Free Checklist:

HOW TO SPEAK
FLUENT MANDARIN
All the Techniques, Tools, and Resources You Need
to Reach ANY Level of Chinese You Want

...
 HOW TO USE THIS CHECKLIST
...

你好！We are Luke and Phil, the co-founders of

Mandarin Blueprint. We have a combined 20+
years of experience learning and teaching
Chinese, and we've reached advanced Mandarin
fluency using the same exact techniques and
tools you'll find in this checklist.
This checklist ​provides you with a list of all of the
activities you'll need to perform and tools you'll
need to use each day to achieve a high level of
Chinese quickly and easily, while avoiding the
stress, boredom, and frustration of conventional
...
language learning methods.
​ e divided the content up into four major
W
categories:
1. STUDY: Build a foundation of pronunciation
and reading, so you can easily begin immersing
in Chinese.

2. IMMERSION: Read, watch, and listen to

comprehensible (and preferably enjoyable)
Chinese content in various forms to acquire the
language.
3. OUTPUT: Practice speaking and writing to
​
activate​the vocabulary you learned in the study and immersion stages and develop spoken fluency.

4. HABIT & MINDSET: Mental and physical processes to help you weave the various language
acquisition activities into your life and make learning Chinese a consistent, automatic, and even
addictive daily habit that you love doing.

The checklist comes in two versions: Full and Condensed. The condensed version (found on the next
page) is perfect as a quick guide and reminder of what you need to do to make consistent progress
with Chinese daily. You might want to print it out and put it somewhere you can see it.
​ ou'll find the full version of the checklist in the rest of this document, which provides further
Y
explanation, along with videos and links you'll to gain a clearer understanding of what to do.

Ready to find out exactly how to speak fluent Mandarin? Let's get into it!
HOW TO SPEAK FLUENT CHINESE
All the Activities, Tools, and Resources You Need to
Reach ANY Level of Chinese You Want

​STUDY IMMERSION
▢ Learn How to Pronounce Every ▢ Consume Chinese Content
Mandarin Sound and Tone Daily​

▢ L
​ earn 3,000 Common ▢ Find & Manage Immersion
Characters Content

▢ Build a Base Vocabulary ▢ Mine Content for Sentences &

Review Them Daily​
​

OUTPUT HABIT & MINDSET

▢ Have Regular Tutoring Sessions​
▢ Choose Your Identity​​

▢ Do Shadowing​ ▢ Make Chinese Obvious​

▢ Practice Writing ▢ Make Chinese Easy

▢ Follow the Correct ▢ Make Chinese Attractive

Input/Output Ratio for Your
▢ Make Chinese Satisfying
Level​

▢ ​Find/Make the Time Daily

▢ Set a Budget

▢ ​Be Patient

▢ Have Fun​​
1. STUDY
Before consuming or producing the language fluently, you must first build a foundational
understanding of Chinese by doing the following:

▢ Learn Pronunciation​

Excellent pronunciation will grant you a massive boost to your speaking, listening, and
general speed of acquisition​, so your first step is to learn to pronounce and accurately
identify every Mandarin sound and pinyin spelling.
We have a 56-minute guide you can watch right here​.

For a more in-depth guide to pronunciation, check out our course Pronunciation Mastery​
.​
The most effective method for developing native-like pronunciation and tones is first to
learn the theory of how to pronounce each sound (from the above resources), then listen
and repeat a lot. While immersing in Chinese audio (graded podcasts, TV shows, talk
shows, audiobooks, etc.), try repeating the audio as you hear it, imitating it ​as closely as
possible. We call this technique "shadowing." More on shadowing in the​​
OUTPUT" section of this checklist.
Bonus tip: Our character learning technique, "The Hanzi Movie Method," maps out
characters' tones to rooms within buildings in your imagination. Doing this works
wonders for your tones! More on this technique in the next tip...

▢ ​Learn 3,000 Common Characters​

3,000 is the average native number of characters and will get you to 99.4% of the
language by coverage. Even just a few hundred common characters will allow you to read
any graded material easily, so don't feel like you can do nothing until you get to 3,000.

The Mandarin Blueprint Method​can get you to 3,050 characters in just 150-200 hours
using the Hanzi Movie Method memory palace technique. This method is (in our opinion)
the most efficient and effective way of learning and retaining all the characters you need.
Check out this video​for the complete guide:

You could use this method with your own character order found online or the highly
intuitive character order provided by The MB Method course​and get everything you
need for near-native comprehension of Chinese.

As you learn the 3,050 characters in the MB Method curriculum, you'll unlock almost
12000 common words and 15000 comprehensible example sentences for early reading
and listening practice. You'll also unlock over 100 pieces of long-form graded content and
digital SRS flashcards for everything you learn.

If you decide to go it alone, review the characters using flashcard software (Anki​or
Traverse​) and see the characters in the context of words and sentences to gain a more
well-rounded understanding of the multiple meanings of various characters.

▢ ​Build a Base Vocabulary​

Before you can begin to get comprehensible input, it helps to build a "base vocabulary" of
the most common 1000-1500 Chinese words so you can easily understand simple
sentences. Make sure you know the characters of the words you are learning and use our
mnemonic technique, "living links," to memorize 100+ words daily. Watch the complete
guide right here.

The MB Method provides everything you need for this step, but you can also work
through your own vocabulary list if you prefer. If you go this route, we highly recommend
finding example sentences for each word (with audio) and not learning them in isolation.
Review the example sentences using flashcard software daily. Once you have a solid
grasp of at least 1000 common words through repeated reviewing in context, you'll be
able to dive fully into the immersion stage...​​
2. IMMERSION
Immersion is where the magic (i.e., acquisition) happens. The more time you spend
immersing in Chinese content, the better you will become at Chinese.

▢ Consume Chinese Content​Daily​

Watch, read, and listen to content you can (at least kind of) understand. It is of utmost
importance that you find this content entertaining, educational, compelling, or a
combination of all three.

Listen passively whenever you can while doing other tasks. Over time this will amount to
lots of extra input.

▢ ​Find & Manage Immersion Content​

Start with Graded content comics and Cartoons. As the number of characters you know
and listening comprehension increases, move on to TV shows for adults, movies, and
podcasts. Watch this video​for a more detailed guide on immersion, including which
resources to use for each type of media.

We also have an entire video course​​that goes into more detail and provides a vast, highly
organized resource list, which you can access right here​.​

▢ Mine Your Immersion Content for Sentences​

& Review Them Daily

While consuming content, make flashcards for words/phrases you want to learn using
Migaku​& Anki​. This setup will allow you to make sentence flashcards almost instantly
with a screenshot and real audio from the show you're watching. Super memorable!

Suppose you are using The Mandarin Blueprint Method​. In that case, you won't need to
focus on 'sentence mining" that much until you finish the course, as you'll unlock 15000
comprehensible sentences with high-quality audio for the 3,050 characters and 11000+
words in the curriculum.
3. OUTPUT
Once you have built a foundation (study) and started building comprehension through
daily comprehensible input (immersion), you can begin to practice producing the
language. Below are all the steps you'll need to take in this stage.

▢ ​Have Regular Tutoring Sessions​​

There are two primary choices here: Free or Paid. Free language exchange partners can
be excellent, but they require more effort to maintain, and you won't be able to speak
Chinese all the time. If you'd like to try it out, Tandem​and Hellotalk​are our
recommended apps. Finding a paid tutor on a site like Italki​is preferable overall.
When you're with your language exchange partner or tutor, just focus on having a
conversation. No need for textbooks or a "study plan." One or two 45-minute sessions a
week is enough at first. Ramp this up once your comprehension increases.

▢ ​Do Shadowing​

Listen to Chinese and imitate it as closely as possible, preferably simultaneously. Try

doing this for a few minutes daily and stick to it to improve your listening, pronunciation,
and spoken fluency.

▢ ​Practice Writing​​

Writing involves a similar mental process to speaking but has the advantage of being
totally at your pace. Writing well is also vital if you plan on taking an HSK exam at some
point.
Try writing a journal, blog, or daily social media posts in Chinese. Aim for zero mistakes to
avoid bad habits. Achieve this by checking example sentences for words you aren't sure
how to use before using them in your writing.
▢ Follow the Correct Input/Output Ratio for Your Level​

Here's approximately how to divide up your time between study, immersion, and output
based on your Chinese level:
Beginners (<600 characters, <1000 words)

Study: 70-80%

Immersion: 15-30%

Output: 0-15%

Intermediates (<3000 characters, <5000 words)

Study: 50-75%

Immersion: 30-40%

Output: 5-20%
Advanced (3000+ characters, 10,000+ words)
Study: 0%

Immersion: 70-90%

Output: 10-30%
4. HABIT & MINDSET
The most crucial factor in your success with Chinese (even more important than the
methods you use) is consistently showing up each day and putting your time and energy
where it needs to go. Complete the following steps to develop the proper habit and
mindset to make Chinese a consistent part of your life.

▢ ​Choose your Identity​

The best habits are identity-based, not outcome-based. Instead of "learn Chinese,"
decide to "become a Chinese learner/acquirer/enthusiast/fanatic."
You will cast a vote for that new identity whenever you perform any of the activities
listed above and below. Once you become that person, you will learn Chinese every day
simply because it feels good to be you.

▢ ​Make Chinese Obvious​

Make Chinese learning a more visible part of your life so you get lots of reminders to
spend time with the language daily. Here are the best ways to achieve this:

Attach Chinese learning activities to ingrained habits such as drinking coffee, brushing
your teeth, or showering.
Put all your Chinese apps on the first page of your smartphone/laptop.
Put Chinese books and posters everywhere you can
Set the language of your devices to Chinese.
Put your daily learning goals somewhere you can see them, such as a whiteboard,
post-it note, or habit-tracking app (more on this later).

▢ ​Make Chinese Easy​

Reduce the friction to starting Chinese learning activities to increase the likelihood of ​
taking action. Achieve this by doing the following:

Focus on starting, and only intend on doing a two-minute version of your Chinese
learning activity.
Preparing a diverse range of immersion resources in case you aren't in the mood for
your go-to content.
Try visualizing making the habit and how you'll feel after it's done to jump-start the
habit.
Exercise regularly and cut down on junk food/alcohol, so you have more energy for
learning.

▢ Make Chinese Attractive​

Increase the dopamine release you get when you think about learning Chinese, so you
are more likely to do it. Here are the best ways to achieve this:
Add a habit you want to do after something you need to do.
Think of what your life looks like succeeding with Chinese and NOT doing so (carrot
and stick).
Imagine how you will feel once the habit is complete, and all your habits for that day,
and finally, after an entire year of completing your daily habits.
Be grateful for how easy it is to learn Chinese with the incredible technology we have
access to today. Don't think "I have to/I will…"; think "I get to…."
Join a community so you can fit in and stand out when you make progress and help/get
help from other learners.

▢ Make Chinese Satisfying​​

Make the feeling of completing the Chinese learning activities satisfying and rewarding,
so you close the habit loop and keep doing the habit every day. Here are the best ways to
achieve this:
Give yourself rewards for completing Chinese learning activities. These rewards
should be ideally beneficial to your Chinese study in some way, such as a purchase of
noise-canceling earphones (for immersion), paid tutoring sessions, or even just a nice
​
 walk ​(which keeps you fresh and healthy).
Use a habit tracker to tick off your habits every day. This tracker could be a journal,
calendar, or one of the many habit-tracking apps.

▢ ​Find/Make the Time Daily

Aim to invest 1-2 hours each day into Chinese for breakthrough results. Thirty minutes is
the bare minimum, and it should be every day. Find & make more time by doing the
following:
Fill the gaps in your day with Chinese listening (traveling, household chores, exercise,
etc.)
Get up a little earlier
Replace non-Chinese content consumption with Mandarin language versions (TV,
movies, podcasts, comics, Youtube channels, etc.)

▢ Set a Budget​

Speaking fluent Mandarin is a highly valuable skill. And, while you can do it for free, a
meager financial investment makes it much easier. Take a small portion of your monthly
income ($10-$100 is enough) and set it aside for Chinese. This little fund can go towards
paid apps, courses, books, tutoring sessions, equipment, and more.

▢ Be Patient​

Mandarin fluency can take 2-3000 hours of focused work with conventional methods.
Using our courses​, fluency can take you as little as 800 hours from scratch. But, that's still
18 months at 90 minutes a day, so whatever path your choose, it's a substantial time
commitment.
However, if you show up consistently and follow the steps laid out in this checklist every
day, you will see regular breakthroughs, and you will be a fluent Mandarin speaker in the
end. It's simply a matter of time.​
Along the way, as you take on the identity of a Chinese learner and your comprehension
grows, you'll become addicted to consuming Chinese content and likely invest more time.
If you're reading this as an absolute beginner, you may be literate and have smooth
Chinese conversations in under a year even a few months) from now!

▢ Have Fun​

This final step is perhaps the most important of all.

Learning Chinese (just as with any skill) will inevitably involve doing things that aren't a
blast. However, in general, you should always try to follow the cardinal rule of "have fun."
Whether you're watching Chinese TV, reviewing sentence flashcards, or practicing with a
tutor, you must ALWAYS find it fun, or satisfying, or rewarding in some way.

That doesn't mean Chinese can never be challenging. On the contrary, sometimes the
greatest satisfaction can be found in overcoming difficulties. But Chinese should 100%
never be boring.

Sick of seeing a certain sentence flashcard? Delete it.

Are you bored by a book, comic, TV show, or podcast? Find another one immediately.
Are you not "clicking" with your language exchange partner? Find someone else to help
you right away.
Never become bored or frustrated by Chinese, and protect your enjoyment at all costs.
Aim to always look forward to getting started.
Join the Mandarin Blueprint Challenge!

We hope you found the insights, tips, tools, and techniques in this
checklist useful! You now have all the basic steps to speak fluent
Chinese, but doing everything on your own will be tough...

The Mandarin Blueprint Method​is our 9,000-lesson curriculum

that guides you in easy steps to advanced Chinese 3-5 x faster than
traditional methods without the need for teachers, classes, or
textbooks.
You can gain instant, lifetime access to a huge chunk of the course
($550 value) for just $7 by joining The MB Challenge​today!
If you stay on track, you will achieve basic Chinese literacy, gain
supreme confidence in your ability to learn Chinese to a high level,
and jumpstart your journey to fluency. All within 15 days! Click
here​to get started.
Whatever you do, we wish you the best of luck with Chinese, and
we're always available at contact@mandarinblueprint.com if you
have any questions. We always reply within 24 hours, usually in just
a few hours.
Luke & Phil

JOIN THE MB CHALLENGE FOR JUST $7!