We Flew Back to China to Learn Mandarin 🇨🇳

After almost 3 months in China over various trips, its time to learn some of the language! We headed to Keats School in Kunming.
We went in knowing only how to say, Hello and Thank You, watch to see how we progress over the week!
This was one of the best things we have done on our travels and we really pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone.
If you want to do this then head over to www.keatschinese.com - use code alanandshannon to get yourself 300RMB off your course!

[@duileyah]

Never ever wondered what chinese with scottish accent would sound like....now I am super curious.

[@alanshannon3884]

🤣🤣🤣

[@josechong8207]

@@alanshannon3884😂

[@richiemunz8573]

you steal my words👌😂😂😂

[@raceman117]

帶口音不是一件可笑的事,只要努力學習,終有一日成功,欣賞你,加油！（我的英文也帶著很重的口音😂）

[@xinfuxia3809]

Or Australia accent, even Indian accent

[@Buy_YT_Views_897]

This video deserves all the likes and comments. 👏

[@alanshannon3884]

Much appreciated 💙

[@10521206]

Shannon is speaking so well!

[@thezengirl3685]

I LOVE how committed you guys are! And I think you’ve made the right decision, the future is here, and you guys are the perfect couple to represent how open-mindedness can bridge so many gaps!

[@alanshannon3884]

what a lovely comment♥️

[@EddieW-wt9js]

PinYin is a genius creation not only for pronuniciation but also keyboard typing the Chinese. Good start 😊

[@alanshannon3884]

Long way to go before we are at that level

[@josechong8207]

@@alanshannon3884 with patience anything is possible :)

[@M3.Lorenzo]

@@alanshannon3884 In fact, you'll be surprised how quickly you'll get there!! 😛Think of it a way for you to simply spell out Chinese words with the common English alphabets, and then the input method in the computer/smart phones automatically matches all the correct characters for you (yes, and they auto-correct the characters as you type out the full sentence). In real life, many Chinese people these days don't even remember accurately how to write out certain characters in real life, because they also spent all of their time typing pinyin on their phones, instead of writing them stroke by stroke 🤣 If you want to try, the most popular and the smartest input method for Chinese is Sogou (搜狗)

[@yichen-ti6vv]

拼音没有拉丁化之前我们也有注音符号，中国台湾至今使用。键盘输入汉字我们除了拼音输入法外，还可以通过汉字笔画输入法输入

[@edgu1095]

on your way to winning street arguments with chinese grandmas

[@HarryFreeHugs_GayInsta]

hhaa

[@alanshannon3884]

😂😂😂

[@lewisnchen649]

There's no way😂😂😂

[@manuelpon4679]

Enjoy and learn !

[@alanshannon3884]

Was a great challenge

[@Roger.W-k1y]

@@alanshannon3884 Forget your previous pronunciation habits

[@deanzaZZR]

As an American who crazily decided to study Chinese decades ago, has lived in Taiwan and China and still retains a decent amount of both spoken and written Chinese, you guys gave it a good try! 👍 It takes time and effort but it's not the most difficult language out there. Learning Chinese characters takes much time and effort but is absolutely necessary to function in China.

[@vivianxiong7022]

Wow You are doing it! Good luck Guys!

[@alanshannon3884]

How did we do?

[@vivianxiong7022]

Great progress for learning just one week! Happy to be your language partner if you need to practice 😊

[@lynnemc1014]

One proud mum here!! Fabulous video guys iv always wondered what you were like at school 😂😂 school together in Scotland now school together in China - amazing well done xx

[@danstenis660]

You two are amazing. Comparing the first day to the last day, there is a big difference. You two are very inspiring. Now I am thinking maybe I can try to self learn Mandarin.

[@gweisa899]

You can study by yourself. Also add once a week,. I recommend having someone to help with the tune. That is a key to be understood by native. You able to practice conversationally it make a big difference in your study.

[@elimlinrr6898]

Ask your Mandarin teacher to recite the following: She sells seashells on the seashore. The sea shells she sells are on the seashore.

[@alanshannon3884]

No way wish we thought of that haha

[@roypearce-ne6dn]

I live in Wales but my wife is Chinese from Nanning, I am completely useless at learning the language but both my daughters speak Mandarin and Cantonese fluently, so I have three translators with me when in China .

[@alanshannon3884]

That's incredible that your daughters can speak both mandarin and cantonese, amazing skills to have. I wish we learned it when we were younger

[@roypearce-ne6dn]

@@alanshannon3884 I wish I did language when I was young, the older you get the harder it is, my girls aged 11 and 12 speak English-Welsh- mandarin- Cantonese and French. I can barely speak English :-)

[@LW78321]

​@@roypearce-ne6dn that's super impressive!

[@bfair6284]

Very nice, guys. Have fun there. Enjoy! ❤👍

[@alanshannon3884]

Thank you ❤️

[@bfair6284]

​@@alanshannon3884You guys really impressed me. Keep at it and you will benefit in many ways in the future by knowing this language. Take my word for it. Just put an effort in it and you will definitely make it. Good luck! Love you guys!! ❤❤❤

[@waihangwong6513]

Hope you enjoy your Chinese language lessons!👍I’m learning Scottish in Scotland 😂

[@alanshannon3884]

🤣🤣how is that going?

[@HarryFreeHugs_GayInsta]

@@alanshannon3884 I m learning both Chinese n Gaelic :)

[@cogniktive1147]

Taking a week long language course is a rather novel travel experience!! Easily one of the best and most rewarding experiences I’ve ever come across from among travel vloggers. Proud of you two. I hope you keep it up and continue to grow into your China journey by communicating with the Chinese people 👍🏽

[@alanshannon3884]

Was an awesome experience, we would love to go back in the future to progress our skills

[@jplin888]

Mandarin is not an easy language, but nothing is impossible if you put your heart, willingness and time into it. Yes in a week you can learn some basic everyday stuff but if you want to learn how to speak fluently, it might take a few years. It’s also depends how fast someone learn. Some people only takes a year or so but some can take longer. Yes guys… mandarin is definitely a beautiful language and I hope you guys continue learning. All the very best.

[@alanshannon3884]

Yes it definitely takes more than a week of learning. I hope we can continue progressing

[@lizz7805]

I truly appreciate that you two go out of your way to learn Mandarin and genuinely appreciate Chinese culture. 🥰

[@alanshannon3884]

Was such an amazing travel experience and is helping us now on our travels around China😄

[@dunkierookie970]

Very interesting vlog that's unlike previous ones! To a limited degree, the 3 East Asian languages complement one another as Japanese and Korean languages use the Chinese characters (Japanese kanji and Korean hanja) and 60% of the vocabulary of both languages are borrowed from Chinese. Some words sound quite similar / same for all 3 languages. Have fun!

[@HarryFreeHugs_GayInsta]

true its like pandora box, Chinese to kanji n hanja

[@zuriyel5368]

This is pretty cool! Learning a few things will definitely enhance your experience in China!

[@alanshannon3884]

100% it’s been a great help already

[@stevenhuang3354]

There are 4 tones in Chinese pronunciation. It's a challenge for the foreigner.

[@alanshannon3884]

Very difficult, made improvements from day 1 though

[@lookworld360]

á？ǎ！

[@rollingdownfalling]

Actually, I know how to learn a tonal language. For instance, I know nothing about Thai, but I got hooked on a video which is about Thai talent show and I watched it many times, so I imitated (or followed) how people talk, react etc (similar to learning an accent), and then I realised I am actually picking up their tones. So I guess you need to learn by ears.

[@truthful3777]

Learning Mandarin is useful for you if you plan to do travel Vlog...you be surprise that many places around the world that some people can speak Mandarin. It will give you another mile to communicate with people around the globe.

[@HarryFreeHugs_GayInsta]

true many in Indonesia malaysia n chinatown all over d world

[@joeymelbourne]

Amazing,you guys always surprised me

[@Quentin-if2fv]

I am a big fan of yours and I am glad that you are starting to learn Chinese. You will be able to communicate with Chinese people and begin to understand this 5000 year old culture.

[@hammer8828]

Study well and looking forward to listen to you speak mandarin

[@johnnytang5192]

Good for you guys to learn a new language. It is always challenging to learn something new. You guys have done a good job. All the best. Johnny from Singapore

[@alanshannon3884]

Thanks Johnny, we had a great week at Keats school

[@yangtang-de2mv]

look at these two guys, could be the role models for learning of all the new young guys. Not easy, please stick on. Good luck

[@ranochung]

u guys progress for 1 week is amazing... keep learning.. and keep up the good work

[@alanshannon3884]

Thank you we surprised ourselves

[@giliguluedinburgh]

I'm a Cantonese speaker and started learning Mandarin in the last few months and can relate to this. I think given that's only 1 week, your mandarin is improving. The key is to keep speaking it and let the locals correct you. I'd also recommend watching Chinese cartoons with pingyu subtitles etc.

[@kenyup7936]

Thanks!

[@alanshannon3884]

Thank you❤️❤️

[@alexpan8138]

Wow that’s great 加油👏 keep on going ! Jia you

[@LW78321]

What a fantastic idea!! Well done Alan and Shannon! 👏👏👏

[@LW78321]

So cool seeing you both improve from the first to last day! Well done Alan and Shannon 👏👏

[@kko-punch7059]

You two are just a very cute couple! ❤. Your travel channel is fun to watch!! ❤❤

[@alanshannon3884]

Thank you for following our journey💙

[@EdricHsu]

Bravo for taking the time and effort on your travels to attend classes and learn a new language! You guys are doing great in such a short time, and it will definitely get better especially when you are in Chinese speaking environment. A good way to pronounce the words more accurately is to stick strictly to the four tones, pay close attention to the sounds from a native speaker and mimic as much as possible how they say it. All the best!

[@oscarlam2560]

Woo! This is impressive 👍🏻👍🏻

[@alanshannon3884]

Thank you, surprised we learnt so much in just 1 week

[@AW-gu5gj]

How, what a fantastic initiative you guys are taking. Huge respects!

[@cw1069]

Not bad for a start!! Clear enough for a Chinese person to understand

[@liq1yy]

Wow well done for first time having conversation in Chinese🎉

[@Joeangel70]

We just left Kunming a few days ago. The flower market is amazing. We are in xiang ge ri le now.

[@alanshannon3884]

love the flower market🌸

[@josechong8207]

It would be wonderful if you could spend an entire year studying Chinese :) That would be an opportunity for you to do more content in China and put into practice what you learn...

[@alanshannon3884]

Definitely there are many people at the school studying for a long period of time, it’s amazing to see the progress you can make

[@keyser021]

@@alanshannon3884 I fell in love with Chinese writing when I first started and focused on understanding its history and how it operates at the deepest levels. Do not do this if you are wanting to be proficient in travel/friend conversation - it takes years and years of work that you should use to focus on learning the HSK 3 level vocabulary in daily conversation. But - if you do want to learn the best parts of Chinese, follow the path back through time to see how it came about: Oracle bone script 1200 BC, Seal script 700 BC, RADICALS > ErYa 爾雅 - first dictionary 300 BC, Clerical script 260 BC, Regular script 230 AD, Man'yogana 万葉仮名 - [Inariyama Sword 471 AD] (source of Japanese writing: hiragana, katakana)

[@crazyjohnhoward]

That is so wonderful. I wish you every success with your learning experience.

[@Thomas-Chin10]

You two have done very well in just one week, and that's a great school. I hope you guys plan to continue. Being there gives you the best opportunity to practice what you have learned. Keep up with your great work!

[@alanshannon3884]

Yeah Keats school is unreal, the best place to learn

[@szehianyap1092]

For the spirit of learning, I am not hesitant to give you both a big thumbs up.

[@rollingdownfalling]

Learning any languages is fun but it's also a marathon and a daily routine.

[@brokentv_23]

Really nice from you guys! you're taking it very serious❤️

[@josephdoiron8376]

In Berlin I met a guy who was Asian with a English accent. In Scotland I met an Indian man with a Scotish accent. It really throws you for a second until you get used to it

[@westwindxiang5261]

It's really amazing! you guys are very brave to learn the most hard language in the world! And doing so good in such short time.

[@dragongirl266]

You have earned my respect with your commitment to learn chinese! Bravo! and I'm inspired to learn some basics before my trip later this year. Your video is different from the other foreign travelers in China - I l really liked it

[@alanshannon3884]

If you are coming to China it will definitely help you having a basic understanding of numbers or how to order food etc. So glad you are enjoying our content 💙

[@lizerich7044]

That's good for you guys to learn mandarin.👍

[@user-vh2ug4up1k]

Good start 🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@jonah_lau]

I am so happy to see that you have reached the stage of learning Chinese radicals. Excellent job! Chinese radicals are as interesting as the roots of words in English and Latin-based languages like Italian. It’s wonderful to see you having this experience, and I am glad for you!

[@alanshannon3884]

One of our favourite travel expereinces

[@liqiuyang3985]

the school is great fun, great effort

[@alanshannon3884]

Amazing school

[@maxishilong675]

Well done Alan and Shannon

[@greentraveler4114]

wow, you guys are awesome and so hard working. brilliant.

[@tuesdae666]

What.. You guys are crazy! Crazy hardworking. Impressed.

[@alanshannon3884]

haha i love it, thank you

[@kidding6447]

Good job guys❤

[@alanshannon3884]

Thank you, we absolutely loved this experience!!

[@AntiWar_dude]

Good luck guys

[@vinychung5155]

Amazing! You learned so fast!

[@alanshannon3884]

Thank you that is a massive compliment ♥️

[@jtang8768]

it must be a very special experience, good luck for your language learning!

[@alanshannon3884]

Absolutely loved it, we didn't want to leave

[@dongyuli2375]

Good good study, day day up! Study hard and make progress every day!

[@WORLDPEACE2628]

Always good to learn more new languages because it can help with retaining a sharp memory!

[@alanshannon3884]

100% agree with this, we hadn't learned a new skill in a while. Felt good to be using our brain lol

[@helxsz]

love you guys

[@Unvaccinatedpureblood]

Sunday in Chinese actually means Sunday. The last character in Sunday in Chinese means the sun.

[@Alonebe]

Have every nice day !

[@JIARENGAN]

真心为你们骄傲！继续努力~

[@youytubey]

I've been doing mandarin blueprint for a year and have made amazing progress, I highly recommend diving into their course!!

[@alanshannon3884]

Amazing , we will take a look!

[@seanxhuo]

great job!

[@alanshannon3884]

Cheers, loved this experience!

[@a1142730]

You guys are cute! happy learning~

[@kko-punch7059]

Language is a useful tool. I really would like to perfect my mother language Chinese first. My English is good enough to communicate. I want to learn Arabic and Spanish next . If time allows I will pick up French and Russian!

[@alanshannon3884]

Wow you sound very intelligent

[@kko-punch7059]

@@alanshannon3884 not at all! 🤓. I’m so clumsy when I speak. I just learn the meaning of those words. You guys are doing much much better 🥰🥰👍

[@user-pc9cq8pp7z]

I am impressed!

[@stchen7745]

you’re so cool!

[@chowzisiong7800]

this is amazing!

[@alanshannon3884]

Awesome experience

[@user-iw2mn5li5r]

Hope you guys enjoy your time in Kunming

[@alanshannon3884]

Loved it!

[@Rockieoo]

My friends, you are great. You can learn so much in one week. I hope you can continue to learn Chinese. When you know some Chinese, you can begin to appreciate China's ancient poems and discover the beauty of culture.

[@alanshannon3884]

We had the best teacher Steve to help us

[@user-oi8jm5dl9w]

這老師，不太行，媽麻馬罵，最重要教4音調，​@@alanshannon3884

[@rougeorientaldanceyoga7491]

I am Chinese who is living in Australia. I actually have my interview test in next weekend for being a international Chinese teacher, already pass the first part test ! 加油！

[@angusgotbeef]

Sunday = 星期日 xin qi ri, where ri means Sun or day in Mandarin. Straightforward

[@xiaohuilu5644]

keep up the good work!

[@alanshannon3884]

Thank you so much ❤️

[@mil-h5977]

Well done! Definitely can tell the difference from day 1. Now go practice at the night market 😊

[@stopfighting886]

Thumbs up for your courage and dedication🫡👍

[@Go4Broke247]

Seems like you're the First vloggers to go to record and go to a language school. Awesome! 👍

[@alanshannon3884]

I think so, amazing experience

[@marolucas]

You guys didn't learn anything related to travel? I wish you guys learn some practical stuff that you can communicate in restaurant, metro, taxi, hotel, shops etc.

[@mytube-one]

Good Luck !. 😁😁😁😜😜😜😎😎😎🥸🥸🥸🤣🤣🤣

[@benjamin-o7h]

Enjoy learning, dont put too much pressure on yourselves. Mandarin isnt easy, but take heart. 加油❤

[@soshyaldistansingh6628]

What a healthy attitude! Actually going as far as to learn Chinese after a visit to China. If you have done another two weeks of slogging, Jimmy, you would surely be able order sweet n sour haggis from the local Chinese takeaway in Dear Green Place!

[@jenli6849]

your handwriting is so good.

[@Chloe-tw2zl]

wow, next level 👍

[@alanshannon3884]

Wow, thanks!

[@SuhandiWijaya]

You might as well stay longer and learn even more because the expenses are probably lower than you staying in a hotel, transport, etc 😁

[@alanshannon3884]

And your learning something new at the same time!!!

[@SuhandiWijaya]

@@alanshannon3884 indeed 😁 anyway congrats on your 7 days learning Chinese, it will open up a better experience in China!

[@Tom67Slick]

Nah a hotel would be cheaper

[@Leoq-zk6wt]

wow, I'm super excited to know the outcomes, lol.

[@aungaisum8654]

That's the right way to understand more about Chinese culture.

[@bbp36447]

Very impressive!

[@alanshannon3884]

🫡

[@7590548]

You guys are hilarious, keep it up 😊

[@K1pp3rs]

Props to you guys for trying to learn Chinese. 👍🏻

[@jamesyang1771]

Great! You will enjoy your trip in China more after learning some Chinese.

[@alanshannon3884]

Will certainly make things alot easier

[@jb.8633]

Great job！ lovely couple❤

[@alanshannon3884]

A good week of learning!

[@user-zw7dl5cw3z]

The simplest words in Chinese are actually very simple, come on! Love comes from China

[@leongjack7587]

you guys are really encourage me to learn foreign language

[@alanshannon3884]

Felt really good to be learning something new, especially when you can put it into practice

[@gurok2]

6:30 There's a great Chinese poem about stone and lions you should try... :D

[@rogerchang1806]

You guys are doing great in just one week. With some basic vocabulary and understanding, surely it will help you get by with the locals a bit easier. Really look forward to see you practising your mandarin skills in your future vlog. Also, when it comes to writing Chinese characters, the basic rules of chinese stroke order are: top to bottome, left to right, and move from outside to inside if there is a frame....and have fun.

[@alanshannon3884]

It is definitely going to make things easier for us having basic skills

[@DannyChean]

Kudos guys!! Just a little heads-up for learning chinese. At some point, you will have to get into the chinese characters because that's the only way to make sense of the language. By Ping Yin you will learn how to say certain things but eventually you will feel like you are trying to cast spells. Only getting to the characters you will start to see the grammars and logics of chinese. It's hard though.

[@alanshannon3884]

Trying to learn the characters seems impossible🤯 where do you even begin?

[@DannyChean]

@@alanshannon3884 Exactly the same as how you learn any phonetic language - start from simple words/characters then to more complex ones :D Of course it would be too much and I wouldn't recommendi it at all if you don't plan to spend more time in china in future.