Level 22 Complete
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我们想问你一个问题：你现在相信自己有能力了吗？
Phil here. How did you like the first two levels of Phase 4?
I spent way too long in “Phase 3” as an intermediate Chinese learner, i.e., individual sentences. You need more context, and you’re starting to get that in Phase 4.
Imagine you never added paragraph-length context. You’d have a sequence of sentences like this:
“I love little kitty cats. Jerry was a great man, but sadly couldn’t overcome his fear of peaches. Where’s the closest sporting goods store that sells artisanal toboggans? No one who has been to Sichuan province thinks the future is doomed. Is she upset at me because I admonished our goldfish?”
Heck. Each sentence is fine by itself, but they make zero sense together. Don’t you want to know more about why he admonished the goldfish?
Don’t Forget Never to Forget
Pronunciation should still be a significant focus, and with Phase 4, there is a chance to sound more like a native. The Pronunciation Mastery course is perfect for nailing all the initials, finals, tones, tone pairs, and how to practice them. Still, now you should be thinking about pronunciation from a higher level.
The sentences with an asterisk (*Sentences) from the ‘Vocab in Context’ lessons offer you an opportunity to shadow on the sentence level, and then see the same sentences in the upcoming opinion, conversation or short story. Once you get to the longer text, you can practice with the 80% speed audio and you'll start to sound incredible for your level.
Nobody’s Had This Opportunity Before
We hope that it has occurred to you that, while there is still a long way to go, you’re building such a solid foundation that you could be a genuinely fantastic Mandarin speaker. Most people reaching your level have already formed WAY too many bad habits. The fact that you’ve avoided these mistakes means you have a golden opportunity to stand out in the crowd of fluent Mandarin speakers. They’re already uncommon people, and you’ll be uncommon amongst the uncommon.
This is Ridiculous to Say, But…
We’re proud of you. Yeah, Luke and I have (probably) never met you and saying “we’re proud of you” suggests that your perseverance is somehow anything other than individual achievement on your part, but I don’t know; it just feels right. I think of the fact that you’ve come this far, you’re reading this email, and I feel joy and admiration at the thought that you’re genuinely bettering yourself.
Take that moment to recognize your success and use it as fuel to keep going.
Comments 10
Click Here to Search Individual Hanzi 汉字
PHASE 1 (Levels 1-6)
- The Basics - Why Does This Method Work?
- How our Pinyin Chart is Different
- What are Chinese Characters?
- Props
- Sets
- Actors
- Scripts
- Inspiration for Scripts
- Special Effects
- Timeboxing
- Why SRS is So Important: Frequency & Memory
- How to Use SRS
- Habit Building Part 1 - Triggers
- Habit Building Part 2 - Routine
- Habit Building Part 3 - Reward
- Habit Building Part 4 - Belief
- Stroke Order Rule #1
- Stroke Order Rule #2
- Stroke Order Rule #3
- Stroke Order Rule #4
- Stroke Order Rule #5
- Stroke Order Rule #6
- Stroke Order Rule #7
- Stroke Order Rule #8
- Stroke Order Rule #9
- Stroke Order Rule #10
- Stroke Order Rule #11
- Stroke Order Rule #12
PHASE 2 (Levels 7-12)
- Understanding Chinese Words - Morphemes
- The Six Steps to Learning Words
- 3 Questions About Words
- Top-Down & Bottom-Up Learning
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
Get Involved!
Have any questions about the course? Want to share an interesting "movie scene?" How about an Actor, Set or Prop? Just leave a comment below the lesson in question and we'll talk about it in our weekly podcast!
Keep on learning with us!
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sarah bardin
I haven't been super consistent but I keep coming back to my studies and as I rewatch 'The Rational Life' (a super cute series for any students who want a Chinese show to watch btw) after quite some months, I now recognise how much more I can understand and recognise of the language. Not to mention I can speak a little to my husband and MIL. I'm really happy with the progress and don't think it would've been possible with a traditional course. Thanks so much, guys!
Mandarin Blueprint
I (Luke) have watched that series and it's pretty good! Acquisition is a slow but SURE process if you keep showing up. Well done and keep it up!
MB Team
This is where Luke and Phil talked about your question in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgMX_AG5QfA&t=1471s
Kolia
I'm currently on a 21" inch screen and the "All words" section of the Overall Character & Word Learning Progress page pretty much fills the whole of it now. It looks massive :)
I passed HSK3 many years ago so I supposedly knew much of it already, but now, I know that I knew nothing at that time. Now I KNOW these 307 characters, up to the stroke orders. This is amazing.
And life in China actually became even more enjoyable, any Chinese written on a wall becomes immediately an opportunity to identify props in them, they don't look indecipherable anymore, quite the opposite.
You can be proud of your work, you're going to unlock so many Chinese speakers over time.
Thank you!
Mandarin Blueprint
Excellent work, Kolia! I know exactly what you mean about *thinking* you know something compared to *knowing* you know it. That's the MB + SRS advantage.
MB Team
This is where Luke and Phil talked about your question in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jaebh_qgjTQ&t=1455s
Al (泰光) Roy (王)
"This is Ridiculous to Say, But…
We’re proud of you. Yeah, Luke and I have (probably) never met you and saying “we’re proud of you” suggests that your perseverance is somehow anything other than individual achievement on your part, but I don’t know; it just feels right. I think of the fact that you’ve come this far, you’re reading this email, and I feel joy and admiration at the thought that you’re genuinely bettering yourself.
Take that moment to recognize your success and use it as fuel to keep going."
Well, Phil: upon reading that, I can attest to it being anything but ridiculous (I know you know that). And while I can only speak on my own behalf, I am sure that my thoughts here are shared by many others when I say that I feel a measure of pride in you two as well; not only because of your (IMHO) groundbreaking work, but because I do get the sense that it truly matters to you that your students succeed with learning Mandarin, for reasons other than only business related - as important as that is.
Your shared passion and enthusiasm for what you both do, and for what you are helping us do comes across in spades on your videos, to a degree that I believe is impossible to fake and still be believable.
We all have to make a living, and business is of course business; but the human element - the fact that you guys actually care - at the end of the day, that's what really matters. Just know that as I see things, you are in your own way making the world a better place to be.
Thank you for what you do; you're definitely on the right track!
Mandarin Blueprint
好感动 :)
We couldn't do it without all of you! It would be poor repayment for all of your efforts to improve yourselves if we didn't put as much care and hard work into this project as we possibly can. It no longer feels like we have a choice in the matter because we can't let you all down!
MB Team
This is where Luke and Phil talked about your question in the Mandarin Blueprint Podcast:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZWZmW6xDMQ&t=212s
Anne Giles 🤝
<3