Garry
How is my Chinese progress?

My Chinese progress video. I study, watch movies, and talk to friends often ;-)
 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O3wfUuifTA

 

Turn on the subtitles if you can't follow up (or in case I'm mispronouncing something, haha)

Sep 30, 2014 2:53 PM
Comments · 5
1

I'm jealous, I wish I had done this when I started learning Chinese. But seriously, just jump right in, keep making mistakes and listen to advice. You're enthusiasm is contagious. If you ever want another American's advice on learning Chinese drop me a line. I just moved to Beijing a month ago and have been studying Chinese for a year.

 

October 1, 2014
1

It's great that you posted your video. I'll be happy to give you some feedback.

 

I can understand you fine - just my top points:

 

1) zhongwen 中文: the "zh" sounds kind of like a hard "ch" (chinese "ch" not English "ch") - try to relax it a little bit and make it softer

 

2) renshi 认识: I heard "ren shee" - try to pronounce it like 是 ("to be")

 

3) chengyu/hanyu 成语/汉语: the word "yu" should be "yü". You can make this sound by pursing your lips like a pucker face and saying the letter "E". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8WAjVeqD80 might be helpful. Mandarin has both the "u" and "ü" sounds.

 

Let me know if this is helpful.

September 30, 2014
1

Awesome! Great presentation and song lol! Really enjoy it!

 

Major/some notes:

Today, I want to make a video because.... - wo3 jin1 tian1 yao4 shi2??? gen1 ni3... - wo3 jin1 tian1 yao4 zuo4 yi2 ge4 shi4 pin2 (make a video, literally)...

 

website called FluentU - jiao4 FluentU de wang3 zhan4.

 

both things are really good - zhe4 liang3 ge4 dong1 xi1 (these two things) dou1 hen2 hao3 (all are good)

 

Moreover/besides - ganke??? - er2 qie3 (and, moreover...)

 

Japanese - ri4 yu3

Korean - han2 yu3 (second tone, 4th tone is Mandarin then lol)

 

game - you2 xi4; play game - wan2 you2 xi4

 

For ban4 zhen1 ban4 jia3, I think it just means "half real, half fake", instead of "funny people". Not sure, seldom say that in daily life...

 

French speakers - people who speak French - speak French's people - shuo1 fa2 yu3 de ren2 :)

 

esp. because - you2 qi2 shi4 (yin1 wei2 - because)

 

Keep it up!

September 30, 2014

@Chase.
You are only going to keep getting better. You can still document your video progress and upload it to youtube...err I mean youku since you can't access youtube now, haha. I will also visit Beijing next year for 8-10 days to experience the culture and meet with some friends for the first time since I've only known them online. 
 

October 1, 2014

Haha, thank you very much!
I think my next video will be called, "American trying to follow language advice" because I keep making videos just jumping straight to the actions and ignoring grammar, haha. It is very exciting this way =-p

September 30, 2014