STEP TWO: Try speaking yourself! We recommend two different ways to practice speaking:

LEVEL ONE: ECHOING
Watch the video again, but pause after one line is spoken by the original speaker. Once you've heard what that line sounds like (pronunciation and cadence), say the line yourself out loud while the video is paused and focus on mimicking the pronunciation and cadence exactly as you just heard it. Unpause the video and listen to the next line. Repeat.

LEVEL TWO: SHADOWING
Shadowing is the best way to improve your speaking to sound natural across pronunciation, cadence, and speed. 

How shadowing works is this - play the entire video without pausing. As you hear a line spoken, try to repeat the sentence while the original speaker is also speaking it. At first while you're getting your bearings, you can do this with a slight delay and while whispering so that you can still clearly hear the original speaker. However, try to quickly mimic what was just said.

The end goal of shadowing is after practicing several times, to be able to speak at full volume simultaneously with the original speaker, matching pronunciation, cadence, and speed. This will likely take a few times of repetition, but we promise you will start noticing the difference in how you speak Mandarin once you're able to keep up with natural speed. 

Why Should I Practice Speaking? Isn't Understanding It Enough?
No. The point of this course is to help build your confidence in speaking Mandarin! Learning the vocabulary that you're missing in these relevant real world conversations is only one part of building that confidence. To really level up your skills, you need to let your mouth practice what it feels like to speak these new words and phrases at natural speed. That's the only way to start really integrating this new knowledge into your daily life!

Transcript (Traditional Chinese)

A: 最近我覺得我們沒有以前那麼親近了。
A: zuì jìn wǒ jué de wǒ men méi yǒu yǐ qián nà me qīn jìn le.
A: Lately, I feel like we’re not as connected as before.

B: 什麼意思？我以為我們相處得很好啊。
B: shen me yì si? wǒ yǐ wéi wǒ men xiāng chǔ de hěn hǎo a.
B: What do you mean? I thought things (our relationship) were going well.

A: 就是……有時候我覺得你表達愛的方式跟我期待的不太一樣。我有一些情感需求，可是沒有被滿足，這讓我覺得被忽略了。
A: jiù shì…… yǒu shí hòu wǒ jué de nǐ biǎo dá ài de fāng shì gēn wǒ qí dài de bú tài yí yàng. wǒ yǒu yì xiē qíng gǎn xū qiú, kě shì méi yǒu bèi mǎn zú, zhè ràng wǒ jué de bèi hū lüè le.
A: It’s just… sometimes I feel like you don’t express love the way I need. I have emotional needs that aren’t being met, and I start feeling neglected.

B: 可是我一直在表達我愛你啊！我幫你東奔西跑，幫你修東西，把你照顧得好好的。這就是我表達愛的方式: 為對方做事情。長大的時候，我家人就是這樣表達愛的。
B: kě shì wǒ yì zhí zài biǎo dá wǒ ài nǐ a! wǒ bāng nǐ dōng bēn xī pǎo, bāng nǐ xiū dōng xī, bǎ nǐ zhào gù de hǎo hǎo de. zhè jiù shì wǒ biǎo dá ài de fāng shì: wèi duì fāng zuò shì qíng. zhǎng dà de shí hòu, wǒ jiā rén jiù shì zhè yàng biǎo dá ài de
B: But I show you I love you all the time! I help you with running errands (running around busily), fix things for you, and make sure you’re taken care of. That’s my love language: acts of service (doing things on behalf of others). It’s how my family showed me love growing up.

A: 我真的很感恩啊，可是對我來說，愛不只是行動。有些人喜歡收到禮物，或是全心全意地共度時光，但我更需要的是親密的肢體接觸和肯定的話語。
A: wǒ zhēn de hěn gǎn ēn ā, kě shì duì wǒ lái shuō, ài bù zhǐ shì xíng dòng. yǒu xiē rén xǐ huān shōu dào lǐ wù, huò shì quán xīn quán yì di gòng dù shí guāng, dàn wǒ gèng xū yào de shì qīn mì de zhī tǐ jiē chù hé kěn dìng de huà yǔ.
A: I appreciate that, really. But for me, love isn’t about actions alone. While some people appreciate receiving gifts or spending quality time together, for me, I need you to be affectionate (intimate/close) through physical touch and words of affirmation.

B: 哦……我沒想到這對你那麼重要。
B: ò…… wǒ méi xiǎng dào zhè duì nǐ nà me zhòng yào.
B: Oh… I didn’t realize that was so important to you.

A: 所以……也許我們只是表達愛的方式不同。但我不希望我們一直誤會對方。我需要你多一點的安慰，就像你需要透過我多幫你做些事感受到支持。我們可以試著各退一步嗎？
A: suǒ yǐ…… yě xǔ wǒ men zhǐ shì biǎo dá ài de fāng shì bù tóng. dàn wǒ bù xī wàng wǒ men yì zhí wù huì duì fāng. wǒ xū yào nǐ duō yì diǎn de ān wèi, jiù xiàng nǐ xū yào tòu guò wǒ duō bāng nǐ zuò xiē shì gǎn shòu dào zhī chí. wǒ men kě yǐ shì zhe gè tuì yí bù ma?
A: So… maybe we just have different love languages. But I don’t want us to keep misunderstanding each other. I need you to reassure me sometimes, just like you need to feel supported through actions. Maybe we can meet in the middle (compromise)?

B: 懂了懂了。我會試著多說出口，也會多表達我的愛，雖然這對我來說不是那麽自然的習慣。我也會試著更用心注意你表達愛的方式，然後不再當作理所當然。但我們也要管理好對彼此的期待，畢竟改變需要時間，不是一蹴可幾的。
B: dǒng le dǒng le. wǒ huì shì zhe duō shuō chū kǒu, yě huì duō biǎo dá wǒ de ài, suī rán zhè duì wǒ lái shuō bú shì nà me zì rán de xí guàn. wǒ yě huì shì zhe gèng yòng xīn zhù yì nǐ biǎo dá ài de fāng shì, rán hòu bú zài dāng zuò lǐ suǒ dāng rán. dàn wǒ men yě yào guǎn lǐ hǎo duì bǐ cǐ de qí dài, bì jìng gǎi biàn xū yào shí jiān, bú shì yí cù kě jí de.
B: I get that. I’ll try to say how I feel more and be more affectionate, even if it doesn’t come naturally to me. And I’ll also try to notice (pay close attention) when you’re expressing love, so I don’t take it for granted. But let’s also manage our expectations—it’s going to take time (it’s not going to happen overnight) for both of us to get better at this.