Benny's first video attempt to speak Mandarin: 2 weeks after starting to learn

[celmaitaredinoras]

On your blog you once said that you're an American guy and this stuff with achieving fluency in 3 months it's all fake and all you do it's to study phonetics and stuff and then make a video in which you claim you can hold a conversation in X-language....Why prolong this lie? You already told the world the truth yourself! Vlad 

[Guitarstratdude]

Please respond! How id you learn so much vocabulay in just two weeks? I am learning Modern Greek, and lack of vocabulary is really holding me back.

[aksumfan]

I'm impressed my how much vocabulary you managed to accrue within your first two weeks.

[rewtaah]

Fantastic effort, keep it going man...

[Konfurious]

I know you are still at an early phase, but you should work on the tones, they are really important.

And if you have words, pronounce them as one word and don't overstress the tones and look at the tone sandhi, suoyi for example is spoken as 2, 3 and yinwei is one word, there shouldn't be a pause in there.

And do yourself a favor and learn Hanzi, Chinese without them is useless and hard to learn.

Differentiating between 的 地 and 得 for instance is not possible without them, but still important.

[irishpolyglot]

@Konfurious "I know you are still at an early phase" Based on the comment, I don't think you do :P

The whole problem with the video is that I was thinking too much about tones. I'm speaking faster when I let some imperfect ones slide through and I'm learning to improve speaking much more efficiently since I've stopped studying Hanzi to come back to later & focus on speaking.

"Differentiating between 的 地 and 得 for instance is not possible without them" Wrong. Forget about context?

[aethelwulf19]

@irishpolyglot

Damn, you are good. I just commented on your other video to try out chinese.

Im impressed. I studied Chinese in university and we only practiced syllables and tones for two weeks.

I think you speak more than I did after my first year!

[JeagerGray]

Excellente vidéo, mon ami. J'aime beaucoup ce que tu fais. Voyager, s'imprégner des autres cultures, apprendre les langues... c'est vraiment génial.

Aurais-tu quelques conseils à donner à un francophone qui a des difficultés à apprendre l'anglais ?

[Gtomer]

Love you man.

You got all my support and you gave me the courage and inspiration to getting back to learning Japanese and with a goal in sight.

Thank you for the inspiration and keep on going.

I believe in you.

[Vegemighty]

That was very informative. You should do a video like this every week. It would be very helpful to see the exponential increases in your intelligence as you get more and more exposure.

[oldschoolwaverider]

ni2 hao3 Benny!! wo3 jue2 de5 ni2 shi1 hen3 cong1 ming2 de5 yin1 wei4 xue2 Zhong1 wen2 hen3 quai4 wo3 yi3 qian2 zhu4 zai4 Tai2wan1 yi1 nian2 gen1 xian4 zai4 ni3 de5 shuo1 ne5 bi jiao gao1 Gong1 xi3!! ni3 yiao4 bu 2yiao4 xie2 zi5 ?

Hi Benny! I think you are very smart, because study Chinese very fast, I lived in Taiwan for one year and now your speaking is better than mine congratulations! Do you want to write Chinese characters ? P.S. I bought your book, it's soo good keep going!

[aethelwulf19]

@oldschoolwaverider

ne5

I wasnt aware of a fith tone. Is that neutral?

[oldschoolwaverider]

@aethelwulf19 Yeah that was my intention, a neutral tone. Looking back at my post I've made a few tonal mistakes I think "to write characters" is xie3 zi5 rather than xie2 zi5. I should really double check these things before I post. whooops ~

[PolyglotPal]

非常好的中文！ What you're doing is not easy. Keep up the great work dude :) How many characters do you think you know at this point? 

[irishpolyglot]

@PolyglotPal Thanks for the encouragement! I'm not actually counting the characters I learn - I'll be writing about this on my blog. Checked out your videos and you're doing amazing :D Keep up the great work!

[koolibrii]

Muy bien, muy bien, Bennyto! Eres todo un ejemplo. El segundo vídeo te saldrá mejor y el tercero ya estarás más cómodo. Cuando hagas el decimo quinto te tomarán por un pequinés. ¡Ánimo!

[colts1984]

Can't wait to see the next progress video. How are the characters and tones going?

[heloizyjhenifer]

Good job at conveying the pain (of watching from speaking).

[surrender2air]

nice job! my only suggestion for future reference is to try not to pronounce the tones so harshly. you've progressed this much in only 2 weeks so i'm sure you'll get the hang of it in no time.

[SlowY00]

Good job Benny, its amazing how far you have get.

[nickexile]

I admire your dedication to this mission and the will to make all these sacrifices to be able to communicate in the near future. Can't wait to see you talk spontaneously without any preparation just to show the trolls, that you're not aiming too high at all!

[bosun120]

Nice job dude! Slow and steady gets you there, especially with a language like Mandarin. 新年快乐

[emlynsinatra]

Where I live in Parnel street has alot of chinese shops too :S

[Linguist1967]

Fluent Mandarin in 3 months is an ambitious goal but it's good to set high goals. Whether Steve Kauffman is correct or not regarding how far you will get, any forward progress is good. Please take this as a note of encouragement in your Mandarin studies. Whatever happens and whatever anyone says, keep learning and keep progressing.

[RoonVavoom]

Fascinating video, Benny. I noticed you gesturing with your hands in a way that paralleled the tones - is that accidental, or is associating the tone with a physical action something you're doing intentionally?

[PolyglotNZ]

@RoonVavoom I don't know why he is doing it, but when I was learning Mandarin in Taiwan, I noticed a lot of beginners did this to keep up with the tones. The problem is that it can become a habit and it looks really weird when you meet a very fluent Mandarin speaker from Europe or other places and they use their head or finger to "follow" the tones.

[scribessword]

Great job, Benny! Keep up the good work, and keep proving the naysayers wrong! 他很好 加油！

[ninjakid165]

haha i can't wait to see the before and after ! Is there a translation anywhere?

[irishpolyglot]

@ninjakid165 Click the captions! They are in original Chinese and English ;)

[prcrossman]

Very, very cool buddy. I love how comfortable you are tossing this attempt out there. Look forward to following your progress!

[ouhannahbanana]

This is very interesting. I have been learning Mandarin for 3 months now and I have also been keeping a monthly unscripted video blog to show my progression. When I first saw this, I thought 'OMG he can say that after 2 weeks! Wow!' but then I noticed that yours is scripted. Nevertheless, your mandarin is very good! Hearing you speak it, it reminds me of how I spoke in my first blog. It's so hard to say the words at first! Looking forward to your next video and good luck with the mission!

[ascruffyandscentlade]

加油！你可以的！不要太重視音調

[PolyglotNZ]

雖然這是第二個禮拜而已，我覺得你已經學了很多。 對我來說，你說太慢了，可是加油吧！加油吧！

[halfthishalfthat]

I think it is admirable, if not a bit ambitious, but where did anyone ever get without ambition? I look forward to more videos though, 'cause after 2 weeks of what I'm assuming is immersion, you've already got a really good handle on how to produce appropriate tones, which is something that a lot of speakers of non-tonal languages struggle with for years. Run-on sentence run-on sentence.

[edwardtang1977]

your pronounciation is perfect. You seem to really have tried to make it as accurate as possible. Slow but sure. It is ok to be slow...you will soon be better!

[kellargrg12]

I am so glad you're doing this! I really do hope you reach fluency in Mandarin, because I'm also a native English speaking male interested in becoming fluent in this language, I just really want to see you prove to people it isn't impossible!

[r3bol]

Wow,10mins of Chinese! That's quite an achievement!

[MrsDLau]

这个死老外不知了得，自以为强。

[x2008laa]

@irishpolyglot Wow, I think that this is very impressive. I've really been enjoying your videos, and am now [even more] inspired to become a polyglot! Keep up the awesome work, I know you will rock Mandarin if you work hard.

Cheers from Canada!

[ntenzz1808]

you posted this without editing some 'silence' part, which make me more motivated by that, to just post my attempt on my Korean soon in here without being shy about it. COOL!

[ntenzz1808]

i kinda have the same situation with @dispacct1 .

I planned myself to try to speak like this in Youtube for my Korean, but all of that just in my mind, without actually do it right away! I'm so motivated by you, regardless of your mission being possible or not, to post some videos in target language as a speaking practice. Keep it up!

[UnclePolyglot]

我觉得你的声调掌握得相当不错。虽然这里有很多评语说你不应该太­在意声调，但我并不以为然。从你的正确的音调中，我看得出你学得­非常用心，也能感受到你对中文的一定的尊重。你竟然只学了两个星­期就能说到这样的水准，我得向你甘拜下风！不过，说句老实话，我­个人觉得你把学中文的时间限定在三个月实在太可惜，不免给我一种­匆匆忙忙、蜻蜓点水、走马看花的感觉。在学习语言方面你确实很有­天赋，只要你愿意多花一点时间，你一定能够把中文说到倍儿溜的。­但是想把中文学好，就需要常年累月的不断努力。你的个人网站的名­称是Fluent in 3 Months，但是如果你被这个站名所束缚，让你觉得下不了台的­话，大可不必担心。我觉得超不超过这个期限真的无所谓。或许你的­博客的读者们更想看到你静下心来，好好研究中文，从而把你的中文­提升到炉火纯青的境界。谨此预祝你学中文越学越开心，也恭祝你春­节快乐，心想事成！:-)

[tmp011007]

supongo que aun no es tiempo de evaluar que tanto ha progresado (de hecho no es posible, debido a que tan solo esta recitando de memoria).. podria ser interesante en un par de meses

[MatT3431433]

Very well done for putting this video up and good luck in any case. Fascinating to see your nmenonic? memory process in action. I'm sure you'll learn much faster, as well obviously becoming more practically 'fluent-ish', than people who just stick to easy passive L-R methods (like me).

[dragonwing4]

For someone who has his mind deepened in western languages only, i think this is fairly good (after two weeks). Even though i have my doubts about your mission, i will still support you, and will cheer you on from my computer! :P

Keep it up!

[TheHonthraj]

Way to go Benny! I've been trying to learn Mandarin for quite some time so I know how trying it can be.  Whether you make your goals or not in 3 months, the effort is well worth watching. I look forward to your further updates and envy your opportunity to learn while surrounded by native speakers.

[wakold]

Hey Benny, just wanted to say I think you are brave to post your progress after only 2 weeks! One thing I would recommend you is not to focus too much on the tones. I can see from your video that you seem to try to memorize the tones for each words. IMO, the best way with tonal languages (you probably know since you learned Thai), is to just get used to listen to the tones and speak them without actually thinking "oh right this particular word is a second tone and now this one is a fourth", etc

[dispacct1]

Watching this video made me face a truth that is unpleasant for me to recognize: Ever since I started "learning" Japanese, which I refer to as my favourite foreign language, I have not once attempted to ACTUALLY TRY TO SPEAK IT. Watching this video has inspired me to stop my bullshit excuses and just bloody speak it. I'm gonna start talking in Japanese all day, looking up every word I need. I'm excited to begin.

[zakyzeek]

@dispacct1 That's exactly what I do! It's really helpful! But always be prepared for dissapointment. There's no avoiding the bastard, so just learn to not let it bother you.

[duomillia]

Good on you for jumping in feet first and reaching that level after only two weeks. I can only imagine how fluent you'll be at the end of three months, probably more than me after two years of uni. I am suitably impressed.

[ZenkuTV]

I love the way you pursue learning a new language. I know you can accomplish your goal! Keep it up! :D

[travelingcass]

Bravo! Fanastic! Thanks for having the courage to post this, Benny. It's encouraging to see the beginning stages of language learning from someone with even your extensive experience. I find that I excel faster when I accept that I sound like a 3 year old and continue having conversations; the struggles are part of the progress and journey. =)

[speciesofjael]

wow Benny, this is amazing... 2 weeks??? so at the end of 12 weeks you will be 6 times better... which will also be amazing ;)

I must say I haven't ever seen you work so hard, you look a little like a deer in head lights... this is still a mammoth effort.

[learnjapanesehacker]

Benny! Excellent! Keep going! I'm surprised at the vocabulary you've built up so far! Also, welcome back to Asia! :D

[thegigistouch]

Wow, I find your efforts really impressive, keep up the great work! :)

[Esoparagon]

A fair effort.

[darkmatter88]

Hi there! Great job! When I was studying the tones, I came across a good exercise. Make a list of words that contain 2 characters with each combination of tones and practice them as "one word" with a continuous sound it's very useful! So, 11,12,13,14, 21,22,23,23, etc. Jīntiān (today) would be a 11 -first tone first tone, qíguài (strange) would be 24 - second tone fourth tone. Also try experimenting w/how little you can do the tone but still be the tone. Natives' 2nd/4th tones seem to be minimal

[jahchild1904]

This is better than where I was after two semesters of Chinese in the university. I ended up quitting because I was learning nothing.

[mick1316591]

Interesting video, I can't comment on the Chinese although I do commend you for having the courage to post a video of yourself at an early stage. I wish you all the best in working towards C1.

[CarlJoseph1976]

Incredibly brave of you Benny to put yourself out there like this. I think it's truly wonderful. Whilst you obviously struggle it shows how much you have been able to learn in 2 weeks. It also gives people a true vision of what learning a language is like. We so often only see the end result and believe that it's not possible to do for ourselves.

So, thank you for sharing Benny and putting yourself out there in this way. Looking forward to watching you progress to fluency (once again)!

[1004cheonsa]

2 weeks?! You seem to know quite a lot already. Hopefully once I'm fluent in a couple of languages it will get easier. I hope you can get fluent ^^

[Mrgearoido]

I'm just gonna have to say thank you, for your devotion to your fans and for sharing your honest drive, enthusiasm and intensity, your a credit to yourself Benny. From one irish man to another.

[Furmingbacham12]

Reading through the comments, I noticed that people praising him are clearly his fans who will defend him just like Justin Bieber's crazed fans. While Benny is doing a wonderful job and will surely improve, people have not been saying that he's horrible and should stop. Instead, the criticism he receives is constructive criticism: criticism intended to help him improve. The overemphasis on proper tones and pauses between syllables is irritating, but what people have written is intended to help.

[irishpolyglot]

@Furmingbacham12 Equating encouragement to "crazed fans" is a very sad way to look at the world. I recognise manner commenters as those who have said before that I'll fail this mission, but they do give kind words about my first attempt, as any good fellow language learner should.

I've gotten plenty of abuse about this mission, and much of it is definitely not constructive criticism.

[Furmingbacham12]

@irishpolyglot Perhaps I should have explained myself: the fans who are defending you. Their comments, particularly towards people telling you what needs to be improved, remind me of how Bieber's fans defend him unequivocally. You are doing a good job so far, but to pretend everything is perfect does not help you.

You deleted the harassing comments? I can understand if they were really bad, but the ones left up are not all attacking you, but your responses to them are defensive.

[irishpolyglot]

@Furmingbacham12 Yes, I've had to delete and block several people who are going over the top in harassing me and overposting. I really do not have time to cater for every troll who wants me to entertain them, and am not interested in letting them take over my comment stream. Nobody seems to read that warning in the video description.

Now please, stop annoying me with comments that have nothing to do with the content of the video.

[ArchiveEverywhere]

Just watched it all the way through properly. Very impressed you remembered all but two words without notes! And it's kinda amusing and pleasing how obvious the relief is after each phrase.

[flashatizer]

Great job for two weeks! Really great start. Next step is the flow of the language for you. Remember to not worry too much about the tones when you speak, that is something that comes naturally. Try learning words and tones as one set not as a sound and then a tone. That makes it easier. For example don't learn the word for you as ni 你 and then third tone, learn it as ni3 你 with the tone and it cuts out half the work.

Also, when you said 和 he (and) you said hen4 恨 which means hate.

Amazing..

[Mrgearoido]

@flashatizer EXCELLET TIP!!!!

[raiseyou]

@flashatizer actually I believe he did say 和 which in Taiwan is pronounced hàn. It is just that he forced the fourth tone making it sound too sharp and very much like 恨.

[MangoJerky]

Wow. As a recent but avid follower of your blog, I'm extremely impressed with your courage to make a video of you speaking so early. I'm trying to follow your language tips as much as possible (I'm a minor and unfortunately cannot move to another country). Your video was inspiring to watch and heartbreaking to see you struggle; your determination to stay in language was extremely admirable. You inspire me everyday to practice my language with hopes of communication, not perfection. Thank you.

[longname25]

哇……你的语言能力这么厉害啊！两个星期后你已经会说简单的句子­。我信心你就会说流利的国语，加油！Translation: Wow, your language ability is really good! After two weeks you already can speak simple sentences. I am confident you will soon speak fluent Mandarin. Do your best!

[LearningFrenchNow]

What video editing software did you use to make the Mandarin video animation?

[irishpolyglot]

@LearningFrenchNow HB 2.0

[i.e. I got someone experienced in such things to make it for me ;) Not sure the software he used.]

[jaylias]

I don't speak a word of Chinese but I think you are doing great!! After only 2 weeks you can express your thoughts to whoever has the patience to listen, and that in itself is an achievement. Are you going to be doing this type of update every 2 weeks? That would be great because I am really interested to see how you progress :)

[barrysword26]

fantastic effort benny!!

[irishpolyglot]

@barrysword26 Thanks!

[espukr]

This sort of video I find rather artificial and not really an indication of what's been learnt in 2 weeks as this script was learnt especially for the video. I'm looking forward to some videos indicating actual practical conversational level, even it it's just ordering stuff in a restaurant.

[craigistheman101]

i dont know why people are complaining about the "choppiness" ur just starting to learn a new language and beginners are always slow because they have to really think before they speak. i bet all of the haters couldnt even get this far in one year.

[irishpolyglot]

@craigistheman101 Absolutely.

[borderlord]

Good job Benny...you'll be able to chat up the local talent soon...not many Gweilos can do that in Mandarin!

Cheers from London.

[espukr]

@borderlord so we're 'devil-people' are we?

[lwtproject]

That was not very impressive. It will be impossible to reach C1 plus 1500 characters within the next 10 weeks, even with a teacher (is this still language hacking??). You were aiming too high, Benny, and you should have already realized that....

[irishpolyglot]

@lwtproject So sick of people overusing the word "impossible".

Thanks for your discouraging and totally unhelpful comment. I'll add it to the stack of "ignore asap".

[aaronolafson28]

@irishpolyglot Hi there Benny, you're doing great. I'm over here in China and trying to figure out how to learn the language, such as methodology. As a new subscriber, I'm researching various videos of Youtube's Polyglot community for a method that will work for me. I started using Pimsleur, and is working okay thus far. I'm pulling for you and look forward to tagging along on your journey as you will inspire me and other language novices to aspire to our goals, whatever level they may be.

[aaronolafson28]

@irishpolyglot That "I'll add it to the stack of "ignore asap" "was priceless and funny as helk.

[learnjapanesehacker]

@lwtproject I learned 2045 characters in 45 days. It's not so impossible. Having perfect recall of all of them does take a little while, though. But again, not impossible. 

[JLemien]

@lwtproject It is the journey, not the destination.

Q: If Benny fails to reach a C1 level (which is a very realistic possibility), what will the consequences be?

A: He will have a far better ability to use Mandarin than he did three months earlier.

[Linguist1967]

@lwtproject Maybe he was aiming too high but so what? He is making an effort and no matter what success he has, we should support him.

[shounenbat510]

@lwtproject I knew a guy who once learned 2000 characters in a month. It's not impossible.

[Ryak1234]

Very good job! You sir have my respect for going in a country speaking a foreing language, which you've done many times. Keep it up!

[Izzayronii]

I am so jealous it isnt even funny. How do you first start chinese? Ive been thinking of learning Korean, or Chinese, and Korean is a lot more simple in writing techniques than chinese. So, did you learn Chinese beginning with the characters and then associate the symbols with chinese in the spoken form, or did you start learning speaking immediately like ni hao? Im really surprised you learned so much in such a little time frame. Im jealous. Keep going. Good Job :)

[cSharpIndonesia]

Show your Rosetta Stone off!

[purplejade01]

加油！！

[nbtothepower]

I am rooting for you! Looks like a great start.

[wobblyland]

This is the kind of thing your audience want to see, a gradual progression from early days through to the later stages. Good luck.

[ApostolicFire]

I started when you did and I'll try to make a video in one week. I haven't really had much of a chance to study, but you mentioned that you had some things written down that you wanted to say so I'm going to do that too. Unfortunately the only time I can study is in my car when I'm working.

[MizzRosenrot]

It's wonderful to see someone with such a passion for languages and learning. I can see why many people are having a hard time believing you that one can learn Chinese in only 3 months, I'm one of them, but that doesn't change the fact that it's awesome that you're trying anyway. I would never want to learn a language in such a short time because I enjoy learning, so it's okay if it takes more time. People here should stop bullying each other just because they have different opinions.

[omniglot]

Your pronunciation of individual syllables and tones is pretty good, Tús maith leath na hoibre. Ádh mór ort!

[MrScotchpie]

I'm not learning mandarin but I'm impressed with your attempts to speak it and to put up this video so soon into your studies. Congrats and good luck.

[fionamarieking]

Yeay!! I'm rooting for u Benny:D

[TheSeductiveArts]

@laoshu505000, but it would still be awesome if he got to B2 with a language like Chinese that is so remotely unrelated to any European language where he can use cognates and similar grammatical structures to give him a crutch. So everyone needs to calm their asses down, because the Kauffman vs. Benny issue and "I got haters." was so fucking 2 weeks ago. Benny is trying, all power to him.

[espukr]

@TheSeductiveArts why the swearing? don't children learn languages?

[HipposHateWater]

Watching your videos make me feel like a pussy about my procrastination with my own language missions, and makes me get back to working on them shortly after. Never fails

[verdevids]

Amazing! You speak more Chinese after two weeks than I speak Spanish after struggling for two years. Very inspirational. I can't wait to see more videos. Nice work, Benny!

[espukr]

@verdevids Come on, it was scripted!

[verdevids]

@espukr You think it would be easy to memorize a 10 minute script in a new language? Especially one with such a different range of tonalities. That is remarkable.

[espukr]

@verdevids No, it's certainly not easy. But it's also not an indication of Benny's current level. He's certainly not cheating or anything as he says outright that it's a script he's memorised (yes,and learnt the individual words) but many of the words are words that one wouldn't learn within the first few thousand words. And as it's a script it's simply not interesting. It doesn't show anything at all except for an ability to memorise a script. Time-wise it's probably set him back.

[TheSeductiveArts]

Poor dude. LOL At least he is trying.

[Scallonesi]

I think we should admire Benny for putting out this video! He's doing a great job and despite all the criticism about his claims I find this video inspiring and positive. Keep up the good work Benny, I support you even though I'm a bit skeptical about the final result of your mission :)

[needmanshini]

Actually I think Benny is putting forth a pretty admirable effort in the Taiwanese dialect of Chinese. There are some parts of the language where he has tonal slip ups, but I think he is still understandable by a native at this point. It sounds like he has been shadowing a native, which is good. Now except for responding to your Youtube audience, do you the language pledge to only speak the target language?

[irishpolyglot]

@needmanshini In the 2 weeks I've been here, I've only spoken English socially ONCE offline. So I am indeed sticking to the pledge ;) It's very hard, because I know that lots of parties etc. would be there if I just go and speak English with easy to find expats, but my choice to struggle the entire day instead will pay off in the long term.

[FluentCzech]

This was a very brave video. It has opened you up for criticism, which is never easy. Now that we can see your level at two weeks, we know that you really are starting from scratch. There is clearly a heck of a lot of work ahead over the next ten weeks or so on the journey to C1. Watching you take that path and making very rapid progress is something I look forward to greatly.

[irishpolyglot]

@FluentCzech Thanks for the kind words :) Yes, someone suggested that I secretly learned Chinese in advance for this mission :P If that were true I deserve an academy award for the performance in this video!!! So yes, really starting from scratch from 2 weeks ago ;)

[tl1025a]

Good job!

[irishpolyglot]

@laoshu505000 Thanks mate :D

[Mrgearoido]

lol i think this is the most ive seen you struggle! I shudder to think how difficult it is.chinese is my next mission eeeek!!! fantastic stuff mate!

[irishpolyglot]

@Mrgearoido It's actually not so bad! The tones take some getting used to and that's what was slowing me down; I wanted to make sure I was saying most of them right. Once I get into a rhythm in the language I can start writing some tips on the blog ;)

[learningczech]

Benny, lo estás haciendo muy bien, no te desanimes por las críticas de los malvados. Como dicen en España: "suerte y al toro"

[LordSpuggy]

A few arseholes talking about people needing patience to listen and mocking Benny, it's a pathetic. You wouldn't complain or mock someone for having a stammer, you have patience when they talk to you, he's been learning the language for two weeks for God's sake! Give the man a chance. Very well done there, Benny, I actually have less than three months before I go to mainland China and I haven't learnt a word, time to pull a Benny I think ;)

[kanadanoarekkusu]

I would suggest that you try to focus on larger meaningful units, such as subject-verb or preposition-noun combinations. It sounds a lot more natural to string "wo you" or "zai zhe" together than to pause in the middle. This would also help you get a feel for how tones combine and influence eachother.

[hobosorter]

WTF is wrong with you numbnuts....Benny keep rockin it.

[AMusingNerd]

This is very impressive. For the amount of criticism you've received over this mission, and your apparent lack of confidence in this video, to still go for it is inspiring. Okay, so you need to pause and think, but you've obviously learnt a lot of "alien" vocabulary, especially given such a short time, and your pronunciation seems pretty good. I think we should be congratulating you, and admiring this concrete example of your language learning philosophy and your confidence.

[jonstraveladventures]

@Sprachprofi I've always found that people who learn using Michel Thomas start off with this somewhat stilted tone, but give him another few weeks and he'll be stringing the phrases together no problem.

[Kathilisi]

@silent0watcher Benny does mention that in the description of this video. He also announced on his blog last week that his first video in Mandarin would be scripted and not very fluent. He's trying to get to a reasonably fluent level in 3 months, but everyone is expecting him to be fluent after 2 weeks... I don't understand what he's saying, but I applaud his effort!

[awash77]

I admire you for putting yourself out there like this. Good luck!

[stanleykho2]

shows great effort. just need to be more confident and less hesitant.

[Sprachprofi]

Showing people around your apartment is still too difficult for your current level, I can understand that. However, why can't you say "Welcome" (huānyíng) yet? You're pausing in the middle of the word! In fact, apart from "Hello", there's not a single word that you're pronouncing without an irritating pause in the middle. Before trying to say phrases, I recommend learning to say words in isolation. This is a systematic issue.

[irishpolyglot]

@Sprachprofi It's so easy to sit in an armchair and ask those questions, isn't it? :) If you upload a video, knowing well that thousands of people will be nitpicking and scrutinising every syllable, and do so 2 weeks after starting to learn the language, you'll understand why you'd pause too.

[Sprachprofi]

@irishpolyglot You've done this kind of video in plenty of languages, and from what I can tell, none of them sounded like "Wel come to Tai Pei. This is my a part ment. I li ve be si de a me tro". You're probably doing it in order to get the tones right, but the thing is, the tones aren't right out of context, they influence each other. Specifically, the second tone in a two-syllable word is often weaker / harder to discern, something that happens automatically when you're speaking.

[Sprachprofi]

My advice is to study words as units only, not syllable-by-syllable, practise saying each word a few times until it flows, and then not worry overly much about the tones when talking. Chinese speakers are used to foreigners getting the tones wrong and they can deal with it much better than with chopped words like this.

[irishpolyglot]

@Sprachprofi You aren't appreciating that now that I've got some confidence in tones, I simply need to speed up the rate & I'll go in the right direction really quickly. Using your advice I'd hit a road block of getting used to speaking Chinese like a European language & need to start over.

I will also say you are downright wrong about your last statement. People understand me better now that I've improved my tones. My first days I spoke quickly with wrong tones & got blank faces

[MegaLanguagelover]

@irishpolyglot

Benny I want to congratulate you for the great display of self discipline and skill!

I've been exposed to chinese for almost 2 years and I can speak pretty fast, but I've got no clue about the tones and I just copy others intonation, in few words I just got used to speak chinese due to my long exposition to it.

you've have done great progress in just 2 weeks!.

For your way of learning chinese tones, i advise you to follow,if you like, this guy advise

[MegaLanguagelover]

@irishpolyglot which is also my own method of learning chinese.

I'm not judging your technique, because you have your techniques and you have your schedule, i just wanna be of some help, cause I've been frustrated in learning chinese due to my general lack of confidence, and I'am happy to help people avoid my experience.

jia you!! Benny :)

[Furmingbacham12]

@irishpolyglot You're comment is very ad hominem, isn't? In all your other videos, you seem a lot more confident and comfortable with your language proficiency. You do well in this video, but the pauses are a bit of an issue that can easily be remedied by speaking a bit faster. Surely, you will improve on this feature later, but what Sprachprofi says is right. Attacking him personally does nothing for your self image, nor add to your defense.

[Mrgearoido]

@Sprachprofi 2 weeks!!!!!:(

[MrGrinningManiac]

It's funny to see you move your hands with the tones just like I do. I bet the Chinese think it's hilarious but it's helpful. Keep up the great work - Wo Men Xuexi Zhongwen!

[wrenberney]

Thank you for sharing this video! It seems to me that you are making great progress! I look forward to the next update.

[AyuChan17]

:D! Good job! I think you're doing really well so far. Keep at it :)! I hope I can learn as many languages as you. :)

[AdornThyHeadset]

Keep up the good work Benny! Haters gonna hate.

[huaytita]

just need to speed up

[clarinini]

keep it up!

[Kathilisi]

Thanks for sharing the earliest stages of your mission, I think it's very brave. I probably wouldn't feel comfortable posting a video in a language I've only just started to learn. It shows how seriously you're taking your mission though! Best of luck to you!

[gomezs1982]

Boy! I hope the people you speak with are patient... at this rate I don't see you becoming fluent in the next 10 weeks.

[irishpolyglot]

@gomezs1982 I only speak one phrase with people at the moment to buy things, so they don't need any patience. Bloody hell, do you expect me to be debating politics or something? There are always stepping stones to fluency, and this is one of them.

[MegaLanguagelover]

@irishpolyglot

sorry but I can't sent to you the link.....0.o. anyway the link is on luca lampariello's blog "the polyglot dream" "tips on learning chinese tones"

hope it will be useful to u :)

[SeanOBriain]

@gomezs1982 Benny speaks a huge number of languages. His method of immersion, and speaking the language as soon as possible is the quickest way to become fluent. You'll see in 10 weeks from now how much better he is. This is only after 2 weeks!

[Mrgearoido]

@gomezs1982 Wise up :(

[imytbryan]

Good Job Benny!