How To Master Any Chinese Character In Seconds

[@MandarinBlueprint]

418 Must-know Mandarin Phrases- Download the FREE pdf now: mandarinbp.com/418-phrases-yt✅ WATCH THESE NEXT Master 100+ Chinese Words A Day ▶ ▶ kzbin.info/www/bejne/rYDVf2mpfLOHm7c The Ultimate Guide To Chinese Pronunciation ▶ ▶ kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJ3Ee2RoqdKnq5Y

[@WellBehavedForeigner]

You mean even people like YOU AND I can become LESS naturally Korean and learn Chinese in order to become the same as a type of human?

[@ApteraEV2024]

So , Dry is Gan, and Half is Ban??😅 I'm confused are we suppose to be learning Chinese?😅❤

[@pokefound253]

One thing I've done differently from this method is represent tones with moods. So first tone is a happy or positive mood to the story, 2nd tone is confusion or uncertainty, 3rd is sadness, 4th tone is anger or negativity, and 5th tone is bordom or neutrality. For me it makes the scene more memorable and lively when the tone represents emotion instead of location around the place.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Cool, let us know how it goes over time

[@sherilynhoward4759]

hey guy, i think these are applicable in every language. as a native speaker, actually we haven't done anything else but to adapt to the pronunciation, which can be regarded as practice. That is the thing which works really in learning second-language. Once you "adapt" to it, you will know what people saying without translating to your first-language, which is the situation I want to achieve finally.

[@NoohCee]

Disagree. You have added or changed the articulation. You will end up with very strange pronunciations. Just do it as what it is, don't twist it.

[@pokefound253]

@@MandarinBlueprint four months in and I have 1000+ characters under my belt. Thank you again for exposing me to this method!

[@naranjo5277]

​@@pokefound253wow really? did you buy the course or something? im in normal classes but we go so slowly its really frustrating and i think i should try this

[@e-genieclimatique]

in brief: The video is a tutorial on a method to learn Chinese characters using a mnemonic technique called the "Hands Up Movie Method". The speaker, Luke, explains the method in detail and provides examples to illustrate how it works. Here's a summary of the key points: 1. **The Method**: The "Hands Up Movie Method" is a mnemonic technique that involves creating a mental movie scene to remember each Chinese character. The scene includes an actor, a set, and props, each of which represents a different aspect of the character. 2. **The Actor**: The actor represents the initial sound of the character's pronunciation. For example, if the character is pronounced "gan", the actor could be someone whose name starts with "g", like George Clooney. 3. **The Set**: The set represents the final sound of the character's pronunciation. For example, if the character is pronounced "gan", the set could be a place that starts with "an", like an ant farm. 4. **The Props**: The props represent the strokes that make up the character. For example, if the character has a stroke that looks like a line, the prop could be a sword. 5. **The Movie Scene**: The movie scene is a mental image that combines the actor, the set, and the props in a memorable way. The scene should be vivid and engaging, with the actor interacting with the props in the set. 6. **Examples**: The speaker provides several examples of how to use the method to remember different Chinese characters. For example, to remember the character for "dry", he imagines George Clooney in an ant farm, using a sword to cut open a cactus and finding it dry inside. 7. **Practice**: The speaker encourages viewers to practice the method with different characters, actors, sets, and props. He emphasizes that the method is flexible and can be adapted to suit each person's individual preferences and experiences. 8. **Further Learning**: The speaker mentions that the "Hands Up Movie Method" is part of a larger course called the Mandarin Blueprint Method, which includes additional techniques for learning Chinese words and sentences. 9. **Conclusion**: The speaker concludes by saying that learning Chinese characters can be fun and easy with the right method. He encourages viewers to try the "Hands Up Movie Method" and to continue their Chinese learning journey.

[@Hamptony007]

Chat gpt...🤔

[@JeannetteK2]

I think it's called the Hanzi Movie Method, not the Hands Up.

[@burnerburner7264]

When should I be putting my hands up as part of the method?

[@SkincarewithAliKhalid]

Isn't it take a lot time just for one character?

[@kyome8]

Thank you so much❤🎉

[@juliesteimle3867]

I'm a visual learner... and remembering the shape of the character has never been the problem, only the tones that go with it. Like 'ban'--Half.... I see three boards being chopped in half... no need for horns, or Neo, or a syringe. I had a Chinese student who once gave an oral report on the meaning of all the radicals--she was Hakka. And she shared what had helped her learn the characters. I find knowing the meaning of the radicals helps a ton with understanding the characters. It also helps with finding them in a dictionary.

[@earth.todowu]

omg same, i can pick up the characters fast but the tones are kinda hard for me. What can i do??

[@Juraberg]

I'm glad this method works for some people. To me, this method is so incredibly complicated that I don't even understand how anyone could conceive of such a concept. Since I hardly watch TV, I couldn't even remember a dozen actors, singers, athletes or others, to begin with. For heaven's sake, there must hopefully be easier learning aids. 🤔

[@hayleybarbara1589]

He's trying to reinvent the wheel here. I'm not a fan at all of this method I think it's way too convoluted and unnecessarily complicates something achievable with an SSR app

[@majajackson777]

It's wayyyy too complicated for me as well. Also, there are different types of learners. It might be outdated, I don't know, but I simply have to write a word several times and say it out loud and I'll remember it. I hardly have to look up words once I've remembered them. So why complicate things?

[@majajackson777]

Duolingo has recently added a feature to learn Hanzi which I find useful as well. It teaches you the different components and the correct stroke order along with the pronunciation and meaning. Way easier than inventing a movie scene for every character 🥵😅

[@VictorGonz]

​@@quach8quach907the stupidity one has to read... "Not a method"

[@TheRealChiults]

The details are up to you! That's the beauty! You can use friends, characters from books, or whatever works for you. Their suggestions are mainly for introducing the method to people who have never seen it I used a similar one in other context and it worked pretty well, so I think it's gonna be a good one to try

[@cindig3296]

Three years and only upper beginner/immediate, with some ability to create sentences, understand a fair amount, but characters and reading fell through the cracks. I'm a visual learner and this is perfect! I like that you have a memory system, plus you provide example sentences and more. Thank you for seriously making learning Mandarin fun again.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Our pleasure! I bet you’d love The Mandarin Blueprint Challenge if you enjoy this memory technique: www.mandarinblueprint.com/challenge

[@Tizzer169]

I will use this method for learning japanese and report my progress in a month or so. Happy learning yall :)

[@misheelm2194]

What happened

[@estrafalario5612]

That's true. Went it well?

[@kurotsuchi25]

I started getting into Chinese about a week ago and the most helpful thing so far has been following this channel. This sounds extremely cool personally because my way of forming thought about anything IS through visualizing or playing short sequences. I tried using visuals in a sense to remember Russian words and my efforts were mostly fruitless. I do think, though, that this kind of language association would be extremely easy to implement toward Chinese.

[@Marko-kun-c2w]

Me too even tho I'm an Arabic native speaker i really like the blueprint method and the host explanation and tips were amazing

[@kelly4187]

The Heisig method was probably derived from his earlier work in Japanese: Remembering the Kanji. Because the On and Kun readings for any one kanji can be a huge list, and a single kanji can have many different pronunciations, the meta for Japanese has been to learn the meaning of the kanji separately, and then learn the pronunciation separately in context. This unfortunately doesn't translate well to Chinese where the pronunciation for a Hanzi doesn't change as often.

[@hayleybarbara1589]

​@youknowkbbabycare to elaborate? I've heard either great things or mixed about it

[@exeatop]

I have been trying to make use of mind palaces for about a decade but I could never get them to function properly. I've started using this system and I can say that for the first time I've actually been able to make use of mind palaces. I just decided to start learning Mandarin because I've been wanting to for a long time and I just found your channel and thought I'd give it a shot. I'm so glad your pronunciation video blew up because it led me to this one! For my first day of studying I've learned about 300 characters and I'll probably learn another 200 or so by the day's end. Recall is a bit slow currently but I'm not at all worried about that because I know it'll become faster and the mind palaces are working great. I can't thank you enough! As an aside, I'd like to say that I barely know any actors at all so I've actually assigned the first set of initials to Masculine Gods, the second set to Feminine Gods, the third set to characters from the Dragon Ball series, and the fourth set to Disney characters. I'm really glad that you provided different examples from your wildcard section because it allowed me to think about the best way to approach this for me.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Wow! impressive.

[@thechaoschapterfreeze8316]

now after making the scenes in your mind how do you actually remember the character like can I know your method

[@exeatop]

@@thechaoschapterfreeze8316 Did you watch the video? I just did what he said. Take this character for example: 贯. It's pronounced "guàn" and means something like "pierce through." I just imagine Goku (the character I associated with the "gu" initial) in the backyard of the location I associated with my "an" final *piercing through* the _rice paddy_ (毌) and grabbing the _shellfish_ (贝) that are buried underground. This scene is particularly easy for me to imagine because early in the Dragon Ball series when Goku is training with Krillin under Master Roshi, he has them till farm fields with their bare hands and I imagine Goku doing that same motion as he pierces through the rice field to grab the shellfish. I've found that using familiar scenes like this is particularly useful. When I see 贯 I actually imagine a rice paddy (毌) and shellfish (贝) underneath it and then because I've created the imagery already that jogs my memory of Goku's hand piercing through the dirt in the backyard of my "an" location and that helps me remember that that it's pronounced "guàn" and the action of him piercing through the dirt reminds me that it means "pierce through." I embellish the actual act of piercing in my imagination and there is a close up. Alternatively, if I want to write "pierce through," I know Goku's hand goes through the rice paddy and then grabs the shellfish so I know that I need to put 毌 on top of 贝. While 毌 means rice paddy and 贝 means shellfish, that isn't actually important for remembering this character. You could consider them as a window and a stool if that helped you remember. I prefer using what they actually mean because that helps me remember what the components mean when they stand alone, but that means you have to slow down at least a little bit and learn what the components mean before you learn characters that contain them. Again though it really doesn't matter, especially because the components can have different meanings. 贝 means shellfish by itself, but it can also mean money and is used in the verb "to buy." 月 means moon but when it exists as a component it can also mean flesh. It's easier for me to remember the components by what they actually mean but that doesn't mean it'll be easier for you to remember them by what they actually mean. Also I don't recommend comparing your progress to mine. I'm at least a little bit insane and I have a ton of personal factors that have influenced the speed at which I'm able to do this.

[@ijafklasdf]

Wouldn't it make sense to learn the radicals and then use them in the props/imagery? Feels like you'd be giving yourself more work not utilizing them.

[@kendellfriend5558]

This works! I can now learn a lot easier. I’m using Integrated chinese and I’m lesson 12 right now and I was struggling memorizing. I remembered 54 words today from this method.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Excellent!

[@SeaboltSpeaks]

From where the mnemonics are tailored specifically to you, it's SO easy once you get deeper in. It's the most effective way I've found to learn characters. I've also noticed the stories (again from where they are tailored specifically to you) make the characters so much more memorable and often you don't even need a flashcard for it.

[@jroig824]

I went for a personal variation of the method but in any case the association strategy is super powerful, I was able to memorize several characters, their tone and meaning very quickly. Thanks a lot!!!!

[@MandarinBlueprint]

You're very welcome!!

[@menonalevi6984]

The most easy way for me to learn characters is learning the radicals of the character.

[@TheGabygael]

For my tone (since I'm a visual learner) I immediately saw it as first : high room or important room, second upwards stairs (set at the foot of the stairs looking up or stairs I usually go up on) third: downward stairs (with the bottom of the stairs in the shadows) fourth: at the outer edge of the building (emergency staircase, small room, elevator, corridors, bathroom; something that feels on the fringe of the building, almost out, secondary) will obviously need some refining Edit: I realized why it makes sense to me: 1 feels like the higher tone, the main purpose of the building 2 enters in the main area 3 is under, out of or contrary to the main area 4 leaves the main area. That's what it feels like trying to visualize the tones I guess the 5th would be actively outside like secluded from the main area, actively not in the main area (think the tiniest of toilets way in the back of the garden you kinda forgot existed)

[@Discovering_Chloé]

Your channel is sooo underrated!! I only started even wanting to learn Mandarin a couple of days ago, but you’ve been so helpful!

[@erictang27]

You have to understand the value of memory by association to appreciate this method. The video said the world's memory champion use this method. And you can prove it to yourself by memorizing a list of things by associating it with actors, objects , scenes and actions. Once you appreciate and understand the power of this method you will learn much faster and apply this to other areas of your life

[@The_official_jaijai]

I wish there was a Chinese version of WaniKani. I learned Kanji so fast with WaniKani. It was extremely helpful and effective.

[@timcrnkovic8991]

I see this method sort of as Heisig 3.0, with Gorodish as Heisig 2.0. It sounds like an excellent refinement to the Marilyn method. We all know that the major deficiency of Heisig was the lack of learning the pronunciation, but the great things about Heisig's original method were: 1.) as mentioned in this video, the ordering of learning, starting with a component and building many characters off of each of those components, 2.) his recognition that - for most humans - our *imaginative* memory is far more efficient than our visual memory (it surely is for me), and 3.) these stories/movies will only be used as *temporary* crutches to learn the characters. The movies will fade from our memory but the meaning and pronunciation will not. The movies will have done their job and, at some point, go away so we won't be relying on them as crutches forever.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

You get it! It also opens the door to learning words, sentences and graded readers immediately after learning a character, which was impossible with Heisig

[@PaulfrmTXtoCO]

First came across these techniques in '74-'75 in a book called "The Memory Book" by Harry Loraine.

[@dkennell998]

The book "Learning Chinese Characters" by Tuttle may be one that you'd like more than Heisig - it fixes the problems that you mentioned, presenting an expandable system where you can create stories and including a system for the tones. I'll keep watching this though, to see if your system has advantages!

[@evaflug]

Amazing and more than well structured content plus outstanding presentation! I found you yesterday and am so happy to have the opportunity to watch this 🤩十万分感谢 🤗

[@人形niño]

I'm not interested in learning Mandarin but I love your videos, they're so facinating to me and these methods for learning the language seem so effective!

[@janisscilley43]

I am putting my trust in you, so I am hanging on by listening live.

[@floydmayweather2043]

Every time you do that, you are telling me to learn more. Thank you to keep pushing me to learn more. Mỗi lần bạn làm điều đó, bạn đang bảo tôi học hỏi nhiều hơn. Cảm ơn các bạn đã tiếp tục thúc đẩy tôi học hỏi nhiều hơn và tìm một môi trường tốt hơn để sống trong hòa bình, tự do và hạnh phúc.

[@akademiapsychokinezy]

Thanks to this video I didn't give up with my chinese journey. 💚🙏🏻

[@MandarinBlueprint]

We are happy to hear we were able to help! Keep up the great work!

[@rivenluo01]

In terms of the methodology introduced in the video, it is better than most native Chinese teachers. This is even helpful for native Chinese speakers in low development areas who are not able to enter high school or post-secondary institutions due to lack of educational resources.

[@petrosstefanidis6396]

Omg it can't get more exciting than that! I knew learning Chinese would lead to pretty interesting activities because of the characters. I'm very excited🎉 It is wonderful how language learning and memory exercises combine in all that 🤩

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Right?! Stay tuned to our channel for more

[@hfdennycheng9010]

I REMEMBER THE BOOK OF FIRSTLY LEARNING CHINESE CHARACTERS IN THE KINDERGADEN. ONE PAGE IS A CHINESE CHARACTERS AND ANOTHER PAGE IS A PICTURE, SUCH AS 山, ANOTHER PAGE IS A MOUNTAIN

[@EnricoGolfettoMasella]

mr Bean arrived from a phantasy party, using a Viking helmet with horns. Run to toilet for number 2, after finishing realizes there is no toilet paper, so he divide a towel in 2 to use half as toilet paper

[@lightning3606]

im really glad i found this channel!! You make it sound less scary to learn!! However im sooo bummed out that I can't afford the mandarin blueprint package

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey there , Thank you for watching! We appreciate your interest in our course! Send us an email, let's see what we can do for you . Here's the email [e-mail]

[@katunduchabala7266]

This is very good work! Thanks for sharing!

[@dwellinj1513]

I've watched this several times now. When the chart was introduced, it, threw me, "Wait, what? Why?" so I was relieved that at one pointLuke said, "Do Not Worry!" because I was starting to hyperventilate. But as an artist, I like the idea of creating scenes and scenarios.

[@ladybird169]

Wow. I'm not visual learner, I can't imagine learning all those people, places and rooms AND connect all that together. No way😮

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Here's what we say to this kzbin.info/www/bejne/mHa0Y2V_lKhoa68

[@thisonelooksangry]

Thank you, I wrote a book to associate 公共汽車 (bus) using this method .

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Nice work!

[@bharanib.r8849]

Please help me to apply this method for big words like bangongshi, tushuguan, jieshuzheng.... can you make a video for these kind of words

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Noted. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss it when we do in the future

[@oliviamack9593]

Hello, love the method! Very clever. Thank you for sharing this treasure. In the video you mentioned some mnemonics for connecting to your sets quicker and that it would be in the description but I don't see a link to these mnemonics. If you could share that or point me to the link I'd really appreciate it! Also, do you have any kind of scholarships for the program?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Thanks! Added to the description: www.mandarinblueprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Hanzi-Movie-Method-Set-Mnemonics.pdf We don't have scholarships but we are extremely reasonably priced for the value the course provides! You can also get lifetime access with 12 monthly installments.

[@oliviamack9593]

@@MandarinBlueprint Thank you! And yes, it is a good deal. Just outside of my price range atm. I can dream though!

[@oliviamack9593]

@@MandarinBlueprint Would it make sense to go through all radicals and pick props for them to represent before getting into the characters? Or is it better to learn several characters that use each primitive(radical) at a time like in the Heisig method?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

​@@oliviamack9593 No need. If you're following our course just choose the props as you go, when we prompt you. Same with the Heisig method!

[@mikicoal]

It's an effective system I've found (so far). The only problem with it is that the sets and actors have to be based off Pinyin (though it makes perfect sense). Pinyin takes such incredible liberties with spellings at times that it just makes the readings more confusing. For example, you have two "ong" columns, but there is no "ong" final. It's either the "u" or "û" medial + "eng." Taiwan got around the necessity of having a chart that shows every possible spelling, by simply having its own 37 character alphabet, which with the aid of a Taiwanese dictionary that shows both Pinyin and Zhuyin, it takes a lot of mystery out of how the sounds are constructed.

[@louiseharriet6505]

I will always love you for this video 😭 literally life changing!

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Happy to help!

[@mamoako1521]

20:45 Tones in memory palace

[@TJLavinUnlimated]

That fired me up and got me excited to get started

[@gabrielfranco380]

I’m trying to make this work for traditional characters, but I am having some difficulty. For characters such as 癮 that have many radicals and therefore several “props” things can get pretty convoluted. Any tips? Thanks for the great work and attention!

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Because of the complexity of Traditional characters, you'll have an uphill battle as a new learner no matter what method you choose to go with. If you're a fresh learner, I'd strongly advise starting with Simplified, but if you've no choice, then using the movie method will still be superior to any other method, no matter how complex a character might get.

[@gabrielfranco380]

Thanks for the reply! I am already committed to traditional. Do you suggest to keep adding props to these complex characters? Or is there a better way to go about it? @@MandarinBlueprint

[@dominusanuli3595]

Try and learn the radicals together instead as single strokes, if you can remember the characters that go into one hanzi then it'll be much simpler to remember, especially for Traditional characters.

[@Owlbyours]

Do you have a free pdf of the changed pinyin chart I can use and print out

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey Chloe, Well you can actually save it from this article www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/new-pinyin-chart/. While you are at it, feel free to explore the blog.

[@richardwhitehouse8762]

I started Mandarin classes in 2020, just before the pandemic started, which wasn't the best context to start. It was quite well taught but really everything went by too quickly. So after 10 weeks, although we'd got to the end of book 1, I found that my recall was dreadful and confidence worse. Afterwards I wanted to start again with just the initials and finals and spend time just mastering those but when I tried, it just that it felt like too much of a memory test. The way you divided those up was revelatory and makes me think I could actually do it. Xie xie.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey Richard, we are happy we were able to provide a different perspective for you. Thank you for watching . As a gesture of appreciation, I'd like to invite you to explore our free web class, where you can gain deeper insights into our method : www.mandarinblueprint.com/free-webinar/

[@arnoldsaunders6073]

Plenty of Chinese series on KZbin, with sub titles.

[@rhondaverma6358]

I have watched this about 5 times; I'm not sure if I'm ever going to learn this method...

[@andrewharmon2157]

Many years ago I practiced Matteo Ricci"s Memory Palace to memorize the Psalms. Of course this is a different technique, but basically very similar as it is based on setting up a visual representation in a specific place which represent words. It was astonishingly effective. It was a labor to set up (and fun), but after the job was done, I could easily recite the psalms I learned either forward or backward. My parents were terrified by this and it seemed to them uncanny. I found the setting up process to be very trance-like. I might get in the bath tub and start to work on it and suddenly realize the water had gone cold and it was three hours later. But in my life, many things intervened and I stopped practicing what I had learned. Now, perhaps 30 years later, I can vividly remember places in the palace with the items I had set up, but I cannot remember the words I associated to these. It seems there is a leap in the mind between visual memories and the meanings we associate with them. But in reading Chinese I suppose this problem of practicing the scenes is not an issue since these characters would be commonly read.

[@belphegor_dev]

Anki works very well for me without having to resort to mind palace memory techniques.

[@mamoako1521]

18:19 After Sets & Actors

[@bhinchliffe1983]

Thank you for sharing this. I've being going through this video a lot lately but i found I'm a bit stuck. How do I do 'liu' (six - sorry no tone placement? I get li is a new initial but I can't see 'u' on the place list. Could you help me with this? I have tried figuring it out but just can't see the answer.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

You actually split it wrongly - it should be "l" + "ou" even though it's written as "iu". You can see it somewhere in the middle of the chart, below "ou". Hope this helps!

[@bhinchliffe1983]

@@MandarinBlueprint Thank you for the reply. I am still a little confused as how 'liu' (six) is actually l+uo. I'll work on this as I wouldn't want to start memorising incorrect Hanzi.

[@resistapathy]

I learned basic conversation first using bo po mo fo the phonetic system taught to children in elementary school in Taiwan. I don’t have a good auditory memory and can’t even sing on key, so remembering the tones was very difficult for me. I spoke very slowly. I take anchor words or phrases that I am very familiar with to help me remember the tonal pronunciation of new words. Like hen2hao3. That is my go o to tonal anchor for learning new vocab with a 2/3 tone combo (like mei2you3) .bu2yao4 is an anchor for 2/4 combo words etc

[@OneDerscoreOneder]

is there a way to learn compound words with this method? Also, will this method help with speaking? Does the palace method become fast enough to where I can use it while I'm speaking?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

For compound words, check out this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rYDVf2mpfLOHm7c This method helps you learn characters, which allows you to get higher quality input, which leads to fluency, so YES it does help you speak but indirectly.

[@OneDerscoreOneder]

@@MandarinBlueprint okay, thank you!

[@benheamin4611]

For me personally, I have been influenced and know pokemon very well growing up. So for the people/ actors I’m going to imagine pokemon like, b= Bidoof, p= pikachu etc.

[@middy774]

I like this idea, and shifted myself over to this method. However I’m studying traditional characters and there are just so many shapes/forms that are really hard for me to turn into metaphors/props. I guess it’s my lack of imagination. I’ve created something like my own “index” of often repeated radicals and shape patterns, so I don’t duplicate naming the same shape, but it’s just not enough for some of the really complex characters. It’s hard for me to rationalize here how the mental hurdle of associating the sound of the word to a scene provides more value than just trying to understand the history of a character. I suspect it’s just a matter of more practice. But overall I would say that this method has helped personify each character. When I’ve been able to create a good scene, it has helped immensely.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hi Sandy, here's a reply for you: www.loom.com/share/f3e8369473384417847d12346acfd23c Mentioned in the video: 贝 貝 - 赔 賠 - 败 敗 讠- 言 ｜ 谈 - 談 汉语 ｜ 漢語

[@middy774]

@@MandarinBlueprint Wow, I just want to first say I am blown away with your considerate feedback. Thank you for your time on this interaction. I agree with your assessment regarding character memorization driven towards linguistics vs acquisition. I think they can both be done in tandem: leveraging insight gleaned from radicals or history when it's helpful. Otherwise, not worrying about a character's history when the history doesn't seem readily helpful for a particular character. I think it boils down to your point regarding how more mnemonic legwork is sometimes required. I know I'm interchanging the concept of radicals & history here, but I just mean the approach of learning the form of a character via it's historical journey. When I'm up against a character I think will be tricky, in my imagination I often dwell in the "scene" for several moments longer. Oddly, it's often the most difficult characters that are more easily learned, probably because of the mental intimidation and then the accompanying serious attitude my brain seems to take 😅 As a testament to this method, I would also add that on 听写考试，these hooks are good because the only input I/we have is verbal... So I might hear "ji4" and if I'm lost, I might start thinking about Jimmy Hendricks, (whatever it may be), and very oddly, just thinking of Jimmy, in a particular bathroom, often leads to instant memory recall, even though Jimmy by himself offers no insight whatsoever to the character's shape, save for the scene I created. Just a weird phenomenon we tap into here. Thanks again.

[@afri-cola1594]

Can you memorize the tones with emotion rather than the place of setting? For example, if the character is -an in first tone, we just use one room/house but make the setting happy, if it's in second tone we make it confusing, etc.?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Great thinking but I'm afraid it doesn't work. Tones are not connected to the emotions that the words represent. For example, both characters in 开心 are in the 1st tone and both characters in 快乐 are in the 4th tone, but they both mean happy!

[@poobumweefat]

This is great, but how do I make flash cards that incorporate my actors/props/sets?? Do the front of the cards have the character and the back have meaning + actor/prop/set?

[@HurricaneKatrina101]

Hey, I have started learning Chinese a few days ago and this technique is really helpful, I can remember the tone, recognize the character and recall the meaning but it takes me a few seconds to remember how the character was pronounced. How can I tackle this do I can instantly remember the pronunciation? Overall this technique works pretty fine, thanks for sharing!!

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey there, Great question! We are happy to help. I have attached the link below to provide you with some tips to assist with this www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/20-powerful-ways-to-improve-your-chinese-pronunciation/ Also, if you are interested in taking it a step further and mastering pronunciation, I'd recommend that you check out our Pronunciation Mastery Course www.mandarinblueprint.com/get-pronunciation-mastery/

[@samnguyen1457]

Amazing! I got it! Very clever Thank you

[@fredahmadi7658]

Nice. But question if you can help me out, how do we use it for learning words of two or three syllables because that way we would have two or three different places and different people. Any thoughts on this?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey Fred, we actually teach people how to do this within our course. You can check it out at www.mandarinblueprint.com/buy-the-blueprint/. However if you want to have a better understanding of how it works , this should help www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/chinese-mnemonics/

[@throwme2879]

Can this be used to learn Traditional Chinese characters?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Yes it can

[@govindapriyadasi286]

Thank you for elaborate explanation! The only thing I'd like to clarify: since the finals are related to partocular sets, and each set has specific places for tones, does that mean that we need to decide the places for tones in each setting? That is, 13 finals --> 13 settings --> tones need to be placed separately within each of the 13 settings?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Check out these blog posts as they each go into more depth regarding sets, props, actors -> www.mandarinblueprint.com/category/hanzi-movie-method-series/

[@govindapriyadasi286]

@@MandarinBlueprint thanks!

[@SnakeAndTurtleQigong]

Ok ok You’ve convinced me to sign up.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

We look forward to welcoming you!

[@satiremuch2643]

1)How do you distinguish between the -Ø symbol in the case of i, u and ü. ? 2) Shui and some other words don't follow the rules presented. Shui in this case sould be Shuei.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

1) The short answer is - we don't. The null final is exactly the same for all three of these, while the modified initials are distinct between each other, e.g. Li/Lu/Lü, Ni/Nu/Nü, etc. 2) In our modified Pinyin Chart, "ei" is listed as "(e)i" because the "e" gets dropped when it's added to anything except "Wu" (Wu > Wei). For everything else, it's just "i" e.g. "Shui" Shu+(e)i "Kui" Ku+(e)i, "Dui" Du+(e)i. Don't try to think of this in terms of the original Pinyin chart - we simplified it for a good reason! You'll understand once you get started on the Hanzi Movie Method.

[@satiremuch2643]

@@MandarinBlueprint Thank you very much for your answer! Very helpful and nice!

[@ALGMandarin]

Look forward to know it.

[@shrinkey1]

How would you go about 新? I see the 'xi' actor, but why is it connected to the 'en' set? Wouldn't this make 'xien'?

[@shrinkey1]

Same question for 就，研，外， etc. Maybe there is something I am not understanding?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

We teach this in much greator detail in the course, but a quick answer would be that "xi" is a female actor, which steals the "i" initial from the final "-in", so there is no longer a need to distinguish between "-en" and "-in", so we list this in our Hanzi Movie Method pinyin chart as "(e)n". Bearing this in mind, when you combine "xi" with "(e)n", you can effectively drop the "e" so it becomes "xin". This is also true of the other examples you cited, 就 Jiu and not Jiou, 研 Yan and not Yian, 外 Wai and not Wuai. If you're still unclear about this, please get in touch with us at [e-mail] and we will send you more extensive explanations about this.

[@HitoriAisu]

Batman (b) with Bunny Ears (horns) on his hood, holding an X (10), and Neo (1) cuts the bunny ears from below Ban! 半

[@NIKXart]

Hi, Phil and Luke I've been learning Chinese for quite a while now and have sluggishly made my way through the first RSH book (1500 characters), and I was thinking about giving the HMM a shot when learning the remaining 1500 characters in book 2. Do you recommend I just keep learning new characters or would it be better to go back and re-learn the first 1500 remaking the stories to include the actor and location in order to have a more in-depth knowledge of the individual characters? Overall I'd say I generally have a pretty good retention rate (90-95% in anki), however I often find that I either don't know the pronunciation of a given character (that said, once I learn at least 1 word using a given character, I almost instantly memorize its pronunciation) or, after months of not seeing a card, I tend to forget its meaning because of how idiosyncratic Heisig's keywords can sometimes be, despite still seeing the character being used in words.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey there , this is a great question. Here's what we recommend : www.loom.com/share/d6bf605a0ca14e76972f0bd40967d75f . If you have any further questions , please send us an email at [e-mail]

[@anthontm3332]

How do I find the characters to learn. Plus, the pinyin for that character?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey Anthont, Great question! Well, our course focuses on teaching characters and much more to help you become fluent. To learn more , I recommend checking out our free web-class mandarinbp.com/webclass As for finding the pinyin for characters, you can refer to the pinyin chart available on our blog. www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/chinese-pinyin-primer/ Feel free to explore these resources, and if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask!

[@HitoriAisu]

Is there a copy of the chart with the adjusted initials and finals?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey there , here you go chinese.yabla.com/chinese-pinyin-chart.php. Also you can download the image here www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/new-pinyin-chart/

[@HitoriAisu]

@@MandarinBlueprint ah, thank you! Fantastic timing - I've spent the day at work brainstorming different places to use! 😁😁😁

[@BusasGaming]

I enjoyed this video a lot and the method seems very intuitive. Looking forward to trying it out. The only thing I don't feel was explained very well is the final of the word. Like in ren, you used Robert Downey Junior for the R sound, but the EN sound wasn't explained very well. Eventually, I understood that the en sound is one of your 13 locations, but during the explanation you said to use any location it doesn't really matter, causing bit of confusion. I will find a few Chinese words I don't know and try this out to see how it works for me. Thanks for the advice! 😀

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Thanks for the feedback. If you go through our courses it's much clearer: www.mandarinblueprint.com/

[@Justusverissimus]

Dear Mandarin Blue Print Team I have not words to describe how amazed I am with this video of yours. I am also very and deeply touched with your kindness of sharing this for free with so many people. I have read Joshua’s book and I tried to use some of those techniques in order to learn Chinese. I have created some techniques by myself associating the tones with some actions rather than locations. Your explanation was basically an Eureka moment in my Chinese learning experience. It took it to another dimension. My sincere thanks to you. Your work is absolutely amazing. BRAVO!!! I will take a look into your courses. If one day anyone of your team comes to Japan I would really be honored to meet you in person. I think your concept can be expanded to Japanese learning and Korean learning as well. Thanks again!!!!

[@MandarinBlueprint]

@@Justusverissimus Awesome! you're very welcome :D

[@ijafklasdf]

How are you handling the 7 special 'i' sounds. Looks like you're grouping them with your first group of Actors but you don't have a set for them. Do you reuse another set somehow or do you need an extra set just for those 7?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey Kevin, We explain this here : www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/facial-mnemonics-to-learn-chinese-pinyin-initials/

[@zephyrmj]

how could you use that method for learning or teaching English!?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

I’m sure you could, but probably better to do the method we teach in another one of our videos: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rYDVf2mpfLOHm7c

[@emport2359]

By my understanding, you're reusing memory palaces (sets), which often leads to ghosting in my experience. Is this something you've thought about?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hello there, Great question, based on how we structure our method, that isn't an issue. I've attached our Hanzi Movie Method series below for you to review. This should give you a clearer understanding of how it operates www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/chinese-mnemonics/. Please read through all the series and let us know if you have any further questions

[@ЛадаСАМСУНГ]

谢谢！I really appreciate your hard work. Your videos are amazing😊

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Thank a lot!

[@enxi1111]

Can you choose more than one prop for each radical or component? or you recommend to stick to one Thank you

[@MandarinBlueprint]

One prop per component. You can learn more about it here www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/chinese-mnemonics/

[@polenfrej4364]

Do you think this method could fit (maybe even better too) with Gwoyeu Romatzyh?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Unfamiliar I’m afraid

[@deevanshapandhi]

Hi Im so glad to have found your channel,though i had a question that do we have to write the characters in order to memorize them? Did you learn to write the characters?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

We teach how to write Characters as it is part of learning Mandarin but this blog post will dive into how we teach you to learn the Characters --> www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/chinese-mnemonics/

[@davidlericain]

Oddly enough I use Chinese characters in order to memorize key plot points in my favorite films. 😛

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Wow cool!

[@TheDaleyMale]

Hi great video just wanted to know where i could find the pinyin chart

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey there, here it is: mandarinbp.com/the-blueprint

[@madgenesis77]

So I am following the memory palace technique (the revised version by mandarin blueprint), but I am following the word order from the book How to remember Hanzi, and I am making flash cards out of them. Meanwhile I am following more traditional methods such as learning apps and study books. Do you think I should also make flash cards of the words that I learn from books and apps? Or should I wait until I encounter them in the Rememberin the Hanzi book?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

If you come across words in your books and apps that you find challenging or important, it’s a good idea to make flashcards for them right away. This will help reinforce your learning and improve retention.

[@c.gracebumgarner4326]

so once i figure out my way of doing this, where do i find the meaning of each character, and the actual "components" or pictogram? the pintin chart has neither of those things

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey there, You don't have to worry about trying to figure it out; we've done all the hard work for you. Please check out our course and learn how you can become fluent using this method. Here's the link: www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/chinese-mnemonics/ Also, if you're interested, you can start there www.mandarinblueprint.com/free-webinar/

[@keifnoo]

Thank you, you just unlocked my brain 😅

[@MandarinBlueprint]

You're welcome

[@mamoako1521]

8:40 TS

[@drh5134]

Great Video, thank you for sharing. I have one question, should I be focusing on traditional Chinese characters or or simplified Chinese? I am not sure what the difference is.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

That is a great question, we focus on teaching simplified characters at Mandarin Blueprint. It really depends what you are learning for, but simplified tends to be an easier place to start and can really teach you everything to read, write and speak!

[@rebeccaprice9003]

I first came across a similar method with Tuttle's Learning Chinese Characters

[@halfvisual]

It seems like this works well for characters that don't have many strokes or components. As soon as the character is more complex, it sort of fails to code the relevant information. If you were to isolate all the radicals or components used in Chinese and then create a prop for each one, it might be more accurate, but that is lots of work and you'd need to remember loads of props. Definitely not fast or simple in that case.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

It's actually faster and simpler than rote learning . For a better understanding and breakdown, I'd recommend checking out our series on how it works. Here's the link: www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/chinese-mnemonics/ Feel free to reach out if you have any questions after reading.

[@HeyJD123]

Love this video and this is what I've been trying to create for almost a year to no avail. So thanks for the jumpstart on ways to make it actually work! Do you have a resource where I can download the excel spreadsheet of this updated pinyin chart for this method?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Thanks! Here: www.mandarinblueprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/HMM-Pinyin-Chart-2023.jpg

[@HeyJD123]

@Mandarin Blueprint wow, thanks! I'll be sure to use this and put it into my daily routine. Appreciate it.

[@idunablack2592]

I've been studying Chinese for quite a few years. I'll try your technique out! Thanks for sharing. Although the images for 从 and 人 confused me more tbh🤣but probably because I have memorized the in a completely different way like they teach Chinese with the images that some simple characters are resembling

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Yes learning a new way can be a bit confusing at first but then it will become easier the more you do it this way.

[@Seawolf159]

I neeeeed this for Japanese!!!!

[@accentology]

Thanks Luke! Sounds like a good system - may take me a bit of time to put in place at first but should facilitate learning in the long run! 😂 QUESTION: a word like guì （贵）which seems former of different individual characters, would you include the meanings of those in your story or would tou deconstruct them? Sorry, you may not even understand this question, in which case don’t worry about answering 😂 I’ll have to figure it out somehow for myself, haha!! But many thanks for sharing these tactics!!

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Yeah solve that problem quite elegantly. Best way to understand it clearly is to take the MB challenge: mandarinbp.com/challenge

[@accentology]

@@MandarinBlueprint thanks! Have I understood correctly that this blueprint challenge is just $7? I mean it says total £7 but there are a load of other prices quoted underneath so want to make sure… :)

[@studentofspacetime]

Could you explain how you would memorize a convoluted character, like, say 我? It's not easy to decompose since the parts are interlinked. I mean, in this case I know it by heart, but I'm wondering how to memorize things with that complexity.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

We do it methodically over several lessons, but it’s really just a combination of 手and 戈 with a combined stroke, not too hard

[@SeaboltSpeaks]

我 is the hand component with the halberd. (or whatever props you choose for those 2 items). so a simple story such as your W (actually wu actor) actor in a bedroom of your O set, using their left hand (since the hand is on the left) they pick up a halberd while proclaiming " I am the ruler of this building, not you... but I"

[@studentofspacetime]

@@SeaboltSpeaks Thank you.

[@SeaboltSpeaks]

@@studentofspacetime No problem!

[@OKay5067]

Is there a high res version of the changed pinyin chart? Can only find the standard ones or this one is low quality. Would like to print it out

[@MandarinBlueprint]

I think the one on this page should be high res enough: www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/new-pinyin-chart/

[@nhannguyen2190]

At 17:52 you said there're some mnemonics in the descriptions, but I couldn't find them?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey , Luke was referring to our course, which provides these mnemonics . You can learn more here www.mandarinblueprint.com/buy-the-blueprint/

[@ThePianoenergy]

Does it matter that in bàn, the characters are not ten (shi) and one(yi), but 2 (èr) and gun (I), as far as I understand it according to pleco?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Doesn't matter! You can use different "prop" (component) combinations if you like. There's a lot of flexibility to this method.

[@ThePianoenergy]

@@MandarinBlueprint I see, but what about the writing then? Wouldn’t it be different, when the components are different? Is writing also considered in your (fascinating, btw) method?

[@SeaboltSpeaks]

@@ThePianoenergy The components aren't different, it's what you assign to represent the prop. For example in 十 to make the character is l and 一 so if you assign a stick to l and a razor to 一 you can say the actor use a razor to carve the number 10 into a stick. If you assign a dragon to l and i dunno a dog to 一 you can say that your actor was given 10 seconds to live by the dragon but just then a dog jumped across the dragon sparing your life. Every story and prop is relevant to you and what you want it to be. For some characters they can be broken into different categories based again on what you like. 干 for example could be either 十 and 一 or 二 and l. This again makes the method more customizable so it's more suited to you! Hope this helps / makes sense!

[@Rtach123]

Hello, I love this video! I am gonna give it a try. One question tho, am I supposed to find some common character strokes and make an association for each of them like I have to do with initials and endings? Or do I look at each individual character and separate them on my own?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Check out this Blog series to dive deeper into this concept -> www.mandarinblueprint.com/category/hanzi-movie-method-series/

[@emport2359]

Did you figure it out? I have the same question

[@Rtach123]

@@emport2359 not really dude, I don't find learning 200 radicals to even start efficient, I just went according to my imagination

[@alejrandom6592]

I used to solve rubik's cube blindfolded and this is more or less how you memorize 7+ cubes

[@trueform2348]

I can see this method helping me out with HSK 4 characters, however you didn't do an example word that has 2 or 3 Chinese characters in the video. What adjustments would you make for these words?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

We cover this in our course. If you're looking for a deeper explanation, you should check it out. As a courtesy, I'll even give you free access to the first 260 characters. Here's the link: www.mandarinblueprint.com/mb-lite/

[@janisscilley43]

As an example, do a complicated character.

[@MandarinBlueprint]

We cover the most common 3050 characters in our course (mentioned in the video), and one rule we stick to (with only a handful of exceptions) is to not include any more than 3 "props" (components). We have made this possible with a carefully constructed character order that "chunks" components together as you work your way through the order, so even characters with tons of strokes are only 2 or 3 props you are very familiar with. Now, there are a few situations where this wasn't possible and I think around 5-6 characters total have more than 3 props, such as 微 wēi, for example. For these, we step in and provide a "guided scene", where we walk members through a series of actions to memorize the character. In short, this method works no matter the apparent complexity of the character!

[@QuizmasterLaw]

How Chines actually works exemplified with a complex character 照 this is zhao and it means flash of bright light, reflecting; 照 It has the sun on the left , four burning coals underneath, and a sword on top of mouth on the top right. the sword on top of a mouth sounds like jiao and basically means to call forth, as military recruiters do, to call forth, and then assemble. this jiao here is the sound component. The sun and burning coals both convey the meaning of light and reflection. This is how complex characters are formed. This is the sun: 日 it's a picture of the solar disc, the line in the middle once was a dot, it's square because scrivening curved lines into bone or bamboo is really difficult. this is a mouth 口 this is a sword or knife 刀 Complex characters are ALL formed from just 213 kangxi radicals. so zhaopian photograph 照片 zhaoxiangji photographic box machine aka camera 照相机 After much effort I now have an active knowledge of at least 3000 characters and a passive recognition of another 10,000. Because I understand how the language is constructed as opposed to using gimmicks. My goal however was academic literacy, not mere conversational Chinese with the bare minimum of characters needed to navigate cafes and subways.

[@inBtweenHandles]

In response to Quizmaster China: I am using Mandarin Blueprint to learn Chinese now. Before MB I took university courses, used apps, and self-teaching books and audio. For "foreigners" whose native language is English (me), it is VERY difficult to learn Chinese the traditional way because we have no understanding of characters or anything to associate them with. MB really is the best method for people who know nothing at all about the Chinese language. It gives us a strong foundation by "dumbing it down" to concepts that we recognize and understand. Now, that being said, I do use the method you described, now; I recognize 日 as "sun" and 月 as "moon" and combine those two components to sort of "spell" 明. So, for complete bigginers, at least those that are westerners, we need the MB method. But, at least for me, after I became comfortable with the kangxi/radicals I no longer needed to create scenes and naturally stopped. And, indeed, the guys at MB realize this will eventually happen and eventually stop emphasizing their "hanzi movie method" so much once you get to a certain level. So my point is, don't think the method he's describing is intended for use during your entire learning experience of Mandarin and Chinese writing. It is just the best way for us westerners to figure it out in the beginning. At least for me, this method of learning Chinese characters worked much faster than any of the typical methods that I had tried before. You can think of it this way: As we are creating these scenes, we are attaching an entertaining memory to the character we are learning, which makes the learning process fun. It often comes out a bit silly, so we get a good laugh and we enjoy it. So now we have a fond memory of that character, and we remember fond memories and, therefore, the character far better than things that don't have a memory attached to them at all.

[@joaorafaeloliveira1781]

​@@QuizmasterLaw do you recommend any learning material to learn characters this way?

[@QuizmasterLaw]

@@joaorafaeloliveira1781 unfortunately I have this view: If people are kind enough to give me free lessons I don't tout their competitors, especially were I their competitor. It doesn't seem at all fair to "reward" someone's hard work and sincere effort. I just find memory palaces ineffective and think "just make something up" is terrible advice for learning hanzi. Mandarin Blueprint does have an excellent method for learning Chinese pronunciation! So start with that.

[@theyazzledazzle]

I'm still watching at 1:59 but that was like a crazyass food poisoning dream

[@KauzIV]

So, I looked up and started with the Heisig list. I also check it with online dictionaries, and often it says that the word is obsolet or only in historical use. So does it still make sense to learn these? Maybe to have these rather easy characters as base, altough in standalone I am sure I will not use them?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

The way we teach characters is a building block. Everything you learn is in a specific order that will build upon what you’ve previously learned.

[@jamesspeakman128]

So using this method, if i had the character shī, how would you represent this with actors?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey James , Great question. For example you would use shaq! For better understanding, check out this blog www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/facial-mnemonics-to-learn-chinese-pinyin-initials/

[@RA-pu9jo]

How do you make this work for 2 character words? There would have to be two diffrent sets, with two diffrent characters, and they would somehow need to be interacting. right?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

Hey there, Great question. I would like to encourage you to check out this blog. You can learn more about how the Hanzi Movie Method works here www.mandarinblueprint.com/blog/chinese-mnemonics/

[@womeesoxkwi2689]

Interesting thing. I'm fluent in Polish as well as English. Should I mix memorization to both or just stick to one?

[@MandarinBlueprint]

I would say the language you're more comfortable in

[@womeesoxkwi2689]

@@MandarinBlueprint yeah I've decided that I'll be using english but then I cannot think of any good association then Polish