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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.
Sentence 1:
我常常想起来她说过的话。 – Level 14
Wǒ chángcháng xiǎngqilái tā shuō de huà
I often think of what she said.
Sentence 2:
你总是吃米饭。-OR- 你老是吃米饭。 – Level 13
Nǐ zǒngshì chī mǐfàn -OR- Nǐ lǎoshi chī mǐfàn
You always eat rice.
Sentence 3 & 4:
我想点面包，还想点啤酒。- Level 14
Wǒ xiǎng diǎn miànbāo, hái xiǎng diǎn píjiǔ
I would like to order bread and also beer.
下午我想吃面包，也想吃鱼。- Level 15
Xiàwǔ wǒ xiǎng chī miànbāo, yě xiǎng chī yú
I want to eat bread in the afternoon, and I also want to eat fish.
Sentence 5:
我想再吃一个这种面包。- Level 17
Wǒ xiǎng zài chī yīge zhè zhǒng miànbāo
I’d like to eat one piece of this type of bread again.
Sentence 6:
我经常交朋友。- Level 20
Wǒ jīngcháng jiāo péngyǒu
I often make friends.
Sentence 7:
写得不完美，我又写了一次。- Level 21
Xiě de bù wánměi, wǒ yòu xǐe le yī cì
It’s not written perfectly, I wrote it again.
我写了一次：I wrote it once.
我又写了一次：I wrote it again.
我再写一次：I will write it again.
Other adverbs of frequency you’ll see as you move through the course:
Adverbs Indicating Low Frequency:
从不 cóngbù – never
从来不 cóngláibù – never
很少 hěn shǎo – seldom
Adverbs Indicating Medium Frequency:
偶尔 ǒu’ěr – occasionally
有时(候) yǒushíhòu – sometimes
通常 tōngcháng – generally, ordinarily, as a rule
往往 wǎngwǎng – often, frequently
平时 píngshí – ordinarily
平常 píngcháng – usually, ordinarily, generally
Formal:
时时 shíshí – often, constantly
不时 bùshí – from time to time
时常 shícháng – often, frequently
Adverbs Indicating High Frequency:
一直 yìzhí – continuously, always
老是 lǎoshi – always, all the time (negative)
始终 shǐzhōng – from start to finish
一向 yíxiàng – consistently, all along
向来 xiànglái – always, all along
从来 cónglái – from the past till the present, always, at all times, all along
频繁 pínfán – frequent, often
一连 yìlián – in a row, in succession, running
接连 jiēlián – on end, in a row, in succession
Formal:
连连 liánlián – repeatedly, again and again
历来 lìlái – all through the ages
屡屡 lǚlǚ – time and again, repeatedly
屡次 lǚcì – time and again, repeatedly
频频 pínpín – again and again
ΧΡΉΣΤΟΣ ΣΕΡΑΦΕΊΜ BY EMAIL
Hello MB team,
Have been doing great with the course and going forward consistently, but I never had some feedback on my pronunciation.
So I’m sending you this audio file from me reading one of the short stories (My dog Chouchou, level 25).
I’d love to hear your opinion about how I sound, if it’s understandable, my mistakes, etc.
I read the text a few times before recording plus I listened to it in all speeds
Thanks in advance.
我的小狗臭臭和别人的小狗不一样。
它每天早上出去，下午回来，从来不吃午饭。
有一天，我的一个朋友给我说：
“臭臭现在非常有名！
很多人都等着和它拍照。
你没听说吗？”
我说我完全不知道。
所以我朋友和我一起去了臭臭拍照的公园。
到了公园，我看到了臭臭正穿着红色的大衣在和别人拍照。
他们后面还有很多人。
然后，这个人拍完照就给了臭臭五元。
没想到，臭臭和人拍照还要收钱。
在它左边的口袋里，已经有差不多两百块了。
臭臭很开心。
后来有人告诉我，臭臭每天8点上班，下午三点下班。
下班后就拿着钱去吃肉，比如牛肉，羊肉，鸡肉等等。
我想，臭臭过得比我还好！
PETTERI NAKAMURA BY COMMUNITY
Hi,
I just came across this sentence in the Anki Grammar Deck:
你周末干什么去？
What is the meaning of 去 in this sentence and what’s the difference if I say “你周末干什么？” ?
23:06KATHLEEN GANS BY COMMUNITY
I came across this word in a Chinese video where the girl was in a bookstore and told the staff she was a nerd – 书呆子 shūdāizi
Dai1 means dumb so this word seems contradictory. But dai1 also means to have stayed in a place. So with this word does it mean to “stay with books” or “book dumb” maybe too dumb to be interested in other things?
DAN BY COMMUNITY
Level 40: I found this the most challenging so far:
扁 bian3
编 bian1
偏 pian1
遍 bian4
篇 pian1
骗 pian4Especially
扁 2 usage: flat, underestimate
编 4 usages : weave, fabricate, write and organise
偏 4 usages: slanting, prejudiced, not equal, insistently
遍 2 usages: everywhere, measure word for times
篇 1 usage: measure word for leaf or piece or writing
骗 1 usage: to cheat
RICHARD ENGLAND BY EMAIL
Hi there
Do 不要 and 别 mean the same thing when telling someone not to do something?
e.g. Don’t talk
不要说话
or
别说话
I know that if you add 了 so 别说话了 means stop talking.
Richard England
30:23RICHARD ENGLAND BY EMAIL
Hi guys
I’ve been watching the chinese drama Ode to Joy about several women living as neighbours and working in Shanghai.
In one episode there is a heated altercation with another neighbour. One woman calls the other 犯贱.
The subtitle translator who appears to not be a native English speaker translated it as c**t (not a word I use myself). I suspected the translator had chosen too strong a term especially as the show was on mainstream Chinese TV and so looked the chinese subtitle.
Dong Chinese dictionary doesn’t even list it and google translate gives “treacherous”. Wiktionary says (low colloquial, often as a term of abuse) to have no respect for oneself
I guess bitch or slut might be comparable terms in English although don’t really capture the meaning? How would you translate it? How strong is this word?
Richard England
34:09RICK ANGLELAND ON “NEW VOCABULARY UNLOCKED! 不过“
Another way of creating flashcards now that we are accumulating
more and more characters, especially when finding it hard to
illustrate abstract ideas, is to put a synonym in the pictures
field (if we know one).
So I’m using 但是 in my clue for 不过. Hopefully they’re more or less
the same?! At least it will remind me of a similar phrase.
TOM ON “NEW VOCABULARY UNLOCKED! 起来“
Could you use “记” in place of “想” in the examples involving
recalling a sentence? E.g. could you say “我记起来一句话” instead of
“我想起来一句话”?
PETTERI NAKAMURA ON “MAKE A MOVIE 怕“
What’s the difference between 吓 and 怕 ?
37:22RICK ANGLELAND ON “NEW VOCABULARY UNLOCKED! 不过“
So “to not surpass, to not go over” is metaphorical i.e.
numbers, amounts, but not physical (e.g. to not go over a
bridge)?
JOHN GRIST ON “MAKE A MOVIE 边“
why is “Li” drawn before before the “flying carpet”?
I thought the left hand character would have been drawn first.
RICK ANGLELAND ON “MAKE A MOVIE 亥“
I see that since 亥 is the 12th year in the Chinese zodiac, the
sign of the hog, Heisig chose acorn for 亥, b/c acorns are eaten
by wild pigs and 亥 can be thought as vaguely resembling an acorn.
And I see that the characters using 亥 as a component don’t have
anything to do with 12 or dozen, so I guess acorn would be just
as useful as a prop? (I already have it as such from my past
Japanese study).
RICK ANGLELAND ON “NEW VOCABULARY UNLOCKED! 多么“
It seems that 多么 and 那么 and 这么 all seem to mean more or less the
same thing?
PETTERI NAKAMURA ON “IT’S A WORD! 为“
What is the difference between 为 and 对 ? They both can be used
to mean “for”, right?
NEIL ON “LEARN MANDARIN BOTTOM-UP & TOP-DOWN“
I’ve been playing with similiar ideas when I teach yoga. My main
focus is on muscle control, since muscles not only move the body
they allow us to “feel” it. Individual muscles (or groups of
muscles) would be the equivalent of morphemes. So once I teach a
particular muscle activation, I then have students practice it in
different poses so that they can then better learn it and also
see how it can be used to make doing a pose easier. (More
practically, I use it to deal with pain and also to improve
flexibility.)
This blog post explains the theory behind Movie Scenes and learning characters.
53:45TRISTAN KNOTTS ON “MAKE A MOVIE 谢“
In the bathroom of my (E)ngineering school, Shirley (Xi) Temple
sits on top of the shoulders of a Westworld HOST. She has a
MEGAPHONE in her right hand and a RULER in her left hand,
shouting ‘we will rule the world’ to her army of Westworld hosts.
DOM THOMSON ON “MAKE A MOVIE 说“
Sheldon Cooper has been invited to SPEAK about his research
outside the entrance to my office.
He’s struggling to be heard over general muttering, so makes a
deal with the devil.
The devil turns his mouth into a megaphone, and he continues to
SPEAK at a deafening volume
BEL HERMAWAN ON “MAKE A MOVIE 网“
There’s a special exhibition of valuable artefacts in the main
room of my -ang set. A glass case (冂) sits in the centre,
showcasing two golden gardening shears/hedge trimmers (乂) from an
ancient time. Woody from Toy Story breaks in after hours. The
lights are dimmed with just a spotlight on this display. He tip
toes and avoids the red laser beam security system, but just as
he inches open the glass case, a NET falls down from the roof and
siren sounds. He’s been caught!
TYSON ON “MAKE A MOVIE 深“
Scene for 深
All Shawn [sh-] wanted for Christmas was a supersoaker [氵].
Sitting on the porch of my -en set, his folks’ hand him a
Pringles can [㓁] and tell him that what he was hoping for would
be inside.
“In this Pringles can? Seriously?!?”
With a knowing and encouraging look, his dad says, “It’s a
special can – deeper than it looks.”
He reaches in and pulls out … a Christmas tree [木] !
“Whoa! This is a deep can! But I wasn’t hoping for a tree!”,
Shawn says.
“Dig deeper. There’s something more that was under the tree.”
He reaches to the bottom and pulls out a supersoaker.
MICHAEL ROTCHFORD ON “MAKE A MOVIE 果“
Goofy. 1000 Oaks. Bedroom
Brain. Tree
Goofy is in the bedroom at 1000 Oaks playing brain games. The
question that is posed to him is “what kind of FRUIT grows on
trees”? He scratches his head, beats on his head as if to clear
his brain but finally gives up. As he munches down on an apple he
answers with “are tomatoes a FRUIT”? In his Goofy voice.
RICK ANGLELAND ON “MAKE A MOVIE 万“
The only association I have for 10,000 – so as to avoid just
trying to remember that number (1,000? 100,000?) is the Grand Old
Duke of York who had 10,000 men, he marched them etc.
But that’s a lot of extra props (the duke, the men, the hill).
Any other ideas?
KATHLEEN GANS ON “MAKE A MOVIE 完“
When my sister and I were kids and goofing off, my dad would say
“Girls, put a lid on it. Time for supper” as in finish what
you’re doing. When I see this character I think “finish” i.e.
“put a lid (roof prop) on it”
JACK ON “MAKE A MOVIE 会“
Hu character surrounded by cloud holds umbrella above his head
and sings “I will survive”
NEIL ON “MAKE A MOVIE 明“
Had a friend named Melody back when I was first learning
Ashtanga yoga. We were alll practicing together and she kept
asking me for the next pose cause she coudn’t remember. So now, I
can think how smart she is remembering the first series (the sun)
and the second series (the moon). Note, I’ve learned the cangjie
input method where sun is the letter a and moon is letter b. An
extra set of hooks I can use.
TYSON ON “MAKE A MOVIE 切“
Shu Qi has set up a small Chop Shop in the front yard of my -e
set. It’s a unique place. Not only is the work done by seven
dwarves [ 七 ], they are specially skilled at doing all the
chopping with Bowie knives [ 刀 ].
JACK ON “MAKE A MOVIE 可“
k character dancing the can can on the bed of -e location while
trying to nail a huge nail into a can. Rolling Stones mouth
appears by his left elbow and shout you can do it!
PETTERI NAKAMURA ON “MAKE A MOVIE 法“
“Method” is so common a meaning for this character that I
decided to go for the other main meaning, which is “law”. I also
ended up mixing other elements to remind me of the other
associations too. Namely Buddhism and France.
Frank Sinatra is sitting in my A set Bedroom with the Great Wave
of Kanagawa (氵) hanging on the wall in the background. In front
of him there is a Go Board (去) across which a serene Siddharta
Gautama playing with him. Next to the two sits a lawyer in an
expensive french suit, beret, and curly mustaches watching that
they don’t break any of the sacred laws of the game.
KIKA BISOGNO ON “MAKE A MOVIE 相“
I was hiding behind a PALM TREE at the ENTRANCE of my
estr(ang)ed husband’s house and I saw my Ex and (Xi)omara
lustfully EYEBALLing EACH OTHER. “Buaaaaa!!!!, I thought she was
my friend. How could she do this to me?!!!”
PETTERI NAKAMURA ON “MAKE A MOVIE 司“
Sylvester Stallone outside of the entrance to my childhood home,
wearing a hood and a rolling stones mouth to cover half of his
face and with a giant razor blade in his hands, ready to
“operate” on the lock in order to steal everything inside.
RICK ANGLELAND ON “MAKE A MOVIE 左“
My zu character is in my local swiming pool (-o), holding an
ibeam in her left hand, trying to stuff it in the holster on her
left side, (while her right arm is out of view underwater trying
to swim).
RICK ANGLELAND ON “MAKE A MOVIE 右“
My actor has her right hand stuck in her holster, and so is
gripping the holster in her mouth, trying to pull her hand out.
PETTERI NAKAMURA ON “MAKE A MOVIE 快“
Qui Gon Jinn has to beat Data, the android, juggling a Horse
Head and a model of the Big Ben to gain passage off the planet.
Confident that his Jedi powers will help him beat this adversary,
just before the event he is in the bathroom of my “ai” set
practicing with the items and watching a video of Data’s
performance with his phone. His expression is growing worried as
the Horse Head and the Big Ben model move faster and faster and
become a blur in Data’s hands on the video.
PETTERI NAKAMURA ON “MAKE A MOVIE 块“
Qui-Gon Jinn has soiled himself in the face of Data’s android
dexterity and the prospect of never leaving the planet. Yet he
still practices juggling the Horse Head and the Big Ben model in
the “ai” set bathroom with the pieces of his phone lying around
him.
KIKA BISOGNO ON “MAKE A MOVIE 心“
(Xi)omara is playing in the PORCH with Frankenstein, my
boyfrie(n)d’s old dog. All of a sudden, its HEART stops beating
and he falls to the floor. She has to act quickly. She inserts 3
NEEDLES in the middle of its chest and HOOKs them to an
electrical outlet. After a minute or so, she revives him. The dog
looks at her with such intense feelings of gratitude!
PETTERI NAKAMURA ON “MAKE A MOVIE 玉“
Anubis is in the Bathroom of my Childhood Home harnessing the
power of his realm of death, lights dim and an ominous presence
of dark powers fills the room as air starts to ripple in his
hands and the energy condenses in to a glistening Drop of liquid
floating in the air. The Drop then expands and solidifies into a
glistening Jade Scepter of a King with the power of the
underworld. (My prop for this is a Jade Scepter.)
KIKA BISOGNO ON “MAKE A MOVIE 想“
(Xi)omara found my estr(ang)ed husband, performing a ritual in
the LIVING ROOM with a large WOODEN EYEBALL. “This totem has
special powers”, he explained. “it will allow me and my wife to
look into each other’s HEARTs so that we can THINK alike and have
a good relationship. I miss her so much!” Laughing, Xiomara
replied: “Forget it, man! she already has another boyfriend”
KIKA BISOGNO ON “MAKE A MOVIE 息“
A Fengshui consultant told (Xi)omara to place a MIRROR OUTSIDE
THE ENTRANCE of the home to invite positive energy in, however,
her friends tell her that every time they look at themselves in
that mirror, the reflection they see takes their BREATH away.
They can actually see their HEARTs being squeezed so hard that
afterward, they all need to rest before they can do anything
else.
The post 77. Always? Sometimes? Often? Seldom? appeared first on Mandarin Blueprint.
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