himself in the bathroom of my childhood home with a treadmill and an ATM. However, if he doesn’t do it cash withdrawals come with high INTEREST rates. Suddenly, it is in his INTEREST to exercise. He takes a minute or two on the treadmill before withdrawing his cash with zero INTEREST-rates. 1:09:58 Ann Bihari on Make a Movie 影keyword – shadowactor – eveset – jeng chi restaurantroom – main dining roomprops – great wall and dreadlocksEve is sitting at the next table over in the main dining room of Jeng Chi. She is also looking at all the different paintings on the wall. Her gaze rests on a very unusual painting of the Great Wall. There’s a man with long dreadlocks standing on the right-hand side of the painting… he’s casting a very long SHADOW that extends almost the entire length of the wall in the painting. 1:11:11 Ann Bihari on Make a Movie 京keyword – capitalactor – julieset – jeng chi restaurantroom – outside front entranceprops – top hat, penguinJulie is meeting a representative from the CAPITAL at jeng chi. She’s waiting for him outside the front entrance. How will she recognize him? He’ll be the penguin wearing a top hat. 1:12:45 Ann Bihari on Make a Movie 景keyword – sceneryactor – julieset – jeng chi restaurantroom – main dining roomprops – mao portrait, sunJulie and the penguin are sitting at one of the big round tables at Jeng Chi. They’re looking around at all the traditional paintings of Chinese SCENERY and notice one that seems oddly out of place. It’s of the sun high above the portrait of Mao in Tiananmen Square. It’s more pop art than the other more traditional SCENERY/LANDSCAPE paintings. 1:14:04 Ann Bihari on Make a Movie 尤keyword – especiallyactor – eveset – rosemont elementaryroom – cafeteriaprops – diving board, hook, eyedropperEve, visiting her sons at Rosemont, is in the cafeteria line for lunch. The cafeteria ladies have set up a miniature diving board for dinosaur chicken nuggets to jump into the frying oil. Using a medium sized hook, the dino nuggets are then scooped out of the oil and onto the kids’ plates. Next, the kids get an eyedropper filled with ketchup to squirt onto the dino nuggets. Eve thinks to herself, “this is ESPECIALLY creative for a school lunch, do they do stuff like this every day?”

35 minutes | a month ago

Nick Sims on Balancing Family, Career & Learning Chinese

Check out more testimonials here, and click to learn more about The Mandarin Blueprint Method. Nick is one of the top contributors to the Mandarin Blueprint Method course, and we were thrilled to speak with him about his experience. We were hugely impressed by his commitment to several projects and responsibilities, so we’re sure you will be as inspired as we are.

87 minutes | a month ago

110. Language Mastery

49 minutes | 2 months ago

109. Making Mnemonics for Memorizing Chinese Words

欢迎光临! Welcome! You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or you can subscribe by copying the following URL into your favorite podcast APP: https://www.mandarinblueprint.com/feed/podcast The Mandarin Blueprint Podcast focuses primarily on The Mandarin Blueprint Method online curriculum. Creators Luke Neale & Phil Crimmins answer questions and comments, discuss topics related to China and Mandarin learning and have special guests. 0:00 Affiliate Link & Reviews Become a Mandarin Blueprint Affiliate Leave us a Google Business Review 🙂 Leave us a Facebook Review 0:00 Comments & Emails Hank Elliott on 用手机还是去银行寄钱Oh man, Luke and Phil you guys are geniuses. This program is so helpful. After 5 years of trying to teach myself Chinese, I have hundreds of characters sort of memorized in just over a month and can read most of this first paragraph with no problem. It makes my brain buzz. What ancient Chinese medicine practitioners and taoist monks call the echoing valley between the halves of my brain is on fire and alive and growing. I’m 60 and have never had this level of intellectual high even when I studied differential equations and astrophysics. Thank you thank you! 01:56 Christine by CommunityHi there, so I had also been cruising through the course and almost at the end of level 30 (7 characters away).But I have also reached a bit of a hiccup at the moment. I am finding that I have very poor recall of most of the stuff I learned in the past few levels (from level 26 to level 30).I listen to the audio from the sentences and NOTHING is familiar, I also look at the sentences and I recognise that I SHOULD know what the character is, but I just can’t recall it. So I have almost made the decision (would like to have some comment/feedback on this) to maybe stop for a bit after the end of level 30 to spend some time JUST on reviewing the level 26 to 30 material – do a lot of reviews, go through the longer texts and dialogues, and generally just catch my breath before moving on.Then, I might also move through the new material a bit slower as well, in order to embed the material better.Or should I just power ahead and trust Anki to catch me up?I had been doing on average about 100 characters per month, which equates to between 3 and 5 per day on average. But one needs to keep all the vocab in mind as well, that adds to the workload. And of course ALL the previous stuff as well that you need to remember just gets more and more as you go on.Any thoughts? Opinions? 12:32 Alina Dana Coroian by CommunityHi there! I was wondering about those leech cards … Will they appear again after a time or do I have to unlock them somehow by myself? There are a few which really drain my patience but still I would like them to appear in Anki cards from time to time.By the way, anyone has a special method to memorize words that your brain really refuses to memorize? One of my leech cards is for example “以为” (to think mistakenly). It is quite a long struggle, sometimes it seems to remain in my brain but after it disappears for a period from the current Anki cards when it appears again I will surely give a wrong answer. (The same situation happens to me for the word and also for the sentences that contain this word).Some of these words made of 2 characters are easy to remember if you know the components because the compound has some logic, but there are also some I do not manage to get any logic in them being together… For some similar cases (I have about 4-5 until now) I managed to make up some kind of silly sentence that help me remember the meaning, but there are still a few (like this 以为 ) which are a continuous frustration for me. 23:20 Ric Santos on It’s a Word! 切Thank you for answers. This system is really better than going to the university! 24:05 Nacho En on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 改变所以改变和变化一样吗? 24:57 Jason Pon on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 只好Any difference between 只好 as an adverb and 得 as a verb for expressing ‘have to’？ 26:25 Rick Angleland on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 生活How does 生活 compare with 过日子 and 住 in meaning? 30:03 Sam Trifunovski on Self-Evaluation: What’s Your Chinese Level?I’d say that my Chinese level is somewhere in between basic to intermediate. After learning it for around 3 years at High School, I feel quite comfortable instantly recognizing what certain characters mean and how they are depicted in script. Unfortunately, I didn’t use any advanced memory techniques during school, and instead committed characters to memory through brute force. anyway, I’m hoping to pick up from where I left off (High School is becoming gradually distant), and I intend to re-learn Chinese using your method which is far more comprehensive and reliable (and effective). 31:09 Carys Scott on Simple Final A: Yes or No Questions with 吗 ma5 & Answering “Yes”Luke, can I check. The “tā” is pronounced “t-hah” but with a very silent and short h as it’s focus is the final a sound. Is that right? 32:11 Nacho En on Level 26 CompleteI just want to say to all the people who arrived here: You are breathtaking. You all are doing an incredible job, day by day, step by step. I don’t know you, but I’m proud that you reached to finish this level.我们会进步吧！ 33:20 Benjamin Masters on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 干杯I know that this is beyond the scope of this course, but do you guys have any advice on how to avoid drinking at business dinners in China? 36:10 Alex Sumray on Vocab Unlocked from 律九折 is freaking me out…why would this mean 10% off!? 36:57 Redd-Louise Bick on Nasal Final ING (YING): 电影 diànyǐng，明天 míngtiānQuick question maybe a stupid one but: why is the 1st tone over the “i” in jintian but over the “a” in mingtian just like in this vid? (the tian part i mean) Is their a rule? cheers Redd 38:00 Julie Hentschel Lund on It’s a Word! 也我不胖，他也不胖，但是你很胖。How do I emphasise that 你 are, in fact, very fat? 39:15 Julie Hentschel Lund on Make a Movie 地What’s the difference between 土 and 地, and 土地? Seems like themeaning is the same in english translations 40:47 Foong Chee Birch on Self-Evaluation: What’s Your Chinese Level?I think I am a beginner, although I understand some spoken Chinese, I am not able to hold a conversation properly. My primary aim is to be able to do that with the younger members of me family, There’s 4 generations, to be able to read and write would be wonderful; This is a new way of learning and i am slowly getting there. 41:46 William Beeman on 我家小狗臭臭Is 臭臭 really “Stinky?” 🙂 43:06 Hollywood Eddie on Self-Evaluation: What’s Your Chinese Level?I am dyslexic with ADHD that has been trying to learn for the past 5 years. I did 1 and half of classroom course in Shanghai.Due to my laziness and distractions didn’t learn much. I tried learning on my own and tutored by a chinese friends,but nothing stuck. So I was say I am beginning/intermediate 45:46 Christopher Thompson on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 小姐Several sources I have encountered have suggested that although小姐 generally refers to a young woman and was traditionally an acceptable form of address for a young female, especially a stranger, the term has come to have the connotation, particularly in mainland China, of “prostitute” and should thus be avoided or, at the very least, used with caution. What is the situation with this term?

67 minutes | 2 months ago

108. Grinding vs. Gear-Shifting

欢迎光临! Welcome! You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or you can subscribe by copying the following URL into your favorite podcast APP: https://www.mandarinblueprint.com/feed/podcast The Mandarin Blueprint Podcast focuses primarily on The Mandarin Blueprint Method online curriculum. Creators Luke Neale & Phil Crimmins answer questions and comments, discuss topics related to China and Mandarin learning and have special guests. 0:00 Affiliate Link & Reviews Become a Mandarin Blueprint Affiliate Leave us a Google Business Review 🙂 Leave us a Facebook Review 0:56 Comments & Emails Tristan Knotts on Walk in the park?! I’ve got 汉字 to study!Wow, what a feeling to follow along with long form content and being able to understand. I listened to it all the way through and I was thinking “yeah this totally makes sense”, and then I looked back realized there was no pinyin or translation, just Chinese characters. Very cool! Igor Alenc on 你喜欢做什么Still reading like a kid but I’m so happy to be able to understand it!! 02:47 Faraz on BONUS: This Could be You in Less Time Than You ThinkIt’s amazing watching this again now that I’m about 3/4 of the way through the course. I had no idea what he was saying without the subtitles when I first watched it. Now I’m picking up a lot! And I can also appreciate how outstanding Luke’s accent is 🙂 04:01 Frederick Toholka by CommunityRegretfully at level 21 I have struck a little roadblock with the English translation of -Transferring Money by Smartphone or BankLet me explain. I have systematically translated each individual character and the overall result does not read well, eg 因为 yin wei translates as “cause for”. In this simple example, I know from its common use in speaking that it means collectively “because”.However, as I move through the more complicated dialogue translating each character by itself I find myself in a muddle not knowing when to translate a single character or a combined character.How should I get over this hurdle 21:08 Gavin Meakin on YOU DID IT!!!Hi Luke and Phil,I’ve just finished the PM course and I’m feeling really positive about where my Mandarin learning journey is now headed. I’m by no means a complete beginner, having spent some time living in Taiwan, but for the first time, I’m seeing a clear picture (or blueprint) as to what steps I need to take to reach my language learning goals.In terms of the PM course, it is incredibly comprehensive! I found some of the pronunciation lessons challenging and a bit awkward as I’ve mostly been exposed to Taiwanese Mandarin up until this point. That said, I’m starting to appreciate the importance of recognizing and understanding the different dialects, especially standard Mandarin, and I’ve enjoyed the challenge this course has offered. I also found this course really useful in that it has encouraged me to objectively reflect on my pronunciation, identify my pronunciation weaknesses and start making corrections.Moving forward, I’m excited to dive into the MB Method Foundation Course and see where it takes me. I’m one of those guys that made lots of mistakes early on (trying to speak too much, learning vocabulary out of context, not focusing on learning characters, not bothering to read etc.) and then after a few years of making little progress I gave up. I thought it was too hard for me and that I’d never be able to ‘get’ mandarin.Thank you for showing me that that’s not the case. Thank you for reigniting my desire to learn Mandarin. Thank you for sharing your experiences, knowledge and tips.Most importantly, even though we haven’t met, thank you for believing in me. It’s nice to feel like someone’s got my back.Cheers gents! 23:44 Hank Elliott on Level 14 Unlocked Conversation ConnectorsHey Luke and Phil,This is my first time writing a detailed post of my thoughts about your course. First of all, thank you so much for such a great course. I’m hooked. I’ve been trying to teach myself Chinese for about 5 years by listening to 150 Pimsleur lessons like 100 times, four years of college texts on my own, several idiom and proverb books, the entire Journey to the West with translation etc etc etcTOTAL FAILURE till I met you guys probably because I’m 60 years old and never succeeded to learn a language because it had to be the hardest thing on earth in my mind. I became interested in Chinese when I visited Guilin and YangShuo back in 1993. I went with a woman who was a TA at Yale in Chinese so I didn’t have to speak a word, but I fell in love with the culture and people and language then. I assumed I could never learn the language. But over the years I learned several styles of Kung Fu, practice Chinese Acupressure, do Tai Chi daily and have used QiGong to help myself through many things, not to mention my addiction to everything Bruce Lee or Donnie Yen. Then my 88 year old father began to decline intellectually which freaked me out because he literally was the smartest person I ever knew (Electrical Engineer with IQ of 150). Ive always been much healthier than him physically, but how could I avoid the fate of time on the tiny brain in my own head? So I decided to do the hardest thing I could ever do for my brain. Thus my Chinese language journey!But its been so frustrating seeing the same charters a thousand times and never being able to even carry on a conversation with my sushi guys from FuJin. Only a couple of months into your course and I am sailing through reading without the crutch of pinyin.So now Id like to share my story for a character.HaiProp: a big shiny and twisty copper stillActor: H, my childhood best friend’s father (the 2nd smartest person I have ever known, and a father of 5 boys I have known for my entire life).Set: The Barbara Negra Whaling Ship (Ai like a pirate!) (This was very dear to me in high school when for several years I was quite active in a save the whale campaign and the ship was dedicated to anti-whaling and I skipped days of school to sail on her!)Props: Microphone (the really old style with the great big iconic square head on a swivel that all newscasters used when I was young) Giant No Smoking SignThis happened on 1st take in my mind as I sat there laughing my @%#$ off. With my explanation you’ll see why!Harold struts into the galley of the Barbara Negra only to find his 5 sons all smoking huge cigarettes directly underneath this huge colorful No Smoking Sign (I snuck my first smoke as a stupid teen with the oldest brother !). They all puffed their smoke at the same time and Harold grew enraged (in 60 years I have never seen him angry). Enraged he grabs the microphone and does some crazy engineering thing to it (he was VP of R&D at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft). He began screaming at the boys so loudly that all 5 of them suddenly began yelling swears at him (I never heard any of them speak disrespectfully to him). So totally freaked out Harold immediately sat down next to his huge bright copper spiraling STILL and proceeded to drink gallons of homemade booze(none of the 6 of them drink!).BOOM!Thank the Gods for your methods!Hank ElliottPersonal Training managerTherapeutic Thai and Chinese bodyworker Hank Elliott on Make a Movie 哭Phil and Luke,This method is just too much fun. How can learning the world’s most difficult language be so much fun? thank you tons for the mandarin Blueprint method. The stories I have come up with are impossible to forget when emotion is attached to them. As I imagined King Kong desperately trying to find Clifford on my front lawn, and him opening his RS mouth only to have another open next to him singing ‘big boys don’t cry” I laughed so hard I spilled my drink on my little notebook! even the booze stain on that book will bring a chuckle to my studies. Thank you thank you!! 28:53 Rayna L Thompson by CommunityHmmm. I guess I forgot to ever introduce myself. LOL 你好！I’m Rayna from Michigan. I’ve been married to my adorable husband for 34 years. We have no kids. I don’t work secularly due to chronic illnesses.My youngest brother married a lovely young lady from China. They have one daughter (preschool age) and live in California. His mother-in-law also moved in with them last year.I just finished the Pronunciation Mastery course and have embarked on the MB method. I think the course is brilliantly laid out. I’ve acquired lots of other resources in the past year, but am making the most real progress since starting Mandarin Blueprint.I started a new graded reader chapter today and was amazed how much better I did than a couple months ago.I am going at my own, slow pace through the MB course. But so long as I keep moving forward consistently, I know I’ll reach my Chinese language goals.Trivia…. I love to read sci-fi and mysteries, do crafts like beading, knit, crochet, build computers, watch old movies and musicals, cook a lot (because I have to, but I’m actually not bad at it), I like learning about lots of things (ADHD brain at work!). I used to work in a bank.My former language experience is that I was an advanced Spanish student in high school (40 years ago) and could read etc very well, but couldn’t get sentences to form in my head and come out of my mouth (except when reading aloud). I also learned a few hundred words in Khmer (Cambodian) 30 years ago from friends, but have forgotten pretty much all of it. I still read, or get out a book of songs in Spanish to sing occasionally, but I’d love to pursue both of those languages again in a few years. 33:36 Joe Sutcliffe on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 下去I am a little unsure as to when to interchange the words like 下来 & 下去.Obviously, one means go down and one means come down but then are they partially interchangeable?For example, if I was in a building and I wanted to meet someone on a higher floor. I could say to someone both 我上来 & 我上去.Does using one or the other seriously alter the message I amtrying to convey? 37:15 Steve Bytheway New Vocabulary Unlocked! 正式The sentence 我正式找他谈话了 seems such an odd sentence, are you saying you officially found him for a discussion or that the discussion was formal?ANSWER:Think of 正式 as applying to the entire remainder of the sentence as opposed to just 找. The speaker is likely just trying to convey that the purpose of looking for 他 to have a discussion is important and formal. Perhaps this slightly more complicated sentence would make it more transparent:我所有的资料都准备好了以后，我正式找他谈话了。After all my materials were prepared, I officially looked for him to talk.所有 suǒyǒu – all资料 zīliào – materials都 dōu – (prep) all准备 zhǔnbèi – prepareIn that context, you can imagine why the speaker might say “正式.” 39:10 Jason Pon on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 开门她开门的样子真优雅！Can you help me understand how this conveys the meaning of‘looking elegant’? How does the 的 work with 样子 to convey ‘looking’? 40:53 Jason Pon on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 开会开了一天的会Is the meaning ‘held a meeting all day’ effected by the ‘了一的’ bisecting 开会?Does it translate to something like “held (le completion)1/entire/whole day’s meeting?” 43:50 Julie Hentschel Lund on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 去年A question about:去年一月和今年二月So the only difference between 1 month (random one) and January is 一个月 and 一月? Seems reasonable! 🙂 45:03 Julie Hentschel Lund on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 看法Would it be wrong to use 还是 instead of 或, since it’s a question?Original Sentence:他的儿子有什么看法或想法呢？English:What views or opinions does his son have?Top-Down Words:他 tā – he/him有 yǒu – to have, to possess呢 ne – (grammatical particle placed at the end of a non-yes no question to emphasize the inquisitiveness. Unlike 吗，it is optional and is only meant to influence the tone of voice…) 46:24 Julie Hentschel Lund on It’s a Word! 等他在车上等我。What is the usage/meaning of 上 in this sentence? 49:02 Alex Sumray on Vocab Unlocked from 爆Could the difference here be explained that 爆发 is used more to show something has broken out like a fight, whereas 爆 is to say something literal like a balloon has exploded? 50:45 Nick Smith Set the Scene 2/13Is it okay to use an animated set for one of my sets? When the name Andy was mentioned, I immediately thought of Andy from the movie Toy Story. And since the word animation also begins with AN, I’m thinking it’ll be perfect for any scene that is animated to represent that final. 52:13 Liam Llamazares on Compound Final OU: 走 zǒu，走了 zǒu le，走吧 zǒu ba，我走了 wó zǒu leHey guys, I was wondering what the function of the “de” in “hǎo de” was, as I had only seen “de” used to indicate possession. Thanks for the help! 59:09 Pronunciation Critique

33 minutes | 2 months ago

Interview with Kairi Shikari

Thanks to Kairi for taking the time to share his experiences using The Mandarin Blueprint Method. Kairi is a musician, has been fascinated by languages since childhood, and became particularly interested in Asian cultures as a teenager. Naturally, this lead to an interest in the Chinese writing system. Please enjoy this free-ranging conversation about language learning in general and Chinese acquisition in particular. Learn more about The Mandarin Blueprint Method Check out more Testimonials

44 minutes | 2 months ago

107. Noticing Language Patterns Through Consistent Exposure

欢迎光临! Welcome! You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or you can subscribe by copying the following URL into your favorite podcast APP: https://www.mandarinblueprint.com/feed/podcast The Mandarin Blueprint Podcast focuses primarily on The Mandarin Blueprint Method online curriculum. Creators Luke Neale & Phil Crimmins answer questions and comments, discuss topics related to China and Mandarin learning and have special guests. 0:00 Affiliate Link & Reviews Become a Mandarin Blueprint Affiliate Leave us a Google Business Review 🙂 Leave us a Facebook Review 0:09 Comments & Emails Tim by CommunityHello MB-er Community! My name is Tim from Kansas City Missouri, USA. I wanted to introduce myself, Typically, I tend to self-study, but after having questions and “hoping” they would simply miraculously be asked, I decided to try to be part of what I have come to learn, is a valuable and amazing tool in this “community.” Though I have one year of Mandarin in University and only just beginning this course (literally, I’m only on character #8) it just feels right. Reading through the comments, I find many who feel the same. I am in my mid 50’s and after 30+years as a professional artist (galleries and Tattoo) and having traveled to over 85 countries I am now working to one day be a DOM (Doctor of Oriental Medicine). Good luck with your studies, I look forward to following your progress. With all that Luke and Phil have done to pave the way, we clearly have the deck stacked in our favor to succeed. 3:28 Ramona on ANKI DECKS INSIDE – Now Just LOOK at how SOLID that Foundation Is!I could’t help myself and had to CONGRATULATE you (again!!) andalso to congratulate myself!WE made it, I may say. 🙂I’m usually starting something and give up pretty soon, but your course kept me busy and taught me self – discipline and a BIG THANKS to you guys for that!I’m very grateful I found you at the beginning of this year anddecided to learn Mandarin using your amazing course!Now I’ll also give myself some time to review all the content andthen I’ll move to Level 37.Strong hug,Ramona 6:10 Cale Moseley on (BONUS) How to Develop Great Study Habits Part 1: CueHey Phil and Luke! Enjoying the pronunciation mastery so far. Iwas studying for two months before coming across the podcast andthen eventually signing up for MB. I didn’t realize how bad mypronunciation was until I started the course and I feel mypronunciation is better in several days than two months trying topronounce the pinyin without a clue what I was doing. I enjoy notspending hours sifting through youtube to find all theinformation I need and that it is provided to me in a way that’sorganized and streamlined. If only there was a student discount😉 ? Thanks guys – a broke college student 9:26 William Greene on Pronunciation MasteryThank you guys! Xiexie Nimen!Here’s the review I just posted on Google (I’m not a FB user). Hope it gets you lots of new business!I’m a total beginner in studying Chinese. I decided with the lockdowns in April that I would learn Chinese while I can’t travel. I live in Hong Kong, but mandarin seemed the way to go. I”m not a young guy (50+), but I thought maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks….so I started studying with a native speaking tutor here in HK. It was good, but I was struggling a lot. I listen to the youcanlearnchinese podcast regularly and heard Phil make the case for learning from non-native speakers and pitching mandarin blueprint. I signed up for the 7-day free trial and couldn’t stop watching the pronunciation mastery videos. I watched the entire course in the 7-day trial and have gladly signed up for a subscription. These guys are amazing.Luke is such a good teacher – my native speaker tutor couldn’t help me much with how to pronounce the sounds or explain why things were the way they are in Chinese. But Luke’s demonstrations and explanations were nothing short of amazing!And Phil’s cheering and advice at the end of each unit are just awesome. He really gets to the motivation and the mindset of learning. Keep up the amazing work! 12:59 jack on Make a Movie 很The fascinating thing about this process is that before learning a character bottom-up it looks like a bunch of squiggles, but once it’s learned, voila, crystal clear. 14:51 Jacqui Vinters on REQUIRED: How to Unsuspend Grammar Building Anki CardsWow, I love the sentences, it is unbelievably cool to understand them and I have the widest smile, thank you so much 🙂 15:31 Rick Angleland on It’s a Word! 还我想点面包，还想点啤酒。Is it also OK to say我想点面包，-也-想点啤酒。 16:16 Ric Santos on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 长得Since 得 comes after 长, then 长得 is a verb phrase. Is this a good hint? 21:27 William Beeman on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 一切Hi, What is the tone for 切 in 一切? In the previous lesson, it waslisted as 1st tone, but in this lesson, you have it as 4th tone.Is this one of those “words” that has different tonerealizations in different constructions? I don’t think this is acase of tone sandhi. 23:47 Corinna on It’s a Word! 块I’m a little confused about 我吃不下 in the last dialogue.How does 不下 translate to “can’t”? 26:33 William Beeman on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 刚刚HiIn 刚刚又给我打了电话, what is the function of 又. Can it be omitted? 27:41 Ric Santos on Start “Shadowing” in Phase 4I sent a recording of “我的爸爸” which I read and practiced like 3x a day for 4 days at 80% speed or so I thought. At first I read very slowly and then gradually sped it up. I thought it was already good so I sent a recording as a baseline to know my level. I thought I made about 5 mistakes and left it like that, mainly because I was drained. However, Luke gave a critique of it on 5 major pronunciation initials namely the X, SH, R, ZH that were repeatedly mispronounced throughout the text. After the shocking face off with reality, I immediately went back to review the PM course again. After that I listened again to my recording and noticed 38 mistakes more on just the pronunciations alone. Somebody has to point out my mistakes objectively because I need to know where and when I was doing the mistakes, and what were the factors and nearby circumstances facilitating the mistakes. My ears are very forgiving to my pronunciations and my brain auto-corrects and agrees with my ears. Luke stops another attempt to a new emerging dialect (known only to myself ! ) Now more than ever, I am AWARE of the Xs, SHs etc more than ever. It was good the specific mistakes were pointed out so that they will not SOLIDIFY into a bad habit. Before moving to shadow faster, I should be objectively accurate with the pronunciations and do more accurate practice everyday. – 以为 I thought I was doing OK .Thank you very much Luke. I look forward to another challengingcritique after 3(?) weeks or so. 30:26 Liam Llamazares on Compound Final IOU (YOU): 我也没有 wó yě méi yǒu，我也有 wǒ yé yǒuHey guys. I understand that tone sandhi avoids the situation where you would have to pronounce two consecutive 3rd tones. So what about if I have a 1st tone+5th tone+3rd tone? Normally one would pronounce the 5th tone like an, albeit short and light, 3rd tone, as it follows a 1st tone. But then you’d have two consecutive third tones. Is this allowed or do you have to change one of the tones? Thx! 32:29 Movies! This blog post explains the theory behind Movie Scenes and learning characters. Robert Carver Make a Movie 成Chuck Norris (ch-) is in the kitchen at my (-eng) location, fighting a halberd-wielding (戈) Mr. Burns from the Simpsons (厂 ). When Chuck roundhouse kicks the halberd out of Mr. Burn’s hands, Mr. Burn’s cackles, turns red and grows giant lobster pincers (㇆), BECOMING lobster man and immediately dismembering Chuck Norris. 34:12 Alex Sumray on Make a Movie 柿He climbs the tree and with his beret grabs a sharon fruit. As he climbs down his towel is flung from him having been caught on a branch… exposing his.. ‘plums’.Family friend Sharon walks in, so my sh-actor covers himself with said fruit… which, alone in the bathroom again, he washes well before eating.shì 35:08 Della Fuller on Make a Movie 帮Ben is outside the entrance of Erica’s house on a very rainy day. He is holding a Canadian flag in one hand, and a towel in the other. He needs Erica to HELP him to put the flag up on the pole, but he doesn’t want her to get wet, so he brought a towel to HELP her to stay dry. 35:51 Tristan Knotts on Make a Movie 报A scene for Rick and Morty fans, Barrak Obama stands in the backyard of my ao set addressing a large crowd on his presidential campaign, with everyone holding Foam Fingers (扌) in the crowd. In his hand is an extensive report, sealed with a large Wax Seal (卩), containing damning evidence on his presidential opponent Morty (又), in this case, Evil Morty, the report is a reference to the same report from the episode The Ricklantis Mixup. With Obama holding the report above high above his, Evil Morty approaches from behind and assassinates his opponent (Graphic yes, but this sentence is key for positioning of the components). This is highly memorable for me as it is quite plausible in the context of Rick and Morty, specifically the Evil Morty saga, and the positioning is very clear. 37:40 Robert Carver on Make a Movie 城Chuck Norris (ch-) is in the kitchen at my -eng apartment, holding a Pot of Soil (土) and eagerly awaiting the arrival of Superman (成), who has just defeated a space alien who had been threatening the CITY. When Superman swoops into the kitchen, Norris holds out the pot of soil in thanks for saving the CITY, but Superman is so offended that the pot doesn’t even have a flower in it, let alone a key to the city or even a ribbon, that he crushes the pot and then bursts up through the ceiling, floats above Portland (the -eng apartment’s city), and uses his laser eyes to level the CITY to the ground.

29 minutes | 2 months ago

Interview with Paul Schutz

Paul Schutz came to his interest in Mandarin Chinese by first following his interest in Chinese Traditional Medicine. From there, he pursued the study of Daoism, and in turn, decided it was time to learn Chinese. Please enjoy this free-ranging discussion on Mandarin learning and how The Mandarin Blueprint Method has changed his perspective on the learning process. Learn more about The Mandarin Blueprint Method Check out more Testimonials

75 minutes | 2 months ago

106. Learning Grammar vs. Acquiring Grammar

欢迎光临! Welcome! You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or you can subscribe by copying the following URL into your favorite podcast APP: https://www.mandarinblueprint.com/feed/podcast The Mandarin Blueprint Podcast focuses primarily on The Mandarin Blueprint Method online curriculum. Creators Luke Neale & Phil Crimmins answer questions and comments, discuss topics related to China and Mandarin learning and have special guests. 0:00 Affiliate Link & Reviews Become a Mandarin Blueprint Affiliate Leave us a Google Business Review 🙂 Leave us a Facebook Review 12:00 Comments & Emails Nick Sims (戴燚）by CommunityI’m on Level 13 and still doing reviews from the Pronunciation deck. Is that normal? Should I continue? I find that now I’m in sentences it’s taking a lot more time and I’m wanting to fly by the older Pronunciation deck to get to the time intensive sentences. 16:08 Larry Cluff by CommunityI am a few weeks into the foundation series and have a question. In the hanzi movie method, what is the difference between sets and rooms? And how do you imagine a room inside of a set? As an example, the word cóng 从… I picked my set as the open garage at my teenage house because that is where we played ping-pONG. Since this word is tone 2, the room within the set is the kitchen. But I have a hard time imagining a kitchen in a garage since they are two separate locations. Any advice? 17:55 Sabrina Sutherland on BONUS: STRATEGY is Everything While Learning ChineseThis particular video really resonates. I have always wondered why learning a language was so difficult for me. It makes perfect sense that trying to learn a language as an academic subject is almost impossible. It’s like I’m on the outside looking in and just regurgitating random pieces of information I’m given to memorize rather than actually being on the inside and absorbing the language so it comes out naturally. Thank you for making a program that actually works for me! 24:13 Thomas Brand on How to “Make a Movie” with 十 shí – “ten”I notice that the staff appears before the razor blade. Does the order matter? I’ve got it the other way round to help me remember the stroke order. 26:50 Rayna Lynn on Unit 9 Unit Wrap-UpI did so much better on these Anki cards than I expected. I’m still working on listening skills, and not even close to “native speed” audio. But I feel encouraged by being able to hear the difference better than I used to. 27:58 Soren Korsbaek on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 表示I’ve been reading up on the different usages of “跟” as just learned in link below, however I don’t quite understand why this character is used in the first sentence. I would greatly appreciate the explanation, worst case I thought to flag it in case it isn’t clear for others too.ANSWER:Sentence我跟他表示了不用客气。Article on 和/跟/与 29:31 Sebastien Lessard on It’s a Word! 白Is there a part of the course where grammar is taught? 34:57 Ann Lee on Nasal Final ÜAN (YUAN): 远 yuǎn，选择 xuǎnzéLuke,Question: When I hear you pronouncing tai yuan le (sorry, can’t do tones on keyboard), I’m not hearing an ‘n’ sound in yuan. Could you clarify, please? Thanks! 36:47 Sebastien Lessard on Level 7 CompleteWhen you show the slide with the total characters for the course, is it the foundation course, or it includes the intermediate as well? 39:11 Sebastien Lessard on Casting Call mi- 30/55If I used someone’s house as a set, can I use that person as an actor? Or that would be too confusing? 41:14 William Beeman on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 左右Hi! In 我们公司有两百名左右员工 is 名 some kind of counter for persons?Thank 45:35 Jack on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 相信In the 2nd sentence, 哥们 is translated as my buddy – should it be 哥们儿 ? 46:37 Dom Thomson on Vocab Unlocked from 概我大概已经到火车站了Does this mean something like ‘I’ve just arrived at the station’?My literal translation doesn’t seem to make sense: I briefly already arrived at the station 47:57 William Beeman on It’s a Word! 约Hi! This construction puzzles me a bit. It is the 我约了她First, having the verb so close to the beginning of the phrase is “different.” Then having 了right before the person with whom the appointment with no connector is also odd.I was expecting a construction like 跟她一起 to indicate with whom I had a “date” or an appointment. So:Is this a correct sentence? 我约了跟她一起How about this? 我跟她一起约了ANSWER:Sentence我约了小明去吃饭。English:I made an appointment with Xiaoming to go eat.Sentence我约了她今天吃饭 English:I made an appointment to eat with her today. 52:44 Paulette Jenner on It’s a Word! 半I noticed that 干 in the final example is gàn with a fourth tone, meaning work. But we just recently learned 干 as gān. I’m confused because I thought that even when words/syllables sounded the same, they had different characters (such as with the different meanings of tā). What am I missing? 56:58 Benjamin Rees on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 兄弟I’m struggling with translating 钱再多也比不上爸爸的公司. Would somebody be able to explain it to me more literally? 1:01:00 Movies! This blog post explains the theory behind Movie Scenes and learning characters. Della Fuller on Make a Movie 就Jessica is in the backyard of the Oval, with a highlighter pen and a poster of Beijing, on which she is highlighting EXACTLY the best route through Beijing in order to take in all of the wonderful sights. She wants the audience members to know EXACTLY where to go when they go to Beijing so that they get the most enjoyment out of this beautiful city. 1:02:19 River Nixon on Make a Movie 安I am familiar with the works and philosophy of Rudolf Steiner because my children attended a Waldorf school. I would have never connected AT EASE in this way but now I think I will steal your good idea. Thanks for the share. 1:03:12 Della Fuller on Make a Movie 越Queen Elizabeth is in the backyard of BurnEtt with a werewolf on a treadmill. She is doing a study to see how far a werewolf can run. The werewolf is exhausted – its tongue is hanging out the side of its mouth and it keeps looking at the Queen with pleading eyes, but she just replies, MORE! MORE! 1:04:09 MIKE ROTCHFORD on Make a Movie 辣Has anyone noticed that their own stories have gotten shorter? It seems that the reason there are so few stories posted is because it takes much longer to type them down than to just come up with them. I’ve found that quite often my story is just one sentence that contains everything I need to know. Maybe we’re just becoming our own rock stars. If I didn’t need to have the necessary time to finish my Anki I could easily do 30 movies per night. I am now moving at a much faster rate of acquisition of characters than I ever have before. I think this course is just so amazing! My tutor has a hard time keeping up with me and thinks I am just pretending to learn all these new characters. ha! The only reason now that I am typing anything is because I hit my own self imposed time clock and don’t want to stop. When does that wall supposed to show up? I have yet to get tired or want to take a break. 1:06:41 Soren Korsbaek on Make a Movie 跟My g-actor is outside my (e)n-set with a giant set of human feet. He smashes the heel of one foot of the giant human feet with a sledgehammer, as it starts bleeding he screams “THE HEEL WON’T HEAL BUT THE OTHER HEAL IS HEALED”. 1:07:24 Alex Sumray on Make a Movie 辣Indeed Mike.And some of my stories these days are pretty shoddy, just shoehorning the props into the locations! But it’s doing the job. Like you, I feel I could just blitz through the characters, but Anki and fitting in listening and reading practice means just taking it slow and steady, in the knowledge that eventually, someday in the future, we’ll get to that magical 1500 (…then 3000 😶) mark.I’ll race you there Mike! 1:08:35 Della Fuller on Make a Movie 咸Sharon is in her kitchen with a werewolf, razor blade and the Rolling Stones mouth. She takes out a block of SALT and shaves off a small piece with the razor blade. She tosses it at the werewolf who gulps it down and complains, “SALTY!” She shaves off another piece and tosses it to the Rolling Stones mouth, who also complains, “SALTY!” 1:09:34 Tyson on Make a Movie 踢My Ti actress finds Bigfoot [⻊] in the front yard of my childhood home kicking a can of Easy-cheese [易] all over the place as if it was a football. There’s an argument between the two of them about not kicking the Easy-cheese and a threat about kicking Bigfoot if he doesn’t stop kicking the Easy-cheese. Bigfoot ignores my Ti- actress and continues kicking the Easy-cheese until she, who has a bit of a temper, makes good on her threat. [Ouch] 1:10:35 Christine on Make a Movie 黑Harrison Ford, in his persona as Indiana Jones, is on an archeological expedition somewhere in the desert, and in the background, you can see some ruins that look suspiciously like my old student residence (my -ei location).He is sitting and warming his toes at a campfire 1:12:26 Della Fuller on Make a Movie 帅Shrek has just stepped out of the shower and is clad only in a towel. He hears a noise and quickly grabs his sword, but it is just Fiona who whistles and comments, “HANDSOME!” 1:13:19 Della Fuller on Make a Movie 师Sean Connery and Brad Pitt are standing outside the entrance of my childhood home. Sean Connery is TEACHING Brad Pitt how to be a suave gentleman and has taken out a razor blade to shave Brad’s beard, which he finds not to his liking, while he discusses the finer points of his lesson, which he has listed on the blackboard in front of them – driving a fast car, dating fast women, spying for the good guys… 1:14:24 Della Fuller on Make a Movie 市Sean Connery is in the backyard of my childhood home dressed in only a towel and a tophat. The auction MARKET is in full swing as the audience of ladies bid ever higher upon him.

36 minutes | 2 months ago

Interview with Joe Sutcliffe

Joe Sutcliffe is currently studying a double masters in International Relations and Chinese Politics/Economics across Monash and Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Prior to this, he graduated with distinction with a degree in International Business from Monash University. He is an intern at the Australian Centre for Education and Training – Global. We had a great time chatting about the Chinese learning process, enjoy! Learn more about The Mandarin Blueprint Method Check out more Testimonials

62 minutes | 3 months ago

105. Patience and Consistency in Learning Mandarin

欢迎光临! Welcome! You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or you can subscribe by copying the following URL into your favorite podcast APP: https://www.mandarinblueprint.com/feed/podcast The Mandarin Blueprint Podcast focuses primarily on The Mandarin Blueprint Method online curriculum. Creators Luke Neale & Phil Crimmins answer questions and comments, discuss topics related to China and Mandarin learning and have special guests. 0:00 Affiliate Link & Reviews Become a Mandarin Blueprint Affiliate Leave us a Google Business Review 🙂 Leave us a Facebook Review 0:00 Comments & Emails Beck Wintsch by EmailDear Phil and Luke,I started learning Mandarin two months ago to cure pandemic boredom but now am fully determined to become fluent in the language.I heard about your method in the beginning when I was doing research on different courses and the Hanzi Movie Method intrigued me. I had begun learning the language on one of the many gamification apps which was fun in the beginning but learning characters felt like a chore and trying to write alien symbols. I finally cracked down and started paying for a real course Chinese For Us which is one of the best-reviewed courses next to your guy’s.While this course is great it only goes up to HSK 2 and is a bit slower going because how thorough things are covered. Learning characters are still taught more in the traditional way so I still struggled, even though I had a great foundation from their stroke order course. I eventually got Skritter which helped but I still forgot a lot and even with some simple mnemonics.Finally, I took the time to read the ebook for the Hanzi movie method and created a list of the sets actors and started to implement the method in the learning of characters. Now I’ve learned more characters in the last two weeks than the rest of the two months. Going from zero to well over 140 and counting. While Chinese For Us is a great course, honestly without Skritter, Pleco, and the Hanzi Movie Method I wouldn’t be as progressing as fast. So my goal is once I reach HSK 2 to switch over to the Mandarin Blueprint since I enjoy learning using this method so much. I used to despise writing characters and would rather type, but now it’s a fun and enjoyable process to actually do writing practice.When I first read about the Mandarin Blueprint and the claims of general fluency in 6 months to a year, I honestly thought you guys were just spewing false advertising and grandiose claims. Boy, do I think differently now. I’m learning an average of 6 characters a day which to me I thought may not seem a lot at first until I calculated that could be over 2,000 characters in a year, which blew my mind. Thanks so much guys for the hard work that went into developing your method. You have boosted my confidence and have made learning Mandarin a fun and enjoyable start to a life long journey.谢谢，Beck 8:21 Ric Santos by EmailDear Luke and Phil,Thank you for your encouragement and tips about Shadowing. Since I get easily tired when talking, more so when there is an effort like voicing out in Chinese, I pace myself in chunks of 10 mins. I resist the temptation to rush to the next lesson, and I also resist the temptation to memorize sentences because I would forget them soon enough. The present setup makes use of the SRS and it takes care of this quite effortlessly. I am getting familiarized with the words, phrases in context. And I know I will meet these words again on their due dates.So The first 10 mins or until I get tired, I shadow the Anki sentences or dialogues as the cards come up. When tired, I just listened without looking at the screen and find out whether I understood what was said. I press R again to listen. Then I look up and see what were the words I did not capture correctly. At the same time, I try to understand the recording in the Chinese way, that is, if I understood the message right. Most of the time my own translation is not at all good or current English, but if the message is the same, then I am good. If there are particular words or phrases that are new and strange to me, I replay the recording and focus on the coming word if the sound of it will get accustomed to my ear. Only then I can say I heard the word. Then I can practice writing them and study the meaning ( eg 麻烦，不错，随手） I find all of them very engagingMy slow progress perhaps is also due to my curiosity when I see a new word like 麻烦, 错, 随. I consult Pleco, 2 other books, and a dictionary and delve into the meanings of the words based on the characters. I know it could be a waste of time, but I do enjoy deciphering and checking their origins…and why they were used with that meaning. Of course, there are dead ends too.Recording my own voice is an invaluable fact-checker. I heard myself reading 妈妈爸爸 like it was “Māma-Pāpa” instead of ” …Pàpa”. Warm-up is important otherwise the recording won’t be good. I realize I cannot gloss over words when I am tired vocally, and it will show, like noticing when I do not do the sandhi rules for 你有，我想，不行 and many more. Annie and Jerry’s differences come out very clearly. But I find this good training and preparation that there will be differences, but the context and emotional expressions will help me get the message.I also take time to review my movies and see why I missed out a couple of words…and then I edit some of them especially when the “room” is not immediately coming out of the story. I tried listening to the pod while preparing breakfast, but I got distracted in cooking. So I listen to the pod while washing the dishes instead.If I wake up at an earlier time, I will review the Anki cards. During the day, I read a line or two, write a line or two in chunks of 10 minutes, in-between hours.But study time is the afternoon before dance exercise, then at night after supper. About 3 hours, until I go to bed. So an average of about 4 hours per day. I missed Anki review only once, and that was when I was under the weather.So This is my short feedback. One thing for sure is that I trust in your guidance and tips, so I try not to overdo things. I do not burn the midnight oil. I think the difference with the other Mandarin courses online is that the MB is a tried and tested, multi-dimensional yet holistic method, with lots of technical aids, always with sincere and meaningful support from both Luke and Phil, and most of all, it is working!…on schedule!Thank you, Luke and Phil.Ric我明天会学Level20. 15:59 Ric Santos by CommunityIn order not to confuse the tones for words not yet in my level (19), is it wise to start a mini-movie at least to get the tones right? For example for the tone of 元 as in 公园 and 医院, I just put my Yu actor in the kitchen for 园; and as for 院, my Yu actor is in the backyard. The movie is incomplete, but it helps me in remembering the tones. However, I do not know if it is wise to start doing these incomplete movies at this stage. I have a separate notebook where I put my temporary movies. What is your experience in incomplete movies? 17:09 Ann Bihari on Make a Movie 应400 characters and approximately 700 words (not counting the top-down words we also recognize due to frequency)! It is so very satisfying how much progress is possible. I echo everyone’s expressions of excitement, enthusiasm, and gratitude for the course. Thanks again, you guys! 17:57 William Beeman on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 现在Hi guysIs there a difference between 肚子很痛 and 肚子很疼? Both 痛 and 疼 seem to indicate pain/hurt and they sound vaguely similar. Thanks, as always. 22:59 Ric Santos on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 开门Can 麻烦 máfan be used to start a sentence asking for a favor? 24:57 Gary Cheeseman on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 后天Can 我们后天见 be also used in a metaphorical sense?As in, “We’ll see (find out) the day after tomorrow”Answer: 后天看吧 26:27 Alex Sumray on Vocab Unlocked from 妹Hi there,I just wondered if there is a most common way to say siblings, say when asking if someone has any siblings?Answer: 兄弟姐妹 27:21 Nacho En on It’s a Word! 份So is there any difference between 一份 and 一块 or both have the same meaning?A Gift 一份礼物 yī fèn lǐwù / A Newspaper 一份报纸 yī fèn bàozhǐ / A Contract 一份合同 yī fèn hétong / A Report 一份报告 yī fèn bàogàoA Rock 一块石头 yī kuài shítou/ A Piece of Cake 一块蛋糕 yī kuài dàngāo / A Bar of Soap 一块肥皂 yī kuài féizào / A Piece of Meat 一块肉 yī kuài ròu 30:44 Igor Alenc on It’s a Word! 开I don’t get the usage of 打 in 打开书 32:08 Rick Angleland on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 目的I came across this as 目的地. How are they different in meaning? 33:44 Jiggy-Jay Diderich on Make a Movie 两Would you recommend making a movie for characters you already are very familiar with? 34:48 Ric Santos on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 每天I like how Luke explained 记住 as what we have memorized is currently living in our brain. The second part- 记得- somewhat resonates with my depiction of 得 as something that MUST grab; So I understand 记得 as a memory grabber; and as Luke explains, it brings out what we are trying to remember. Thanks for the explanation. 38:44 Micaela Ellison on It’s a Word! 快For the first sentence, is the second 飞 optional because we know the subject is an airplane? So could we say 飞机快要起了？ 40:17 Paulette Jenner on Special Effects & Memory AthleticsI am almost alarmed at how much fun I am having with this so far. I love the imagination and creativity involved! And you’re right – I’m not going to forget the image of Sean Connery hurling razor blades in my kitchen. I imagine it ricocheting off the super old 70s-green refrigerator my grandmother had, just for fun. 40:58 Sebastien Lessard on It’s a Word! 说I’m curious, at what level will we have enough words to begin the reading part of your course? 46:05 Dom Thomson on Vocab Unlocked from 饺As an indicator of how quickly I’m going through the course, I just sat down to learn 10 characters and it’s taken 40 minutes with minimal distractions.Sometimes this is a bit quicker if there aren’t many new words unlocked. Sometimes it takes longer if the sentences trip me up but this feels like a good average indication for this stage in the course.It definitely feels like it’s getting faster because reading the sentences is much quicker. 10 new characters in a day used to feel much more daunting but now I can manage 20-30 on a weekend day by doing a few of these chunks.Of course, there’s still the Anki which takes up more time so I’m doing about 2/2.5 hours a day in total to get through a level per week.I’m on track to finish the course in mid-November having started Pronunciation Mastery at the start of Feb. I invested less time per day before lockdown and stalled for about a month in March so I reckon 2 hours per day for 9 months is a far indicator of my progress through the whole course.I haven’t done the Conversation Connectors deck yet and I only did the required sentences early on. I’ll go back to CC when I start speaking more but I think leaving out the optional sentences was the right call at the time. I had thought I’d come back to these but now they’d be far too simple. 51:15 Andreas Lienemann on It’s a Word! 寄I actually found the answer to this.The Outlier dictionary in Pleco gives me the following definition “tree” for 信: 1(orig.) honesty, -> 2 to trust, to believe, 3 -> person who delivers letters (i.e., a trustworthy person. Only used in ancient texts), 4 => letter, correspondence, 5 => message, information.So that makes complete sense. Of course, I would only have a person I trust to deliver my letters!I was just not sure if we’d covered this alternative meaning of the character before. I don’t think we did. Maybe it’s a good idea to list it here in this lesson?It’s so awesome how Chinese employs such stringent & precise, yet simple structures for its expression. It’s so efficient as well!In that way, it is definitely the most beautifully constructed language of the ones I have learned; and those are quite a few. 54:12 Rick Angleland on Level 35 Unlocked Conversation Connectors我们先到这吧。 I need to feel how the parts work together so I can remember it, but I can’t get a handle on this one. Can you please break it down a little? 56:16 Movies! This blog post explains the theory behind Movie Scenes and learning characters. Robert Carver on Make a Movie 亭Tyra Banks (ti-) is in the kitchen at the Lake O apt (-eng) with Abraham Lincoln (亠口 ), furiously fighting off a hoard of vampires (from the movie Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter). Abe wields his Harpoon (冖), while Tyra swings a bloody Meat Hook (丁). There are so many vampires that they are backed up onto a PAVILION, where after a fierce battle they stand victorious in the middle of the pavilion, and Abe swoops Tyra into a kiss as the camera zooms out and up into the sky, centered on the pavilion with the dead vampires circled around it. 57:56 Ramona on Make a Movie 难My N-actor is trying to play (on) his new beautiful Chinese flower pot drum (又).His cute green talking parrot (隹) keeps repeating: it’s DIFFICULT, it’s DIFFICULT.You bet is DIFFICULT to work with “somebody” who keeps interrupting! 🙂 59:14 Tyson on Make a Movie 易Since this character is a component in many other characters, I think that it would be good to make a separate prop for it- maybe a Staples “That was easy” button, or a can of Easy cheese, or Eazy-E, or… 1:00:07 Evan hall on Make a Movie 起kate is in my childhood home in the bedroom. shes is moonwalking around a snake eating itself. little did she know, that this was an ancient ritual and the snake began to RISE UP into the air and float.

54 minutes | 3 months ago

Interview with TJ Chernick

Thomas “TJ” Chernick is the Director of the New York Chapter of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC). As Director of nglccNY- he provides opportunities and support for LGBT entrepreneurs, professionals, and allies through activities within a dynamic chamber community that helps redefine NYC’s LGBTQ business community. We had a great time discussing Mandarin learning, his passion for language learning in general, and his unique perspective and experience will make him a powerful Chinese speaker in the future. Learn more about The Mandarin Blueprint Method Check out more Testimonials

116 minutes | 3 months ago

104. Softening Tone of Voice with 呢 ne

34 minutes | 3 months ago

103. Saying “Not this, but that” in Mandarin

欢迎光临! Welcome! You can now subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or you can subscribe by copying the following URL into your favorite podcast APP: https://www.mandarinblueprint.com/feed/podcast The Mandarin Blueprint Podcast focuses primarily on The Mandarin Blueprint Method online curriculum. Creators Luke Neale & Phil Crimmins answer questions and comments, discuss topics related to China and Mandarin learning and have special guests. 0:00 Affiliate Link & Reviews Become a Mandarin Blueprint Affiliate Leave us a Google Business Review 🙂 Leave us a Facebook Review 0:00 GW-Connector-Not-This-Instead-That-连词-不是……而是 This grammar point comes in handy whenever someone makes a mistake in their analysis of a situation. For example, suppose that you show up late for work, and your colleague says, “Heavy traffic today, eh?” you might say, “It wasn’t heavy traffic, but rather that my car broke down.” In Chinese, the structure is like this: 不是 + Incorrect Analysis/Reason, 而是 + Correct Analysis/Reason Let’s look at some examples: Sentence 1: 这辆车不是我的，而是他的。 – Level 35Zhè liàng chē bùshì wǒ de, érshì tā de.This car isn’t mine, but his. I like to imagine that a man is standing next to his friend’s beautiful sports car when a car enthusiast walks by and says, “Whoa, I love this car! How long have you had it?” The car enthusiast’s mistaken analysis is that you’re standing by the car because it is yours. When this happens, the natural reply would be “这辆车不是我的，而是他的。” Sentence 2: 我不是不懂，而是不同意。Wǒ bùshì bùdǒng, érshì bùtóngyìIt’s not that I don’t understand, but that I disagree. Ah, a classic line when debating. Everyone wants to believe that if only people understood their perspective, of course, they would agree. If only! You could easily imagine that when Jack explains his point to Jill, and she still disagrees, Jack would say “You don’t understand,” to which Jill would reply “我不是不懂，而是不同意。 “ Sentence 3: 猎人没有一刀杀了狼，而是把狼的肚子切开，把奶奶从里面救了出来。 – Level 34Lièrén méiyǒu yīdāo shā le láng, érshì bǎ láng de dùzi qiēkāi, bǎ nǎinai cóng lǐmiàn jiù le chūlái.The hunter didn’t kill the wolf with his knife. Instead, he cut open the wolf’s stomach and saved the grandma. In this line from “Little Red Riding Hood,” we can see a past tense version of this structure. When the hunter is trying to save 奶奶, you might think that he would kill the Big Bad Wolf, but he goes right to save her instead. Brutal. Because this line comes from a story that’s written in the past tense, 没有 replaces 不是. Grammar Ain’t That Hard, Y’all. I wonder if we’ve made the point that comprehensible input is the key to acquiring grammar before? Yes? Practically every day, you say? WELL, THAT’S BECAUSE IT’S TRUE. We enjoy pointing out these grammar patterns, and we know that adults can find it thrilling to realize how much they’ve learned. This does not change the fact that you won’t truly acquire “不是…而是…” until you’ve seen it in understandable context several times. Does that mean that these grammar lessons are pointless? Not quite. The adult mind is better than a child’s at focusing on details, especially conceptual details like a grammar point. After you conceptualize a structure like “不是…, 而是…,” the benefit is that you’ve upgraded your ability to notice. If you are better able to notice the structure, you’ll comprehend it more quickly and, therefore, reach acquisition all the more efficiently. Keep. Smashing. It. 4:38 Comments & Emails Sabrina by EmailHi,As you may remember, I canceled my yearly subscription so that I could take advantage of your lifetime program. This may give you an indication of my opinion already. I love your course! I started your program just a few weeks ago. I have progressed slowly through the pronunciation mastery part as I really want to learn the right way to speak. I really like how you’ve organized the units and overall course. Your videos are good bite-sized chunks that give the necessary information. The repetition of having the pronunciation section with Anny at the end of every group helps immensely too. The flashcards are also amazing and really, really helpful. What I really like is how you meticulously go through each sound with clear examples. And, if there are any questions, you respond back pretty immediately. I also like that everyone’s questions are listed. Several times I have had the same question as someone else, so it really is great to have these addressed as you do. For example, I also noticed the difference with the “ing” ending where it sounded more like “ung” than “ing” in both Anny’s review and the flashcards. Not only did you give a written answer, but you also addressed it with more depth in your podcast/video. This is so wonderful! I cannot thank you enough for providing such good information!I am really looking forward to progressing through your entire course. I believe, based on what I am experiencing so far, that I will be able to become fluent in Mandarin thanks to you. Thank you so much,Sabrina 07:29 Oliver by EmailDear Luke & Phil,Although it was necessary for me to take a break learning Chinese, the daily Anki routine is still something never to be missed. And that makes it easy for me to pick up where I left. Shortly.With the help of the MB method, it was possible for me to acquire HSK1 Level with an excellent score in a very short time – just using MB, a vocabulary list, and some mock tests for preparation. All the other stuff that I bought turned out to be unnecessary. Before using the MB method, I tried a couple of other methods (both online and offline), but the holistic approach of your method was the only one that really did work right from the start.That being said, I wanted to take the opportunity to just say „thank you“. Once circumstances allow, next year and 500 words later, I feel confident traveling to China without being lost 🙂And – as we all know – this is just the beginning of a very interesting journey…Thanks again and best regards from Germany,Oliver 11:29 Chris Lewis on The Mandarin Blueprint Method Overview我爱它。I loved and resonated with everything that was said in the rapid acquisition course. I’ve done some traditional learning and some memory techniques and was looking for something exactly like this. Well done guys. AMAZING. I look forward to fluency in less time than I thought possible. 12:45 Corinna Wetzel on BONUS: The Basic Chinese SentenceYou guys make grammar fun. I literally lol’ed when you told us that little anecdote about your tutor sessions at the end, cause that would totally be me, as well. 14:04 Ric Santos on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 人们When do you use 健康 and 身体 ? Do they mean the same thing when used as a noun? Can 身体 be used as an adjective meaning healthy? 15:47 Rick Angleland on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 后来How does 后来 differ from 以后？ Does 后来 imply that something came before? 17:15 Carys Scott on Mandarin Initials: CategorizedThe tongue positions are they the same as in the Welsh alphabet? 18:09 William Beeman on BONUS: Connector – Conditional “If-Then” Statements with 如果…, 就 & 要是…的话Hi I thought 如果 and 的话 both meant “if” in 如果你现在不能打电话的话 they both appear. Is there a special reason for this? 18:56 William Beeman on Start “Shadowing” in Phase 4Thanks for this useful advice. I wanted to second what you are saying. A lot of people think that language learning is primarily cognitive. Some go as far as understanding that you have to exercise and involve vocal apparatus. But language is, in fact, extremely kinesthetic.When we use language we are always using it in context, and we are using our whole bodies, not just our brain, lips, and tongue. We are moving, gesturing, directing our gaze, feeling the environment, and engaging all our senses (think Proust and his madeleines).I should tell you that I am a trained opera singer. My great coaches insisted that when learning our roles, we should be moving as we sing. Body movement tends to concretize the learning. So when you get on stage, you don’t forget your long opera roles because your memory is tied to body movement--gesture, and of course interaction with other performers and the physical stage set. This is just a long way of saying I think you are suggesting an extremely effective technique that has resonance in many other memorization and routinization learning tasks. 22:10 Chris Jensen on “Tougher” Initials ExplanationGreat lesson! The voiced/unvoiced and heavily/less aspirated explanations were simple but made a very noticeable difference for me. 23:14 Chris Lewis on It’s a Word! 只So 只 can be used in different sentences with differenttones/sounds? How many characters share this trait? 25:18 Jason Pon on Level 16 CompleteI love the idea that all of the previous sentences that we’ve been acquiring throughout the lessons are building blocks to larger dialogues! A bit of a gaming concept of gathering the materials for investment later on. Nifty indeed. 28:05 Jonathan Glazier on Level 13 CompleteWell phew, level 13 was great but it’s taken me a while to complete! I think it was all the sentences! I managed to keep reviewing all my other cards every day but all the sentences got backed up. But today I cleared them and now I am back on track. It was partly that I got very busy and it frustrated me that all I was doing was reviewing and didn’t do any new lessons. I think its good to go through these ups and downs because if you can work through it and keep up the Anki reviews it really gives you the confidence you will carry on no matter what. SO my advice is to do what you can, stick with Anki and don’t worry about progressing all the time. A week of consolidation is no bad thing. 30:05 Movies! This blog post explains the theory behind Movie Scenes and learning characters. Deborah Driscoll on Make a Movie 语Johnny 5 is sitting on the heart shaped couch with a giant microphone in his hand. In trots the Unicorn (yu) so Johnny 5 decides to interview her. “What language do you speak?” “I speak Unicorn of course”, she replies. “Unicorn??” he asks, “What kind of a language is that? That’s not even a real language!” Indignant the unicorn walks off, muttering curses in her unicorn language.

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