Perform Chinese: A Language Course for True Beginners

In this episode, we rehearse three acts. Act 1 On the street, you come across your Chinese friend whom you meet on a regular basis. Friend: 欸，小波。你去哪儿啊？(āi, Xiǎobō 。Nǐ qù nǎér a ？) Me: 我去办一点事。你呢？(Wǒ qù bàn yīdiǎn shì 。Nǐ ne ？) Act 2 Class is over. Ask your classmate where she is going to see whether you are heading in the same direction. Me: 你去哪儿啊？(Nǐ qù nǎér a ？) Classmate:我去____(Wǒ qù____)。  Act 3 State that you are going to the same destination: 我也去____(Wǒ yě qù ____)。

Have you ever heard your friends complain that their Chinese neighbors in China were "nosy" because they liked to ask about destinations when coming across each other in the neighborhood? Well, the Chinese neighbor doesn’t really expect you to tell them your destination. But why do they ask?  Listen to this episode to find out the reason. You will learn to respond to the question in different contexts. You will also learn to state some common destinations on campus.

This episode helps you rehearse three acts. Act 1 Respond to what you hear in Chinese as quickly as you can as if you are in a conversation. After the pause, you will hear a sample response provided by your classmate. Act 2 You are at a Starbucks in Beijing, waiting for your friend Lili whom you have not met for a while. You would like to buy her a coffee in return for her helping you get settled. Now, Lili comes, about 20 minutes late. Act 3 Now you are at the counter and it's your turn to order. You decide to have the same drink as Lili, so you order two of the drink Lili ordered.

In this episode, we go over the things you learned to do in Chinese so far. Below is a list of the things you have learned. As you listen, check off the ones that you can immediately recall. 1. Excitedly greet a friend you have not seen for a while: _________ 2. Ask the friend how she has been recently:_________ 3. State that you have been quite busy: _________ 4. State that your spouse been the same as before: _________ 5. Ask what she wants to drink: _________ 6. State that you want a coffee: _________ 7. Ask your friend whether they want a large cup or a small one: _________ 8. State that you want a hot Americano: _________ 9. Ask your friend how their studies have been going: _________ 10. State that your studies have been alright, not too busy:_________ 11. Ask your friend whether they find Chinese difficult: _________ 12. State that you find Chinese a little difficult: _________ 13. Ask your friend whether they have cats: _________ 14. Ask them how many cats they have:_________ 15. State that you don't have cats but you have dogs: _________ 16. State that your parents have been too tired: _________ 17. Ask your friend if they have any younger siblings:  18. State that you do not have younger siblings but you have an elder sister: _________

Supplementary vocab: 1. Latte (拿铁/nátiě) 2. Cappuccino (卡普奇诺/kǎpǔqínuò)  3. Mocha (摩卡/mókǎ).  4. Macchiato (玛奇朵/ mǎqíduǒ). In this episode, we rehearse five acts. Act 1 Order the same drink your friend orders: 我也要…… (Wǒ yě yào ……)。 Act 2 Correct the barista by saying that you are ordering one more cup. Barista: 您要一杯拿铁，是吗 (Nín yào yì bēi nátiě, shì ma)？ Me: 不是，我要两杯拿铁 (Bú shì, wǒ yào liǎng bēi ná tiě)。 Act 3 Correct the barista by saying that you ordered the opposite size. Barista: 您要一个大杯星冰乐，是吗 (Nín yào yígè dàbēi xīngbīnglè，shì ma )？ Me: 不是，我要一个小杯星冰乐 (Bú shì，wǒ yào yígè xiǎobēi xīngbīnglè)。 Act 4 Take the order: 喝什么 (Hē shénme)?  and ask your customer whether they want a large one or a small one: 大杯的，还是小杯的 (Dàbēi de, háishì xiǎobēi de)？ Act 5 Ask your customer whether they want the hot version or the iced version: 热的，还是冰的 (Rè de, háishì bīng de)？

Ordering drinks in Chinese is easy as long as you know how to say the item you want to order. In this episode, you will learn to say some of the items on Starbucks' menu. Don't worry about memorizing all the menu items now; just try to remember what you like to order. 1. coffee (咖啡/kāfēi) 2. Americano (美式咖啡/Měishì kāfēi) 3. green tea (绿茶/lǜ chá） 4. black tea (红茶/hóng chá) 5. Frappuccino (星冰乐/xīng bīng lè) 6. large (大杯/dà bēi)；medium(中杯/zhōng bēi)；small (小杯/xiǎo bēi) 7. hot (热的/rè de); iced (冰的/bīng de)

In this episode, we rehearse three acts. Act 1 Your Chinese friend comments on your weight. Respond to her comment by redirecting the topic:  Friend: 好久不见了！你胖了一点。(Hǎojiǔ bú jiàn le ！ nǐ pàng le yìdiǎn 。) Me: 是吗？你最近怎么样啊？(Shì ma? Nǐ zuìjìn zěnmeyàng a?) Act 2 Explain that your work or study has kept you too busy or exhausted: 哎呀，我工作太忙了（āiya, wǒ gōngzuò tài máng le ）。哎呀，我学习太累了( āiya, wǒ xuéxí tài lèi le 。)。 Act 3 Your friend makes an assumption about your situation. Confirm their assumption but downgrade itto not worry her. Friend: 你工作挺忙的吧(Nǐ gōngzuò hěn máng ba) ？ Me: 嗯，有一点忙(En, yǒuyìdiǎn máng)。

In China, it’s natural to comment on someone’s appearance in a direct way, but you might find it embarrassing. In this episode, you will learn ways to respond to such embarrassing comments.

In this episode, we rehearse three acts. Act 1: State that you have been OK: 我还行(wǒ hái xíng)。 Act 2: Restate what you hear in a softened tone without significantly changing the meaning: 我很…… vs. 我挺……的 (Wǒ hěn …… vs  Wǒ tǐng …… de)。我不…… vs. 我不太……(Wǒ bù …… vs  Wǒ bú tài ……)。 Act 3: Your Chinese friend wonders whether you find Chinese difficult or not. Respond with a different degree word each time,  from the highest degree "hěn nán" to the lowest "bù nán." 很难 (hěn nán) 挺难的 (tǐng nán de) 有一点难 (yǒu yī diǎn nán) 还行 (hái xíng) 不太难 (bútài nán) 不难 (bù nán)

When it comes to expressing personal feelings and opinions, the Chinese prefer to be indirect. In this episode, you will learn how to modify your statements about personal feelings to avoid sounding too blunt.

In this episode, we rehearse four acts. ACT 1 Greet a friend you've not seen for a while: 好久不见了！你最近怎么样啊？(Hǎojiǔ bú jiàn le, nǐ zuìjìn zěnmeyàng a ？) ACT 2 Tell your friend that you've not been what they thought you've been, but your spouse has: 我不……，不过我爱人很……(Wǒ bù ......, bú guò wǒ àirén hěn .......). ACT 3 Tell your friend that you've been in the same state as them: 我也……(Wǒ yě ......). ACT 4 Ask about updates of your friend's family members: 你的____怎么样啊？(Nǐ de____ zěnmeyàng a ？)

The Chinese do not use "Nihao" to greet friends. In this episode, you will learn a formulaic phrase that the Chinese use to greet a friend with excitement. 

Hey! We are Perform Chinese! Did people tell you Chinese is difficult to learn? That's because they did not PERFORM it.  With Perform Chinese, you learn to converse in Chinese RIGHT away.  You will find Chinese NO more difficult than ANY other language. Did you say the words and grammar are hard to memorize? Don't be fooled! Learning a language is NOT about memorizing the words and grammar; it's about learning to DO things in Chinese culture. Our lessons put YOU in specific DAILY situations where YOU interact with a Chinese speaker, so your brain will be ready to learn what to say in the situation. Then we teach you the appropriate expressions. We also make sure you RE-encounter the situations often enough to register the expressions naturally, so when you encounter similar situations, you will immediately understand what's going on WITHOUT hearing the specific words or grammar. So, why wait? Try Perform Chinese now!

In this episode, we practice saying "correct" and "incorrect" in Chinese. Tang laoshi will ask your classmate Di Ya to do some calculations (i.e., addition problems) and ask you and Yuan Xii to decide whether Di Ya's response is correct. Duì！/对！ Bú duì！/不对！ Conversation scripts: Táng lǎoshī: Dí Yà，yī jiā yī shì duōshǎo ？ Dí Yà: èr 。 Táng lǎoshī: Duì bú duì，Yuán Xī ？ Yuán Xī: Duì ！ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 唐老师：一加一是多少？ 狄亚：二。 唐老师：对不对，元夕？ 元夕：对！

Now that you know how to things in Chinese, you are ready for the song "Two Tigers" - two weird tigers. Chinese lyrics: Liǎng zhī lǎohǔ, /两只老虎， liǎng zhī lǎohǔ. /两只老虎。 Pǎo de kuài, /跑得快 ， pǎo de kuài. /跑得快。  Yī zhī méiyǒu ěrduǒ, /一只没有耳朵， yī zhī méiyǒu wěibā. /一只没有尾巴。 Zhēn qíguài, /真奇怪！ zhēn qíguài./真奇怪！ English lyrics: Two tigers Two tigers Running fast Running fast One has no ears One has no tail Really weird Really weird.  

In this episode, we rehearse four acts. ACT 1 Tell your friend that you don’t have the sibling they ask about, but you have other siblings:我没有XX， 不过我有YY (Wǒ méiyǒu XX, búguò wǒ yǒu YY)。 ACT2 Ask about the number of siblings your friend has: 你有几个XX (Nǐ yǒu jǐ gè XX)? ACT3 Ask about the number of colleagues or classmates: 你有几个同事/同学 (Nǐ yǒu jǐ gè tóngshì /tóngxué)？ ACT4 Measure words for chairs, tables, and plates.  one chair:一把椅子(yì bǎ yǐzi). one table: 一张桌子(yì zhāng zhuōzi). one plate: 一个盘子(yí gè pánzǐ).

In this episode, you learn to ask about the NUMBER of siblings, children, coworkers, classmates, dogs, or cats your friend has.

What if you don't know any more Chinese to keep a conversation going, or you need to excuse yourself from your Chinese friend's party? This episode teaches you how to politely excuse yourself from a conversation.

This episode invites you to participate in two extended conversations in Chinese. Skit 1: You come to Tang Laoshi’s office to practice Chinese. Start with knocking on the door. Skit 2: At a banquet hosted by your company, you try to network with two Chinese guests - a lady and a man sitting next to her. Since your company is hosting it, don’t forget to extend a welcome to your guests.

Congratulations! You've reached the first milestone of Perform Chinese! This episode invites you to look back and see how much you can do now in Chinese after just two weeks of learning.