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Hey Matt -- the first lesson starts off by hearing a conversation between two people that goes like this:
Excuse me, can I please ask if you speak English?
No, I don't speak English, are you American?
Yes, I'm American.
Do you speak Mandarin?
I speak a little Mandarin, but not very well.
By the end of it you can understand it, so (I'm not very good at writing the Chinese pronunciation or spelling into English, so bear with me).
Duibuqi, qingwen, ni hua shua yingyu ma?
Bu, Wo bu hua shua yingyu. Ni shi meiguo ren?
Shi, Wo shi meiguo ren.
Ni hua shu pu tong hua ma?
Wo hua shua edyer (that word is hard for me to spell) pu tong hua, ca shi shua da bu hao.
In the next lessons, these fundamental words are gone over again and again, but you start to slip them into other phrases and sentences, and what happens is that you start to recognize entire conversations that you haven't heard before by the 6th lesson, and when you're asked to answer questions by the audio narrator, you blurt out the answers without even thinking -- not even realizing that you actually knew the answer.
So, very quickly, before you know it, you start speaking and understanding basic conversations (even in movies for example) without even really knowing why.
The other thing is that you don't even really think in your head "What is it in English from Mandarin?" Or "This word is English, and this is the word in Mandarin" You just think -- Mandarin, you don't translate it in your head you just speak it. It's really cool.
I didn't realize how much I had learned by the sixth lesson until I weirdly enough held my own during a Skype call in Mandarin.
0 votedSeptember 7, 20130- Pimsleur Approach to Mandarin
I was asked to post this as a discussion. Previously I posted it as a note. I'm on lesson six of the Pimsleur Approach to Mandarin (there are 100 lessons total) and I have already learned so much.
The great thing about this program is that it doesn't take language learning by a step 1, step 2, step 3 process, such as learning common greetings first then how to count, and then how to say colors. In fact, by the third lesson you're already having full conversations in Chinese.
It literally forces you to stop thinking in your head, "This is what I want to say in English, now how do I say it in Mandarin?" Instead, you blurt out the language without realizing it. It's like you're learning as a kid, and you're simply mimicking the adults you hear speak a language.
The greatest compliment I had so far is after a Skype meeting with a member of iTalki who lives in Beijing. She said, "Your Mandarin level is much higher than I thought it would be, have you been learning for a few years?" She was surprised to find out that it had only been six days -- 30 minutes a day. I was equally as surprised how easy it was for me to talk to her. Now when I watch my favorite kung fu movies, I am even recognizing complete phrases. I can't wait to see where I'm at within 100 days.
I learned about the Pimsleur Approach and chose it over Rosetta Stone due to this woman's review of it (I'm posting part 2, but there is a part 1 as well) where she basically sais she learned more Spanish in just a month of Pimsleur Approach than she did in several months of Rosetta Stone, and when she visited a Spanish speaking country people were asking her to translate for them.
Anyway, I love hearing: 你普通话说得很好
I'll post it here:
Do any of you have experience with Pimsleur?
September 7, 201341 - Kung fu terms What is really interesting is that, before I started learning Pu tong hua, I had been learning Kung Fu for three years. All of the terms are in Chinese, for example: Tong Sao Pak Sao Pak Da Fook Sao Si Num Tao Biu Ji Chi girk Bong Sao Chum Kiu Biu Ma Bit Ma These are universal terms for Wing Chun kung fu movements, but I am wondering now that I am learning Mandarin, what Chinese language they are? Does it sound to anybody as more Cantonese? Does anybody know what dialect this is? I know that Wing Chun is from Foshan. - WilliamSeptember 7, 201320
- "Correct" and "right" are essentially synonyms when used in a certain situation or context. So, for example, if someone asks the following question: "You are a boy with black hair?" I can say, "That is correct" or "That is right." They both mean the same thing. However, if someone says, "Which direction should I go?" And I say "Go to the right" Then it is different, because it is referring to a direction. For example, I have a right arm and a left arm, but I can also be right (correct). I hope that makes sense. Let me know if you have any questions.0 votedSeptember 7, 20130
- Pimsleur Approach I'm on my fourth lesson of Mandarin by the Pimsleur approach. So far it's going well, but I find that each time I'm finished with the lessons, my tongue hurts because Mandarin is so different sounding from English. There are 100 Mandarin lessons in the Pimsleur approach, and by the end of it you're supposed to be able to speak conversational Mandarin. I've read some fantastic reviews on it. I will keep people updated on how well I do with it, in case anyone wants to try the system out for themselves.August 19, 201330
