Learn basic Mandarin: The best basic Mandarin toolkit

Learn basic Mandarin, what you will need to survive on your first day abroad.

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DayOne Mandarin is a free online learning session combining video tutorials with an array of interactive exercises designed to teach users what they need to communicate on the first day in China.

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Closed Caption:

welcome today one in shanghai by fluence
I'm sony Gil and I lived in that
wonderful city while learning Chinese in
the next few minutes i'll explain how to
form the key expressions you'll need in
any mandarin-speaking city on that first
day
I'll cover the basics on how to
communicate with a cab driver
what to say to a waiter at a restaurant
or cafe
how to ask questions when pointing at a
map and a few other essential situations
faced by travelers after this video
you'll have a whole battery of
interactive exercises to practice with
all right enough babbling
let's get to it
ready
going here are the two words that I
learned first when learning a new
language
Joe
yup this notice how the z h sound a bit
like a.j jug up
yes exaggerated like me
Joe good and not go that if you're going
to know very little vocab
these words are ideal I need this
I want that how much is this
so repeat after me open your mouth and
exaggerated
come on jug not good as you can
now i am not a native mandarin speaker
my pronunciation is quite good but it's
not perfect in the workouts that come
afterwards you'll practice
following a native speakers voice but
I'm your example if i can speak Mandarin
so can you
ok so how do you say this Joe good
write it down if you need to make it
stay in your brain and that not go
good now you can say things like jagger
cafe and guess what
this means this coffee mug
cafe and I would just say that coffee
not good cafe
keep watching this because slowly i'll
show you how to form your own sentences
after years of work creating language
learning platforms we know that you
learn very fast
if our explanations have common sense if
we use relevant material that you
actually need and if we stay away from
those so-called immersion methods that
treat you like a child by forcing you to
match words and images over and over
again
instead we'll show you how Mandarin
works from the point of view of an
English speaker
let's keep at it once you arrive in
China
you'll probably hop in a cab to go to
the hotel
drop your things off and get something
to eat
let's work on the basics at the
restaurant first then we're work on the
cab
it's all connected so to be able to
successfully get what you want by
pointing things out a menu or perhaps
that other people's dishes you'll need
the whole I want this I want that I is
war now
whoa its wall
notice how I'm singing in a bit
my voice kind of follows the shape of
that accent mark on top of the oh it
goes down then up a wall
those accents represent tones and tones
are very important because different
tones give words different meanings
if I say well instead of wall
I'm actually saying nest and not
I so again I is wall in the workouts
be sure to pay close attention to the
sounds and tones try to imitate what you
here as close as possible
I want would be well yeah ow
well
yeah I want war yao or the neck
form a wall
out I don't want wall boo
Wow again notice how I say it
boo goes up boo
and yeah goes down
it follows the marks wall
ooh yeah now let's put a freeze together
I want this war ya jug
I want that war yeah not go see you're
speaking Chinese already a note in this
brief lecture
I'm exaggerating the sounds quite a bit
and I'm speaking very slowly
this is not regular Street speed but i
think it's crucial to really internalize
the concepts first then work on speed in
the workouts you get to practice at a
faster pace for now let's focus on
getting the concepts down now let's say
i don't want this wall
oh yeah Joker or walk whew yeah not go
x
now a few words and you'll be
constructing phrases on the spot
water is shui
pay attention to the sounds sway
well yeah
shui I want water war yao shui
or you could say war yow
Coffey I want coffee
let's learn enough
drink a common one in China tah
notice how my voice is just rising tah
well yeah
cha
i want t
good so that
order the three drinks tea coffee and
water
well yeah haha well yeah
cough a war Yashwant way
although if you're going to ask for
water
I advise you to be precise about the
temperature usually water is served hot
in China
hot isn't boiling hot so if you want
cold water
you're going to have to be specific
thing Shui cold water being shui
what ya being shui
awesome
now to finish up the basics at the
restaurant
let's get the bill ready the bill is my
i dun know that in Chinese just my done
a lot of the cells my down and up
done flat and up war yeah my done
I want
or how about I don't want the bill
I don't you get away with it but let's
say it for practice sake walk
we-ell my done
I don't want the bill
going to thank you and we're good to
move on thank you
CS here the X sounds a bit like an H CSU
good i think with these you can survive
at a restaurant at least you can point
at things that you like and explain
I want this or that better than your
hand signals right
ok let's jump over to the second topic
the cap you land grab your suitcase and
hop in a cab
let's imagine you have the name of the
hotel written on a piece of paper
something that i highly recommend
because in my experience cab drivers
rarely speak a word of English
not even the words hyatt hotel just to
give an example
so print out the name of the hotel in
chinese characters show it to the driver
and say i want to go here
you already know I want war yeah well
yeah shoot journey
I want to go here let me break
down for you cute is to go
the queue sounds like a CH the you is
very closed
kind of like a small sneeze shoot for
those lips
come on - well yeah shoot
generally is here
germany
nally there
nollie
look a bit familiar well these are
learn to juggle this
not that so we have generally
nollie
jug not go back
phrase well yeah true journey
I want to go here
very good let's build up
this a bit and combine it with what we
learned previously gotn means hotel
I'll go slow geo the N geo again
Doug geo again this hotel
I want to go to this hotel
y yeah shoot
jirka gotn amazing right let's hear it
again
well yeah - jaga gotn fan then his
restaurant fan again
now good fan then why
we out you naga found in I do
to go to that restaurant so we have fan
then
gotn these were
in themselves composed of other words
then means meal and then shop so shop
for meals fan then
same with geo then to you
Oh alcohol then shot hotel
pretty cool right there are other ways
of saying hotel and restaurant but let's
keep it simple
this is a lot to keep in mind the sounds
are tough to keep straight because to
the untrained ear
they sound kind of similar