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!
After listening to Season 3, Lesson 04, start reinforcing what you've learned by taking a few minutes a day to practice listening and imitating the material. Repetition makes progress.
Magic Phrase (1-2)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 1-2 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
雖然公園非常安全，阿姨居然失眠！
Suīrán gōngyuán fēicháng ānquán, āyí jūrán shīmián!
雖然 / suīrán / although, even though
公園 / gōngyuán / park ("public garden")
非常 / fēicháng / extremely ("not common, not normal")
安全 / ānquán / safe
阿姨 / āyí / aunt, auntie, a woman approximately the age of one's parents
居然 / jūrán / unexpectedly, surprisingly
失眠 / shīmián / to suffer from insomnia ("lose sleep")
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 04, start reinforcing what you've learned by taking five minutes a day to practice listening and imitating the material. Repetition makes progress.
Magic Phrase (1-2)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 1-2 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
雖然公園非常安全，阿姨居然失眠！
Suīrán gōngyuán fēicháng ānquán, āyí jūrán shīmián!
雖然 / suīrán / although, even though
公園 / gōngyuán / park ("public garden")
非常 / fēicháng / extremely ("not common, not normal")
安全 / ānquán / safe
阿姨 / āyí / aunt, auntie, a woman approximately the age of one's parents
居然 / jūrán / unexpectedly, surprisingly
失眠 / shīmián / to suffer from insomnia ("lose sleep")
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!
Be mindful of how you're feeling when you practice these lessons. Are you feeling excited and energized? Tired and doubtful? Distracted? Focused? Without passing any judgment on how you feel, observing your feelings or state of mind can offer clues about how and whether you might want to adjust your practice.
For example, about a month ago I noticed that my language practice was starting to bore me a little. This was after many months of smooth sailing, during which I had been feeling motivated and everything had seemed interesting. Suddenly, I found myself getting distracted more and more easily, and even skipping days of practice.
Instead of heaping on the self-judgment, as I might have done in the past, this time I decided to listen to what this feeling was telling me. After some introspection, I realized I had been starting to get burned out. At first I had been ignoring this feeling, because I felt so much pressure to keep improving. Recognizing and accepting the source my of waning motivation was a huge relief. I wound up deciding to take a short break, and then continue practicing but with an emphasis, for the time being, on just speaking with real people, which I personally have always found the greatest motivator for learning another language.
As with life, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to learning a language, which is why tuning into your internal state now and then can be such a helpful source of guidance.
Lesson Outline:
Magic Phrase (1-2)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 1-2 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
雖然公園非常安全，阿姨居然失眠！
Suīrán gōngyuán fēicháng ānquán, āyí jūrán shīmián!
雖然 / suīrán / although, even though
公園 / gōngyuán / park ("public garden")
非常 / fēicháng / extremely ("not common, not normal")
安全 / ānquán / safe
阿姨 / āyí / aunt, auntie, a woman approximately the age of one's parents
居然 / jūrán / unexpectedly, surprisingly
失眠 / shīmián / to suffer from insomnia ("lose sleep")
Tone Pair Safari (1-2)
Once we are familiar with the 1-2 tone pair, we listen to a new dialogue that is filled with more words that use this tone pair. In doing so, we sharpen our listening skills by practicing paying attention to the tones we hear.
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
S：歡迎光臨我的空調商店，我專門賣空調！你需要什麼嗎？
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 03, start reinforcing what you've learned by taking five minutes a day to practice listening and imitating the material. Repetition makes progress.
Magic Phrase (2-3)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 2-3 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
還好男友沒有拿起啤酒騎馬，危險！
Háihǎo nányǒu méiyǒu náqǐ píjiǔ qímǎ, wéixiǎn!
Tone Pair Safari (2-3)
Once we are familiar with the 2-3 tone pair, we listen to a new dialogue that is filled with more words that use this tone pair. In doing so, we sharpen our listening skills by practicing paying attention to the tones we hear.
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
M：你還好嗎？
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, who enable this podcast to continue!
Today's tone pair, 2-3, is easily confused with the one we learned in episode one, 3-2. Today we'll spend some time practicing differentiating between them. Then we'll hear another fun (slightly absurd) dialogue to practice our listening skills, and absorb some new words.
Lesson Outline:
Magic Phrase (2-3)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 2-3 tone pair. We use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
還好男友沒有拿起啤酒騎馬，危險！
Háihǎo nányǒu méiyǒu náqǐ píjiǔ qímǎ, wéixiǎn!
Comparative Phrases
Here are some phrases that combine the tone pairs we've learned so far in lessons one to three.
Tone Pair Safari (2-3)
Once we are familiar with the 2-3 tone pair, we listen to a new dialogue that is filled with more words that use this tone pair. In doing so, we sharpen our listening skills by practicing paying attention to the tones we hear.
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
M：你還好嗎？
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, who enable this podcast to continue!
After listening to Season 3, Lesson 02, start reinforcing what you've learned by taking five minutes a day to practice listening and imitating the material. Repetition makes progress.
Magic Phrase (1-4)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 1-4 tone pair. In this lesson, we use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
超市需要音樂，醫院需要安靜！
Chāoshì xūyào yīnyuè, yīyuàn xūyào ānjìng!
Tone Pair Safari (1-4)
Once we are familiar with the 1-4 tone pair, we listen to a new dialogue that is filled with more words that use this tone pair. In doing so, we sharpen our listening skills by practicing paying attention to the tones we hear.
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
L：生日快樂！欸？你不高興？
Transcript of the dialogue (w/ pinyin and translation)
Use this as a visual listening guide, or if you want to check your tone identification. 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, who enable this podcast to continue!
★ Support this podcast ★Let's learn another tone pair! Can you hear which one it is?
Learning the pronunciation of a foreign language can sometimes feel strange, even scary. Pronunciation is such a personal thing -- it's part of who we are, and how we express ourselves. When we start to imitate another language, it's easy to start feeling like "this isn't me."
If you find yourself feeling that way, try to just observe the feeling without judging either yourself or the language. You might even take it as a good sign, because it means you're going outside your own comfort zone!
Learning a new pronunciation system -- a new way of expressing yourself through sound -- is an opportunity to expand your sense of yourself. But don't expect it to happen all at once. Our ears are specially tuned to the sounds of our own native language(s), and at first, we won't be able to hear or pronounce the sounds of another language nearly so precisely.
So ease yourself into the new language. Let yourself have fun. Exaggerate the sounds as you imitate them -- especially the tones! More than likely, what sounds like exaggeration to you is actually just the normal pronunciation of an unfamiliar language.
About today's lesson
We start by hearing another silly phrase composed entirely of today's tone pair. You'll probably never need to say this particular phrase, but that's also not the point. By practicing listening to and imitating exactly what we hear, we are strengthening our Mandarin listening and speaking muscles, and simultaneously sensitizing our ears to this tone pattern.
Next, we will hear a natural dialogue with a lot of words that use the same tone pair, giving our ears a chance to practice recognizing it in natural speech. And of course we'll get to learn a lot of new useful words and phrases in the bargain. Ready?
Lesson Outline:
Magic Phrase (1-4)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 1-4 tone pair. In this lesson, we use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
超市需要音樂，醫院需要安靜！
Chāoshì xūyào yīnyuè, yīyuàn xūyào ānjìng!
Tone Pair Safari (1-4)
Once we are familiar with the 1-4 tone pair, we listen to a new dialogue that is filled with more words that use this tone pair. In doing so, we sharpen our listening skills by practicing paying attention to the tones we hear.
Transcript of the dialogue (Chinese characters only)
L：生日快樂！欸？你不高興？
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, who enable this podcast to continue!
★ Support this podcast ★After listening to Season 3, Lesson 01, start reinforcing what you've learned by taking five minutes a day to practice listening and imitating the material. Repetition makes it stick.
Part 1: Magic Phrase (3-2)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 3-2 tone pair. In this lesson, we use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
導遊本來以為美國草莓打折！
Dǎoyóu běnlái yǐwéi měiguó cǎoméi dǎzhé!
Part 2: Tone Pair Safari (3-2)
Once we are familiar with the 3-2 tone pair, we listen to a short story that is filled with more words that use this tone pair. In doing so, we sharpen our listening skills by practicing paying attention to the tones we hear. We also start to learn a bunch of useful words and phrases.
Transcript of the story
我朋友是警察。他以前很想要減肥。可是他感覺很難！因為他女兒每次旅行都會買奶油餅乾。警察請求他女兒不要再買，女兒說不行，餅乾很有名，吃餅乾讓她感覺很滿足！我覺得警察很可憐！最後，警察的老婆解決了問題。她去賭博。賭博很快就沒錢。然後女兒不能去旅行。雖然減肥的問題解決了，但是警察還是很倒霉。
Line by line, with pinyin
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
他以前很想要減肥。
Tā yǐqián hěn xiǎng yào jiǎnféi.
可是他感覺很難！
Kěshì tā gǎnjué hěn nán!
因為他女兒每次旅行都會買奶油餅乾。
Yīnwèi tā nǚ'ér měi cì lǚxíng dōu huì mǎi nǎiyóu bǐnggān.
警察請求他女兒不要再買，
Jǐngchá qǐngqiú tā nǚ'ér bùyào zài mǎi,
女兒說不行，
nǚ'ér shuō bu xíng,
餅乾很有名，
bǐnggān hěn yǒumíng,
吃餅乾讓她感覺很滿足！
chī bǐnggān ràng tā gǎnjué hěn mǎnzú!
我覺得警察很可憐！
Wǒ juédé jǐngchá hěn kělián!
最後，警察的老婆解決了問題。
Zuìhòu, jǐngchá de lǎopó jiějué le wèntí.
她去賭博。賭博很快就沒錢。
Tā qù dǔbó. Dǔbó hěn kuài jiù méi qián.
然後女兒不能去旅行。
Ránhòu nǚ'ér bùnéng qù lǚxíng.
雖然減肥的問題解決了，但是警察還是很倒霉。
Suīrán jiǎnféi de wèntí jiějuéle, dànshì jǐngchá háishì hěn dǎoméi.
Translation of the story
I'd like to encourage you to listen through the whole lesson at least once before you look at the translation. Then you can decide if and when to look, depending on your level. Especially if your Mandarin comprehension is already good enough that you understood 20% or more of the story just by listening, then it might be valuable for you to continue listening repeatedly in the days to come, observing how your comprehension improves with each listen. Once you are familiar with the sounds, you can look at the translation to fill in any missing pieces.
That said, there is no one correct way to do this. If you feel a strong desire to read the passage and understand it all before you continue with the listening practice, that's still valid.
Thanks for listening! And thank you so much to the monthly supporters of this podcast, who enable this podcast to continue!
★ Support this podcast ★Welcome back for Season 3! In this series, we are going to do a deep dive on the tones in Mandarin.
We covered tones briefly in Season 1, Episode 07, but there is still a lot more to talk about. Tones are one of those subjects that some people love and many people hate... or at least find unpleasant, and possibly somewhat frightening. It's my mission in Season 3 to dispel all your fears about tones. By the end of this season, my hope is that tones will be second nature for you.
Even if you already have a good grasp of the tones, I think you'll still get something from these lessons. They are full of stories and dialogues which, aside from exhibiting each particular tone pair, are also full of useful words and phrases, and are designed to evoke silly or even absurd mental images that will make them more memorable.
In this episode, I spend some time explaining the importance of tones, the significance and usefulness of tone pairs, and reviewing the basic tones with a new mnemonic device based on movement. Then we jump right in and start learning the first of 16 unique tone pairs.
Lesson Outline:
Magic Phrase (3-2)
This phrase is composed entirely of words that use the 3-2 tone pair. In this lesson, we use it to practice identifying and then pronouncing the tones, hearing how they interact with each other in context.
導遊本來以為美國草莓打折！
Dǎoyóu běnlái yǐwéi měiguó cǎoméi dǎzhé!
Tone Pair Safari (3-2)
Once we are familiar with the 3-2 tone pair, we listen to a short story that is filled with more words that use this tone pair. In doing so, we sharpen our listening skills by practicing paying attention to the tones we hear. We also start to learn a bunch of useful words and phrases.
Transcript of the story
我朋友是警察。他以前很想要減肥。可是他感覺很難！因為他女兒每次旅行都會買奶油餅乾。警察請求他女兒不要再買，女兒說不行，餅乾很有名，吃餅乾讓她感覺很滿足！我覺得警察很可憐！最後，警察的老婆解決了問題。她去賭博。賭博很快就沒錢。然後女兒不能去旅行。雖然減肥的問題解決了，但是警察還是很倒霉。
Line by line, with pinyin
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
他以前很想要減肥。
Tā yǐqián hěn xiǎng yào jiǎnféi.
可是他感覺很難！
Kěshì tā gǎnjué hěn nán!
因為他女兒每次旅行都會買奶油餅乾。
Yīnwèi tā nǚ'ér měi cì lǚxíng dōu huì mǎi nǎiyóu bǐnggān.
警察請求他女兒不要再買，
Jǐngchá qǐngqiú tā nǚ'ér bùyào zài mǎi,
女兒說不行，
nǚ'ér shuō bu xíng,
餅乾很有名，
bǐnggān hěn yǒumíng,
吃餅乾讓她感覺很滿足！
chī bǐnggān ràng tā gǎnjué hěn mǎnzú!
我覺得警察很可憐！
Wǒ juédé jǐngchá hěn kělián!
最後，警察的老婆解決了問題。
Zuìhòu, jǐngchá de lǎopó jiějué le wèntí.
她去賭博。賭博很快就沒錢。
Tā qù dǔbó. Dǔbó hěn kuài jiù méi qián.
然後女兒不能去旅行。
Ránhòu nǚ'ér bùnéng qù lǚxíng.
雖然減肥的問題解決了，但是警察還是很倒霉。
Suīrán jiǎnféi de wèntí jiějuéle, dànshì jǐngchá háishì hěn dǎoméi.
Translation of the story
I'd like to encourage you to listen through the whole lesson at least once before you look at the translation. Then you can decide if and when to look, depending on your level. Especially if your Mandarin comprehension is already good enough that you understood 20% or more of the story just by listening, then it might be valuable for you to continue listening repeatedly in the days to come, observing how your comprehension improves with each listen. Once you are familiar with the sounds, you can look at the translation to fill in any missing pieces.
That said, there is no one correct way to do this. If you feel a strong desire to read the passage and understand it all before you continue with the listening practice, that's still valid.
Thanks for listening! And thank you so much to the monthly supporters of this podcast, who enable this podcast to continue!
★ Support this podcast ★Let's hear a line-by-line translation of the dialogue from lesson 16.
This is the final lesson of Season 2 -- a milestone for both of us. Congratulations! Every minute you spent listening is a minute you invested in yourself and your Mandarin learning. Learning a language is challenging, it takes time, and there are bound to have been moments when you felt frustrated or felt that you had hit a plateau. Whenever this happens, I find it helpful to zoom out and consider how far I've come in the past months or years. I encourage you to do the same. And remember that often it's those very moments of doubt that signal a breakthrough is about to happen.
Send me your feedback!
I would like to invite you to give me your feedback on the lessons so far. Here are some questions I'm particularly curious about:
Thank you for taking a few minutes to answer these questions. Your feedback will influence the design of Season 3 and beyond. You can send me your answers by email, or via my new MFTGU Facebook page. Whether you're reading this roughly now-ish, or months or years after this lesson was published, I would love to hear from you.
Become a supporting member
Consider becoming a supporting member today. Your support will enable me to keep paying the costs of hosting the podcast and this website. And if enough people join, I will even be able to put more time into making a wider variety of materials for you.
I have lots of ideas, including a series specifically designed to help you master the tones, another series on pronunciation, a video series about “Mandarin Power Tools,” more fun dialogues, and much beyond that.
It’s up to you, and it doesn’t take a lot. Even if everyone pitches in a small amount, it will make all the difference. And as a member, you will be among the first to know about this new material.
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Lesson Outline:
Dialogue transcript (Chinese characters only):
Dialogue transcript (w/ pinyin and translation):
Thanks for listening!
★ Support this podcast ★