60. How To Build & Maintain A Study Habit

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.

0:00 Miscellaneous

JULIAN LAFFEY FROM EMAIL

Hi guys,
I’ve reached a point where I’m struggling a bit, and wanted some advice. I’m happy for this to be discussed on the podcast if you want.I work full time and have other family commitments, so I only have limited time available to study Chinese. I try to study every day, but find it difficult to prioritise how to spend my study time.
I’m far enough along in the course that I have around six hundred characters under my belt. However, this means that my Anki review pool grows and grows.
Time spent in Anki is time not spent “feeding the machine” with comprehensible input. But if I ignore Anki, I don’t make progress on new characters.I assume this is a common problem. Any tips?Cheers,
Julian

10:13

YOUNESS MESKAR ON “(BONUS) THE LANGUAGE LEARNING TRIPOD PART 3: TIME“

Hi guys,
Thanks for all the efforts you have put in. I live in London and
normally I travel by tube and have no access to the
internet. It can be 1 hour of practice if we could access the
blueprint courses by downloading it an application.

Are you thinking about making an app for apple or
android?

14:06

RETT YOUNG BY EMAIL

The Mandarin Companion Podcast recently talked about something I have been struggling with. When words are made of multiple characters the meaning is not always apparent.  I have watched your videos on how how to remember words, but without the background on why the combination of characters has a certain meaning, it is very difficult for me to remember.  Could you provide some of the meaning behind words like you did with mǎ shàng  (horse on)?  Or is there a website or book that has this information?

Thank you,

Brent L.

How to Memorize Chinese Words – 4 EXCELLENT Techniques

27:42

DANIEL LÉO ON “THIS IS WHAT YOUR STUDY SESSION SHOULD LOOK LIKE (REQUIRED)“

Very helpful – thank you for putting that together – also,
motivational – it got my Anki deck opened again! Thank you guys!

28:37 – Course Updates

32:11 Movies! 

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

32:52

KATHLEEN GANS ON “MAKE A MOVIE 以“

In my scene a person’s umbrella is destroyed “By Means Of”
a hailstorm. A huge tennis ball size hail (frozen one-drop water)
falls on the umbrella breaking the top part from the hook shaped
handle. It falls to the right and hits the ground inverted.

35:13

ABIGAIL ON “MAKE A MOVIE 始“

Props: big lipstick and paddington bear

My sh- actor (Shubash) enters the living room of my childhood
home to find it a complete mess. Paddington has smeared lipstick
all over the walls, new carpet, sofa and TV. With a look of
extreme desperation on his face, Shubash doesn’t know where TO
BEGIN in starting to clean it all up.

36:12

JONATHAN PRITCHARD ON “ MAKE A MOVIE 况“

My scene is… very uncomfortable, and I’ll never forget it.
What a hilariously distasteful image. X^D

37:00

GUILLAUME LERMIT ON “ MAKE A MOVIE 干“

A wobbly scene :

Prop : a biplane (2 parallel wings) canadair with a big pipe
hanging below the canadair in order to drop the water to a
specific point.

Set : outside of my insurance agency. The name of the insurance
company i contracted with is… Gan insurance (quite famous in
France) !

Actor : My insurance agent with a big and easily recognisable
logo on his jacket. Gan is written on the logo. I’ve met him
several times and can easily view his face in my mind.

The scene preparation : I suscribed an insurance contract to
prevent my flowers from beeing thirsty during summer time.
Unfortunately, i did not read entirely the small letters of the
contract…

This summer, a terrible drought happened with water cut decided
by the governement. I phone to my agent claiming that i needed
some water. He said ok but i had to collect the water at the
office… I said why ? He said that I would understand when I
will be here. I said allright and jumped into my car with my
five-gallon bucket on the backseat.

The scene by itself : When i get to the insurance office, the
insurance agent is waiting for me outside the office.
Agent : I’ve been through the insurance policy and there maybe a
tricky point for you.
Me : Which one ?
Agent : The policy says we have to provide some water by all
means
Me : That’s great !
Agent : Wait, wait, the policy does not specify under what form
the delivery has to be done.
Me : And ?
Agent : In our case, because of the drought, the only way to
provide water was to order a canadair.
Me : That’s fine, where is the problem ?
Agent : Well, in order not to run out of fuel when it goes back
to the sea the canadair has to do a full delivery.
Me : And…?
Agent : Are you ready to receive 6000 liters in your car from the
pipe of the canadair ?
Me : Oh my god !
Agent : Listen, the canadair is coming now. If you don’t mind, i
will go back inside my office and close the door… Bye Bye !

Questions :
There is a perfect match between the pinyin and the name of my
insurance company. But the whole lot is a bit wobbly.
The link between the actor and the first letter of the pinying is
only based upon the logo on his jacket and i think it’s not
relevant.
I’d rather not use an actor at all but directly the logo
displayed on the window of the office if i could.
Is it possible to do so ?
Thanks

43:20

ELARY HALL ON “MAKE A MOVIE 开“

I used a Hershey bar instead of Bill Gates because it looks like
an H to me. So Keifer Sutherland is outside of my -ai set looking
distressed about this gigantic Hershey bar, he knows there is a
bomb inside. Looking around he finds a rusty razor blade and
yells, “There’s no time!” and then uses it TO OPEN the candy bar.

44:44 Actors! 

This blog post explains the theory behind actors and Pinyin Initials.

JOHN HAY ON “CASTING CALL LÜ“

Not a world leader and certainly not a god but just as
influential: Lucifer, the fallen angel.

45:11 Props!

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

GUILLAUME LERMIT ON “DON’T PICK A PROP FOR 三 – LOOK HOW EASY THAT WAS!“

adidas 3 bandes shoes

ELARY HALL ON “PICK A PROP 幺“

I am going to go with arm wrestling since my other prop for the
bottom component is a flexing arm.

DEBRA JANSEN ON “PICK A PROP 因“

mahjong tile (beCAUSE I’ve played it for years)