早上好.醒了吗? Zǎo shàng hǎo. Xǐng le ma? - Good morning. Are you awake?

在干嘛呀? Zài gàn má ya? - What are you doing?

想我了吗? Xiǎng wǒ le ma? - Did you miss me?

吃了吗? Chī le ma? - Have you eaten?

要抱抱 Yào bào bào - I want a hug.

摸摸头 Mō mō tóu - Pat your head.

晚安么么哒 Wǎn ān me me dā - Good night, kisses.

Bro’s Guide to Love And Culture in China

Unit Outline

Lesson 1

Dating - In this lesson, you will learn more about dating in China, as well as learn some useful phrases for starting a conversation.

Lesson 2

Flirting - Don’t worry. We got that covered, too.

Lesson 3

First Date - In this lesson, you will learn some tips that will help you get through the night, together with some useful expressions.

Read more

#10 - Watch Chinese Dramas

Are you a drama fan? I’m not. But I do love watching dramas in the Chinese language. Why? Well, what better way is there to observe Chinese being used in a variety of different natural settings, with different kinds of people, and also learn about Chinese culture at the same time! And even if you think you hate dramas, I guarantee you that you’ll be hooked after an episode or two. When to do this: watch an episode every night before hitting the sack! It’ll help you fall asleep, too (hopefully).

#9 - Post sticky notes around your home.

Learning a language takes memorization. Memorization takes repetition. Repetition means seeing something again and again and again. What are some things you see every day? Your fridge, your computer, your bathroom mirror, your toothbrush (I hope), your toilet, your bed, the list goes on and on. Get some sticky notes and stick them on every object you can get your hands on, even your cat, and write the Chinese word for it in pin-yin and han-zi if you can. From then on, you’ll be seeing it every day, and you’ll have no choice but to memorize it. Before you know it, you’ll be saying mao (which means cat) every time you see your cat. When to do this: take a couple of hours one evening to post the notes on anything and everything you can.

#8 - Do Daily Flashcard Drills

For those vocabulary words that you aren’t able to stick a note to (sky? spider? love?), you should make separate flashcards. If you are artistic, draw a picture of the object or something that represents it (perhaps a boy and girl kissing for love or the girl slapping the boy for hate). This will get the juices flowing in the visual side of your brain, which will help you associate the word with the image and help you memorize it faster. On the back of the card, write the Chinese word in pin-yin or han-zi (or both!). When to do this: take ten minutes every morning and evening to review your flashcards. If a card becomes very easy, remove it from the stack. Review the cards before watching my video lessons in the evening; better yet, take words that you learn from watching the Chinese dramas and make flashcards out of them! Try to get around 10 to 15 new words per lesson/episode! (No, you don’t have to make a flashcard out of every new word. That would be overwhelming.) There will be flashcards available for each of my lessons later on which you will be able to print out in case you’re not so artistically inclined.

#7 - Take Chinese Calligraphy Lessons

Learning Chinese characters, han-zi, can be tedious. What better way to learn them than as an artistic skill that you can show off to your friends? Calligraphy makes learning Chinese characters fun. It also makes them easier to memorize. Check your local college or community center to see if they offer Chinese calligraphy lessons. Not only is it fun, but it’s a great way to meet others whom you can practice your Chinese with. If you absolutely cannot find any lessons offered anywhere in your vicinity, you could purchase a basic calligraphy kit and learn from books. When to do this: see if there are any lessons available in the evenings or on weekends. If learning on your own, it could be any time you choose, but make sure you grab that brush at least twice a week! (for those of you interested in learning to write Chinese, not in calligraphy, I will be offering a Beginner’s Chinese Writing Course Online)

#6 - Write a journal in Chinese

Some of you probably keep journals in English already. It is worth the extra effort and time to translate the main points of your original journal entry into Chinese (using PinYin or Chinese characters). Now, if you frequently write thousand-word entries in English, translating all of that into Chinese is indeed quite a project, so just summarize the main ideas. For example, for each paragraph that you write in English, write a sentence in Chinese summing up the main points. Getting into this habit will help you diversify your Chinese vocabulary and grammar. Also, if you have Chinese friends online, share the Chinese version of your journal (only with things you feel comfortable about, of course!) with them to get some feedback! When to do this: whenever you usually write your English journal, just take an extra 15 or 20 minutes at the end to summarize it in Chinese. If you don’t already have an English journal, take around 30 minutes a day to write one up in Chinese. It can be about anything you want!

#5 - Engage with the Local Chinese

Wherever you are, I’m sure you can find plenty of Chinese people to engage with. When I was in the remotest part of country Brazil, I stumbled upon a Chinese restaurant and ordered everything in Chinese! In my home city of Sydney, I’ll bump into Chinese people in cafes, libraries, aquatic centers, bus stops, and so on. If I start talking to them in Chinese, they love to interact and tell their stories.

Engaging with Chinese people in your community is a great way to practice your Mandarin, immerse yourself in Chinese culture, and make some new friends!

#4 - Talk and sing to yourself in Chinese

Yes. It’s not a joke. Many language professionals agree that the most reliable language partner is yourself! Unlike other language partners, you aren’t going anywhere! You will always be there for yourself when you are in need of someone to talk to in Chinese. At the beginning of the day, stand in front of the mirror and talk to yourself about what you plan to do that day. At the end of the day, talk to yourself about what you did. While you’re typing your blog or writing in your journal in Chinese (see #6), first say out loud everything you intend to type. Better yet, if you love to sing to yourself, learn a Chinese song or two by heart and sing it to yourself frequently, like in the shower. When to do this: all the time! But preferably when nobody else is around…

#3 - Put out ads for a language partner

Even better than talking to yourself is finding a language partner to talk with. There are many overseas Chinese who would love to improve their spoken English language skills. You want to improve your Chinese skills. It’s a match made in heaven. Put up an ad at a local college or university, at a local tea or coffee shop, at that Chinese restaurant where you dine, or on your local Facebook Group. Write that you are learning Chinese and that you would like to find a language exchange partner to meet, ideally in a public place like at a cafe or at the library for the first meet. For the first half, you can speak English together, and for the second half Chinese. Both parties benefit, and you both go home feeling happier and wiser. You could also try posting on websites like GumTree, Craigslist, and Reddit (better for video calls, though, rather than in-person meetups since they can end up being some distance away from you). When to do this: most overseas Chinese students have spare time in the evenings or weekends and would love to find a native English speaker like you to converse with.

#2 - Download WeChat And Make WeChat Friends

Are you technically inclined? Then you should try to download WeChat. This is by far the most popular communication software in mainland China (including for social networking and chat services). If you want to tap into a country of over a billion people, this is one way to do it! WeChat is an app that can be downloaded for Android or iPhone. If you go to WeRead, they have a huge library of Chinese books and other reading materials that can help you improve your language skills in a fun and interactive way.

#1 - Get a Chinese Partner

And finally, the best way possible is to get into a relationship with a Chinese speaker (or marry one as many of my students have!). Why is this the best way? Well, depending on how good the English of your ‘significant other’ is, you will often find yourself in situations where you will be forced to use Chinese in order to communicate with each other. Also, your partner will want to improve their English, so you can reach a compromise with each other — set a Chinese time and an English time. You can help each other out with each other's homework, watch Chinese movies, post sticky notes in each other's rooms, learn Chinese and English songs together, go to Chinese restaurants together, and so on.

Of course, if you are already married or in a relationship, then this probably isn't going to be an option… but that doesn't mean that your partner can't learn Chinese, too! You can watch some Chinese dramas together on Netflix with subtitles.

Read more

It’s been a while since I’ve written last — most of my attention has been focused on writing my next book :) To help me with my book writing process, I interviewed best-selling author and productivity expert, Tiago Forte, which you can watch on YouTube here. He uses a very interesting framework for personal knowledge management.

One of the books that I enjoy coming back to over and over again is the Tao Te Ching - 道德经. It’s one of those books that upon each re-read, I always find new insights.

The Tao at its simplest is movement. Everything down to its atomic level is always in movement. Everything around you is always moving. Part of it is about syncing your own movement with the movement around you. About harmony between you and nature; between you and the universe.

A central idea of Tao is Qì - 气 - Breath (“chee”)

It can also mean vital energy or life force.

Without breath, there is no life.

Oxygen is what enables organisms to grow, reproduce, and turn food into energy.

Qi is universal. Qi is forever in a state of continuous flux.

There’s a Chinese expression, 人活一口气 — Rén Huó Yī KǒuQì which means that we live on Qi. It’s our essential life energy.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Qì is the vital energy that circulates through the body at all times.

A healthy person according to TCM is a harmonious composition of all the elements of Qì. The body is thrown off balance by an excess or deficiency in the yin or the yang.

For those interested, there’s a Taoist documentary made by fellow Australian, Jason Gregory, called The Art of Effortless Living:

There's a Chinese TV series called Detective L which you can watch for free on YouTube here. There are 24 episodes.

It’s set in Shanghai in the 1930s and you can watch it with the English subtitles on.

It’s a good excuse to watch TV since you’ll actually be Learning Chinese but you get to have some extra fun while doing so 🎥🍿🥂

A few of the Chinese to English translations did come up a bit funny. Like instead of saying, We had a chat on the phone, they would say, We had a tele-conversation before.

Though in fairness, Google Translate didn’t fare better:

But for the most part, the YouTube subs are good and very useful to have.

The Mandarin conversation for this week comes from Detective L (at around the 3 minute mark of the YouTube video).

Mandarin Conversation Week 10

我终于到上海了。Wǒ zhōngyú dào shànghǎi le。I've finally arrived in Shanghai 🌆
我们之前通过电话的。 Wǒmen zhīqián tōngguò diànhuà de。We spoke on the phone 📞earlier.
我是来租房子。Wǒ shì lái zū fángzi。I’m here to rent a room. 🛏️
租房子是吧？Zū fángzi shì ba? To rent a room? 😃
进来吧。Jìnlái ba. Come on in. 🚶‍♀️
房子都给你准备好了。Fángzi dōu gěi nǐ zhǔnbèi hǎole。The room’s all ready for you 👌

Chinese TV Series

In case you’d like more options, here are some Chinese Dramas to go along with your popcorn (or prawn 🍤 crackers?):

♥《Put Your Head on My Shoulder》: http://bit.ly/tcshoulder
♥《Our Glamorous Time》：http://bit.ly/tcglamorous
♥《The Demon Master》：http://bit.ly/tcdemon
♥《I'm So Pretty》: http://bit.ly/tcpretty
♥《Cold Case》：http://bit.ly/tccoldcase
♥《Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine》：http://bit.ly/tcdoctor
♥《The Eternal Love 2》：http://bit.ly/tceternal2
♥《Dragon Day, You're Dead》：http://bit.ly/tcdragon
♥《The Fox's Summer 1》：http://bit.ly/tcfox1
♥《The Fox's Summer 2》：http://bit.ly/tcfox2

Now Available on Audible

Learning the Chinese Language (Audiobook) has just been released on Audible.

You can check it out here if you’re interested: AU | USA | UK | FR | DE

Have a good weekend!

App of the Week

Skritter — This app is for studying Chinese (Japanese is also available) and there are over 9,000 lists with flashcards available.

Historical Note

I watched an interview on YouTube a few days ago with Stephen Schwarzman where he talks about the current Chinese leadership. 40 years ago when the current leadership were in their late teens or in college, China had a GDP per capita of $300. This experience of growing up in extreme poverty has fundamentally shaped their world views.

LearnMandarin.com.au News

I’m happy to announce that the Chinese for Love Series has been re-released here after lots of great feedback on the initial release 🥰

I’m working on adding a lot more fun Chinese language programs to this page.

This includes the short Chinese for Kids and the Chinese Grammar course.

On a separate note, I was asked to give a talk to college graduates recently and I’ve since published a summarized version of the speech on Amazon US | UK | AU.

The audiobook will be released in a few months on Audible and currently available for subscribers here.

Read more

I’m thrilled to announce that the audio for the book “Learning the Chinese Language” is finnnnnnnnally completed. I initially set out to do the recording myself but it was kind of taking forever… so I brought in a voice speaking expert who has lived in China for many years (he’s American) to do the recording instead. It literally took him just a week of recording to record the whole book 🤷‍♂️. What a pro indeed!

The book will be released on Audible in 2 months or so.

If you’d like to grab your copy right now, you can do so for a limited time for just $16.97.

The focus of this book is to teach you how you can go about learning Chinese. Everything from using Chinese movies, songs, dictionaries, even to Chinese dating. You'll learn about the best techniques for learning Mandarin independently so that you can achieve Chinese Speaking success.

US-China Tension

In light of the current tensions, I found this chapter (it’s quite long) that Ray Dalio wrote to be very interesting. If you’re interested in China generally, I think you’ll like it.

I’ve summarized only the first section for you so that you can decide if you like it. If you do, then you can read the rest on Ray’s website here.

My Summary Notes

Ray has gotten to know the Chinese people from in an intimate way over the past 36 years. So he has a lot of experience.

The loyalties and media distortions has stood in the way of thoughtfully exploring differing perspectives.

A Brief History of China

• Any attempt to understand China means understanding some of its 4,000 year history and the many patterns that have repeated in it. Its history is not only very ancient but also particularly well documented.

• China's highly civilized societies began 4,000 years ago with many dynasties.

• The Xia Dynasty started from 2000 BC, lasted for 400 years and was highly civilized and created the Bronze Age.

• Another includes the Qin Dynasty which united most of what we call China for the first time in 221 BC

• During the Tang Dynasty from the 900s to 1200, China was the most innovative and dynamic economy in the world.

• Most of the last 1,400 years of dynasties were powerful, civilized, and cultured.

• From the early 1800s until the 1900s, China lost its power while Europe gained theirs. This shift of wealth and power where China was uniquely weak should be considered an anomaly rather than the norm.

A Chinese Perspective

• Americans tend to fight for what they want in the present, China strategizes on how to get what they want in the future

• Chinese leaders tend to read philosophy, how how reality works and you can see this expressed in their writings and speeches.

• Though intensive studies of their longer history, the Chinese are more interested in a longer time horizon instead of just making quick hits. They're more focused on strategy than on tactic.

• Chinese leaders will make plans, implement and then set out clear metrics to judge their performance.

China’s Lessons and Its Ways Of Operating

• The dominant philosophies of the Chinese has been of [[Confucianism]], [[Taoism]], [[Legalist]] before [[Marxism]] and [[capitalism]] got added.

  • [[Confucianism]] values harmony, widespread education, and meritocracy. People know their roles in the hierarchy and respects and obeys those above them.

  • [[Legalism]] believes in a strong, harsh government.

  • [[Taoism]] is about seeking harmony from balancing opposites -- the yin and the yang.

We have just completed the full audiobook “Learning the Chinese Language.”

As a Thank You, I wanted to give you the audiobook for free here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0dbf2t2uxt73aft/AAAeSPfoM25TDSyeatAMO8Jga?dl=0

Please let me know if you have any issue with downloading it.

Read more

你好 (nǐhǎo!) and welcome to the Seventh Edition of the Learn Mandarin Newsletter!

This week at the home of Learn Mandarin has so far been:

Although this guy with only his iPhone 📱 and bike 🚴‍♂️ managed to be a whole lot more productive.

Mandarin Conversation Week 7

這各多少钱？ Zhè gè duōshǎo qián? How much is this? 💰
两块钱。 Liǎng kuài qián。It’s 2 yuan. 2⃣️
你有多少个？Nǐ yǒu duōshǎo gè? How many do you have? 📦
我有四个。Wǒ yǒu sì gè. I have four. 🛒
我要三个。Wǒ yào sān gè. I want three. 🤓
好的。 Hǎo de. Okay. 👌
再给我一个吧！你有小一点儿的吗？Zài gěi wǒ yīgè ba! Nǐ yǒu xiǎo yīdiǎn er de ma? Give me another one! 🤪 Do you have a smaller one? 📏
我有！Wǒ yǒu! I have! 👍

Chinese Language Note

The word yuan (Chinese currency) is usually not spoken. The colloquial version kuai (Chinese: 块; pinyin: kuài) is used more often in conversation.

App of the Week

Memrise — This app (available for both iOS and Android) is a great app to learn languages generally. You can increase your Chinese vocabulary with the app by using spaced repetition of flashcards.

Book of the Week

This week I’m listening to The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz on Scribd.

One of the takeaways I got from the book is to keep working on your creativity by:

1. Always being open to new ideas.

2. To consistently be learning something new.

3. To ask yourself daily, “How can I do a better job today?”

Article of the Week

I’ve spent a bit of time reading about homeschooling with an interesting thread here and new take on remote education by Primer.

If you have any comments or questions, please email me on support @ learnmandarin.com.au. I’d love to hear from you.

Stay safe and healthy until next time!

Zai Jian,

Rui
LearnMandarin.com.au

你好 (nǐhǎo!) and welcome to the Sixth Edition of the Learn Mandarin Newsletter.

This week at the home of Learn Mandarin has been a lot of:

After someone commented on our Facebook Newsletter link that we don’t have PinYin, I’ve now added PinYin marks. I’m also working on a new Chinese Children’s story for you which should be ready quite soon! :) It’s going to be about cats 🐈…

Mandarin Conversation Week 6

你去哪儿？ Nǐ qù nǎ'er。 Where are you going? 🚗

我去上班？ Wǒ qù shàngbān。I’m going to work. 🩺

你在哪儿上班？Nǐ zài nǎ'er shàngbān? Where are you working? 🏢

在医院上班。Zài yīyuàn shàngbān. Working at a hospital. 🏥

你喜欢你的工作吗？Nǐ xǐhuān nǐ de gōngzuò ma? Do you like your job? 👍

很喜欢！不过有的时候挺累的 Hěn xǐhuān! Bùguò yǒu de shíhòu tǐng lèi de. Very much! 😍 Although it gets tiring sometimes. 🥱

反正你喜欢就行！Fǎnzhèng nǐ xǐhuān jiùxíng! Well as long as you like it! 🕺

App of the Week

LingoDeer — This app (available for both iOS and Android) provides an interesting introduction to Chinese. Users can learn in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Pinyin. and it works offline.

Book of the Week

This week I’m listening to Joseph Campbell’s book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces on Scribd. At its essence, the book goes into a detailed blueprint for storytelling, something I’m keeping in mind as I’m thinking about Chinese stories for the Mandarin program.

The journey consists of the following:

1. The Call to Adventure

2. Refusal of the Call

3. Meeting the Mentor

4. Crossing the Threshold

5. Tests

6. Approaching the Innermost Cave

7. Ordeal

8. Reward/Bliss

9. The Road Back

10. Resurrection

11. Master of Two Worlds

Article of the Week

Gods and Demons — I found this Wikipedia article interesting. It’s about stories that deal with Chinese myths, legends, gods, monsters, and other fantasy-related stuff. There are a ton of adaptations domestically and internationally. In fact, Koreans and Japanese people know of the story of Tripitaka and the Journey to the West. Because the novel is so well known, there is also an English translation.

If you have any comments or questions, please email me on support @ learnmandarin.com.au. I’d love to hear from you.

Stay safe and healthy until next time!

Zai Jian,

Rui
LearnMandarin.com.au

你好 (NiHao!) and welcome to the Fifth Edition of the Learn Mandarin Newsletter.

This week at the home of Learn Mandarin:

How has your stay at home week been?

If you’ve purchased the Hattie book, the audio is now available here:

Mandarin Conversation Week 5

你是做什么的？ Ni Shi Zuo Shenme De? What do you do? 👷‍♂️

我是学生。🧑‍🎓 Wo Shi XueSheng? I’m a student 👩‍💻

你在学什么？✍️ Ni Zai Xue ShenMe? What are you studying? 🗒️

我在学汉语？🇨🇳 Wo Zai Xue HanYu. I’m studying Chinese. 中文

你在哪儿学习？🌏 Ni Zai Nar XueXi? Where are you studying? 🌐

在清华大学。🧑🏾‍🎓 Zai Tsinghua DaXue。 At Tsinghua University。🎓

你为什么要学汉语？🇨🇳 Ni WeiShenMe Yao Xue HanYu? Why are you studying Chinese? 中文

因为我有一个中国女朋友！💃 YinWei Wo You Yi Ge ZhongGuo Nǚ PengYou! Because I have a Chinese girlfriend! 💞

Chinese Language Note
In the conversation above, note the “r” in 哪儿 which I referred to in the last Newsletter. Also note that 女 (Nǚ) means woman and 男 (Nán) means man. Finally, Tsinghua is considered one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Learn more here.

Cool Language App
Chinese Flashcards — The University of Texas created this fun and free flashcard game to practice your Chinese. It’s available for different Chinese levels including beginners.

Book of the Week

This week I listened to Peter Brown’s book, Make It Stick on Scribd. The book’s ultimate aim is to teach readers how they can learn better and remember longer. The main takeaways from the book can certainly be applied to Learning Chinese 中文. The most effective learning methods are: 1) Active Retrieval 2) Spaced Repetition and 3) Interleaving.

How do we use these methods in our Mandarin Course?

1) Active Retrieval — We have practice quizzes for each lesson and a lesson worksheet (you can use this same worksheet for the Newsletter lessons too) to cement your learning. You can revisit both the quiz and the worksheet later on and re-take lessons where you fall short on the test.

2) Spaced Repetition — We have Anki tutorials on the Member Dashboard to supplement your Mandarin studies.

3) Interleaving — The evidence for whether interleaving is effective for language learners is still out but it seems more effective for those that have a fundamental grasp of the second language already. The Learn Mandarin flagship course is designed to take non-Chinese speakers from zero to conversational Mandarin. After that, we have Chinese songs, Chinese movies, Chinese stories and more to enable interleaving.

Article of the Week

How To Read Better — Since we’re all staying at home, I thought I’d write an article about tactics we can use to improve our reading. One of them involves spaced repetition.

If you have any comments or questions, please email me on support @ learnmandarin.com.au. I’d love to hear from you.

Stay safe and healthy until next time!

Zai Jian,

Rui
LearnMandarin.com.au

你好 (NiHao!) and welcome to the Fourth Edition of the Learn Mandarin Newsletter.

This week at the home of Learn Mandarin:

This plus watching anime on Netflix over crackers and wine, that is.

Mandarin Conversation Week 4

你会说英语吗？ Ni Hui Shuo 🗣️ YingYu Ma? Can you speak 🎤 English?

嗯，我会说。👍 你会说汉语吗？En, Wo Hui Shuo. Ni Hui Shuo HanYu Ma? Yes, I can. Can you speak Chinese? 🇨🇳

会一点儿？ Hui Yi Dianr. A bit. 🤪

你学了多长时间？📜 Ni Xue Le DuoChang ShiJian? How long have you been learning? 👩‍💻

两个月。⏱️ Liang Ge Yue. 2 Months ⌛

你汉语说的很好！💃 Ni HanYu ShuoDe Hen Hao! You speak Chinese very well! 🔥

Chinese Language Note

In the conversation above, where I used “一点儿” (Yi Dianr) meaning “a bit” or a “a little,” the “r” in the end is typically used in the Beijing dialect whereas Standard Mandarin would have only the “n”.

Cool Language App

Internet Polyglot — a nice supplement to your Chinese lessons, this free site has games and pictures to teach languages (including Chinese)

Book of the Week

This week I’m listening to Steven Pinker’s book, The Language Instinct on Scribd where he argues that all humans are born with an innate ability for language. Since children learn grammar without studying it, they must have some natural capability to understand it.

Interesting Course

The Secret Life of Words: English Words and Their Origins — I’m taking this lecture by Anne Curzan on the Great Courses. I found it very interesting — especially starting from Lecture 9 and 10 where Anne goes on to detail the ways in which Latin, Celtic, and French have influenced and changed the English language.

If you have any comments or questions, please email me on support @ learnmandarin.com.au. I’d love to hear from you.

Stay safe and healthy until next time!

Zai Jian,

Rui

LearnMandarin.com.au

This week at the home of Learn Mandarin:

I’m excited to announce that our first Chinese Children’s book was published on Amazon yesterday. You can read more about it here. If you’re currently a subscriber, you can download the book here. Otherwise, it’s available on Amazon worldwide.

Mandarin Conversation Week 3

你去过北京吗？ Ni Qu 🛫 Guo Beijing Ma? Have you been to Beijing?

是的，我去过。你呢？ShiDe, Wo Qu ✈️ Guo. Ni Ne? Yes, I’ve been. And you?

我还没去过。你喜欢吗？ Wo Hai MeiYou Qu Guo. Ni XiHuan Ma? I haven’t been yet. Do you like it?

我非常喜欢北京. Wo FeiChang XiHuan Beijing 😍. I really like Beijing 🏙️

你给我看看你的照片吧！Ni Gei Wo KanKan Ni De ZhaoPian 🌇 Ba! Why don’t you show me your photos! 🤳

好的好的！HaoDe HaoDe! Okay!

Chinese Language Note

北 (Bei) means North and 京 (Jing) means Capital. Beijing literally means Northern Capital. Nanjing means Southern Capital which was indeed the case for a long time.

Cool Language App

Pleco — a nice Chinese language dictionary that works for Apple and Android devices.

Book of the Week

I’m currently reading, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China on Scribd. It’s the true story of three generations of women and goes from the last days of Imperial China to the Japanese Occupation, Civil War, Revolution and post Mao era. It’s quite a depressing read but still a great one.

Interesting Reads

3 Habits of Successful Language Learners — This is an old article from Tech Crunch about the habits to adopt when learning a new language

If you have any comments or questions, please email me on support @ learnmandarin.com.au. I’d love to hear from you.

Stay safe and healthy until next time!

Zai Jian,

Rui

LearnMandarin.com.au

I’m excited to announce that our very first LearnMandarin story book has just been published.

As a paying subscriber, you have free access to this book.

To download, just go to this link:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x6e7shlthiv04bl/Hattie.pdf?dl=0

Enjoy!

Read more

In all seriousness, I’ve been busy at home recording the audio version of this Chinese Language book which you can listen to the first section free here. I’ll be releasing chapter one of the audiobook for free on YouTube.

To keep my mind sharp, I’m taking a course on how to program Python on LinkedIn Learning and going through the ProjectEuler programming exercises (I’ve found these to be quite difficult). I’m also teaching myself graphic design on Canva to be able to make some better graphics for your Chinese studies.

I’ve established a home routine to try and stay sane throughout this period but honestly I haven’t been particularly disciplined in sticking to it.

Mandarin Conversation Week 2

你结婚了吗？ Ni JieHun Le Ma? Are you married?

是的，我结婚了。💍 你呢？ShiDe, Wo Jie Hun Le. Ni Ne? Yes, I’m married. 👨‍👧 And you?

还没有。你有孩子吗？🧒 Hai MeiYou. Ni You HaiZi Ma? Not yet. Do you have children? 🧒🏻

没有。你有女朋吗？MeiYou. Ni You Nu PengYou 👧 Ma? Do you have a girlfriend? 💃

我有。她在家呢。Wo You. Ta Zai Jia Ne. I have. She’s at home. 🏠

If you’re interested in Chinese for relationships, we have a Chinese for Love audio course available here

Chinese Language Note

吗 (ma) is a question particle that turns an affirmative sentence into a question without modifying the sentence order. If it was removed from the above question about the girlfriend from 你有女朋吗 to 你有女朋, it would go from Do you have a girlfriend to You have a girlfriend.

Cool Language App

Since you might be at home watching TV like me, I thought I’d share a Chrome extension called Language Learning with Netflix. Here is a list of titles available and you can learn more about the extension in this Verge article.

Book of the Week

I’m currently reading, Classical Chinese Poetry: An Anthology on Scribd. It’s a book by David Hinton, an American poet and translator. He studied Chinese at Cornell and has done a great job of translating Chinese poetry which is always a very difficult thing to do.

Interesting Reads

How to Say (Almost) Everything in a Hundred-Word Language — This is an old article from The Atlantic about people who speak Toki Pona which has only 100 words…

If you have any comments or questions, please email me on support @ learnmandarin.com.au. I’d love to hear from you.

Stay safe and healthy until next time!

Zai Jian,

Rui

LearnMandarin.com.au

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Chinese-Language-Everything-Mandarin-ebook/dp/B00N03P7YS/

And you can listen to Chapter 1 Part 1 here:

Read more

I hope you’re safe and healthy at home! We are all working from home during this pandemic and watching the news for the latest updates. Here’s a useful resource.

The aim of this Newsletter is to give you a dose of inspiration, a bit of education to supplement your Mandarin lessons, and ideally some entertainment while you’re staying home.

Mandarin Conversation Week 1

你好 NiHao! Hi!

你是哪国人？Ni Shi Na Guo Ren? Which country are you from?

我是澳洲人🇦🇺。你呢？Wo Shi AoZhou Ren. Ni Ne? I’m Australian. And you?

我是中国人🇨🇳！Wo Shi Zhong Guo Ren! I’m Chinese!

Fun Fact

China has 102 cities with a population of over 1 million. The largest cities in China are Shanghai, Beijing, Chongqing and Tianjin. Wuhan is the 9th largest city in China with a population of about 10 million.

Book of the Week

I’m currently reading, The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life. It’s a book written by Michael Puett, a lecturer at Harvard in Chinese philosophy, and the author Christine Gross-Loh. It’s a book that covers Chinese history and philosophy, and tries to answer the question of how one should live.

Blog Post

5 Rules for Learning Chinese Characters — A short introduction to learning Chinese characters for absolute beginners

If you have any comments or questions, please email me on support @ learnmandarin.com.au. I’d love to hear from you.

Have a great week!

Zai Jian,

Rui

LearnMandarin.com.au

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