Chinese Boot Camp

Chinese accents are very complicated because there are just two many dialects in China. You can probably generalize Chinese accents into 2 styles, northern and southern. Please don't impose your stereotype of the northern and southern accents of American English into Chinese accents. They are very different, and the categorization is indeed VERY generalized.

I will also explain to you that I speak Taiwanese accent, which is southern accent. And people in China usually love Taiwanese accent. It's sort of like how American people feel about British accent. There is little issue of understanding or communication between northern and southern accents.

This might be the last portion of the background knowledge of Chinese, introduced in a very simple and short way. Now you are ready to learn some real Chinese.

Please watch this video as many times as it takes for you to internalize the basic Chinese sentence structure.

In this video, I will teach you the most important, even though it's basic, sentence structure, so that in real life situation, if you don't have all the Chinese words you need in a sentence, you can still mesh your sentence with some English words, and your Chinese sentence will still make sense and be understood.

Even though it's basic sentence structure, it governs ALL Chinese sentences. When sentences get longer and more complicated, they will still fall under this basic structure. That's why Chinese is actually not as complicated as you might have believed.

There will also be some "interactive" exercises in this video.

This is a summary of the unit Basic Chinese Sentence Structure. Feel free to download it to your smart devices, or print it out and read it when you have a chance.

I also explained what it means when people say things in different orders, specifically in English and in Chinese. It's more than the mere difference between where you put the verbs. The truth is quite interesting.

There are actually no differences in the form of a singular noun and a plural noun in Chinese.

But, it's not that Chinese speakers don't have the concept of singular and plural. It's just that Chinese speakers don't care as much. Plus, in Chinese, there are different mechanism to express and determine the number of a noun.

However, you need to get over it and get used to this. Once you get it, you will find that Chinese is actually very concise in this regard.

There are also some "interactive" exercises in this video. Make sure you follow along and practice with me.

Tones are a very abstract concept for speakers of European languages. Tones do not exist in those languages and they are completely different from intonations.

Intonations are for sentences, and it doesn't change the core meaning of a sentence.

On the contrary, tones are for EACH word, or character. It doesn't change with whatever emphasis you want to put on it. And, if you change the tone of a character, you change its meaning.

In this video, I will explain to you:

1. why it's critical to get the tones right,
2. how many tones are there,
3. how they sound,
4. how to practice them,
5. and much more.

You must watch this video and practice along as many times as it takes until you feel that you get it. I am not going to lie to you and tell you that tones are easy. Trust me. I know. Some English native speakers are almost completely deaf to the tones in Chinese. It takes time for your brain to establish the neurons to be able to hear and remember them.

Practice along and watch this video repeatedly.

This is one of the many practices for tones I designed for you. Make sure you watch and listen to the instruction as to how to denote tones and how to do this exercise.

The same instruction won't be included in the rest of the exercises, so that you can just play the video and start practicing.

You will need paper and a pen to do these exercises. You will also need to pause the video constantly to allow yourself to write the answers.

Here is more tonal practice for you. You may choose to skip this practice and come back for it later. I recommend you do this exercise as many times as it takes until you are comfortable moving on to the next topic. More tonal practices might be added later, so come back and check sometimes.

Here is more tonal practice for you. You may choose to skip this practice and come back for it later. I recommend you do this exercise as many times as it takes until you are comfortable moving on to the next topic. More tonal practices might be added later, so come back and check sometimes.

Chinese characters!!!! Finally!!!

I know you can't wait to show your friends that you can write Chinese. Well, hate to break it to you, but not so fast.

In this video, I will show you:

1. why it's necessary to use characters, instead of just phonetic spellings,
2. how to practice writing characters,
3. some more important information about characters.

Please make sure that you download and print out the Writing Pad in the next lecture, and have it ready all the time when you need to write Chinese characters.

Download this writing pad and print it out. Make multiple copies of it. Use it EVERY time when you practice writing Chinese. It's indispensable for your retention of Chinese characters. Do it from the very start. (Plus, I designed this writing pad myself.) 

Why can't we just write Chinese phonetically?

I will explain to you why it's best to learn characters early on, and there is a fun example of why it's crucial to use characters when we write Chinese.

Chinese phonetic structures are much simpler, compared with that of English. Many different Chinese characters can share the same sound, so the combinations of these sounds can be very confusing without the characters.

This is a short article explain to you why I use "words" and "characters" interchangeably in my videos. It's just a short article to help you get some clarification on this tiny issue.

This video is to help you prepare to write Chinese characters. I know it seems very complicated and difficult to write characters, but it's actually not.

The secret is to see people write them in action. Therefore, I will demonstrate how to write every character throughout this course.

I also emphasize the importance of the stroke order. Please make sure that you follow exactly how I write characters, and use the writing pad I design for you every time you practice. So, relax and have fun.

This is the exciting part. In this video, I am going to teach you how to write this very important phrase, Ni Hao, meaning "Wishing you well" or hello in Chinese.

I will show you the basic stroke styles, stroke order principles, and what to watch out for when you write characters. It's all about hand-on experience, so get your pen and writing pad ready. Let's get to work.

Chinese phonetic structure is simpler. That means that every character is single-syllable, and most characters have their meanings on its own. That's why I previously explained to you that most Chinese characters are also words.

That the phonetic structure is simpler doesn't mean that it's easier. I am not saying that it's very hard. I just want you to have realistic expectation that there will be some sounds that are still going to be a challenge when you start.

In this video, I will show you what it means and sounds like that every character is single-syllable. In the musical term, Chinese is staccato (breaking up) rather than legato (flowing) as we often use to describe English.

In this phonics series, I am going to show you all the sounds there are in Chinese and their phonetic symbols. 

I'd like to first start off by showing you the sounds you are familiar with and sounds that are a little unfamiliar but you will still be able to pronounce easily.

The examples I use to teach these sounds will be those that are also very useful, so consider them the vocabulary that you need to learn and memorize.

I am not going to give you too many examples, just enough to cover the sounds we are dealing with at this stage, but I will start using these words in Chinese more frequently from now on.

In this phonics series, I am going to show you the sounds that might be a challenge for you, and their phonetic symbols, of course. 

After this video, you are expected to know all the phonetic symbols and their sounds. It is perfectly OK that you can print out the phonetic system sheet included in the following Lecture and carry it with you until you are completely familiar with the phonetic system.

As with the previous unit, in this video, I will also use real words to demonstrate these sounds, and these words are going to be very useful characters, so you are expected to learn and memorize them as part of your basic vocabulary. You will start to see their applications in the following lectures and units.

I will demonstrate how to say these consonants, and give you example words that have these sounds. Every word you learn in this video is very helpful, and you should remember their sounds, meanings and how to write them.

I will demonstrate how to say these consonants, and give you example words that have these sounds. Every word you learn in this video is very helpful, and you should remember their sounds, meanings and how to write them.

I will demonstrate how to say these consonants, and give you example words that have these sounds. Every word you learn in this video is very helpful, and you should remember their sounds, meanings and how to write them.

I will demonstrate how to say these consonants, and give you example words that have these sounds. Every word you learn in this video is very helpful, and you should remember their sounds, meanings and how to write them.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, and the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, and the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, and the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, and the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, and the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, and the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, and the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, and the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, and the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

In this video, I am going to show you how to say Chinese vowels, and the characters that help you remember those sounds and their applications.

Learn how to greet people and say goodbye or end a conversation on a daily basis in a casual way.

This video covers the basic rules and understanding of Chinese names. Basically, in a full Chinese name, there's no middle name, surname always go first in both written and spoken form, and the rest is always the "first name", whether there is one character or two. Please watch the video to learn more.

Every language has its easy part. In Chinese, this is IT!

Chinese verbs are very easy because they don't conjugate, meaning they don't have different grammatical forms according to tense, mood, number or person.

This video is a quick intro to that concept. Take a look and feel good about it.

It is very different to address someone in Chinese, and Mr and Mrs are not as commonly used as you might think. In Chinese, people use family relationships in their social life, and address everyone as if they were family. Learn how to do this and truly open doors for yourself when you enter this vast, wonderful world of Chinese.

There are two parts in this lesson because there are many details and information. We will learn some basic and important verbs. Through these examples, you will be able to see many real examples that can be created out of these few words.

There are two parts in this lesson because there are many details and information. We will learn some basic and important verbs. Through these examples, you will be able to see many real examples that can be created out of these few words.

We are trying to see and understand that the correlation between English and Chinese, or between any other two different languages, is usually not 1-to-1. Chinese language tends to put words together to form an explanatory phrase while English has many abstract words that give no clue to their meanings. 

We will also start learning more nouns from supermarkets! Enjoy.

Speaking of no 1-to-1 correlation between languages, we are going to see more examples of that concept in adjectives, or describing words. Many words in English are verbs, but in Chinese, they can easily be turned into adjective, such as eat, drink, play, use, see, look, wear, etc. All you need to do is put good (hao) or bad (nan) in front of those verbs. And you will turn them into adjectives such as yummy, tasty, interesting to play, etc.

Another abstract concept is related to the word "very". We will explore more about that in the next video.

Continuing on the first part of basic adjectives, we are learning a very abstract concept about the use of "very". That's probably the more important concept that I'd like you to take away then the adjectives themselves.

In English, it is often not necessary to add "very" in front of an adjective. However, in Chinese, it's almost necessary EVEN IF you don't mean "very". So, just get used to it. People won't feel confused. However, if you don't say "very...", your Chinese might sound more weird than you expect.

So, SUPER IMPORTANT, get used to saying "very" EVEN when you don't want to.

In this video, we will also practice describing things with all the combinations you have learned so far in these two units. 

Never under estimate the power of 1-10, mathematically and linguistically. As a seasoned interpreter, I have learned to fear and respect numbers when I work with numbers. They are more abstract than you think.

However, numbers in Chinese are very logical. Once you get the basics of them, you can easily count or say up to a very large number. 

In addition to the pronunciation of numbers, please focus on the concept of number in Chinese. It's always counted by 10 and then the cycle repeats. Unlike English, there is 11 and 12, and then 13-19, and five would become fif- in some situations. None of these things exist in Chinese.

We will deal with these first in this unit, and then we will talk about some challenging parts about numbers in the next video.

Who could have guessed? The hardest number in Chinese is 2. The reason that it's so tricky is that it can be pronounced in two different ways, and there isn't a simply, unifying, universal rule as to when it's supposed to pronounce one way or the other.

In order to figure out the rule, which doesn't exist in this case, it's simply easier to memorize each individual cases. Trust me on this one. So, I will remind you to pay attention to it whenever we deal with the number 2. 

We will also work on some basic and useful application of numbers: MONEY. Yes, we will learn to say the amount of money, and in two currencies, USD and RMB. Check it out.

We will learn about dates and days. In this video, we will focus on just the YEARS. Make sure that you get all the numbers down before you start watching this video.

In this video, we will focus on dates and days of the week. 

We are going to focus on how to ask about dates and days in this video.

In this video, we will get some practice. After the video, feel free to come up with your combinations, and make sure that you get plenty of practice.

We are going to learn the basic structure when describing positions of objects.

Let's get more practice on Positions. Make sure you watch Lecture 57 and get all the basic positions down.

We will learn how to form a question in Chinese, but we will do the practice in English only. In this video, we will explore and learn the basic principles of forming a Chinese question, but we will not do any actual examples here. In the next level, we will learn in great details about how to ask a question in different contexts. 

I just realized that you wouldn't be able to see what I saw when I was typing, so you will have to imagine. Better yet, install your own Chinese keyboard in your computer and mobile devices, so that you can see what I am talking about in the video. Basically, when you type in Chinese, you won't be able to see the final and actual character you want until you hit the Space Bar on your keyboard. I know it's confusing, so the best way to know what I am talking about is to just install a Chinese keyboard right away.

There are two basic different types of keyboard: Pinying vs Cangjie. You won't be able to do Cangjie until you have near-native proficiency in Chinese, and it's a very fast typing method. However, Pinying has improved a lot over the years, and you won't have to pick the characters so frequently when you type. Once again, install a keybard or input method and you will know what I am talking about. Learning to type is a great way to improve and learn more Chinese. That way, you can also use an online dictionary.

Wo3 means I or me in Chinese.

de means "of", and can change a noun into an adjective in Chinese. Please don't assume that they can be used the way you speak English. Watch the video to learn how to use and write this character properly.

"Verb + le" indicates that an action is completed or makes it past tense, but that's just the basic explanation of le in Chinese. More details will be introduced in other videos.

ren means people or person(s), and you can put all sort of modifiers to define the ren. For example, you can put male, female, American, European, many, a few, some, no, etc. to create a whole bunch of words, such as men, women, Americans, etc. Another good news is that this character is super easy to write.

[zai] can be used as "at + location" or "be V-ing", depending on the context.

[you] means "have", as in "have something" or "have done something", depending on the context. Please don't be tempted to pronounce it as "you" in English. It's more close to "yo-wu".

[ta], when spoken, means he, she, him, her, it, but their written forms are different from each other. In this video, we focus on the male "he", but I also briefly mentioned other forms of the so-called third person pronoun. Don't worry too much about it. Just know that they all sound the same but look different in writing.

[zhe] means "this" and "here", depending on the context.

[zhong] means "middle" and "center", and when it's combined with other characters, it can also have many meanings, such as China, Chinese, in the middle of something, as in "being happening", etc.

[da] basically means big, but it also conveys a sense of "over all", "together" type of meaning.

[lai] basically means "come", but it can also be used to in the context of "let's.."

[shang] means up, above, and it can also mean "go to ..." An interesting and famous example would be the City of "Shanghai". It's a coastal city in China. People used to greet each other by asking "Where are you going?" People long time ago who were going to THAT city would answer, "I am going to the sea." Sea is hai in Chinese, so "Shanghai" literally means going to the sea. Over time, people started to call that city "Shanghai".

[guo] means nation or country. In English, every country's name is unique. In Chinese, every country's name would be "name + nation". For example, Center Nation means China; Mei Nation means the US, Ing Nation means England, Fa Nation means France, etc. Of course, you have to replace the word "nation" with "guo" when you speak Chinese, such as Zhong-guo (China), Mei-guo (the US), Ing-guo (England) and Fa-guo (France), etc.