160. Your Life Raft for Mandarin Chinese

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.

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0:33 Comments & Emails

Ceri Woods on Level 19 Complete

oh my GOODNESS look I made it! Yes it took me longer than I wanted, but I totally made it to the end of this level lol, wanna say again – your course is fab, and you both explain things sooooo eloquently (unlike me in my sleep deprived state right now lol)

1:48

Clyde Rossouw on Welcome to Pronunciation Mastery! How to Approach the Course.

I’ve been prone to drowning in learning Mandarin so Blueprint is my life raft. Diving in!

4:42

Kolia on 办 in Context

那… 怎么办 ?? About 50 times per day at the office.

5:29

Brian Taulbee on Nasal Final UEN (WEN): 问 wèn，问题 wèntí，滚 gǔn

So is it fair to say that gu(3)n is something like “F**k off”?

6:07

Eve Boykova on Problem Initial SH: 是 shì as a Conjunction

I knew intonation played a role in general in mandarin speaking, but it so great to become aware of how it impacts real life speech in specific ways at this stage – makes for many more lightbulb moments during listening, big thanks for introducing it like this!

8:42

Xevithirus Adrastos on It’s a Word! 米

Interesting to note that a rice plant grows to about 3 feet, or 1 meter, so it’s an accurate analogy word to indicate the measurement of a meter :O

9:39

Jim Mcglennon on Special Effects & Memory Athletics

I’ve just begun my journey into the Hanzi Movie Method, and I’m back into long forgotten territory!. about 30 years ago I was going through a tough time and sought ‘self help’ techniques. I bought a book on “self Hypnosis”, and guess what?, it utilised the Memory Palace techniques!. The reason I’ve posted this is because all of us, worldwide have gone through a very tough period recently (the virus), you can, as I did, many moons ago, take yourself, in your minds eye to a far gentler, more relaxing place, and dramatically relieve your daily stresses and worries.

Blessings to you all !. ??

Jim

11:11

Ceri Woods on 慢慢 in Context

你慢慢说，别着急。

Possibly the phrase said most often to me as a child… nice to know how it would’ve sounded in Chinese lol! (I love getting sentences that appeal to real world me, I feel like I’m eventually making progress even if it’s a small thing!)

14:10

Cindy QTrinh Nguyen on Nasal Final ING (YING): 电影 diànyǐng，明天 míngtiān

Yes thanks for the video explanation! I love the ‘eeung’ “twang” when I hear it in Chinese dramas and have gotten used to shadowing that sound. Phil also made a great point that it reduces the chances of a learner mixing the ‘-ing’ sound with ‘-in’ (or sounding very similar to).

16:24

Kolia on BONUS: Connector – Saying ‘But’ with 但是 – 可是 – 不过

Is 可 also used as a shorcut for 可是 ? I feel like I already saw that (in instant messages maybe?)

18:15 Vocab Living Links

This section covers “Living Link” mnemonic techniques to remember Chinese words of two or more characters. Here’s a video explaining the theory behind it.

Jon McLeod on Vocab Unlocked from 因: 因为

I used an image of a chicken crossing a road BECAUSE it….[supply punchline].

19:56

Annette Bicknell on Vocab Unlocked from 运: 运气

The Chinese adopted, Japanese lucky cat you see in Asian store windows

22:06

Xevithirus Adrastos on New Vocabulary Unlocked! 身体

An old Chinese acupuncture diagram/poster of the whole body and all the points to stick the needles. Relates to both the body and health.

22:54

Chad Ressler on Vocab Unlocked from 难: 难受 – 难过 – 难吃 – 难看 – 难听

For 难听, I used a picture of fingernails on a chalkboard.

25:02

Tina Clark on Vocab Unlocked from 对: 对…来说 – 对不起 – 对面

I just found this cute song for 对不起：
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XTBwvi0h2E

27:47

Annette Bicknell on Vocab Unlocked from 会: 机会 – 一会儿

一会儿 : used a cartoon image of a child with a scrape on the knee and a star of pain emanating from it > the pain will go away in a little while

29:04

Xevithirus Adrastos on Vocab Unlocked from 来: 来自 – 上来 – 下来 – 过来

过来 has to be Scorpion from Mortal Combat saying “Get over here!” as he pulls people to him with his kunai.

Christine Miller on Vocab Unlocked from 来: 来自 – 上来 – 下来 – 过来

“Where did you come from, where did you go?”

“Where did you come from, Cotton-Eye Joe?”