Daily Practice Session - S2 - Lesson 06

Mandarin From the Ground Up

After listening to S02 Lesson 6, start reinforcing what you've learned by taking three minutes a day to practice listening and imitating the dialogue. Repetition makes progress!

README: How to use this recording

You'll hear the dialogue from Lesson 06 twice.

The first time, there will be a short pause after each line. During the pause, try to repeat aloud exactly what you hear.

Repeating aloud is important, partly because you'll be training your speech muscles to make the sounds of Mandarin, and partly because you'll be getting feedback about how you sound (if you're listening with earbuds, I recommend practicing with one earbud out and one in, or else with both partially in, so that you can hear yourself better).

The second time, there won't be any pauses -- try to "shadow" the sounds simultaneously as they are spoken, again aloud.

This will help you practice stringing the sounds together and further reinforce the muscle memory speech patterns of Mandarin. If it feels way too fast, you can try shadowing only one of the two characters each time you listen. However, even then, don't expect to be able to keep up with everything at first. It takes regular daily practice to start training your ears to have a more nuanced perception of the sounds, and to train your speech muscles to speak at natural speed.

A transcript of the dialogue is available below. First, it is written out in only Chinese characters for those who are learning characters and want to practice reading along. Then it is written out with the translation and pinyin.

Dialogue transcript (Chinese characters only):

• 阿明：終於把行李都整理好了
• 小李：對，我好累，而且我出了很多汗
• 阿明：你要記得喝水哦
• 小李：這裡好熱！
• 阿明：哈哈！這就是台灣！很熱吧。
• 小李：我都忘記台灣夏天有這麼熱
• 阿明：那你怎麼不開冷氣呢？
• 小李：哦對耶！我都忘記有冷氣了！這樣好多了！
• 阿明：美國沒有冷氣嗎？
• 小李：我住的地方沒有，只有暖氣
• 阿明：哇！那邊一定很冷！
• 小李：其實還好，只是很常下雨。欸？冰箱是空的！
• 阿明：當然是空的啊！你才剛剛回來而已！
• 小李：對耶，我真的太渴了，沒辦法思考
• 阿明：那，我們趕快去便利商店買一瓶冰水吧！
• 小李：好，那我把冷氣關掉

Dialogue transcript (w/ pinyin and translation):

• 阿明：終於把行李都整理好了
  • Zhōngyú bǎ xínglǐ dōu zhěnglǐ hǎole
  • We finally finished unpacking all the luggage!
• 小李：對，我好累，而且我出了很多汗
  • Duì, wǒ hǎo lèi, érqiě wǒ chūle hěnduō hàn
  • Yeah, I'm so tired. And I sweat a lot!
• 阿明：你要記得喝水哦
  • Nǐ yào jìdé hē shuǐ ó
  • You gotta remember to drink water.
• 小李：這裡好熱！
  • Zhèlǐ hǎo rè!
  • It's so hot here!
• 阿明：哈哈！這就是台灣！很熱吧。
  • Hāhā! Zhè jiùshì táiwān! Hěn rè ba.
  • Haha! This is Taiwan! It's hot, huh?
• 小李：我都忘記台灣夏天有這麼熱
  • Wǒ dū wàngjì táiwān xiàtiān yǒu zhème rè
  • I totally forgot Taiwan's summers were so hot.
• 阿明：那你怎麼不開冷氣呢？
  • Nà nǐ zěnme bù kāi lěngqì ne?
  • So why don't you turn on the AC?
• 小李：哦對耶！我都忘記有冷氣了！這樣好多了！
  • Ó duì yé! Wǒ dū wàngjì yǒu lěngqìle! Zhèyàng hǎoduōle!
  • Oh right! I totally forgot there's AC! This is much better.
• 阿明：美國沒有冷氣嗎？
  • Měiguó méiyǒu lěngqì ma?
  • The US doesn't have AC?
• 小李：我住的地方沒有，只有暖氣
  • Wǒ zhù dì dìfāng méiyǒu, zhǐyǒu nuǎnqì
  • Where I live there isn't, there's only heating.
• 阿明：哇！那邊一定很冷！
  • Wa! Nà biān yīdìng hěn lěng!
  • Wow! It must be so cold there!
• 小李：其實還好，只是很常下雨。欸？冰箱是空的！
  • Qíshí hái hǎo, zhǐshì hěn cháng xià yǔ. Āi? Bīngxiāng shì kōng de!
  • Actually not really, it just rains a lot. Huh? The fridge is empty!
• 阿明：當然是空的啊！你才剛剛回來而已！
  • Dāngrán shì kōng de a! Nǐ cái gānggāng huílái éryǐ!
  • Of course it's empty! You only just got back!
• 小李：對耶，我真的太渴了，沒辦法思考
  • Duì yé, wǒ zhēn de tài kěle, méi bànfǎ sīkǎo
  • Oh right, I'm really too thirsty. I can't think.
• 阿明：那，我們趕快去便利商店買一瓶冰水吧！
  • Nà, wǒmen gǎnkuài qù biànlì shāngdiàn mǎi yī píng bīng shuǐ ba!
  • Then, let's hurry up and go to a convenience store to buy a bottle of ice water.
• 小李：好，那我把冷氣關掉
  • Hǎo, nà wǒ bǎ lěngqì guān diào
  • Ok, then I'll turn off the AC.

Want to support the podcast? ★ Support this podcast ★

Thanks for listening!