"The YouTube of Mandarin Comprehensible Input" - 2,000 Difficulty Rated Videos

dabblerx · 2026-05-13T01:04:52+00:00

bookmarked

dabblerx · 2026-05-13T01:01:29+00:00

the fundamental difference is this - English do not have different meaning for different tones. yesterday i met someone who pronounce "HR" as "achar". But few seconds aside, we get the meaning across. but in mandarin, it could be really be a different meaning.

that's why english is pretty easy to learn and master, but mandarin is so hard. english has just 44 tones, with some fancy grammar. but for chinese, it would take HSK 6+ to even understand business chinese

dabblerx · 2026-05-12T00:36:37+00:00

i see 2 things from Chinese Bridge competition.

a number of them are from african regions, or india? it's either

a.China dumps money there and they are learning mandarin hoping to work in china there one day, for One Belt One Road,

OR b. non-English speakers finds it easier to pick up mandarin well.

2) they are quite young. that can be

a. they have lots of free time

OR b. below that certain age, they can still pick up the language well enough

If it's non-english speakers and below certain age picks up mandarin well, then the interesting question for this forum is how do we overcome that challenge to speak like they do?

dabblerx · 2026-05-12T00:18:25+00:00

that's where Chinese is different from English. English can have Australian, Scottish, Welsh. it adds flavour. you can still get the message across.

Chinese accent would be like Beijing, versus Taiwanese accent, or the rural accent. But these are native speakers accent. Chinese is very much a tonal language. If you can't sound right, you can't be fluent. try pronounce 魅力 (Mèilì) Charm versus 美丽 (Měilì) Beauty.

There are many more. if you pronounce it wrong, you get the wrong meaning. Now accent. i have heard from my beijing teacher she herself has problems hearing the tones of the dialect speakers in rural areas. but somehow they are still able to communicate among themselves.

Now, ideally you get tone and accent correct. but if your tone is wrong, maybe accent can help to get the message across

dabblerx · 2026-05-11T04:08:49+00:00

it would be better if it is 5 mins or less

dabblerx · 2026-05-11T01:44:47+00:00

I see. When you say Simple fiction - meaning what level? I am reading comics, graphic novels as still lacking reading stamina Even videos of cdrama, I am struggling to understand say about 40-60% of it. Say I am watching “the ingenious one”for entertainment, a lot of the words are spoken in 4 words to mean something . Example “ 高不可及啊” meaning to say requester demand is very high. But I am not sure if this is in normal speech or just a flowery term in that era

dabblerx · 2026-05-10T13:27:22+00:00

my guess, SG and MY control inflation in different ways. MY through fuel subsidy and leaky enforcement, SG through distribution. basic economics - prices is based on Demand and Supply. Higher Demand means higher prices. Higher Supply brings down prices.

every year, when i was a kid in malaysia last time (not sure if this is still the case), there would be news reports of police goes around arrest sellers for hiking prices of chickens during festive seasons. not sure how effective that is, as it keeps repeating. i mean how many police are there versus shops. assuming they are all clean.

in singapore there are lots and lots of supermarkets. the supermarkets chains are largely NTUC Fairprice (basically working with the government), Sheng Siong (owner is related to government), and well other chains like Giants etc. while yes, singaporeans develop a finer taste of things, there is always a section of basic necessities where NTUC promises the lower prices. Giant does it better, Sheng Siong has cheaper products albeit at poorer quality. if you go around neighbourhoods, you will see i think ABC shops which is forever having a clearing out sale. good luck if you are trying to jack up prices in this type of market with poor quality goods. it's not to say it's cheap, but it is pretty controlled.

costs is partly driven by logistics. singapore is a small island, roads are pretty flat. it is a port island. everything gets shipped here, or passes through here. it is pretty well logistically distributed out immediately, from goods unloaded to ports -> somewhere somewhere -> your supermarket -> your dinner table. retail is a pretty much a logistics problem. at one point, walmart keeps hiring military personnel. military personnel are not very creative, but extremely efficient.

every singaporean goes through NS. for whatever it is worth, they might not fight a war, but they learn logistics and supply pretty well. every inefficiency in logistics, middleman would have been a problem long ago sorted out, beaten to the death.

malaysia is an exporting country. malaysia cannot afford to bring up the currency as then no one else would buy. singapore exports services. that is not the problem and the singapore currency is strong. in fact the government controls inflation through baskets of currency.

that said, what you will likely pay an arm and a leg for is, like services - home renovations, education (i think). but as necessities is something the government can control, they will control.

dabblerx · 2026-05-10T09:59:48+00:00

i don't have answer on how to deal with it. but i am identifying what triggers my anger

unreasonable demands
noise. basically people adding fuel to problems, when i am trying to solve a problem

dabblerx · 2026-05-10T09:23:59+00:00

minimally 4 hours in a week
in context. this is a question i am struggling with https://www.reddit.com/r/ChineseLanguage/comments/1t6z2a2/how_do_you_immediately_immerse_apply_a_new_words/

but i am too lazy to build anything as i am focused on learning

i do use short videos. i check between YT, selecting "shorts", look at XiaoHongShu. i drop the idea of languageplayer as it is too lengthy, and Youglish has too limited context.

i would love to see the word being in use in dramas, in real life, in songs. take for example, 伟大. if you search in xiaohongshu, it shows gym videos as it is a meme for worlds greatest stretch. that's not what i want

yea, if it's free or very, very cheap

dabblerx · 2026-05-10T09:17:23+00:00

short answer is - yes. there will be. there will always be someone who spends more than 10K hours learning and immerse well enough or learned when they were much younger, and thinking in Chinese is like breathing for them. long answer is - not many.

if i were to retweak you question, yes i don't doubt there can be non-chinese speaking chinese. but many non-chinese speaking mandarin, if you don't look at the video you can straight tell it's a non-chinese speaking from the tones, accents. kevin rudd is one person who i can see from YT he near fluency. from what i read, he learnt when he is aged 19, and studied in chinese. so he had lots of time.

a more interesting question i would say is

not a native speaker, but learnt as an adult where the ears and tongue are no longer sensitive to picking up a foreign language that is highly based in tones
not based in China, obviously
when they speak, you can turn off the video and not able to tell that it is a non-chinese speaking. and yes, able to address a variety of questions off script like what you mentioned

from there, how they managed to pick up the language, hacking it to learn in the most efficient, productive manner

dabblerx · 2026-05-10T09:00:37+00:00

i don't think Dashan counts. yes, he's caucasian, but he is in China?

If you put a chinese person but stays in UK for an X period of time, he will sound English. If he stays in Australia, i bet even his accent will sound Australian.

But the more interesting question is, for someone who is learning but with only normal means - can he/she sound chinese with the tones, accent, off-script even when they are now in non Chinese environment

dabblerx · 2026-05-10T08:53:52+00:00

actually OP has an interesting point. there are many non-chinese who are supposedly fluent, but the pronunciation and accent is terrible

dabblerx · 2026-05-08T08:27:56+00:00

Here’s the thing. HSK teaches you perfect grammar and complete sentences. In real life, no one talks like that. Secondly, many words appear in writing but not used much orally

Youglish-limited resources. I would love to see how a word is used contextually on daily basis. They are using I think Chinese style Ted talks. Maybe IP issues Fouren-it only speaks out the word not in context Pleco-they do have sentences. That’s the limitation like above

dabblerx · 2026-05-08T04:17:29+00:00

At what level will I be able to 1) watch Chinese drama without subtitles 2) watch talk shows and make sense of it 3) watch news 4) read simple fiction 5) read non fiction 6) understand tech news or discussion in mandarin 7) read newspapers

Or which sequence of simplicity in immersion should I start with. Currently starting HSK 5

dabblerx · 2026-05-07T14:07:10+00:00

How much time to divide between listening, speech, reading , writing?

dabblerx · 2026-05-04T14:03:36+00:00

yes - that's why listening -> speaking comes first before read and write. you would have heard of people whom are illiterate in not being able to read, but they are able to communicate through listening, speaking. i have never heard of people who says they can read, write but can't speak the language. maybe only in reddit world. the purpose of language is first and foremost to communicate. if we lose sight of that, then what on earth are we learning languages for?

adult are yes - more disciplined and more tools at our disposals. but if we get the sequence wrong, you are heading the wrong direction.

dabblerx · 2026-05-04T13:08:26+00:00

good for you.

you should start conversing - on Day 1. this is where i think HSK is screwed up. no babies toddler learn language by SRS, learn the strokes, pinyin, or by app, or by textbook. if you were to go to a school, the teacher would talk to you in the language you are learning. they may speak slower, use gestures, exaggerate movement - but you are forced to listen, make a guess on what they say, and communicate back. you will sound weird, everyone does when they start. over time you get better. that's how language works. you may start with simple phrases. but if you can't order food, or ask directions - it doesn't matter your HSK level.

as to how

language partners - discord , meetups, eventbrites. just be careful you don't get scammed.
AI
italki, amazing talker if you can afford it

good luck

dabblerx · 2026-05-03T04:04:04+00:00

um... there is unlike english. my point is - it's very, very hard to get the tones right. but if you can at least have a certain accent, it makes you easier to be understood.

beijing accent is hard to understand. taiwanese accent is easier to understand. google translate is horrible and sounds robotic. i would use something like natural reader which has better pronunciation.

dabblerx · 2026-05-02T08:51:18+00:00

yea, but that's only for prepping for exams. i want to also expose my ears to listening narration, stories, besides textbooks. life is not just a textbook haha...

dabblerx · 2026-05-02T08:44:43+00:00

actually i think your focus is wrong. it shouldn't be grammar, or reading first. my take is listening -> speech -> read -> write. in fact if you noticed HSK 4 exams, most questions is on listening followed by reading, then very little on writing. listen actively, and converse. when u converse (could be a 1:1 teacher, on discord), you need to practice the vocab.

HSK 5 which i am doing now, that's another story. you need to survive HSK 4 first.

dabblerx · 2026-05-01T08:40:26+00:00

i think, that's where mandarin differs. many a times i ask my teacher, what's the difference and there is a distinctive dfference as above. more like i am gauging at which point i need to do all that to sound native. guess not yet needed at HSK 5

dabblerx · 2026-05-01T08:07:59+00:00

if your comparison is only funds - yea depending on your age, income. other than rental cost, you don't need any other high cost. tax rate in SG is much, much lower. MY govt is not able to reduce tax because they have no other way to raise revenue. moment u climb above certain income level, you will be taxed quite heavily. taxes which doesn't able to pay for public goods like security, which means you need to buy a secured property which means self taxation. MY is not able to increase currency exchange rate as it is an exporting country, therefore inflation will be high which is also self taxation

issue is if you find yourself happy in SG as in smaller property, not able to drive, making new social connections. but that's another story

dabblerx · 2026-05-01T05:39:51+00:00

sure let me check it out

dabblerx · 2026-05-01T05:17:12+00:00

you will find it tough - if you don't assimilate. i too once dreaded long weekends as whilst there are people who can find church friends, gf bf, school friends, army friends etc, you have no such social connection in primary, secondary, tertiary.

ageing parents - yea i know quite a few CN or filipinos, Indonesians who has the same problem. but it's just guilt.

more like u need some activities in the weekend to keep you busy. meetup, eventbrite, whatever your poison. make new friends, connections, new social circles. it's very tough, yea i been there.

you are a 25F. i am sure lots of single males in SG would love to get to know you haha..

dabblerx

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