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 Community

Hello 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!!) and
also 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 and
decided to learn Mandarin using your amazing course!

Now I’ll also give myself some time to review all the content and
then I’ll move to Level 37.

Strong hug,
Ramona

6:10

Cale Moseley on (BONUS) How to Develop Great Study Habits Part 1: Cue

Hey Phil and Luke! Enjoying the pronunciation mastery so far. I
was studying for two months before coming across the podcast and
then eventually signing up for MB. I didn’t realize how bad my
pronunciation was until I started the course and I feel my
pronunciation is better in several days than two months trying to
pronounce the pinyin without a clue what I was doing. I enjoy not
spending hours sifting through youtube to find all the
information I need and that it is provided to me in a way that’s
organized and streamlined. If only there was a student discount
😉 ? Thanks guys
– a broke college student

9:26

William Greene on Pronunciation Mastery

Thank 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 Cards

Wow, 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 was
listed as 1st tone, but in this lesson, you have it as 4th tone.
Is this one of those “words” that has different tone
realizations in different constructions? I don’t think this is a
case 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

Hi

In 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 4

I 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 challenging
critique 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 yǒu

Hey 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.