By Isaac Myers
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The podcast currently has 78 episodes available.
After listening to Season 3, Lesson 08, start reinforcing what you've learned by taking six minutes a day to practice listening and imitating the material. Repetition makes progress.
How to practice
This episode's daily practice session doesn't include spoken instructions, but the process is the same as previous episodes of this season:
In the first part, you'll hear a short snippet of the dialogue, followed by a pause of 2-4 seconds. During the pause, try to echo aloud exactly what you heard. In the second part, the dialogue plays again without pauses. Try to shadow the dialogue by repeating it aloud simultaneously with the recording.
Note that in both parts, speaking aloud is important, as this practice helps you gain confidence making the sounds of Mandarin, increasing your speaking fluency over time. It also gives you invaluable feedback, as you hear the sounds coming out of your mouth, and can compare them to the sounds you just heard. If only done once or twice, this might not seem to have much effect; repeated on a daily basis, however, this is a powerful mechanism for bootstrapping your pronunciation and speaking ability.
Magic Phrase (4-2)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 4-2 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
櫃台負責配合客人
Guìtái fùzé pèihé kèrén
櫃台 / guìtái / reception, front desk
負責 / fùzé / to be responsible for, to take responsibility for
配合 / pèihé / to cooperate with
客人 / kèrén / customers, guests
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
Transcript of the dialogue (w/ pinyin and translation)
Use this as a visual listening guide, or if you want to check your tone comprehension. Tones are indicated by marks above the letters in the pinyin transliteration, as follows: (1) ā (2) á (3) ǎ (4) à
Thanks for listening. And thank you so much to the monthly supporters of this podcast!
Show notes:
Lesson Outline:
Magic Phrase (4-2)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 4-2 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
櫃台負責配合客人
Guìtái fùzé pèihé kèrén
櫃台 / guìtái / reception, front desk
負責 / fùzé / to be responsible for, to take responsibility for
配合 / pèihé / to cooperate with
客人 / kèrén / customers, guests
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
Transcript of the dialogue (w/ pinyin and translation)
Use this as a visual listening guide, or if you want to check your tone comprehension. Tones are indicated by marks above the letters in the pinyin transliteration, as follows: (1) ā (2) á (3) ǎ (4) à
Thanks for listening. And thank you so much to the monthly supporters of this podcast!
After listening to Season 3, Lesson 07, start reinforcing what you've learned by taking six minutes a day to practice listening and imitating the material. Repetition makes progress.
How to practice
This episode's daily practice session doesn't include spoken instructions, but the process is the same as previous episodes of this season:
In the first part, you'll hear a short snippet of the dialogue, followed by a pause of 2-4 seconds. During the pause, try to echo aloud exactly what you heard. In the second part, the dialogue plays again without pauses. Try to shadow the dialogue by repeating it aloud simultaneously with the recording.
Note that in both parts, speaking aloud is important, as this practice helps you gain confidence making the sounds of Mandarin, increasing your speaking fluency over time. It also gives you invaluable feedback, as you hear the sounds coming out of your mouth, and can compare them to the sounds you just heard. If only done once or twice, this might not seem to have much effect; repeated on a daily basis, however, this is a powerful mechanism for bootstrapping your pronunciation and speaking ability.
Magic Phrase (4-1)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 4-1 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
帥哥上班，外公退休
Shuàigē shàngbān, wàigōng tuìxiū
帥哥 / shuàigē / handsome man
上班 / shàngbān / to go to work
外公 / wàigōng / maternal grandfather
退休 / tuìxiū / retired, to retire
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
Transcript of the dialogue (w/ pinyin and translation)
Use this as a visual listening guide, or if you want to check your tone comprehension. Tones are indicated by marks above the letters in the pinyin transliteration, as follows: (1) ā (2) á (3) ǎ (4) à
Lesson Outline:
Magic Phrase (4-1)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 4-1 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
帥哥上班，外公退休
Shuàigē shàngbān, wàigōng tuìxiū
帥哥 / shuàigē / handsome man
上班 / shàngbān / to go to work
外公 / wàigōng / maternal grandfather
退休 / tuìxiū / retired, to retire
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
Transcript of the dialogue (w/ pinyin and translation)
Use this as a visual listening guide, or if you want to check your tone comprehension. Tones are indicated by marks above the letters in the pinyin transliteration, as follows: (1) ā (2) á (3) ǎ (4) à
Notes:
SLOW SPEED VERSION
After listening to Season 3, Lesson 06, start reinforcing what you've learned by taking ten minutes a day to practice listening and imitating the material. Repetition makes progress.
How to practice
This episode's daily practice session doesn't include spoken instructions, but the process is the same as previous episodes of this season:
In the first part, you'll hear a short snippet of the dialogue, followed by a pause of 2-4 seconds. During the pause, try to echo aloud exactly what you heard. In the second part, the dialogue plays again without pauses. Try to shadow the dialogue by repeating it aloud simultaneously with the recording.
Note that in both parts, speaking aloud is important, as this practice helps you gain confidence making the sounds of Mandarin, increasing your speaking fluency over time. It also gives you invaluable feedback, as you hear the sounds coming out of your mouth, and can compare them to the sounds you just heard. If only done once or twice, this might not seem to have much effect; repeated on a daily basis, however, this is a powerful mechanism for bootstrapping your pronunciation and speaking ability.
Magic Phrase (4-3)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 4-3 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
下午下雨，地鐵漏水
Xiàwǔ xiàyǔ, dìtiě lòushuǐ
下午 / xiàwǔ / afternoon
下雨 / xiàyǔ / to rain
地鐵 / dìtiě / subway, subway system
漏水 / lòushuǐ / to leak water
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
Transcript of the dialogue (w/ pinyin and translation)
Use this as a visual listening guide, or if you want to check your tone comprehension. Tones are indicated by marks above the letters in the pinyin transliteration, as follows: (1) ā (2) á (3) ǎ (4) à
Thanks for listening! And thank you so much to the monthly supporters of this podcast!
After listening to Season 3, Lesson 06, start reinforcing what you've learned by taking ten minutes a day to practice listening and imitating the material. Repetition makes progress.
How to practice
This episode's daily practice session doesn't include spoken instructions, but the process is the same as previous episodes of this season:
In the first part, you'll hear a short snippet of the dialogue, followed by a pause of 2-4 seconds. During the pause, try to echo aloud exactly what you heard. In the second part, the dialogue plays again without pauses. Try to shadow the dialogue by repeating it aloud simultaneously with the recording.
Note that in both parts, speaking aloud is important, as this practice helps you gain confidence making the sounds of Mandarin, increasing your speaking fluency over time. It also gives you invaluable feedback, as you hear the sounds coming out of your mouth, and can compare them to the sounds you just heard. If only done once or twice, this might not seem to have much effect; repeated on a daily basis, however, this is a powerful mechanism for bootstrapping your pronunciation and speaking ability.
Magic Phrase (4-3)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 4-3 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
下午下雨，地鐵漏水
Xiàwǔ xiàyǔ, dìtiě lòushuǐ
下午 / xiàwǔ / afternoon
下雨 / xiàyǔ / to rain
地鐵 / dìtiě / subway, subway system
漏水 / lòushuǐ / to leak water
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
Transcript of the dialogue (w/ pinyin and translation)
Use this as a visual listening guide, or if you want to check your tone comprehension. Tones are indicated by marks above the letters in the pinyin transliteration, as follows: (1) ā (2) á (3) ǎ (4) à
Thanks for listening! And thank you so much to the monthly supporters of this podcast!
The long-awaited episode 06 is finally here! This lesson's dialogue is longer than usual, so let's get right to it.
Lesson Outline:
Magic Phrase (4-3)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 4-3 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
下午下雨，地鐵漏水
Xiàwǔ xiàyǔ, dìtiě lòushuǐ
下午 / xiàwǔ / afternoon
下雨 / xiàyǔ / to rain
地鐵 / dìtiě / subway, subway system
漏水 / lòushuǐ / to leak water
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
Transcript of the dialogue (w/ pinyin and translation)
Use this as a visual listening guide, or if you want to check your tone comprehension. Tones are indicated by marks above the letters in the pinyin transliteration, as follows: (1) ā (2) á (3) ǎ (4) à
Thanks for listening! And thank you so much to the monthly supporters of this podcast!
SLOW VERSION
After listening to Season 3, Lesson 05, start reinforcing what you've learned by taking eight minutes a day to practice listening and imitating the material. Repetition makes progress.
How to practice
This episode's daily practice session doesn't include spoken instructions, but the process is the same as previous episodes of this season:
In the first part, you'll hear a short snippet of the dialogue, followed by a pause of 2-4 seconds. During the pause, try to echo aloud exactly what you heard. In the second part, the dialogue plays again without pauses. Try to shadow the dialogue by repeating it aloud simultaneously with the recording.
Note that in both parts, speaking aloud is important, as this practice helps you gain confidence making the sounds of Mandarin, increasing your speaking fluency over time. It also gives you invaluable feedback, as you hear the sounds coming out of your mouth, and can compare them to the sounds you just heard. If only done once or twice, this might not seem to have much effect; repeated on a daily basis, however, this is a powerful mechanism for bootstrapping your pronunciation and speaking ability.
Magic Phrase (4-4)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 4-4 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
忘記過去，注意現在
Wàngjì guòqù, zhùyì xiànzài
忘記 / wàngjì / to forget
過去 / guòqù / the past, passed, over, finished
注意 / zhùyì / to pay attention to, to be careful of
現在 / xiànzài / now
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
阿明，你在幹嘛？
Transcript of the dialogue (w/ pinyin and translation)
Use this as a visual listening guide, or if you want to check your tone comprehension. Tones are indicated by marks above the letters in the pinyin transliteration, as follows: (1) ā (2) á (3) ǎ (4) à
Thanks for listening! And thank you so much to the monthly supporters of this podcast!
After listening to Season 3, Lesson 05, start reinforcing what you've learned by taking five minutes a day to practice listening and imitating the material. Repetition makes progress.
How to practice
This episode's daily practice session doesn't include spoken instructions, but the process is the same as previous episodes of this season:
In the first part, you'll hear a short snippet of the dialogue, followed by a pause of 2-4 seconds. During the pause, try to echo aloud exactly what you heard. In the second part, the dialogue plays again without pauses. Try to shadow the dialogue by repeating it aloud simultaneously with the recording.
Note that in both parts, speaking aloud is important, as this practice helps you gain confidence making the sounds of Mandarin, increasing your speaking fluency over time. It also gives you invaluable feedback, as you hear the sounds coming out of your mouth, and can compare them to the sounds you just heard. If only done once or twice, this might not seem to have much effect; repeated on a daily basis, however, this is a powerful mechanism for bootstrapping your pronunciation and speaking ability.
Magic Phrase (4-4)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 4-4 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
忘記過去，注意現在
Wàngjì guòqù, zhùyì xiànzài
忘記 / wàngjì / to forget
過去 / guòqù / the past, passed, over, finished
注意 / zhùyì / to pay attention to, to be careful of
現在 / xiànzài / now
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
阿明，你在幹嘛？
Transcript of the dialogue (w/ pinyin and translation)
Use this as a visual listening guide, or if you want to check your tone comprehension. Tones are indicated by marks above the letters in the pinyin transliteration, as follows: (1) ā (2) á (3) ǎ (4) à
Thanks for listening! And thank you so much to the monthly supporters of this podcast!
We can't understand a language outside the context of the people who live it and speak it. A human language cannot be contained in an artifact like a dictionary or even a database, because it is a living thing, which exists through the people who live by it.
From the standpoint of learning a language, this point is essential. Not incidentally, rare cases notwithstanding, the human brain is not particularly good at memorizing facts or data. Consider how many things you learned in school that you've already forgotten.
The kind of information that we do tend to remember, indeed that we may absorb and retain permanently without even trying, is how things make us feel. Feelings are how we make meaning from experience.
This makes all the difference, because if we view a language as a collection of symbols that have no personal meaning for us, then learning it becomes an almost impossible task. But if, during the learning process, we allow the language to move us, to make us feel something, to change us personally, then we start to tap into the source of our language genius.
When learning a language, pay attention to how what you are learning makes you feel, and seek out resources and people that make you feel something... anything!
Lesson Outline:
Magic Phrase (4-4)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 4-4 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
忘記過去，注意現在
Wàngjì guòqù, zhùyì xiànzài
忘記 / wàngjì / to forget
過去 / guòqù / the past, passed, over, finished
注意 / zhùyì / to pay attention to, to be careful of
現在 / xiànzài / now
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
阿明，你在幹嘛？
Transcript of the dialogue (w/ pinyin and translation)
Use this as a visual listening guide, or if you want to check your tone comprehension. Tones are indicated by marks above the letters in the pinyin transliteration, as follows: (1) ā (2) á (3) ǎ (4) à
Thanks for listening! And thank you so much to the monthly supporters of this podcast!
The podcast currently has 78 episodes available.
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