53. Zoolander And His Siamese Twins

欢迎光临! Welcome!

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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.

14:10 Props!

This blog post explains the theory behind props and Chinese character components.

RIVER NIXON ON “PICK A PROP 占“

I chose the MTV flag the way it appeared on the moon back in all the 80’s and 90’s promos. I dont know about you but MTV occupied a lot of my thoughts and time during those years.

RIVER NIXON ON “PICK A PROP 代“

I choseTreat Williams in the movie “Hair”. If you have seen the movie you will understand why.

RIVER NIXON ON “PICK A PROP 我 “

I chose Hodor (GoT). I think it is safe to say he was the
opposite of selfish, but he works because throughout most of the
show you think he is saying his name over and over.

EUAN GRANT ON “PICK A PROP 耳“

BFG – Roald Dahl character

RYAN SMITH ON “PICK A PROP 少“

Dick Van Dyke’s character Bert from Mary Poppins (chimney sweeper instead of street sweeper)

18:20 Sets! 

This blog post explains the theory behind sets and pinyin finals.

JONATHAN PRITCHARD ON “SET THE SCENE 2/13“

My “an” is the ANchor on a Disney cruise I went on. Outside I’m standing on the dock by the large anchor. Second is in the industrial kitchen with lots of shouting and bustling. Third is in the tiny cabin, and fourth is the closet like bathroom; very cramped.

22:32 Movies! 

This blog post explains the theory behind Movie Scenes and learning characters.

ELARY HALL ON “MAKE A MOVIE 坐“

Zoolander is setting up a photo shoot in the backyard of my O set, he gets a sword in the stone prop and sets it up, then has the Siamese twins come and sit themselves on either side of the blade. After they are situated, instead of saying “Viola!” he says “Zuo!”

22:15

IJA AMRAHI ON “MAKE A MOVIE 谢 “

Hi Alina, just finished listening to Podcast #49.

Thanks for this suggestion. 射 definitely fits between #87 and #88 and it’s probably in the original character order due to its low frequency. Will move this to the appropriate section if the “Make a Movie 射” ever get added to the course.

For anyone else aiming for HSK 5 and beyond:

射
Keyword : To shoot
Pinyin : shè
Actor : Sean Connery (sh-)
Set : Backyard of my clinical school (Education)
Props : 身 – Mr Muscle (plastinated cadaver from our anatomy lab) & 寸 – measuring tape

Quick Movie : Sean Connery is in the backyard of my clinical school, measuring the distance between Mr Muscle and the place he’s standing, as he prepares for target practice. He’s preparing for a duel with a certain somebody (backstory @ #378 受), and he’s not throwing away his shot ?

P/s：Try not to Google Image 射 in public ^_^;

28:12

CHAD RESSLER ON “MAKE A MOVIE 反“

Location: Grandma’s House (Living Room)
Actor: Phil Crimmins
Props: Sickle and Friend Aaron (Right Hand Man)

I’m hanging out at my Grandma’s House with my friend Aaron when Phil Crimmins stops by. He says he’s back in the states from China for a little while but is short on cash. He hands my friend Aaron a sickle and says he got it in Russia and that it forged in Russia in 1917 and used a model for the Hammer and Sickle in the flag of the Soviet Union. Aaron is standing there holding the sickle when Phil says he will sell it to us for $3,000 and that ON THE FLIP SIDE of the sickle Lenin himself signed it. When Aaron turns and looks on the opposite side we look and see “Made in China” .

30:50 Miscellaneous 

KENNETH MORGAN ON “ANNY 老师 REVIEW: COMPOUND FINAL OU & NASAL FINAL ONG“

I’ve seen several books showing the -ong final pronounced as -oong. For example in Easy Peasy Chinese book they say rough English equivalent is “too + ng”. The two authors seem highly qualified. Is this a regional pronunciation? Even so it seems wrong in a general book teaching mandarin.

34:42

JONATHAN PRITCHARD ON “SELF-EVALUATION: WHAT’S YOUR CHINESE LEVEL?“

I’ve been using Duolingo for 260+ days. I’m also familiar with mnemonic techniques as I’m a mentalist and memorizing lots of information in a short time is part of my job. When I realized what this method was, and how it communicates all layers of the language simultaneously, I was on board. Happy to be here!

36:38

JIM AWOFADEJU FROM EMAIL

Hello Mandarin Blueprint,
Here’s something that I don’t quite understand:When people say that they’re not good at Language X, it usually means that they are not good at speaking Language X. However, speaking is only 1 of the 4 language skills. There is listening, speaking, reading, and writing. There’s also non-verbal language expression
through facial expressions, body language, and gestures which may be particular to some cultures. When people say that they’re not good at Language X, they usually mean they are not good at speaking Language X. Is it because speaking is the most direct form
of communication and is often seen as “the most important language skill/ability”?

40:54

DAVID J RATHBONE FROM EMAIL

Again thank you for the fast reply. Currently I am using FluentU as a yearly subscriber and I’m on my second year with them. I’m also simultaneously using YoYo Chinese and Mandarin Corner. So I’m doing three courses at the same time because I want to hit the learning process from all angles. There is a reason for this need to use several courses at the same time. For example this one day I saw the same word in all three courses but in different sentences and different videos and I finally was able to understand how that word could be used in different applications. This is where Mandarin Blueprint comes into play. It will offer me a new approach and the novelty of that approach is important. Besides this, none of the other courses are really teaching the characters. So yes, I’m certainly going to buy your course in the very near future. I like the yearly subscription.I have been a student for about three and a half years now, and I got my first start with Fluenz Mandarin (not to be confused with FluentU). However Fluenz Mandarin left us students at the doorstep of Lower Intermediate Mandarin, but WOW, what a great course that was. The thing is that the director of that course told me that because it was not selling well they couldn’t afford to made more advanced levels. If you go to their website you will see that all their other courses, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German etc have 5 levels, whereas Mandarin has only 3This forced me to look for other sources of study and I’m happy that I have discovered Mandarin Blueprint
David

41:53

ROSAN BISHWAKARMA FROM EMAIL

Dear Luke and Phil,
I cannot thank you enough for come up with this innovative system! I told love to help you out! Also, just to be clear: you are going to release a new level each week, so you are not going to unlock all characters at one? Just asking because I am addicted to the course and think that one level a week might not be enough.In any case, keep up the great work. You have certainly changed my approach to learning Chinese and infused me with new motivation for life! Seeing small progress every day in one area of your life really also affects other areas of life and I think I have become a more disciplined person because of you guys!
All the best from Taipei,
Rosan