Level 21 - Conversations, Opinions & Stories
4 Lessons
用手机还是去银行寄钱
How to Use This Lesson
Step One
Watch the video here on the course platform. Feel free to take as much time as you'd like to understand the content, but don't feel obligated to understand the text right now fully. You'll download the video and return to it later.
Step Two
Download the zip file from the sidebar (desktop/laptop) or below this description (Mobile APP). That zip file contains the following:
- Text tracking video(s) MP4 file(s)
- Audio MP3 file(s)
- Image file of the text & top-down words for your reference
Dialogues contain one text-tracking video file at 80% speed followed by native speed.
Opinions & Short Stories contain two text tracking video files, one female voice, and one male voice. Both start at 80% speed, followed by native speed.
Step Three
At a time of your choosing, use the video files to practice shadowing. If you need a reminder, this lesson explains how to shadow. These video files are ideal for shadowing, especially if you download them to your phone because you can walk around while doing it.
Click Here to Navigate to All Phase 4 Dialogues, Opinions & Stories
Text
Note: The text is pasted here in case you want to copy/paste one of the words into a dictionary app, but the above video and zip file download are best inputting the content as they have audio and text-tracking.
现在在中国，越来越多人用手机给钱，所以有些人担心银行可能会关门，因为用手机比去银行方便得多。比如现在，你不但可以在手机银行上给他们寄钱，你还可以在手机上用WeChat或者Alipay给他们转钱，这样不是又快又安全吗？但是，有另一些人，他们认为去银行寄钱取钱比用手机给钱安全一些，所以他们还是会去银行。
Top-Down Words
现在 xiànzài - now, presently
越来越 yuèláiyuè - increasingly
所以 suóyǐ - so, as a result
方便 fāngbiàn - convenient
钱 qián - money
不但 búdàn - not only
或者 huòzhě - or
转钱 zhuǎnqián - to transfer money
Member Comments from 2019-mid-2020
Do you also want to leave a comment? You can do so below！
Christine
Oh my god...I just see this wall of characters...
Christine
Aaannd... can read and understand it after all. Wow... awesome. Just reading it at less than a snail's pace for now.. but still!
MB Team
Here's the link to where Phil and Luke talked about this comment in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGOkHhpBYxQ&t=3514s
Hank Elliott
Oh man, Luke and Phil you guys are geniuses. This program is so helpful. After 5 years of trying to tech myself Chinese I have hundreds of characters sort of memorized in just over a month and can read most of this first paragraph with no problem. It makes my brain buzz. What ancient Chinese medicine practitioners and taoist monks call the echoing valley between the halves of my brain is on fire and alive and growing. I'm 60 and have never had this level of intellectual high even when I studied differential equations and astrophysics. Thank you thank you!
Mandarin Blueprint
Haha, we're no geniuses, just resilient in our efforts to make things easier for folks like you. So glad to hear you're having such an intellectually stimulating experience!
MB Team
Here's the link to where Phil and Luke talked about this comment in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lle0yhY52Gk&t=0s
Nick Sims (戴燚）
Okay, this is intense but I actually know many of these characters!! How many times should I review this video and shadow before moving on? 10, 25, 50, 100? What's my signal to move forward knowing that I'll need more practice?
Mandarin Blueprint
Completely up to you, Nick, but I'd personally say spend a relatively short amount of time per shadowing session (no more than 15-20 mins). Perhaps you should timebox it. Shadow a piece of material as many times as it takes to read it comfortably at the same speed as the native reader. This could certainly take 50-100 times but it doesn't matter as each time you do it you will improve your skills :D
- Luke
MB Team
This is where Luke and Phil talked about your question in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnVp_b_LlqY&t=2938s
Comments 7
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PHASE 1 (Levels 1-6)
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- What are Chinese Characters?
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- Inspiration for Scripts
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- Stroke Order Rule #9
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PHASE 2 (Levels 7-12)
- Understanding Chinese Words - Morphemes
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Living Links Series
Word Structure Series
- Part 1 - What are Chinese Words?
- Part 2 - Verb-What 述宾式
- Part 3 - Verb-How 补充式
- Part 4 - Biased 偏正式
- Part 5 - Parallel 并列式
- Part 6 - Duplicated 重叠式
- Part 7 - Subject-Predicate 主谓式
- Part 8 - Affixed 附加式
PHASE 3 (Levels 13-20)
- The Basic Chinese Sentence
- Helper - Expressing Possession with 的
- Helper - When You Can Omit 的
- Helper - Completed Actions with 了
- Helper - Change of State with 了
- Helper - Present Actions with 着
- Connector - Saying 'But' with 但是 - 可是 - 不过
- Connector - Reasons & Actions with 因为..., 所以...
- Connector - Conditional "If-Then" Statements with 如果..., 就
- Connector - Conditional "If-Then" Statements with 要是...的话
- Connector - "Or" in Questions with 还是
- Connector - “Or" in Statements with 或/或者
- Relator - Using 为 to Express "For"
- Relator - Expressing "From" with 从
- Relator - Expressing Location with 在
- Special - Using 在 as a Verb
- Tone - Softening Tone of Voice with 呢
- “How Does What" - Adverbs of Denial
- “How Does What" - Adverbs of Degree
PHASE 4 (Levels 21-30)
Level 21
- Transferring Money by Smartphone or Bank
- Walk in the Park?! I Have 汉字 to Study!
- Who Determine's a Baby's Looks, Mom or Dad?
Level 22
- How Many Pages of the Book Have You Read?
- Many People Don't Want to Have Babies
- My Girlfriend Can Really Eat!
- What Do You Like to Do?
- What Method Works for Learning Chinese?
Level 23
- Eating Bread
- I Met My Girlfriend in the Park
- Something is Different About My Dog Lately
- The Older Brother is Better Than the Younger Brother
- The Right and Left Side of the Office
- Three Meals a Day
Level 24
- Annoying People
- Breaking Up at the End of the Date
- Going on a Date
- My Two Friends and I
- Overtime at Work
- Red Packets
- Two People in a Relationship
Level 25
- I Want to Find a Boyfriend Too
- My Dad and I
- My Dog Chouchou
- The Big Changes of China
- The Weather is Great, Let's Go to the Park!
- Xiaomei and Her Boyfriend's Day
Level 26
Level 27
- American Journalist Studies Chinese in China
- Can I Still Learn Chinese Anymore?
- Should I Change?
- Children and Their Parents
- Foreigner's Opinion of China
- What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
Level 28
- Daughter & Mother
- Son's Eighth Birthday
- Study, Work & Life
- What's More Important, Looks, or Ability?
Level 29
- Advertisements
- Buying Tickets at Chinese New Year
- Everybody Restaurant
- How Does One Progress
- Son is Out of Control
Level 30
- Cars, Bicycles & Trains
- Potatoes & Beef
- Two Ladies Compare Who's Got it Better
- Young People Raising Cats and Dogs
Phase 4 Grammar Points
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Sriram P C
The first sentence "越来越多人用手机给钱，所以有些人担心银行可能会关门，因为用手机比去银行方便得多。" has a structure "X, therefore (所以) Y, because (因为) Z". X, Y and Z themselves are valid sentences by themselves.
Is this a common structure in spoken and written Chinese ? The meaning, as I understand is that X and Z are the reasons for Y. Is that right ? This structure sounds odd to me probably because I am new to it.
Mandarin Blueprint
Yes, your explanation is correct. It's a very common structure, despite seeming a little illogical at first!
Sarie
The grammar here is a bit confusing for me. I understand the overall meaning but why are there so many different words in one sentence referring to giving money (给）， transferring money (转钱), mail/sending money (寄）?
Mandarin Blueprint
Well, Chinese is like any language in that there are often many ways of saying the same thing. 给 is the broadest, as there are many ways you can "give" things to people, but in the end, what you should take away from this type of text is that you *can* use all of these different methods to express the idea of giving money. They may not instantly enter your active vocabulary, but it's a point of input that will eventually build up to active use once you see the same pattern several more times.
Brennan Pimpinella
Correct me if I am wrong but is this missing a few top-down words? I don't remember learning 多or 给 up to completing level 21. Now I do know what 多 means thanks to the pronunciation course I didn't know if these were omitted from the top-down so we didn't have a large top-down word list.
Mandarin Blueprint
Ah, that was our mistake. 多 and 给 are so common it's really easy to overlook. I'll have to fix this later as there's some kind of problem with my video editing software at the moment, but I've added it to my list.
Chris Lewis
A while back I learned 车, meaning vehicle. It struck me instantly as one of those characters I would always remember. A car/vehicle has 4 wheels. When I saw 转, the right side of the component 专 always reminds me of someone sitting in a wheelchair. I've played wheelchair basketball before. When I put the two together, knowing that this character means specialized, I think of my zhu actor driving a disabled van (with the large door and lift) in the living room of my an set. Add in 钱 and he is transferring a whole lot of money from there to another location.