Narrative on the Behalf of Yoyo Chinese
记叙 代表 优优中文
Jìxù Dàibiǎo Yōuyōu Zhōngwén
作家/Zuòjiā/Author: Marilynn Stark
Featuring : Five Basic Key Points of ‘Xiangfa’ When Speaking in Chinese
特色 : 想法的五基本要义用汉语说的时候
Tèsè: Xiǎngfǎ de wǔ jīběn yàoyì yòng hànyǔ shuō de shíhòu
Preface
Welcome to Jìxù Dàibiǎo Yōu Yōu Zhōng Wén.
To find a teacher who is truly dedicated to the dissemination of knowledge is a gift to a student. An earnest student of any branch of knowledge or even as concerns a simple topic within a given discipline will benefit from the experience of learning from such a dedicated teacher. Indeed, it becomes more of a joy to learn from someone who is also earnestly teaching and has gone deeply into how best to get the material across to the interested learner.
When a language is the object of learning, it quite simply involves communication. In teaching a language, the attributes of a teacher bear down upon the learning experience of the student quite remarkably. There can be no pretentiousness between teacher and student since knowledge of how to speak, how to communicate, is either there or it is not there – and what is communicated can only build mutual understanding if it can build on what is known by the student, what has been learned by the student.
When a dedicated teacher is also experienced and therefore knowledgeable about how a student will best understand the language, and if she also knows how a student actually learns what is at hand, then another dimension of capability in the teacher comes into play. This elevated didacticism of the more capable language teacher will heighten the communication level from teacher to student. The student will gain a facility in the learning process with such a perspicacious teacher who somehow knows how people learn, and, therefore, how they will learn best.
The reputation of Mandarin as a language that is at best extrememly difficult or impossible for the Western mind to learn is a long-standing comment in the academic frame of reference as well as in common parlance. Even if the average person knows not a word of Chinese, still, that person will be likely to say one thing for sure: Chinese is the most difficult language in the world to learn. At Yoyo Chinese you have come across a talented teacher who sees more deeply than that iteration of the sheer difficulty of learning Mandarin bordering on the impossible. Yoyo Chinese indeed goes way beyond the parameters of difficulty as the ruling feature of learning Mandarin. Yoyo Chinese as a teaching itself will undo that commonly held misconception about Mandarin as being impossible to learn!
It just so happened that I fell in love with Mandarin, and this came about since I as a martial artist became fond of watching martial arts movies in Mandarin. The English subtitles were of course vital to me, but one day my ear became caught in the language. I began to experiment using a translator application, and then I started to decipher for myself what was being said now in the drama but on a minuscule scale, very minuscule. I would pick up a few words a day and relish them. I also could say the words I looked up, and I cherished saying them. It became a challenge to phonetically sound out certain chosen words I was hearing and from there to try to find the real Mandarin word itself with its pinyin counterpart in what became the ultimate source for me, the Pleco Dictionary. After thus familiarizing myself with words and expressions from drama videos, I began to pose phrases and sentences in English, input them into the translator, and hear their translations spoken in Mandarin. I would simply read the pinyin and match it with its English counterpart. This became for me like opening the door to Mandarin even further; I was enraptured to be able to cross that chasm of ignorance to knowledge and see what could be said. That drove me to memorize many, many sentences I had myself composed. So began my own journey into learning this exotic language, one whose almost sing-songy nature I had always admired from a tremendous distance for its enchanting sound and monosyllabic nature as I seemingly understood intuitively its nature.
In searching for ways to improve my understanding of Mandarin through vocabulary building, I traveled all throughout the Internet. Ultimately, I landed at Yoyo Chinese. YangYang Cheng, the founder and teacher at Yoyo Chinese, immediately caught my attention when I came across her in a video where she was teaching pinyin. I saw her as one whose attributes as a teacher clearly demonstrated to me that through good fortune I had found a most unusually gifted teacher. It became obvious to me that YangYang would be one who matches the idea that she can not only teach but also can teach from the fundamental idea of getting the truth across to her students successfully. It seemed to me that reaching the student was clearly YangYang’s top priority. It is this precise equation – comprehension from teacher to student — to which she has to the utmost devoted herself, and that equation is her distinctive element of excellence. In a language learning experience, this is everything; this is it. In fact, YangYang actually seems to teach so well that she makes things easier for the student whereas another teacher may not do so. I have experienced this phenomenon while learning from YangYang many times. Indeed, YangYang just streams her knowledge forth effortlessly and with a kind of wisdom or know-how that makes the listener feel confident and composed.
May I describe further some of my experience while learning at YoyoChinese. I for one had the sense that the teacher I had found had her syllabus all configured sequentially so as to elicit the best results in her students. YangYang places a premium value on clear presentation as she teaches. She compassionately tells you that learning Mandarin will be easy, and then she proceeds to display that very element of easiness transparently as she unfolds her lesson. This is like a win-win situation in a language being taught and learned. Mandarin’s tonal nature, for instance, may tend to baffle the mind of a Western student unless there is confidence conveyed from teacher to student! The teacher YangYang enthusiastically teaches to win the student to knowledge, and, as she succeeds, the student also wins the knowledge. In fact, YangYang has created a unique, highly original way of teaching the tones of Mandarin in pinyin that simply leap over barriers to realizing how to speak in the beginning learner’s platform. YangYang’s beginners’ platform for pinyin just flattens any difficulties that might be there for the student. If any reader here has attempted to learn Mandarin and resigned to being permanently rejected as to success due to not understanding how to approach the tones, then my highest, most compassionate recommendation is to study this with YangYang online at yoyochinese. YangYang performs the magic of making the student see that tones are also used in speaking English, and as she sets up a correspondence in tones between the two languages, she creates reference points for the new speaker of Mandarin by tapping tones drawn from English vernacular or way of saying things that match the Mandarin tones. This is an act of genius on the part of YangYang. She, I believe, devised a way to use the power of association between the two languages as far as achieving proper tones.
Let us face the fact also that the pictorial nature of the characters in the language of Mandarin are novel to the mind of a Romance language native speaker. YangYang guided me right through that challenge with expert, knowing advice: let the Hanzi wait while you concentrate on the tones, the pinyin. Even so, with only pinyin at first, one is early on speaking conversationally on and on and on under her tutelage and that of the rest of her dedicated team at Yoyo Chinese.
This article, Jìxù Dàibiǎo YōuYōu Zhōngwén，is dedicated to YangYang Cheng since it emanates from the opportunity I have in being her student and thus learning Mandarin from her. It is my hope that this article will help you, the reader, a chance to stretch your wings into Mandarin. Yet,the pithy topic at hand may persuade you of what I say. It may also cultivate in your mind a deeper understanding of what YangYang through her teaching method has delivered to me for one; therefore, a more profound learning experience in Mandarin may be yours as I in turn pass it on to you. I am so inspired by this teacher that I want to pass on the nugget of how she has taught me in Mandarin. May I add that this inspiration had literally driven me to express what I will next relate to you in this preface, and this regards five fundamental points to train the mind to pick up Mandarin.
The section called, Five Basic Key Points of ‘Xiangfa’ When Speaking in Chinese, will render the student some deeper insights into how to cultivate the mind for learning Mandarin, for learning how to speak Mandarin. These five points I have extracted exactly from how YangYang teaches — from how I began to form sentences in Mandarin under her tutelage.
Perhaps you as reader here will immediately grapple with the exact meaning of the word 想法 xiǎngfǎ. Let us first parse the word xiǎngfǎ, also pronounced as xiǎngfa wherein the second syllable assumes a neutral tone instead of a third tone.
想 xiǎng means to think, ponder or consider. It also can mean to suppose or reckon.
法fǎ means law, method, way, mode, standard or model.
When the two words xiǎng and fǎ are put together to comprise xiǎngfǎ , then the defintion in Pleco leaps to idea or ‘what one has on one’s mind. ‘
Xiǎngfǎ as used in the sense in this article means ‘what one has in mind.’ I would like to draw more succinctly from the fǎ component, stressing the definition of ‘way’ for fǎ and see xiǎngfǎ more carefully as ‘way of thinking.’ This may sound abstract, and it is also just that: abstract; nevertheless, xiǎngfǎ does, indeed, precipitate into the real, the concrete, during live conversation or in writing unavoidably when a student is conceptualizing in the language Mandarin. However, it would be ideal for me to illustrate certain shades or modalities of meanings for xiǎngfǎ as used herein so that it will be more useful to you from the outset of its introduction in the work at hand.
Certainly, as you become more and more acclimated to the language of Mandarin, so will you become more knowing of Chinese culture. In my own personal instance in this vein, the martial arts culture of ancient China and of China right down through the ages to the present day simply engrossed me in the language once I committed myself religiously to learning it. I became immersed in China TV dramas in the form of videos spoken in Mandarin (relying on subtitles, naturally) that are extensively available to the seeker in the media. Others might be fascinated by the architecture of China, by its fine cuisine or its ancient history, its calligraphy, or by the power of Chinese acupuncture. However the Chinese culture may gain the interest of any foreigner is one thing; but, from whatever facet or multi-faceted channel of input or study that may attract one to become a student of the language of Mandarin there is yet another thing that is profoundly true: learning the language of a people constitutes an in-depth way of understanding the culture of the people. To be educated unto the culture of a people builds an understanding of those people – those people can be thus better understood. In this world a better understanding of people can open eyes, it can open doors, and it can open new conference capability whether in business or in diplomacy; and colloquially, exchanges with people one-on-one in an everyday context can muster a new day for those individuals. No entity is more important than the individual. If art reflects the soul of a culture as I believe it does, then to even approach an understanding of any art of China in hand with a familiarity of the language of China must be engaging if not enlightening.
For me to say that as one learns Mandarin one becomes adept at how the native speakers of Mandarin think is not as bold nor as distantly true as one might surmise. This topic may not lend itself to any ease of persuasion at first; however, I am willing to delve into it in deference to its salient positing of method in learning Mandarin that is the very gist of the academic side of this article.
As one goes along in studying Mandarin, one is bound to come across idioms. One such idiom that comes to mind immediately is this:
见义勇为 jiànyìyǒngwéi. This is defined in the MDBG.net dictionary as: “to see what is right and act courageously (idiom, from Analects); to stand up bravely for the truth / acting heroically in a just cause.” Pleco dictionary defines this idiom as: “see what is right and have the courage to do it; ready to take up the cudgels for a just cause.”
As one who is by spiritual remand given deeply to devotion to a martial art, though a practitioner of Korean karate and not a Chinese martial art, this idiom sums up for me how it is that I was ever even led into the study of Mandarin. I thrived on movies that told the great stories of heroic ventures, depicting the heroism and moral righteousness of warriors caught up in empire wars of ancient China. I also found movies of individual martial artists, wuxia, or knights errant, who captivate the audience with their brave journeys and heroic deeds. Thus, both for individual martial artists and for empires with trained armies together was the magnetic spirit of heroism imparted to me, but there was one catch: the language was Mandarin, and moreover, the culture was Chinese.
May I act as guide to any who are newer to Chinese than I and say that these four words, 见义勇为 jiànyìyǒngwéi describe a philosophical soundness of mind and moral virtue that are the very keel and source of action versus inaction thinking from which the entire worldview of a warrior is built or should be properly built: it is known as the strict code, or the martial arts code. This code sets up the following: for the use of action in the physical,for any use of the martial art, it is required by the strict code that such action is for use in self-defense and in self-defense only. To put it more directly, according to the martial arts code techniques may be known by the proficient practitioner, but those techniques cannot be used except for the purpose of self-defence.
The strict code just cited is even encapsulated by standing social mores in the classical argument of school children being corrected out of fight by a reasoning authority whereby one of the contenders will declare innocence by stating that the other had started the fight.
How such righteousness perfuses the mind of the warrior of truth, indeed, is summed up profoundly by 见义勇为 jiànyìyǒngwéi. Centuries of the passing down from teacher to student in the various spiritual disciplines of martial arts can be viewed as having been guided with such a meaningful mode of righteous conduct in the wider world and in any local sense certainly; that is, wars have been guided by moral righteousness and so have daily lives of martial arts practitioners living out their individual lives. The righteousness that guides the practice of knowledge of self-defence preserves the practioners, the masters and the entire style or tradition of art of those masters, and this has been so from ancient times down through the ages to the present. That righteousness in defence fundamentally also defines and saves nations, thus preserving nations for birth itself or for a justified battle for a better place in the wider world according to any such socio-political conditions as might prevail for any given nation or nations together.
Thus, is the mind not captivated by these four pithy words of Confucius? The first one, 见 jiàn， meaning to see, speaks of how the mind will work from a vision. In essence, the xiǎngfǎ of anyone, not just the warrior or martial artist, is thus cited through the word 见 jiàn and is simply the premise of the three words that succeed 见 jiàn in this idiom.
To break down the translation of this 成语 chéngyǔ (chéngyǔ = idiom) not even so much as a case in point relating to the larger article would be my great joy, for then I might relish in the idiom itself for its own worth before moving on in the essay herein. However, this chosen idiom will further help to unravel the ‘way of thinking’ or xiǎngfǎ as conveyed through the meaning of its words eminently well, comprising a careful case in point so as not to digress ultimately from the article at hand.
Therefore, if a given idiom can exemplify how to understand what is xiǎngfǎ in any sense at all, then a significant stride has been made towards the goal of learning Mandarin. In fact,further on,the nugget of this article, Five Basic Key Points of Xiǎngfǎ When Speaking in Chinese, is explicated, starting on page 28. Gaining a sense of what is xiǎngfǎ will engender a preparedness in the mind of the reader for the material being presented in that respective part of this article just referred to as the nugget. Indeed, this meaning of xiǎngfǎ as introduced through such a pithy saying from Confucius himself, a venerated sage of ancient China, can easily be extended to the selfsame xiǎngfǎ that is applied in learning to speak conversational Mandarin.
Jiànyìyǒngwéi: An Idiom Unfurled
见义勇为
The words in this idiom are defined as follows:
- 见 jiàn: to see; to appear to be something
- 义 yì: righteousness, justice
- 勇 yǒng: brave, courageous
- 为 wéi: to take something as; to act as; to serve as; to behave as; to become; to be; to do; to act; to govern; to handle
- 义勇 yìyǒng: righteous and courageous
Literally, this four-word idiom would be taken as follows: ‘see righteousness brave act.’
In this literal translation itself is implanted greater meaning than what is spelled out, and this is true to the nature of many Chinese idioms. Interestingly, it may come as no surprise that some idioms can only be understood within a perspective that is the result of cultural familiarity since such idioms might be related to an historical fact or a culturally imparted sense of tradition or way of regarding things: all things Chinese. Without further discourse on a topic with which I am familiar but not an expert, let us simply consider this particular idiom as best as we can.
This idiom for me actually becomes centrally disposed to why I ever began to learn Mandarin in the first place. In the martial arts videos and episodic dramas I watched the theme at the forefront of my mind and heart was exactly as summed up in
jiànyìyǒngwéi. To pursue stories and characters who portrayed the essence of heroism while facing embattlement or while in the heat of battle for me became solidly linked to the language Mandarin. Repeating here the literal translation,‘see righteousness brave act,’a solution to know-how in living is offered the inquirer who would be likely to ponder how to conduct oneself in general in life if stirred deeply by this idiom; would it not be so? Yet the paucity of words in the idiom may tend to simplify its meaning, thereby obviating a deeper inquiry into that meaning for the shallow-minded individual. In fact, such verbiage so sparse on its surface might even oversimplify the idiom unto an expressly made answer to a narrow question, a single incident of happenstance or blind fate. Well then, which is it? If one defers humbly to the sagacity of Confucius, then one is inspired or indeed compelled to think more deeply upon the true meaning of jiànyìyǒngwéi; one may reflect that applying this idea of the nature of action as owing its source to ‘how to see’could embrace more than a single instance of performing a deed out of bravery, indeed.
Immediately, then, the doer of an action has to make a choice as to what extent doership may prevail in a more general sense. The four words have leaped into a wider, more universal consideration – that of seeing according to a code given down from Confucius that finds its roots in the mind for righteousness. It is not that this idiom is a piece of advice for a single event, for one event that may by the law of probability in anyone’s life just happen one day. By following that narrow path to good behavior just once in a lifetime – is that what the idiom means, forsooth? Accordingly,this idiom would signify that once to have bravely acted through right deed as derived from proper discernment of mind would be all that should be expected; that never would one have to worry that such experience may visit the life again and form a pattern or a likelihood? Is this what Confucius himself meant to impart to mankind in this idiom? Or do those four words, ‘see righteousness brave act,’ in reality’s light actually mean more than a simple prescription in a perilous situation that places its burden on the soul but once or twice in an entire lifetime?
The Chinese mind is already prepared to contemplate a greater sense to an idiom, a sense that is in its true worth a totality greater than the sum of its parts. This is not a minor point. Although this may even be obvious, nor is it simple. Any person who abides by a good conscience born of a discerning mind is likely to know that to convey and to inspire this truth in others of an algorithm to good behavior born of a conviction of mind that honors at once courage and righteousness is no small task. Notwithstanding, entire cultural values center on it. Entire legal systems center on it. Lives are made or broken according to its dictum, the very dictum of righteousness.
Yet, in real life of action that rises off the page wherein words are written for contemplation, Confucius may teach you that to see by righteousness alone by itself requires an ingredient of bravery in the very first place; then to act according to that vision requires bravery. Thus do the two words most notably fuse to give 义勇 yìyǒng: definitionally, righteous and courageous. Righteousness and courage become one.
This one word, yìyǒng, that has fused from two, or these two individuated words as yì(righteous) and yǒng (courageous,) are further flanked and enriched in their meaning by the verb 为 wéi. Moreover, this second verb in the greater sequence of words that comprise the idiom jiànyìyǒngwéi reflects precisely back to the first verb in the idiom, jiàn, meaning to see. Take now for the sake of contemplative reference the meaning of wéi as ‘to become.’ At the start of one’s journey to righteousness of mind in regards to all things, one may only see the value of goodness, of kindness, of heroic heart. One may not know how to impart that inchoate vision of goodness in daily matters or in urgent considerations. However, if one seeks the guidance of a seer, of a seer’s idiom as cited here, knowhow can be achieved. This idiom of Confucius will upon summon speak succinctly to the question of moral conduct while at the same time it will expand the mind through the heart’s quest for correct behavior; inevitably, through the test of trials one can actually become, wéi, true to oneself as reliably heroic. Seeing, jiàn, becomes, wéi, operative upon action as according to yìyǒng, or the righteous and the courageous. Vision has now melded into what defines the character as noble.
Righteousness and courage are two essential ingredients to such a development of high character that can prescribe for an individual a useful course of action in life that may even embue the mind unto a beatific mindset, an essential vision, that will never die even when tested in actions.
One may see what is right from a cowardly stance and not be able to enact according to good conscience, and thus would one fall to unrighteous behavior in many instances due to lack of courage. For the page of written word to be unfurled into real life’s action constitutes a feat. The page may be unfurled unto a vision now unfolded from the mind’s eye, from the very xiǎngfǎ with which we concern ourselves in this discourse. In the heart linked to the mind there is a premeditated vision of reason to pursue the path of righteousness. Therewith does the courage of conviction of mind impart an entire way of thinking. This way of thinking, this xiǎngfǎ, would be translated into some instantaneous or carefully sought out course of action. Wisdom thus known is knowledge placed in the how-to. Now the idiom of Confucius says all of this in four words: jiànyìyǒngwéi. A student of Mandarinin forming an entire xiǎngfǎ requisite to knowing how to communicate with native Chinese people must simply surrender to the pictorial, the profoundly expansive, conceptual nature of Mandarin such that this ancient language can be so terse. This idiom is a perfect illustration of that warning, or, kindlier, reminder. I may say ‘warning’ since it can be trying as a student of Mandarin to see into the words of some sentences where one would see omissions rather than terseness! This way of thinking according to the mandates of Mandarin where certain words will be left out for the sake of economy unto brevity becomes a valuable insight into how the Chinese people speak and think.
Perhaps this lengthy analysis of an idiom spoken by Confucius can convince the mind trained by birth in Western language. It is in Western languages such as English where the resolve of words is by its own natural proliferation a normative diction. Conversely, Mandarin can speak yet beyond what is precisely uttered. English poetry can accomplish the same thing by its own extension through picturesque brand.
From the foregoing, one can gather how xiǎngfǎ is unfolded in the mind. The mind is introduced to some words, however few or however many. In this case of the four words of an idiom, jiànyìyǒngwéi, it is demonstrated that if one contemplates the four words together for how they interconnect, then an entire vision can be cultivated that will guide the doer into right action at any given time. This power of right conduct is born of seeing, jiàn. Yet would an elder simply say to a child who may be learning how to fend on the playground where bullies enter and contend for unjust fight, “Just see. That is all. Just see.” See what? See how? The child may know that the elder means well in any advice given, but this terse advice will not engender a way of thinking that will be helpful or holistic in the mind of the child unless the child is some kind of precocious philosophical/metaphysical prodigy who can make tremendous sense of the word‘see’and need no other coaching. In fact, what may present visually to the child may be so threatening and atrocious when a bully presents his/her aggression that the mind is obliterated as to any choice in action as an answer to what is being witnessed. A child can freeze in fear of a threat from a bully, not knowing what to do on the spot.
This instance above of a parent paring down the four-word idiom to one word as advice to the child, the idiom’s seminal conceptual word of jiàn, illustrates how xiǎngfǎ forms in the mind – in a sense the thinking itself must be complete. A simple part or fragment will not necessarily convey, will not spawn, a contemplative ardor for truth so as to foment an entire way of thinking, a xiǎngfǎ. In contrast, entire readiness for action when danger strikes for the self or for another can be formed in the mind through the power of the Confucius idiom.
In real life, what presents may be not only danger. In real life also, entire decisions that relate to hallowed destiny’s hold may be formed from a xiǎngfǎ that is exactly derived from jiànyìyǒngwéi. A student may be struggling with a question as to what to become in the way of professional occupation. Lo and behold, up comes a xiǎngfǎ, a way of thinking, that has been formulated previously and over long years and hard experience. Now the student is solving a puzzle in life as to destiny, and how the student derives an answer as to a chosen pursuit of livelihood has been etched into the mind already much as a formula. This etching resides in the mind and waits only to be tapped: it is to find a daily life in the future as to occupation or profession that will build from having an opportunity to fend for that which is right and that which is good towards others all the time on a typical day. All that will be relevant in such a destiny will be pre-defined as concerning a ‘way of thinking’ that is in definitional harmony with a way of acting that helps others. The moral virtue of a youth was formed somewhere up in northern China when years before attending university that youth as a mere child had one day encountered a saying of Confucius, jiànyìyǒngwéi. In this founding of a mindset by the power of words to influence and mold the inner, philosophical eye of a growing child was born a doctor, or a policeman, or a soldier, or a lawyer in the making. The child began to live to love and do good, and now in choosing destiny, the same rules apply as according to a certain xiǎngfǎ.
Confucius did not mean to disconnect the second and third words as more relevant than the first and the fourth, did he? A bully can be brave in doing what is wrong to others, mistaking wrong for right due to false ego. A bully may simply not understand the synergy of four words that go together in sound heard or on the reading assignment page he or she looks over in passing. Similarly, a student of Mandarin may hear a grammatical construction once or twice, read its translation, analyze it, and yet fall short of solidly learning it. Such a student may not have yet built a ‘way of thinking’ or xiǎngfǎ that will reside in the mind for use in speaking correctly according to that exact grammatical structure. Such a deficiency in the manner of expression may baffle a native Mandarin speaker who would have to exert extra effort in order to comprehend what kind of quirky thing has been said!
Scenario: Grammar Builds Intrigue
As an example of a hazy concept of how to use a grammatical construction and how this uncertainty can interrupt clear communication of precise meaning, let us imagine a foreigner in China who is trying his best to help the police find a wanted criminal who has robbed a bank. In the course of the dialogue with the questioners the non-native speaker of Mandarin innocently says the following: “我 说了 对 您 是 他 那时候 一个 很 多 钱 的 人 的 .” “Wǒ shuōle duì nín shì tā nà shíhòu yīgè hěnduō qián de rén de.” The police had asked him to repeat this sentence because they were trying to figure out what exactly he had meant! As the statement stands, the good Samaritan was saying this: “(What) I said to you is that it is he (who was) a person of a lot of money at that time.” Yet he could have been meaning to say that his friend or acquaintance was looking for a way to have a large sum of money at that time, that a large sum of money lived as a desire in the mind of the man under the scrutiny of detectives who were looking for a bank robber. Why? The shì . . . de structure serves a basic purpose of emphasizing facts within a period of time usually from the past. Nowhere was the verb ‘yǒu’ entered to indicate the real status of the good Samaritan’s friend as actually having a lot of money. Instead, the most sought-after detail the police were seeking — how much was the suspect worth in the span of time when the robbery had occurred — was left in grammatical limbo. In fact, the placement, the exact placement of shì in the sentence in actuality plays up the role of the importance of the given details since those details must be included within the shì . . . de structure in order for them to gain emphasis. To have placed the shì before the tā means that the good Samaritan is subtly implying that it was he himself who had a lot of money at the time of the robbery. By differentiating himself from his friend implicitly by pointing a strong finger at him — by placing tā after shì — he was inadvertently broaching an entirely new topic since he seemed to be comparing himself to his friend. To the police, the power of language suddenly rears up at them since there is no other person who is an actual suspect to be held in the context of the questioning — if the one being questioned points his finger implicitly at his friend, he is implying that he himself may not have been worth a lot of money at the time of the robbery? Yet, say he is a multi-millionaire with an impeccable record and strong character; was he so wealthy at the time of the robbery as he is now? Is a robbery how he had once gained his fortune-building money? The leading clue had been finding cash bags from the relevant bank in the dumpsters of the apartment building complex where both men live as close neighbors. So now the clues already uncovered in the case have to be reviewed in light of this slight admission of being a possible suspect — all from a poor xiǎngfǎ, a language barrier of sorts. The questioning may take on a new direction altogether now.
If more succinctly stated, the sentence would have been spoken according to a proper, well understood shì . . . de structure. Proper usage of such a grammatical structure would match its actual nature of conferring a concise account of certain details of the past. In English he had innocently, perhaps, literally said, “(What) I said to you ‘is‘ that he a person of a lot of money at that time.” ( De is used to form an attributive equivalent to ‘of that kind’ such that ‘hěnduō qián de rén,’ defining the man as rich, is fundamentally sound grammar. Let not the two de’s be confusing: the second and final de belongs to the shì . . . de while the other de means ‘of that kind.’ )
Yet again, if more succinctly stated, the sentence would have been spoken according to a shì . . . de structure with the detail of ‘he’ or ‘tā‘ properly NOT incorporated within the shì . . . de structure. For not incorporating ‘tā‘ in that structure would result in simply and subtly de-emphasizing the to-date suspect instead of implicitly referring to himself vicariously almost according to subtle Chinese 想法 xiǎngfǎ. Secondly, within that shì . . . de structure would have been the proper verb ‘yǒu.’ The verb ‘yǒu’ should have been used to indicate possession of money. Instead, the good Samaritan was somehow trying to describe but mistakenly so the identity of the man partly through the verb to be, shì, yet in addition to the use of shì in the shì . . . de structure; that is, the good Samaritan seemed to be using a double governance of shì both as the marker of the shì . . . de structure and as the verb telling something of what kind of person was his friend (shì . . . ‘yīgè hěnduō qián de rén,’) only because he did not use the verb yǒu.
See this correction for yourself: “我 说了 对 您, 他 是 那时候 一个 很 有 多 钱 的 人 的。” “Wǒ shuōle duì nín, tā shì nà shíhòu yīgè hěn yǒu duō qián de rén de.” “I said to you that he was a very rich person at that time.” Herein the verb ‘to have’ would have kept the meaning clear as to what was the financial status of the suspect at the time of the robbery. The ambivalence in what was being recounted in the inquiry by the police about a man who was a suspect in a bank robbery would naturally bother them – a rich man is much less likely to rob a bank than one who is in financial straits. Every clue is vital in detective work towards success in solving the crime. Yet, the good Samaritan cannot speak with proper grammar in order to describe his knowledge of their suspect as not needing money at the time of the bank robbery, and this shortcoming certainly builds an intriguing situation for him though he may not be aware of it. Although he is speaking well to an extent, his way of thinking, his xiǎngfǎ, lacks the proper shì . . . de construction word order. If he had once grasped well that the shì . . . de construction acts like a kind of operator as if it is bracketing details under the governance of the verb shì, then he would have known that within that bracketing are contained details usually from the past; and those details most importantly may express with their own verb quite separately from the verb to be, shì, which is being used much as a marker. In fact, in this instance, yǒu, to have, rightly takes its place within the shì . . . de. The time concept so vital to the detectives, nà shíhòu, ‘at that time,’ also will lie within the extent of the shì . . . de as a matter of course. Had the xiǎngfǎ of the good Samaritan incorporated already the true nature of the powerful and very prevalent shì . . . de grammatical construction, he would have known how better to have described the exact monetary status of his friend; and, further, he would have been able to successfully state that the man in question was simply very wealthy by using the phrase . . . 一个 很 有 多 钱 的 人 yīgè hěn yǒu duō qián de rén as vital details to render the police.
______________________________________________
Examples
我们 是 12月 15日 在 月宫 饭馆 吃 北京烤鸭 的 。
Wǒmen shì 12 yuè 15 rì zài Yuègōng Fànguǎn chī Běijīng kǎoyā de.
Consider the above sentence. It would be translated as follows:
It was on the fifteenth of December when we ate Peking Duck at the Moon Palace Restaurant.
Now consider this sentence that gives the same details with the same word order except for the shì :
我们 12月 15日 是 在 月宫 饭馆 吃 北京烤鸭 的 。
Wǒmen 12 yuè 15 rì shì zài Yuègōng Fànguǎn chī Běijīng kǎoyā de.
It was at the Moon Palace Restaurant on the fifteenth of December that we ate Peking Duck.
These two sentences illustrate clearly that what comes immediately after the shì occupies a place of greatest emphasis simply by its position in the set of details — it sits right next to the shì, coming right after it.
In light of the examples above, let us compare the given narrative of the good Samaritan in two forms: the first version is as he spoke, and the second is what he should have said according to what he had consciously wanted to say.
What the good Samaritan said:
我 说了 对 您 是 他 那时候 一个 很 多 钱 的 人 的 .
Wǒ shuōle duì nín shì tā nà shíhòu yīgè hěnduō qián de rén de.
I said to you that it was he who was a very rich man at that time.
What the good Samaritan should have said:
我 说了 对 您, 他 是 那时候 一个 很 有 多 钱 的 人 的。
Wǒ shuōle duì nín, tā shì nà shíhòu yīgè hěn yǒu duō qián de rén de.
I said to you that it was at that time when he was a very rich man.
__________________________________
In some languages the verb to be is simply left out of a sentence, and it is considered to be implicitly there but unspoken. This same phenomenon presents here in Mandarin with the shì . . . de. The shì can be left out of the actual shì . . . de structure. Think of the shì as being understood in such a case, and recognize the meaning by the finalizing de.
[shì . . . de]
A useful ‘way of thinking’ or xiǎngfǎ as regards shì . . . de is to see shì . . . de as a master set that governs a subset, and that subset lies or comes within its structural limits, the structural limits of shì . . . de, much like a bracketing. That subset can become a phrase unto itself with its own separate verb, and the subset contains details usually from the past that are to be related or recounted and are set off by the word shì. Most importantly, the details that are being related are being emphasized; indeed, the shì . . . de is in its design meant to recount facts that are by definition to be emphasized. A gentle hint: as clear as this may be, the shì of the shì . . . de is optional and may be dropped.
When this good Samaritan realizes that the police do not understand him perfectly, he musters another sentence as he draws from another facet of his ‘way of thinking’ like Chinese people. He decides to illustrate in a specific way what he saw in the lifestyle of the man in question that will demonstrate clearly that this man must have been worth a great deal of money in the time period of the robbery. Thus, he says more persuasively, “那 时候 . . . 那个 . . . 我 的 朋友 . . . 那个 . . . 我 的 朋友 月月 休过了 长假。” “Nà shíhòu . . . nàgè . . . wǒ de péngyǒu . . . nàgè . . . wǒ de péngyǒu yuèyuè xiūguòle chángjià.” “At that time . . . um . . . my friend . . . um . . . my friend took long vacations month after month.” With that imposition of truth clearly stated even with some stammering the police nod in the affirmative, understanding the likely financial status of their suspect much better. They may very well be talking once again in a new light with the good Samaritan, however, despite his new, more accurate statement regarding the financial status of his friend since his xiǎngfǎ had fallen short of perfection in a possibly crucial way at a critical time. If he was indeed guilty of bank robbery himself, he unwittingly had just given himself away.
Homophony Plays Into
Xiǎngfǎ
Again, in the same manner of reasoning, any xiǎngfǎ does not have to be as complex as words in formation together like in a grammatical structure. Simple word definitions will come into play, and since homophony (two words sound alike but differ in meaning) can complicate matters, the vocabulary of Mandarin will be of the utmost importance in contributing to the formation of xiǎngfǎ since xiǎngfǎ will inevitably contribute most vitally to language comprehension. In this sense, the parts – the actual words – also most vitally contribute to the sense of the whole although in a more direct manner than in an idiom perhaps.
One example of this comes to mind in my own learning experience. Here in America, I am familiar with getting food and beverages ‘to go’ from the handy drive-thru or from a restaurant on foot. These commodities are taken out as opposed to eaten in. I heard in a teaching video the word 绿茶 lǜchá and could read the pinyin beneath the hanzi. Having a certain readiness of mind due to vocabulary learned and knowing that lǜ means road or journey while chá means tea, I drew from my pre-existing mindset of life in America where food and drink ‘to go’ might be also there in China. In fact, I paused the video just to reflect on what might be the meaning of this word lǜchá. Based on pre-existing knowledge, I drew up an excellent case for it, using the very xiǎngfǎ so dear to my heart that had been formed from watching videos in Mandarin. The adventurous romance of being a wandering 武侠 wǔxiá (knight errant where errant means traveling) on the road in ancient China was set in my mind from watching so many Mandarin dramas that portrayed the lives of such as those wandering, chivalrous martial artists. Many times in such dramas, the protagonist would come upon a roadside food stand or open-air pavilion right in the middle of a bucolic setting on a road or trail. Since the table was so close to the trail, I even went so far as to envision an ancient derivation of the‘to go’concept for the Chinese culture centering around the word 绿茶 lǜchá. Through my vocabulary I interpreted a homophonous word for 绿 lǜ, meaning green, as lù, meaning journey or road, path or way (路lù.) I was reading of course the pinyin only. When I saw lǜ innocently as journey or road coupled with chá meaning tea, I leaped to the idea that this was a reference to tea that one would procure on a journey – similar to our ‘tea to go. ’This was tea for a journey, to be taken close by the side of the road while on a journey; for us in America now, it would be to take out for the road. In my imagination this lǜchá could even have come from the ancient Chinese roadside stand where travelers would stop for tea and food while traveling in the countryside. Little did I know that there was another word, meaning green, that was also a ‘lu.’In this instance, my apperception of the culture of China as relates to tea for a journey or alongside an ancient road leaped to a xiǎngfǎ that was highly idiosyncratic to the real thing in front of me–simple green tea! However, if one approaches an understanding of a language from such a rich cultural context and combines with this the correct vocabulary usage, then one is certainly bound to form a proper xiǎngfǎ. In a sense, it is all a journey.
Conclusion
Having unfolded some of the finer shades of meaning of what can become an understanding of how Mandarin speakers think, their essential xiǎngfǎ in the widest generic sense, may I continue to introduce in this careful preface what lies in the actual Mandarin written and spoken in the body proper of this article.
The work consists of paragraphs arbitrarily numbered since when I began writing this material, confessedly, I had little idea of how to write and little idea of how to speak conversationally past the beginner’s level. However, I was reading sentences in Pleco dictionary and elsewhere everyday, and from insight gained from that reading and further exploration did I feel I could write something. I found I needed to say a great deal about a great teacher,YangYang,since every stepping stone in learning with YangYang gave me greater distance in all my interests in and through Mandarin.
That I could reach a higher level of realizing Mandarin by writing I had experienced indeed once before, so I had some amount of confidence, having broken the ice. Indeed, my first real original writing in Mandarin was in pinyin since I did not know many Hanzi at the time, and it was written about a year after I had committed myself to taking up Mandarin. Since I am a devout student of Sanskrit, I found myself citing in Mandarin why I love Sanskrit. Here below is the paragraph I had written in the autumn of 2016, about only a year after I had commenced studies in Mandarin.
Wǒ fēicháng xǐhuan
Zhōngwén. Yōuyáng de shēng dōu de zhège měi wén tóng yīnyuè de qīshēng yīyáng
chèng zhī gēr. Kēnéng Zhōngwén shì běn de guóyuè. Qùnián yīshí qǐng wǒ chéng le
gǎn xìngqù xué Zhōngwén. Hái wǒ kàn gāo ‘áng gǔ de Fànwén, yīnweì wǒ zài Fànwén
néng chénsī pǔbiàn zhēnlǐ. Wǒ bǎ Fànwén pěng shàng tiān, wèi qí kāihùiqídǎo yú
pǔbiàn zhēnlǐ. Wǒ xǐhuan duō wén, kěshì Zhōngwén yǒu yòu hào de shìli fànwéi
yòu gǔ de liàng tōngguò wénshǐ. Xiànzài chàbuduō wǒ xiǎng liánxì jiǎng
Zhōngwén. Xièxie dàjiā. Hòuhuìyǒuqī. Bǎozhòng.
2016 Nián 10 yuè
Translation:
I am extraordinarily fond of
Chinese. The mellifluous sounds of this beautiful singsong language are like
the very notes of a musical scale. Perhaps the Chinese language is the basis of
traditional Chinese music. At about this time last year I first became
interested in studying Chinese. In addition, I regard in an exalted way the
ancient Sanskrit because I am able to contemplate universal truth in it. I
praise Sanskrit to the skies because of its invocation of universal truth. I
like many languages, but Chinese has both a vast sphere of influence and an
ancient light through literature and history. Now it is about time — I want to
practice speaking in Chinese. Thank you, everyone. Until we meet again, be in
good health. October
2016
Hanzi:
Now the paragraph is updated after all with Hanzi here. This is made possible only through the labors of learning Mandarin since the paragraph was originally written:
我非常 喜欢中文。悠扬的声都的这个美文同音乐的七声一样成支歌儿。可能中文是本的国乐。去年一时顷我成了感兴趣学中文。还我看高昂古的梵文，因为我在梵文能沉思普遍真理。我把梵文捧上天，为其开会祈祷于普遍真理。我喜欢多文，可是中文有又浩的势力范围又古的亮通过文史。现在差不多我想联系讲中文。 谢谢大家。后会有期， 保重。2016年 10十月
While writing this article, Narrative on the Behalf of YouYou Chinese, indeed, besides study at YoYo Chinese, I was actively learning from the dictionary, books and Internet searches as I went along in writing it. Videos offer a dimensionality to learning that is beyond, contributing greatly to any student’s learning curve.
May I point out most emphatically that I gained an inestimably great wealth of knowledge about Mandarin by writing Jìxù Dàibiǎo YōuYōu Zhōngwén, and my writing of the simple passage above had contributed to building a certain confidence I held to even attempt it. If any of you students/readers here would like to increase your understanding of Mandarin, I would encourage you to pick up the pen and go to work writing something — anything. This would be a great academic exercise for any serious student of Mandarin. I cannot in English praise this kind of project, writing sentences, highly enough. Only by approaching such a project as writing on your own will you understand its true worth in molding and solidifying your knowledge of Mandarin.
Thank you for reading here. May the best of fortune always bless your journey in learning Mandarin. It is my honor to present this article to you since it was written in a didactic frame of reference, and we all owe its inspiration and all praises to the teacher, YangYang Cheng.
加油。Jiāyóu! Make an all-out effort!
Marilynn Stark February 25, 2019
记叙 代表 优优 中文
Jìxù Dàibiǎo YōuYōu Zhōngwén
Narrative on the Behalf of Yoyo Chinese
By Marilynn Stark
汉语，拼音 和 英语
Hànyǔ, Pīnyīn hé Yīngyǔ
Chinese, Transliteration and English
不久前秧秧发我一封电邮。她在电邮要了我录像一个记叙，因为我是她的学生。所以前年我也开始写这个盛赞给她，由于我想表示钦佩我们的老师。
( 一 ）
Bùjiǔ qián yāng yāng fā wǒ yī fēng diànyóu. Tā zài diànyóu yàole wǒ lùxiàng yīgè jìxù, yīnwèi wǒ shì tā de xuéshēng. Suǒyǐ qiánnián wǒ yě kāishǐ xiě zhège shèngzàn gěi tā, yóuyú wǒ xiǎng biǎoshìqīnpèi wǒmen de lǎoshī.
(Yī)
Not long ago, YangYang sent me an email. In the email she asked me to make a video recording of a narrative because I am her student. Thus, the year before last I started to write this accolade to her since I wanted to express admiration for our teacher.
(1)
秧秧常常说普通话不太难了。她这个人很有意思。人人应该真信了，可是在学习起初说中文说得不容易了。不过如果您一个人试试学外语，您应当想想不同的东西，而是您真的应当想法得很新。不要骇怕。思考不一样一下。大家的想法，您都摸底。用中文人家怎么样想法，您也怎么样说。我看这个办法可行。
也许在未来您会说您的朋友，“现在我们喝茶和谈谈吧。”
您自己想想这件事那么相应想法的很新：您的眼睛会远望，那您的声会说得好听。
（二）
Yāng yāng chángcháng shuō pǔtōnghuà bù tài nánle. Tā zhè gè rén hěn yǒuyìsi. Rén rén yīnggāi zhēnxìnle, kěshì zài xuéxí qǐchū shuō zhōngwén shuō dé bù róngyìle. Bùguò rúguǒ nín yīgèrén shì shì xué wàiyǔ, nín yīngdāng xiǎng xiǎng bùtóng de dōngxī, ér shì nín zhēn de yīngdāng xiǎngfǎ dé hěn xīn. Bùyào hàipà. Sīkǎo bù yíyàng yíxià. Dàjiā de xiǎngfǎ, nín dōu mōdǐ. Yòng zhōngwén rénjiā zěnme yàng xiǎngfǎ, nín yě zěnme yàng shuō. Wǒ kàn zhège bànfǎ kěxíng.
Yěxǔ zài wèilái nín huì shuō nín de péngyǒu,”xiànzài wǒmen hē chá hé tántán ba.”
Nín zìjǐ xiǎng xiǎng zhè jiàn shì nàme xiāngyìng xiǎngfǎ de hěn xīn: Nín de yǎnjīng huì yuán wàng, nà nín de shēng huì shuō dé hǎotīng。
(Èr)
YangYang often says that Mandarin is not difficult. She is very interesting. Everyone ought to come to believe it, but at the outset of learning to speak Chinese, it is not easy. However, if you try to study a foreign language by yourself, you should think about different things; rather, you should try to think of a very new way to think. Have no fear. Try to think deeply and differently. You already know quite well what everyone is thinking. Knowing how others of the Chinese culture think, you surely then know how to speak. I think this method is feasible.
Perhaps in the future you will say to your friend, “Now let’s drink some tea and chat.”
Think for yourself about this thing in that way that corresponds to a new way of thinking: Your eyes can gaze afar; then your voice can sound beautiful.
(2)
别人都有恐怕学汉语， 因为他们觉得学汉语学得非常非常难 了，可是我觉得那其实不嘫。而且在我看来 一个老师会教得非常非常好。
(三）
Biérén dōu yǒu kǒngpà xué hànyǔ, yīnwèi tāmen juédé xué hànyǔ xué dé fēicháng fēicháng nánle, kěshì wǒ juédé nà qíshí bù rán. Érqiě zài wǒ kàn lái yí gè lǎoshī huì jiào dé fēicháng fēicháng hǎo.
（Sān）
Others are afraid to study Chinese because they feel that Chinese is extremely, extremely difficult, but I feel that actually this is not so. Moreover, as I see it, a teacher can teach very, very well.
(3)
请我做一下自我介绍。 我叫玛丽林 Stark。 我住在 Pennsylvania 在美国。我很高兴人识您。
(四)
Qǐng wǒ zuò yīxià zìwǒ jièshào. Wǒ jiào mǎlìlín Stark. Wǒ zhù zài Pennsylvania zài měiguó. Wǒ hěn gāoxìng rén shì nín.
(Sì）
Please may I introduce myself. My name is Marilynn Stark. I live in Pennsylvania in America. I am pleased to meet you.
(4)
我的爱好学中文。安慰自我，我用普通话。每天如果有空，我喜欢从早到晚听中国电影对话。我都喜欢用汉语听到悦耳动听句子 声音。汉语真的是一个优美的语言。可是我最喜欢用汉语一边听 悦耳动听句子，一边也同时了解每子和同时了解每句子。当然这是 我的最终目标。 在听用汉语句子, 了解每字， 从而了解每句子， 即为听力理解。
难道每个人都得有一个目表吗？也许您可以说对我，“您告诉 我， 如果您有空， 您从早到晚听普通话。您有一个高目标啊。您有这么高目标之心气高。对不对啊？”
我会答您，“有。您说的对。” 既然如此，话又说回来，我们将谈道每个人都得有一个目标吧。 怎么有人学普通话呢 ？ 大家都应该到底有那么目标。谁开始学普通话，那最好当初就是认定目标。
因此我本人不需要找为了答案对于这个问题，这个目标，倒不如 我总是在学习找一个办法；总是问着下一步干怎么办？
因此这么目标联系理论和实际。而且这么目标符合都学生的共同 愿望。为了有了进一步的了解，现在我问您最重要的问题。 学术 的本质是什么吗？学术的本质是越学越兴旺。您应该定当倾全力把学做好。
请我可以再回答您: 如果您想更好学普通话的话，那越学越好。 要不然就不多不少这个学在您自己。 我自己在想多多益善。而且我诚心诚意希望您越爱上 越多美妙的普通话。那么愿您轻松地翱翔于知识之中, 入把知识捧上天. 为此请记得得怎么办就怎么办。
（五）
Wǒ de àihào xué zhōngwén. Ānwèi zìwǒ, wǒ yòng pǔtōnghuà. Měitiān rúguǒ yǒu kòng, wǒ xǐhuān cóng zǎo dào wǎn tīng zhōngguó diànyǐng duìhuà. Wǒ dōu xǐhuān yòng hànyǔ tīng dào yuè’ěrdòngtīng jùzi shēng yīn. Hànyǔ zhēn de shì yī gè yōuměi de yǔyán. Kěshì wǒ zuì xǐhuān yòng hànyǔ yībiān tīng yuè’ěr dòngtīng jùzi, yībiān ye tóngshí liǎojiě měi zi hé tóngshí liǎojiě měi jùzi. Dāngrán zhè shì wǒ de zuìzhōng mùbiāo. Zài tīng yòng hànyǔ jùzi, liǎojiě měi zì, cóng’ér liǎojiě měi jùzi, jíwèi tīnglìlǐjiě.
Nándào měigèrén dōu déi yǒu yīgè mùbiāo ma? Yěxǔ nín kěyǐ shuō duì wǒ,“Nín gàosù wǒ, rúguǒ nín yǒu kòng, nín cóng zǎo dào wǎn tīng pǔtōnghuà. Nín yǒu yīgè gāo mùbiāo a. Nín yǒu zhème gāo mùbiāo zhī xīnqì gāo. Duì bù duì a?”
Wǒ huì dá nín,“ Yǒu. Nín shuō de duì.”
Jìrán rúcǐ, huàyòushuōhuílái, wǒmen jiāng tándào měi gèrén dōu děi yǒu yīgè mùbiāo ba. Zěnme yǒurén xuéxi pǔtōnghuà ne? Dàjiā dōu yīnggāi dàodǐ yǒu nàme mùbiāo. Shuí kāishǐ xué pǔtōnghuà, nà zuì hǎo dāngchū jiùshì rèndìng mùbiāo.
Yīncǐ wǒ běnrén bù xūyào zhǎo wèile dá’àn duìyú zhège wèntí, zhège mùbiāo, dàobùrú wǒ zǒngshì zài xuéxi zhǎodào yīgè bànfǎ; zǒngshì wènzhe xià yībù gàn zěnme bàn?
Yīncǐ zhème mùbiāo liánxì lǐlùn hé shíjì. Érqiě zhème mùbiāo fúhé dōu xuéshēng de gòngtóng yuànwàng. Wèile yǒule jìnyībù de liǎojiě, xiànzài wǒ wèn nín zuì zhòngyào de wèntí. Xuéshù de běnzhí shì shénme ma? Xuéshù de běnzhí shì yuè xué yuè xīngwàng. Nín yīnggāi dìngdàng qīng quánlì bǎ xué zuò hǎo.
Qǐng wǒ kěyǐ zài huídá nín: rúguǒ nín xiǎng gèng hào xué pǔtōnghuà dehuà, nà yuè xué yuè hǎo. Yàobùrán jiù bùduōbùshǎo zhège xué zài nín zìjǐ. Wǒ zìjǐ zài xiǎng duōduō-yìshàn. Érqiě wǒ chéngxīnchéngyì xīwàng nín yuè àishàng yuè duō měimiào de pǔtōnghuà。Nàme yuàn nín qīngsōng de áoxiáng yú zhīshì zhīzhōng, rù bǎ zhīshì pěng shàng tiān. Wèicǐ qǐng jìdé děi zěnme bàn jiù zěnme bàn.
(Wǔ)
My hobby is the study of Chinese. When it comes to comforting myself, I use Mandarin. Everyday, if there is time, I like to listen to Chinese movie dialogue from morning till night. I totally like to hear the beautiful sounds of Chinese sentences. However, I most like while listening to the beautiful-sounding sentences spoken in Chinese at the same time to understand each word, each sentence. Naturally, this is my ultimate goal. Listening to Chinese sentences to understand each word and thereby to understand each sentence is defined as aural comprehension.
Could it be that everyone should have a goal?
Perhaps you could say to me, “ You relate to me that if you have time, you listen to Mandarin all day long. You have an elevated goal. You have such an elevated goal, such high aspiration. Is that not correct? ”
I answer you, “ I do have such an elevated goal. You are right. ” That being the case, then again, we will refer to the fact that everyone should have a goal. How is anyone to study Mandarin? Everyone after all should have such a goal. If someone is beginning to study Mandarin, then it is best at that time to set the mind on the goal.
Consequently, I myself do not need to search in order to answer regarding this question; instead, while studying, I am always searching to find a method. I am always asking what is the next step to take? For this reason, such a goal links theory and reality. Moreover, such a goal is in accordance with the common aspirations of all students. In order for us to have a better understanding, now I ask you the most important question: What is the essence of scholarship? The essence of scholarship is: The more one studies, the more one flourishes. You should be determined to exert yourself to the utmost in your studies.
Please may I answer you once again: if you want to study Mandarin better, then the more you study, the more you will learn; or else, take this learning in just the right amount as it rests with you. For myself I tend to think: The more, the better. Moreover, I sincerely hope that you fall more and more in love with the beautiful language of Mandarin. Then may you soar into knowledge with some ease as you so praise knowledge to the skies. In order to do this, please remember you should do what must be done.
(5)
大前年我发现优优中文。那时候秧秧教得真不错我拼音。
（六）
Dà qiánnián wǒ fāxiàn yōuyōu zhōngwén. Nà shíhòu yāng yāng jiào dé zhēn bùcuò wǒ pīnyīn.
（Liù）
Three years ago I discovered Yoyo Chinese. At that time YangYang taught me pinyin really very well.
(6)
以后我的中文老师还开始教我语法。
（七）
Yǐhòu wǒ de zhōngwén lǎoshī hái kāishǐ jiào wǒ yǔfǎ。
(Qī)
Later on my Chinese teacher also began to teach me grammar.
(7)
我觉得这个中文老师形成了特别独特的风格。在我看来她不但很 有才，而且钥匙都中文老师在网上争抢第一，秧秧就一定获得第一名。听说有在学中文障碍，我们都应当在优优中文在网上学。我们都也听到风声中文很不可能学。 秧秧不顾那个风声，以此 我们的老师教得非常清楚。秧秧用英文真发音清清楚楚。秧秧的 调儿很完美的美国人。 她除了好像说话带美国调儿似的，还有 真的语气友好。秧秧也讲得郅绝好。
不过这个想法，正如上文所述是什么？请问您一个问题。 这个 问题嘛，
很简单. 我们应该看那个叫想法的观。如此那个观的想法倒是是 什么？（八）
Wǒ juédé zhège zhōngwén lǎoshī xíngchéngle tèbié dútè de fēnggé. Zài wǒ kànlái tā bùdàn hěn yǒu cái, érqiě yàoshi dōu zhōngwén lǎoshī zài wǎngshàng zhēngqiǎng dì yī, yāng yāng jiù yīdìng huòdé dì yī míng. Tīng shuō yǒu zài xué zhōngwén zhàng’ài, wǒmen dōu yīngdāng zài yōuyōu zhōngwén zài wǎngshàng xué. Wǒmen yě dōu tīngdào fēngshēng zhōngwén hěn bù kěnéng xué. Yāng yāng bùgù nàgè fēngshēng, yǐcǐ wǒmen de lǎoshī jiào dé fēicháng qīngchǔ. Yāngyāng yòng yīngwén zhēn fāyīn qīngqīngchǔchǔ. Yāng yāng de diào er hěn wánměi de měiguó rén. Tā chúle hǎoxiàng shuōhuà dài měiguó diào er shì de, hái yǒu zhēnde yǔqì yǒuhǎo. Yāng yāng yě jiǎng dé zhì jué hǎo.
Bùguò zhège xiǎngfǎ, zhèngrú shàngwén suǒshù shì shénme? Qǐng wèn nín yīgè wèntí. Zhège wèntí ma, hěn jiǎndān. Wǒmen yīnggāi kàn nàgè jiào xiǎngfǎ de guān. Rúcǐ nàgè guān de xiǎngfǎ dǎoshì shì shénme?
(Bā)
I feel that this teacher of Chinese has evolved a unique style. It is my opinion that she not only is very talented, but also, if all of the Internet’s teachers of Chinese were to vie for first place, then YangYang would certainly (have to) win it. Hearing that in the study of Chinese there are obstacles, we all must study at Yoyo Chinese on the Internet. We all have caught rumor that to learn Chinese is quite impossible. Yangyang disregards that rumor, and from that our teacher teaches exceptionally clearly. Speaking English, Yangyang really has clear pronunciation. She speaks with a perfect American accent. In addition to speaking with a perfect American accent, her manner of speaking is also really of friendly tone.
But this way of thinking, just as mentioned in the foregoing, what is it? Please, may I ask you a question? Concerning this problem, it is rather simple. We must consider this concept called ‘xiangfa,’ ‘way of thinking.’ In this way, what is this concept of ‘way of thinking’ after all?
(8)
我要试试细述详情这个问题， 因此我想不仅竭力帮助您，而且给您汉语的金钥匙。天才的 优优中文出出汉语的金钥匙，信然如此。请让我 多多帮助您学习汉语. 我要说明普遍性和个性，因为这些普遍性和个性有关想法的观，正如所有的事情有关所有的同一统一性之普遍性和个性。对于上面抽象的概念，请我可以虚心得告诉您.
皆因那观的想法对应或等于中式英语范本，真个想法对某人非常有用的。在沉思于观的想法架构一个知识库为了字运用自如用汉语说的时候。从而我们须要抽象为了发展想法。
什么都个性，我们看沉思普遍性一样；反之，所有的事情推导出从普遍性。 同时什么都沉思普遍性在个性成供形，理当如此。因此可以推导出，严格来说，所有的事情事实就是证明统一。既然如此，我们用万用的范本在想法汉语或者在用汉语说的时候，我们就是做着什么呢？当下用汉语想法或者用汉语说，我们可以把字和句子成分摆到从那中式英语范本到讨论题在一个抽象的，互相的平台于交流上来。 其实，为了说话，我们把个性从中式英语万用的范本中抽出来于个性想法。我们把字从普遍性的概念场传达到个性如字在说话。这个传达成为某种意义上来。
其实 ，为了说话，我们把个性从中式英语万用的范本中抽出来于个性想法。我们把字从普遍性的概念场传达到个性如字在说话。这个传达成为某种意义上来 。
这个叫观的想法有五重大要义. 了解了这些，我们将下面恰恰就是阐明这些五要义之这个叫观的想法。 您真的应该沉思这些五基本 要义。
(八a)
Wǒ yào shì shì xì shù xiángqíng zhège wèntí, yīncǐ wǒ xiǎng bùjǐn jiélì bāngzhù nín, érqiě gěi nín hànyǔ de jīn yàoshi. Tiāncái de YoYo Zhōngwén chūchū hànyǔ de jīn yàoshi, xìn rán rúcǐ. Qǐng ràng wǒ duōduō bāngzhù nín xuéxí hànyǔ. Wǒ yào shuōmíng pǔbiànxìng hé gèxìng, yīnwèi zhèxiē pǔbiànxìng hé gèxìng yǒuguān xiǎngfǎ de guān, zhèngrú suǒyǒu de shìqíng yǒuguān suǒyǒu de tóngyī tǒngyīxìng zhī pǔbiànxìng hé gèxìng. Duìyú shàngmiàn chōuxiàng de gàiniàn, qǐng wǒ kěyǐ xūxīn de gàosù nín.
Jiēyīn nà guān de xiǎngfǎ duìyìng huò děngyú zhōngshì yīngyǔ fànběn, zhēngè xiǎngfǎ duì mǒurén fēicháng yǒuyòng de. Zài chénsī yú guān de xiǎngfǎ jiàgòu yīgè zhīshìkù wèile zì yùnyòngzìrú yòng hànyǔ shuō de shíhòu. Cóng’ér wǒmen xūyào chōuxiàng wèile fāzhǎn xiǎngfǎ.
Shénme dōu gèxìng, wǒmen kàn chénsī pǔbiàn xìng yīyàng; fǎnzhī, suǒyǒu de shìqíng tuīdǎo chū cóng pǔbiàn xìng. Tóngshí shénme dōu chénsī pǔbiàn xìng zài gèxìng chéng gōng xíng，lǐdāng rúcǐ. Yīncǐ kěyǐ tuīdǎo chū, yángé lái shuō, suǒyǒu de shìqíng shìshí jiùshì zhèngmíng tǒngyī. Jìrán rúcǐ, wǒmen yòng wàn yòng de fànběn zài xiǎngfǎ hànyǔ huòzhě zài yòng hànyǔ shuō de shíhòu, wǒmen jiùshì zuò zhe shénme ne? Dāngxià yòng hànyǔ xiǎngfǎ huòzhě yòng hànyǔ shuō, wǒmen kěyǐ bǎ zì hé jù zǐ chéngfèn bǎi dào cóng nà zhōngshì yīngyǔ fànběn dào tǎolùn tí zài yīgè chōuxiàng de, hù xiàng de píngtái yú jiāoliú shànglái.
Qíshí, wèile shuōhuà, wǒmen bǎ gèxìng cóng zhōngshì yīngyǔ wànyòng de fànběn zhōng chōuchū lái yú gèxìng xiǎngfǎ. Wǒmen bǎ zì cóng pǔbiàn xìng de gàiniàn chǎng chuándá dào gèxìng rú zì zài shuōhuà. Zhège chuándá chéngwéi mǒu zhǒng yìyì shànglái .
Zhège jiào guān de xiǎngfǎ yǒu wǔ zhòngdà yàoyì. Liǎojiěle zhèxiē, wǒmen jiāng xiàmiàn qiàqià jiùshì chǎnmíng zhèxiē wǔ yàoyì zhī zhège jiào guān de xiǎngfǎ. Nín zhēn de yīnggāi chénsī zhèxiē wǔ jīběn yàoyì.
(Bā a)
I would like to try to detail this question, thus I want not only to help you to the utmost, but also to give you the golden key to Chinese. Indeed, the golden key to Chinese comes from the genius of Yoyo Chinese. Please allow me to assist you in learning Chinese. I shall expound universality and particularity because these concepts of universality and particularity concern the concept of ‘xiǎngfǎ,’ just precisely as all things concern all of the same universalities that inhere in the universal and in the particular. Please may I with humility inform you regarding the aforesaid abstract concepts.
Simply because the concept of ‘xiangfa,’ ‘way of thinking,’ corresponds to or is equal to the Chinglish template, indeed, ‘xiangfa’ is exceedingly useful for someone. Contemplating according to the concept of ‘xiangfa’ builds a knowledge base for the purpose of having a fluent command of words while conversing in Chinese. Thus we must form a general idea from particular instances in order to know ‘xiangfa.’
When it comes to anything particular, we tend to reflect upon it as the same as universal; on the other hand, all things derive from the universal. At the same time, anything considered as universal overarches the particular — this should be so. From this, it can be derived that all things strictly speaking in reality are precisely unified. Since it is so, when we use a universal template in our way of thinking in Chinese, or when we speak in Chinese, what exactly are we doing? In that moment of thinking in Chinese or speaking in Chinese, we may with words and sentence elements move back and forth from that Chinglish template to a topic for conversation put on an abstract, mutual platform in communication.
In actuality, in order to speak, we extract the particular from the universal Chinglish template in a way of thinking according to the particular.
We relay words from a universal conceptual field to the particular in the event of words as we speak. This transmission becomes some kind of meaning.
This concept called way of thinking (‘xiǎngfǎ’) has five major key points. In understanding these, in the following we are going to precisely clarify the idea of these five major key points that are named as this concept of ‘xiangfa.’ You really should ponder these five fundamental key points.
(8a)
想法的五基本要义用汉语说的时候
⦁第一: 把字挑以中式英语的想法一下。
⦁第二: 把词序挑以中式英语的想法一下。
⦁第三: 把句子成分挑以中式英语的想法一下。
⦁第四：把句子成分想法以中式英语的说话一下。
⦁第五：把字好好拼珑来。 您应当想法个办法把说话完善 一下 。
(八b)
Xiǎngfǎ de wǔ jīběn yàoyì yòng hànyǔ shuō de shíhòu
1. Dì yī: Bǎ zì tiāo yǐ Zhōngshì Yīngyǔ de xiǎngfǎ yīxià .
2. Dì èr: Bǎ cíxù tiāo yǐ Zhōngshì Yīngyǔ de xiǎngfǎ yīxià.
3. Dì sān: Bǎ jùzǐ chéngfèn tiāo yǐ Zhōngshì Yīngyǔ de xiǎngfǎ yīxià.
4. Dì sì: Bǎ jùzǐ chéngfèn xiǎngfǎ yǐ Zhōngshì Yīngyǔ de shuōhuà yīxià.
5. Dì wǔ: Bǎ zì hǎohāo pīn lǒng lái. Nín yīngdāng xiǎngfǎ gè bànfǎ bǎ shuōhuà wánshàn yīxià.
(Bā b)
Five Basic Key Points of ‘Xiangfa’ When Speaking in Chinese
1. Choose words according to the Chinglish way of thinking.
2.Choose word order according to the Chinglish way of thinking.
3. Choose sentence elements according to the Chinglish way of thinking.
4. Think of sentence elements according to Chinglish talk.
5. Put words together properly. You must perfect conversation by the method of a certain way of thinking.
(8b)
把万用的范本创制在学习汉语。 随之而后用汉语说，吧会话好好儿概念化一下。用中式英语的想法， 您会超越语言隔阂。这个 观的想法很有章法。 此外四声的普通话自然出语言美适如日出 出漂亮的天空在曙光。
(八c)
Bǎ wànyòng de fànběn chuàngzhì zài xuéxí hànyǔ. Suízhīérhòu yòng hànyǔ shuō, ba huìhuà hǎohāo er gàiniàn huà yīxià. Yòng Zhōngshì Yīngyǔ de xiǎngfǎ, nín huì chāoyuè yǔyán géhé. Zhège guān de xiǎngfǎ hěn yǒu zhāngfǎ. Cǐwài sì shēng de pǔtōnghuà zìrán chū yǔyán měi shìrú rìchū chū piàoliang de tiānkōng zài shǔguāng.
(Bā c)
While studying Chinese, formulate a universal template. Following from that, while speaking Chinese, conceptualize the conversation with great perfection. According to the Chinglish way of thinking, you can transcend the language barrier.
This concept of ‘way of thinking’ is very methodical. Furthermore, the four tones of modern standard Mandarin naturally give rise to the beauty of one’s verbal expressions just as the sunrise ushers in the beautiful sky at dawn.
(8c)
我应该学普通话。 我的看法的人间变了， 同时全世界划成了小城。
(九)
Wǒ yīnggāi xué pǔtōnghuà. Wǒ de kànfǎ de rénjiān biànle, tóngshí quánshìjiè huā chéngle xiǎochéng.
(Jiǔ)
I must study Mandarin. My outlook on the world has changed while at the same time the whole world has become a small town.
(9)
还有我谨致谢意都中文老师在网上。谢谢您。 我们都想到普通话 不难了。这个思想也一定通向成功，而且一个学生有思想准备。
请也让我提供这些结语：
我们还会这条成语：一通百通。（十)
Hái yǒu wǒ jǐnzhìxièyì dōu zhōngwén lǎoshī zài wǎngshàng. Xièxiè nín. Wǒmen dōu xiǎngdào pǔtōnghuà bù nánle. Zhè gè sīxiǎng yě yīdìng tōngxiàng chénggōng, érqiě yīgè xuéshēng yǒu sīxiǎng zhǔnbèi。
Qǐng yě ràng wǒ tígōng zhèxiē jiéyǔ:
Wǒmen hái huì zhè tiáo chéngyǔ: Yītōng- bǎitōng.
In addition, I would like to thank all the Chinese teachers on the Internet. Thank you. We all think that Mandarin is not difficult. This way of thinking also certainly leads to success, and moreover, any student is mentally prepared.
May I please offer these concluding remarks:
Even more, we know this idiom: “Knowing one, know one hundred.” (Know this fundamental point, and all the rest will follow.)
(10)
