I LOVE how committed you guys are! And I think you’ve made the right decision, the future is here, and you guys are the perfect couple to represent how open-mindedness can bridge so many gaps!
@@Alan_and_Shannon In fact, you'll be surprised how quickly you'll get there!! 😛Think of it a way for you to simply spell out Chinese words with the common English alphabets, and then the input method in the computer/smart phones automatically matches all the correct characters for you (yes, and they auto-correct the characters as you type out the full sentence). In real life, many Chinese people these days don't even remember accurately how to write out certain characters in real life, because they also spent all of their time typing pinyin on their phones, instead of writing them stroke by stroke 🤣 If you want to try, the most popular and the smartest input method for Chinese is Sogou (搜狗)
As an American who crazily decided to study Chinese decades ago, has lived in Taiwan and China and still retains a decent amount of both spoken and written Chinese, you guys gave it a good try! 👍 It takes time and effort but it's not the most difficult language out there. Learning Chinese characters takes much time and effort but is absolutely necessary to function in China.
One proud mum here!! Fabulous video guys iv always wondered what you were like at school 😂😂 school together in Scotland now school together in China - amazing well done xx
You two are amazing. Comparing the first day to the last day, there is a big difference. You two are very inspiring. Now I am thinking maybe I can try to self learn Mandarin.
You can study by yourself. Also add once a week,. I recommend having someone to help with the tune. That is a key to be understood by native. You able to practice conversationally it make a big difference in your study.
I live in Wales but my wife is Chinese from Nanning, I am completely useless at learning the language but both my daughters speak Mandarin and Cantonese fluently, so I have three translators with me when in China .
@@Alan_and_Shannon I wish I did language when I was young, the older you get the harder it is, my girls aged 11 and 12 speak English-Welsh- mandarin- Cantonese and French. I can barely speak English :-)
Taking a week long language course is a rather novel travel experience!! Easily one of the best and most rewarding experiences I’ve ever come across from among travel vloggers. Proud of you two. I hope you keep it up and continue to grow into your China journey by communicating with the Chinese people 👍🏽
@@Alan_and_ShannonYou guys really impressed me. Keep at it and you will benefit in many ways in the future by knowing this language. Take my word for it. Just put an effort in it and you will definitely make it. Good luck! Love you guys!! ❤❤❤
Mandarin is not an easy language, but nothing is impossible if you put your heart, willingness and time into it. Yes in a week you can learn some basic everyday stuff but if you want to learn how to speak fluently, it might take a few years. It’s also depends how fast someone learn. Some people only takes a year or so but some can take longer. Yes guys… mandarin is definitely a beautiful language and I hope you guys continue learning. All the very best.
I am a big fan of yours and I am glad that you are starting to learn Chinese. You will be able to communicate with Chinese people and begin to understand this 5000 year old culture.
Very interesting vlog that's unlike previous ones! To a limited degree, the 3 East Asian languages complement one another as Japanese and Korean languages use the Chinese characters (Japanese kanji and Korean hanja) and 60% of the vocabulary of both languages are borrowed from Chinese. Some words sound quite similar / same for all 3 languages. Have fun!
Good for you guys to learn a new language. It is always challenging to learn something new. You guys have done a good job. All the best. Johnny from Singapore
Learning Mandarin is useful for you if you plan to do travel Vlog...you be surprise that many places around the world that some people can speak Mandarin. It will give you another mile to communicate with people around the globe.
I'm a Cantonese speaker and started learning Mandarin in the last few months and can relate to this. I think given that's only 1 week, your mandarin is improving. The key is to keep speaking it and let the locals correct you. I'd also recommend watching Chinese cartoons with pingyu subtitles etc.
Bravo for taking the time and effort on your travels to attend classes and learn a new language! You guys are doing great in such a short time, and it will definitely get better especially when you are in Chinese speaking environment. A good way to pronounce the words more accurately is to stick strictly to the four tones, pay close attention to the sounds from a native speaker and mimic as much as possible how they say it. All the best!
You have earned my respect with your commitment to learn chinese! Bravo! and I'm inspired to learn some basics before my trip later this year. Your video is different from the other foreign travelers in China - I l really liked it
If you are coming to China it will definitely help you having a basic understanding of numbers or how to order food etc. So glad you are enjoying our content 💙
I am so happy to see that you have reached the stage of learning Chinese radicals. Excellent job! Chinese radicals are as interesting as the roots of words in English and Latin-based languages like Italian. It’s wonderful to see you having this experience, and I am glad for you!
You two have done very well in just one week, and that's a great school. I hope you guys plan to continue. Being there gives you the best opportunity to practice what you have learned. Keep up with your great work!
Actually, I know how to learn a tonal language. For instance, I know nothing about Thai, but I got hooked on a video which is about Thai talent show and I watched it many times, so I imitated (or followed) how people talk, react etc (similar to learning an accent), and then I realised I am actually picking up their tones. So I guess you need to learn by ears.
It would be wonderful if you could spend an entire year studying Chinese :) That would be an opportunity for you to do more content in China and put into practice what you learn...
@@Alan_and_Shannon I fell in love with Chinese writing when I first started and focused on understanding its history and how it operates at the deepest levels. Do not do this if you are wanting to be proficient in travel/friend conversation - it takes years and years of work that you should use to focus on learning the HSK 3 level vocabulary in daily conversation. But - if you do want to learn the best parts of Chinese, follow the path back through time to see how it came about: Oracle bone script 1200 BC, Seal script 700 BC, RADICALS > ErYa 爾雅 - first dictionary 300 BC, Clerical script 260 BC, Regular script 230 AD, Man'yogana 万葉仮名 - [Inariyama Sword 471 AD] (source of Japanese writing: hiragana, katakana)
Language is a useful tool. I really would like to perfect my mother language Chinese first. My English is good enough to communicate. I want to learn Arabic and Spanish next . If time allows I will pick up French and Russian!
What a healthy attitude! Actually going as far as to learn Chinese after a visit to China. If you have done another two weeks of slogging, Jimmy, you would surely be able order sweet n sour haggis from the local Chinese takeaway in Dear Green Place!
You guys are doing great in just one week. With some basic vocabulary and understanding, surely it will help you get by with the locals a bit easier. Really look forward to see you practising your mandarin skills in your future vlog. Also, when it comes to writing Chinese characters, the basic rules of chinese stroke order are: top to bottome, left to right, and move from outside to inside if there is a frame....and have fun.
In Berlin I met a guy who was Asian with a English accent. In Scotland I met an Indian man with a Scotish accent. It really throws you for a second until you get used to it
I enjoy watching your experience learning this language. Should be proud of your progress. When you get more progress in the language. You will figure out you cannot always translate English to Chinese or the other way around.. Some sentences structure of how you say a sentence switches certain words or the opposite of English. For example, He is protective of his environment in Chinese is 他对保护自己环境。Tā duì bǎohù zìjǐ huánjìng. I wish you did more time in learning you find the language grammar and uses of words be little harder to understand when get immediate level. I am glad went out of your comfort zone and try it out. Also want to say, also almost went to this school but decide for a different one. I recommend trying immersion program in the language. Where only allow to speak the target language you are learning for 24:7 for few months.. That how I got used the language and how to put sentences together with grammar and words I learned. I hope you had enjoy your time too.
My friends, you are great. You can learn so much in one week. I hope you can continue to learn Chinese. When you know some Chinese, you can begin to appreciate China's ancient poems and discover the beauty of culture.
Fair play guys, ye made great improvents from basically zero in Day 1 to the end of the week. I speak basic Chinese and thought the teacher should have corrected your pronunciation on a "few occasions" especially with words beginning with X. Looked up the school online after and thought maybe about doing a refresher course there for a week as it seems pretty good. Tell me this though, were they lenient on your pronunciation because it was a "sponsored video" and it didn't cost you a lot? If I pay the fees they're quoting, I'd want them to be stricter with my mistakes if ya catch my drift! BTW I met ye both before in Guangzhou in January. I got you both a bit drunk in my pub in Guangzhou and ye were too hungover the next day to do Hotpot ha ha.
Thank you very much, they pushed us to learn a lot more in 1 week I think that’s why they were less strict on the pronunciation. But everyone at the school is different levels so you can tell them before hand what you want to achieve from the course. That was such an amazing night, one we still talk about🤣
A long time ago, I heard that foreigners said Chinese is the most difficult to learn. On the other hand, when we were in school, we also thought English was the most difficult to learn. Seeing you two learning Chinese Pinyin is very similar to how I taught English in school when I was a child. Hahaha, come on, what a lovely couple. By the way, I think you should first understand that each Chinese character has four tones. I think this is very important, as the meaning of a word is different when it is pronounced with different tones. For example, in the video, if you read 123456789 10, 4 Chinese characters are the fourth tone of the tone, and 10 is indeed the second tone of the tone. These two numbers are pronounced very closely with different tones, and it is easy to confuse 4 and 10,; The pinyin si is 4; Pinyin shi means 10
You guys didn't learn anything related to travel? I wish you guys learn some practical stuff that you can communicate in restaurant, metro, taxi, hotel, shops etc.
