Mandarin Blueprint Podcast Episode 8

8. Danny Devito Defeats Randy “Macho Man” Savage for the Moon

Podcast Duration: 01:42:32

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.

8. Danny DeVito Defeats Randy "Macho Man" Savage for the Moon

02:53 – Phase 5 Updates

18:18

DAWN WHITTLE FROM FACEBOOK

Hey Luke, Hey Phil! Just wanted to thank you guys for giving me a method thats truly advanced my learning techniques with mandarin. It’s pretty much the same old story of, grew up in hong kong, school didn’t foster my mandarin learning too well… and I just couldn’t get it down! I’ve been learning all my life, my mum’s chinese and i’ve wanted to be fluent for so long, but i never really focused on it until now. I’m so happy i’ve found you guys, not only has it opened up my learning capabilities and shown me how to learn quickly and relighted my passion for learning the language, but it’s also given me a greater understanding of WHY chinese people think and act the way they do. Sometimes i could never understand my own mum’s actions. But now.. i can to a greater level. And it’s brought us much closer. Sorry for the rant, but i’m just so grateful to have found your course. Honestly, life changing! Thanks again 🙂

21:50

CHAD RESSLER ON CHARACTER #53: 乱 LUÀN CASTING CALL

Lu Jianxing [Wang Qianyuan’s character in Brotherhood of Blades]

JIM AWOFADEJU ON CHARACTER #68: 过 GUÒ CASTING CALL

Inspector Gadget

CHAD RESSLER ON CHARACTER #55: 月 YUÈ CASTING CALL

For this category, I tried to think of something distinct and personal to me. Growing up, I used to watch WWF wrestling all the time. It was during the “Golden Era” of the WWF, so there were a lot of memorable wrestlers. Here were my picks:

Yu = Randy “Macho Man” Savage [remember his “ooooo yeeeahhh”]
Ju = Jake “The Snake” Roberts
Qu = Curt Hennig “Mr. Perfect”
Lu = “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith [born in Lancashire, England]
Nu = Hulk Hogan
Xu = Ric Flair [remember his “woooooo”]

27:08 – Fluent in Mandarin Video Reaction

39:37

JIM AWOFADEJU ON CHARACTER #62: 勺 SHÁO PICK A PROP

I chose a Chinese spoon as my prop because a Chinese spoon looks more concave and indented than a typical Western spoon.

JIM AWOFADEJU ON CHARACTER #64: 了 LE PICK A PROP

了 and 子 look similar. 子 means “child” and the horizontal stroke represents the arms of that child. My choice of prop for 了is a deformed child who is missing arms.

JIM AWOFADEJU ON CHARACTER #65: 子 ZǏ PICK A PROP

Would a child prodigy make a good prop for 子? I’m thinking of choosing Mozart as my prop for child because he was a child prodigy in the music world.

JIM AWOFADEJU ON CHARACTER #74: 上 SHÀNG PICK A PROP

Lightning rod on the roof above the house

JULIAN LAFFEY ON CHARACTER #55: 月 YUÈ PICK A PROP

You were right Phil, ‘mooning’ was a terrible prop.

I ended up going with ‘mirror ball’, which is sufficiently moon-like. It works quite well for making scenes that are concerts, parties, discos etc

JULIAN LAFFEY ON CHARACTER #168: 决 JUÉ MAKE A MOVIE

I found it difficult to integrate ? and 大 into this scene (and the next two scenes), so I combined them into one prop (the Eiffel Tower in my case).

JIM AWOFADEJU ON CHARACTER #89: 弋 YÌ PICK A PROP

Cupid’s arrow

Getting struck by cupid’s arrow doesn’t kill you. It makes you fall in love instead.

JIM AWOFADEJU ON CHARACTER #92: 手 SHǑU PICK A PROP

Prop suggestion: Edward Scissorhands

MATT BOWLBY ON CHARACTER #65: 子 ZǏ PICK A PROP

Doogie Howser, M.D.

51:55

CHAD RESSLER ON CHARACTER #49: 千 QIĀN MAKE A MOVIE

Location: Outside my grandma’s house
Actor: Shu Qi
Props: Samurai Sword and Cross

My girlfriend and I are sitting outside of my grandma’s house during a garage sale. Shu Qi comes to the garage sale and brings a giant glass cross to the table that we are selling and starts asking me questions about it. But, she is being a little too friendly with me. All of a sudden my girlfriend grabs a samurai sword and gives this huge glass cross a whack across the top and it falls over and shatters into a THOUSAND pieces in the actual shape of the cross. Shu Qi leaves and I get in trouble.

56:28

CHAD RESSLER ON CHARACTER #51: 话 HUÀ MAKE A MOVIE

Location: Backyard of my first apartment
Actor: Hahou Mo (Donnie Yen’s character in Kung Fu Killer)
Props: Megaphone and Gene Simmons Tongue

Gene Simmons is performing classic Kiss songs in the backyard of my first apartment, but he is singing them in Mandarin. Along comes Hahou Mo who starts speaking to Gene in Cantonese through a megaphone. Gene Simmons, not recognizing the language, sticks his tongue out at him and keeps singing in Mandarin. So, I hold up a sign to Gene that reads “That’s Cantonese TALK”, and he just sticks his tongue out at me and sings “Rock and Roll All Night”.

01:01:28

FENG ZHE ON UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION TO MANDARIN PRONUNCIATION

This is looking to be a great course! I’ve studied for about 6 months on and off, my pronunciation of syllables and pairs is pretty accurate people tell me. Where I’m struggling is intonation within sentences, flowing sentences, so hopefully, that will be covered eventually. I’m watching all as a review. Thanks!

01:03:25

CHAD RESSLER ON CHARACTER #52: 活 HUÓ MAKE A MOVIE

Location: Brother in Law Joey’s House
Actor: Hahou Mo
Props: Hose and Gene Simmons’ Tongue

I’m hanging out with my family at the in-laws house after the Kiss concert. All of a sudden Gene Simmons staggers into the house and collapses in the kitchen, dead, laying on the floor with his tongue hanging out. Everyone starts yelling that Gene Simmons is dead and tries to revive him using CPR. Nothing is working when all of a sudden Hahou Mo burst into the house with a hose in his hands. He sprays Gene Simmons’ tongue with water, and Gene suddenly wakes up and starts singing “I’m Alive” [from the 1985 album Asylum].

01:05:27

CHAD RESSLER ON CHARACTER #53: 乱 LUÀN MAKE A MOVIE

Location: Backyard of Grandma’s House
Actor: Lu Jianxing
Props: Gene Simmons’ Tongue and Large Hook

I am in the backyard of my grandma’s house with family as we celebrate the 4th of July with a Kiss concert. They are right in the middle of “Crazy, Crazy Nights”, but the firework show is set to begin and Kiss will not get off stage. From the right hand side, I see Lu Jianxing approach the stage with a giant hook. He gestures to Gene Simmons to exit, but Gene just sticks his tongue out at him. With that, Lu Jianxing uses his giant hook to yank Gene off stage. Right at that moment, fireworks begin going off and chaos ensues on stage as a brawl breaks out.

01:08:11

YARDEN IZAK ON CHARACTER #120: 怕 PÀ IT’S A WORD

What is the meaning of 晒? Is it to get burned?

01:11:40

CRAIG CAVANAGH – FROM EMAIL

Hi,Thanks for that. You guys are the best!I can definitely see the benefit of LingQ. It’s been great for some top-down learning and for getting clips to listen to on the go but it’ll probably be more useful when I’m back in the flow of things.I started the pronunciation course and loved the ‘bonus’ videos with you guys chatting about your experiences with learning early on. I had the exact situation Luke mentioned with the wide eyes and subsequent deluge of Chinese when I said ‘很高兴认识你‘ to someone I met recently. It’s actually what made me decide to focus on learning again and that I wasn’t a complete lost cause.Major credit goes to you both and your help back in Chengdu. I can see that the course has only improved since then so I’m looking forward to see what else you have in store.

1:14:46

JIM AWOFADEJU ON BONUS: THIS SECRET WILL PUT YOU LIGHT YEARS AHEAD IN CHINESE

I think part of the reason why children and young people pick up languages easily is that they learn languages for the sake of learning them. Children don’t really have specific goals when learning a language. They learn for fun through stories, games, and immersion. Maybe their parents enroll them in a dual language program or after-school activities for Chinese, Spanish, etc. Sometimes not setting goals for learning frees you up to learn the language and enjoy it for what it is. It’s generally not good when adults are called out for acting like babies or children, but I think babies and children are good at learning for learning’s sake.

“What we learn with pleasure, we never forget.”-Alfred Mercier

Adults have to-do lists, schedules, and projects to take of, so they are always in the mindset of goals or ask the question, “What’s in it for me?”

If a person finds learning Chinese (or any other language) interesting or fun, then they should continue learning whether or not they have explicitly stated goals. Another example would be reading. People can read without any specific goal in mind. They can read a book for leisure or for pleasure. Some people read in order to write a research paper or study for an exam. Keep learning, feeding the language module, reviewing with Anki every day to develop a lasting memory of the language and have a skill for life.

01:21:51

DEV CHEN ON “TOUGHER“ INITIALS EXPLANATION

My Chinese pronunciation sucks, in other words, it’s absolutely atrocious. I have made it to this point so far and these lessons are a treasure and a delight. They represent true hope for me, a possible path for rescue from pronunciation hell. I think the thought and effort that was put into this incredibly well organized and comprehensive course is nothing short of phenomenal. Thank you, gentlemen, for what you have created !!!!!!

01:23:10

FENG ZHE ON UNIT 1 WRAP-UP

Wow, the mouth reverberation tip is excellent!I’m finding it a little challenging to get myself to “speak from the mouth” or get the reverberations to be mostly in the mouth as opposed to the throat, nasal. Especially since I speak English more throaty, but as I try to do it, I can see the difference.I’m wondering if you have any kind of technical explanation of exactly how we make sounds as opposed to the throat?Phil, I know you’ve said your accent is not “as good” as Luke’s, but your pronunciation sounds awesome I think.

01:26:17

FENG ZHE ON UNIT 1 WRAP-UP

Wow, the mouth reverberation tip is excellent!I’m finding it a little challenging to get myself to “speak from the mouth” or get the reverberations to be mostly in the mouth as opposed to the throat, nasal. Especially since I speak English more throaty, but as I try to do it, I can see the difference.I’m wondering if you have any kind of technical explanation of exactly how we make sounds as opposed to the throat?Phil, I know you’ve said your accent is not “as good” as Luke’s, but your pronunciation sounds awesome I think.

01:29:45

MATT BOWLBY ON CHARACTER #61: 句 JÙ MAKE A MOVIE

Actor: Joseph Stalin (ju-)
Props: Burrito, Rolling Stones mouth
Set: backyard of my childhood home

Joseph Stalin is in the backyard of my childhood home. He is pacing between the patio and the crabapple tree, eating a breakfast burrito. There is a severely malnourished prisoner lined up against the crabapple tree, waiting for his sentence – death or the gulag. Stalin has forced him to repeat the sentence, “I am a traitor” all night long and the prisoner has nearly collapsed from exhaustion. Stalin walks up to him and stares him down. Just then the prisoner’s mouth turns into the Rolling Stones mouth with the tongue sticking out, repeating the sentence faster and faster, now pleading for mercy as he senses the end is near. Stalin takes his burrito and shoves it into the prisoner’s mouth. The burrito explodes like a grenade, blowing the prisoner’s head off and delivering Stalin’s death sentence.

01:33:05

CHAD RESSLER ON CHARACTER #55: 月 YUÈ MAKE A MOVIE

Location: Backyard of Ed’s House (Father-In-Law)
Actor: Randy “Macho Man” Savage
Props: Samurai Sword, Pliers, Twins (Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito from the movie “Twins”)

It’s late evening and I’m in the backyard of my father-in-law Ed’s house as there is a steel cage match between Randy Savage and Arnold for the WWF title. A pair of pliers hangs in the middle of the cage and the first wrestler to grab them and open the cage before the MOON is at its apex wins the world title. Both are extremely tired, when suddenly, someone throws the Macho Man a wooden Samurai Sword. He’s holding the sword as he stands right under the pliers ready to knock Arnold out, when, suddenly, Danny Devito jumps inside the cage. Arnold and Danny hit the Macho Man with a double dropkick while Arnold grabs the pliers out of the air. They look up and see that the MOON is almost at its apex as they rush to cut the lock off the cage. Just as the moon reaches the apex, Arnold exits the cage and special guest Neil Armstrong gives Arnold the belt.

01:35:00

MINDY CHIA ON (BONUS) PRINCIPLE VS. REALITY IN MANDARIN

I am an overseas Chinese born in Malaysia. I have taken several Mandarin courses with SOAS London, and other Chinese tutors in my youth. It is really refreshing learning from Phil and Luke like this is the first time Finals and Initials have been clearly explained. In all my other classes that was just a chart in the first book and skipped over. Interesting too to learn about tone pairs. Bought a couple of online courses but yours prove most engaging. Looking forward to master speaking Mandarin in 2019.

01:36:45

CATE CANNON – FROM EMAIL

I want to tell you both that I understand your method from my own clumsy attempt to do exactly what you did: reorder and reshape the Heisig mnemonic method, which you have done BRILLIANTLY!

Your website is astonishingly functional and beautiful; your videos are well presented and personable, superbly lit, and the sound quality is excellent. The Anki deck is a delight, and I am finally having the experience I knew was possible, plus everything that was not possible ten years ago when I started teaching myself Mandarin. What you have created overall is so rich in content and so effective that I anticipate ever-growing success for you and your product.Thank you for everything it took over the years — linguistically, theoretically, technologically and entrepreneurially — to create the ideal system for learning Mandarin Chinese.With admiration,Cate Cannon

5 March, 2019
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