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First published in UK 2007 by Hodder Education, an Hachette UK Company, 338 Euston Road,
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Total Mandarin Chinese Copyright 2007, 2011, in the methodology, Thomas Keymaster Languages
LLC, all rights reserved; in the content, Harold Goodman.
Total Mandarin Chinese Vocabulary Copyright 2009, 2011, in the methodology, Thomas Keymaster
Languages LLC, all rights reserved; in the content, Harold Goodman.

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Impression 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Year 2014 2013 2012 2011
ISBN 978 1444 13803 0
Contents
Welcome to the Michel Thomas Method 2
Total Mandarin Chinese index 4
Total Mandarin Chinese Vocabulary index 13
Mandarin ChineseEnglish glossary 17
Learning the tones using hand movements 20
2
Welcome to the Michel
Thomas Method
Congratulations on purchasing the truly remarkable way to
learn a language. With the Michel Thomas Method theres no
reading, no writing and no homework. Just sit back, absorb,
and soon youll be speaking another language with confidence.

The Michel Thomas Method works by breaking a language

down into its component parts and enabling you to
reconstruct the language yourself to form your own
sentences and to say what you want, when you want. By
learning the language in small steps, you can build it up
yourself to produce ever more complicated sentences.

Perfected over 25 years, the all-audio Michel Thomas Method

has been used by millions of people around the world.

Now its your turn.

To get started, simply insert CD 1 and press play!

About Michel Thomas 3

Michel Thomas (19142005) was a gifted linguist who

mastered more than ten languages in his lifetime and became
famous for teaching much of Hollywoods A list how to speak
a foreign language. Film stars such as Woody Allen, Emma
Thompson and Barbra Streisand paid thousands of dollars
each for face-to-face lessons.

Michel, a Polish Jew, developed his method after discovering

the untapped potential of the human mind during his
traumatic wartime experiences. The only way he survived this
period of his life, which included being captured by the
Gestapo, was by concentrating and placing his mind beyond
the physical. Fascinated by this experience, he was determined
that after the war he would devote himself to exploring
further the power of the human mind, and so dedicated his
life to education.

In 1947, he moved to Los Angeles and set up the Michel

Thomas Language Centers, from where he taught languages
for over fifty years in New York, Beverly Hills and London.

Michel Thomas died at his home in New York City on

Saturday 8th January 2005. He was 90 years old.
4 Total Mandarin Chinese index
Note about transliteration
The Mandarin words are transliterated in this track listing using the
pin-yin method of romanization. In this method the tones are
represented by marks on the vowels that look like the hand
movements that were using (see pages 2021):
- flat tone (green thumb out)
rising tone (blue finger up)
v falling and rising tone (red V for victory)
` falling tone (black finger down)
In addition, two dots are used above the letter u (). This indicates
that the u should be pronounced like the oo in moon, but while you
say oo, shape your lips towards the i sound in sit.

CD 1 Track 1
Introduction. How to use this course. Background to Chinese.

CD 1 Track 2
Tones in Chinese languages.

CD 1 Track 3
Flat tone (green thumb out); zhng middle

CD 1 Track 4
Rising tone (blue finger up); rn person

CD 1 Track 5
Falling and rising tone (red V for victory); w I, me

CD 1 Track 6
Falling tone (black finger down); sh to be

CD 1 Track 7
The form of the verb to be in Chinese doesnt change: sh (to be)
also means am, are, is; w sh I am

CD 1 Track 8
n you; n sh you are; the forms of Chinese verbs never change.
No word for a or an: w sh rn I am a person
CD 1 Track 9 5
gu kingdom, nation; zhng gu middle kingdom = China; zhng
gu rn middle kingdom person = Chinese (person)

CD 1 Track 10
t he, him, she, her, it; du both, all; h and; position of du both,
all in Mandarin sentences: You and he both are Chinese, not are
both, as in English

CD 1 Track 11
mi beautiful; mi gu America; mi gu rn American; yng
brave; yng gu England, Britain; yng gu rn English

CD 1 Track 12
men = plural form of individual, single form; wmen we, us; nmen
you; tmen they, them; ksh but

CD 1 Track 13
ma = question marker, to change a statement into a question; sh is
can be used to mean yes

CD 1 Track 14
nne how about you?; tmenne how about them?

CD 1 Track 15
mng busy; also means to be busy

CD 1 Track 16
b no, not

CD 1 Tracks 1 and 2
hn very, also fulfils the two-syllable meter rule: a dummy word to go
with an adjective; b mng not busy

CD 1 Tracks 3 and 4
n ho hello; ho good, to be good, do well; n ho ma you good?
you doing well? = how are you?
6 CD 2 Track 5
In Chinese the character/word has the same form for both individual
and plural form; word order determines meaning

CD 2 Track 6
y also, too; b hn ho not very good, well

CD 2 Track 7
b sh not is (trampoline rule)

CD 2 Track 8
A question with a question word, such as wi shnme why. All
Chinese languages use the same characters to mean the same thing,
but their pronunciation differs.

CD 2 Track 9
kn to look, see; sh book; kn sh to read book; saying yes by
repeating verb

CD 2 Track 10
xin zi now; zi at emphasizes at this very moment

CD 2 Track 11
Word order in Chinese: whowhenwhat is happening

CD 2 Track 12
xing would like to

CD 2 Track 13
jin to get together, see somebody, meet; b xing would not like to

CD 2 Track 14
ti too; nng can; b nng cannot; tai b nng too no can =
too to

CD 3 Track 1
ynwei because
CD 3 Track 2 7
-de indicates possession: wde my, mine; nde your, yours; tde
his, her, hers, its; wmende our, ours; nmende your, yours;
tmende their, theirs; pngyu friend

CD 3 Track 3
losh teacher

CD 3 Track 4
wn literature, culture; zhngwn Chinese language ; yngwn
English language; xing (would like to) in Chinese can only be
followed by a verb

CD 3 Track 5
kn dinsh to watch TV; din electrical; sh vision; zi at
represents doing something at this moment; word order in Chinese:
whowhenhowwhat is happening

CD 3 Track 6
zh this; n(de) h wde your and my: you can omit the first de
(possessive marker) after n you when you have both nde your and
wde my

CD 3 Track 7
n that; sh is: can be used to answer yes to a question without
using the verb in the question; b not: can be used to answer no to
a question without using the verb

CD 3 Track 8
titai wife; ti b nng too no can = too to

CD 3 Track 9
shnme what; zh sh shnme what is this?; n sh shnme what
is that?; word order in questions and answers

CD 3 Track 10
shu to speak, say; shu yngwn speak English; shu zhngwn
speak Chinese
8 CD 4 Track 1
hu to be able to (involves ability); b hu not able to; hu shu able
to speak; w hu I am able to

CD 4 Track 2
ydinr a little bit of

CD 4 Track 3
dngrn of course

CD 4 Track 4
shi who

CD 4 Track 5
xusheng student; h (and) cannot be used to connect sentences
or phrases

CD 4 Track 6
zhende really; zhende ma really? (as a question); mma mother,
Mum

CD 4 Track 7
ge = classifier; zhge sh this book; nge rn that man; nge
pngyu that friend; n female

CD 4 Tracks 8 and 9
yge a, an, one; yge xusheng a student; yge ho losh a good
teacher; yge sh a book

CD 4 Track 10
ji home; zi ji to be at home; zi in Chinese can be used as and
functions as a verb (to be at )

CD 5 Track 1
nr where; zi nr at where

CD 5 Track 2
yun far

CD 5 Track 3
dgi maybe; bijng Beijing (northern capital)
CD 5 Track 4 9
zh (zi) to live, stay; shng hi Shanghai (on the sea); shng
on; hi sea

CD 5 Track 5
yu to have

CD 5 Tracks 6 and 7
nn male; word order: whowhenwhat is happening

CD 5 Track 8
csu toilet

CD 5 Track 9
mi yu not have

CD 5 Track 10
nme well, in that case; yuge (from yu yge) have a; shge
(from sh yge) be a

CD 5 Track 11
More practice with yu have and zh live.

CD 5 Track 12
ti ho le wonderful

CD 5 Track 13
zi ji to be at home / in the house; zi ji l inside the house; zi
[possessive] ji l in [someones] house

CD 6 Track 1
zhuzi table

CD 6 Track 2
l not used with geographical location; lndn London

CD 6 Tracks 3 and 4
yo to want; b yo not want

CD 6 Track 5
hn du a lot of; w yo zhge / nge I want this one / that one
10 CD 6 Track 6
q to go to

CD 6 Track 7
rnshi to meet, to be acquainted with

CD 6 Track 8
jntin today; jn current; tin day

CD 6 Track 9
qng wn excuse me; qng please; wn to ask; aiya too bad, very
bad, my God

CD 6 Track 10
shng to be on; zi shng on

CD 6 Track 11
kn jin to notice, see

CD 7 Track 1
zi xi to be under

CD 7 Track 2
d big; b d not big

CD 7 Track 3
yu there is, there are; mi yu there is not; zi nr yu sh?
where is there a book?; omitting zi to be at with yu there is and
mi yu there is not

CD 7 Track 4
xuxio school

CD 7 Track 5
zhr here; zi zhr to be here; nr there

CD 7 Track 6
mi every; mitin every day
CD 7 Track 7 11
yude (there is / are) some; zi to be at can be omitted with yu
there is and mi yu there is not when there is no ambiguity as to
who is doing the action; ji family; mi ji every family

CD 7 Track 8
du correct; b cu not bad; cu bad; three ways to say yes:
repeat the verb, sh is, du correct; y either / too

CD 7 Track 9
b du not correct

CD 7 Tracks 10 and 11
zi ji to be at home; zi ji l at [somebodys] home

CD 8 Track 1
qng wn excuse me; two-syllable meter rule

CD 8 Track 2
bba father, Dad; zh do to know

CD 8 Track 3
yo shu want to speak; nng shu can speak

CD 8 Track 4
xinsheng (or sheng) Mister, husband; xin first, before; wng
xinsheng Mr. Wang

CD 8 Track 5
hn du very many, many

CD 8 Track 6
xi xie Thank you, thanks; b xi no thanks, you are welcome;
when to say xi xie

CD 8 Track 7
zi jin Good bye, see you again; zi again; jin to see someone /
to meet; li to come; b nng li cannot come

CD 8 Track 8
du(ma)? right?
12 CD 8 Track 9
mi to buy; b yo not want

CD 8 Track 10
dngxi a thing, things

CD 8 Track 11
knkan to take a look
Total Mandarin Chinese Vocabulary index 13

NB CD references below refer to CDs 1 and 2 of Total Mandarin

Chinese Vocabulary.

CD 1 Track 1
Introduction

CD 1 Track 2
gu to cross, pass time, is added after a repeatable action to
indicate have you?, e.g. n qu guo zhng guo ma? Have you ever
been/gone to China?
To say you do not do something in the present tense, use bu + do
something, e.g. w bu qu na I dont go there. To say you have not
done something in the past tense, use mi do guo something,
e.g. w mi qu guo mi guo I have not been/gone to America.
niu yue New York; bi de other, different

CD 1 Track 3
zh only
gi to give; gi somebody something give somebody something,
e.g. qng gi w bi de sh Please give me a different book.
qin money, also a popular Chinese surname

CD 1 Track 4
sh hou time, shn me sh hou what time?, e.g. n gi t qian de sh
hou when you give her money
gi somebody kn to show to somebody, e.g. w gi n kan I show
you; dng xi things, zh xi dng xi these things

CD 1 Track 5
k y may; dng ran k y of course, you may
j is used to ask how many, usually referring to a smaller quantity
such as ten or less. j implies a question, so ma is not needed at the
end of the sentence, e.g. n ji yu j ge rn How many people are
in your family (home)?

CD 1 Track 6
ling pair of
hi zi children
 nan hai zi boy (where nan means male), n hai zi girl (where n
14
means female)

CD 1 Track 7
xio little. It is common to call a young child xio png you little
friend. Also to address 2030-year-olds as xio + surname in the
workplace, e.g. xio Wang, and to address elders as lo old +
surname, e.g. lo Wang k fi gun coffee shop
sn three, e.g. n yu ling ge hai zi hai sh sn ge hai zi Do you
have two children or three children?

CD 1 Track 9
yao (you) will, (you) want, speaking of the future, e.g. w yao qu n
(de) ji I will go to your house.
zu to do
h zho passport
d hit, e.g. w yao d dian hua I will make a phone call = hit a telephone.

CD 1 Track 10
bo newspaper
cng from (somewhere), zu by means of (vehicle), do to,
towards (somewhere), e.g. w cng bi jng zu hu ch do shang
hi I am taking a train from Beijing to Shanghai.

CD 1 Track 11
ch vehicle; hu ch train = fire vehicle; fi j airplane = fly
machine; q ch car = vapour vehicle; gng gng q ch bus =
public vapour vehicle

CD 1 Track 12
ki ch to drive a vehicle; xing gng Hong Kong
bi jng Beijing, northern capital, bi north; nan jng Nanjing,
southern capital, nan south; xn Xian, western peace, x west;
shn dng Shangdong province, dng east

CD 2 Track 1
gao su to tell, inform, let know
le is used to indicate that something is done, e.g. w mi le ling ge
q ch I bought two cars. Another use of le is to indicate a change
from the way things were.
li tired, e.g. w li le I am tired.
CD 2 Track 2 15
kui about to, almost, soon to happen, e.g. t zuo hu ch kuai dao
ni yu le He took the train and just arrived in New York.
cuo bad, mistake; cu can also be used as a verb, to make a
mistake, e.g. w cu le I am mistaken, I made a mistake.

CD 2 Track 3
bi cup, y bi cha a cup of tea

CD 2 Track 4
ho ch very tasty = good eat; ho h good drink wn late

CD 2 Track 5
yng gi should
cha bu do about the same
y yng the same, just like; b y yng different, not the same

CD 2 Track 6
pio ticket; fi j piao airline ticket; hu ch piao train ticket
mi to sell: be careful not to mix up mi to sell and mi to buy.
Tones matter.

CD 2 Track 7
s four; w five; liu six

CD 2 Track 8
kui colloquial term for a unit of currency
rn mn b Chinese money: literally peoples currency: currency of
China as distinct from Taiwan where the New Taiwan Dollar (Ta b)
is used.
sh ten

CD 2 Track 9
s sh forty, w sh fifty; s sh sn forty-three
r two; use r in telephone numbers, dates or counting, e.g. r sh
twenty. Otherwise use ling, e.g. ling ge hai zi a pair of children.

CD 2 Track 10
xng q week (start + period of time); xng q y Monday; xng q r
Tuesday; xng q sn Wednesday; xng q s Thursday; xng q w
Friday; xng q li Saturday
16 CD 2 Track 11
xng q tin/r Sunday. r = sun, e.g. xng q tin jian See you on
Sunday.
q seven; ba eight; jiu nine
xia ge next; shang ge last
ho number, e.g. dian hua hao telephone number

CD 2 Track 12
lng zero
nin year
yu month; y yu January; r yu February; sn yu March; s
yu April; w yu May; liu yu June; q yu July; b yu August;
ji yu September; sh yu October; sh y yu November; sh r
yu December

CD 2 Track 13
When giving a date start with the biggest unit.

CD 2 Track 14
Conclusion
Mandarin ChineseEnglish glossary 17

NB This glossary contains vocabulary from Total Mandarin Chinese

Vocabulary, as well as some extra vocabulary which is taught in Perfect
Mandarin Chinese with the Michel Thomas Method. Go to
www.michelthomas.co.uk for more information.

ba indicates suggestion of dn wi company, workgroup,

agreement workpace
b eight dng ran of course
bi hundred dng to wait
bi wn million din oclock
bn half din hu telephone (electrical
bn to solve a problem speech)
bn f method, way of doing din t lift, elevator = electric stairs
something dng east
bng to do something to help dng to comprehend, understand
to do something du bu q sorry
bng someone mng to help du more
someone out du fu tofu
bo newspaper du ji le how long have?
bei cup du sho how much?, how many?
bi north (referring to any number,
bi de other, different especially a larger number)
bu k qi dont be polite, dont
mention it hungry
bu xi dont thank me r two
b yo qin free
b y yng different fn din hotel
fng jin room
ci food, dish fi j airplane = fly machine
cn gun restaurant fi j chang airport
c times (one time, two times, the f qin to pay money
first time, an occasion)
cha tea gao su to tell, inform, let know
ch b do about the same gi to give
ch vehicle gi somebody kn to show
ch fn to eat to somebody
chung bed gng gng q ch bus = shared
cng from vapour vehicle
gu expensive
d hit gu cross, pass time
d ji everyone, all
d ji ha Hello, everyone. hai sh or (used in question
(a way to say Hello to or begin sentences)
speaking to any group) hi zi children
do to, toward ho OK
 ho number (telephone number) its nothing
18 ho bu ho OK?, is that OK? mi (yu) bn f theres nothing
ho ch delicious, tasty (good eat) to be done about it
ho kn pretty (good look) mi yu rn no one
h someone shu hu to speak mi gun xi never mind,
with someone does not matter
h to drink mi wn t no problem
h zho passport mi yu did not (do something
hu spoken language in the past)
hui broken, bad mng tin tomorrow
hu ch train = fire vehicle mng zi name
hu zh or (in positive sentence)
n to take something
j how many? (referring to a n which?
relatively small quantity) n ge which one?
jio to be called n li response to a compliment to
ji nine express politeness
ji wine n xi which of these?
ji passage of time, a long time nan south
passed nn hi zi boy = male child
ju de to feel, think nin year
ni yue NewYork
k fi coffee n hi zi girl = female child
k fi gun coffee shop
ki ch to drive a car p ji beer
kn de dng to understand pio ticket
by seeing
k x its a pity q seven
k y may q ch car = vapour vehicle
kng p afraid that..., perhaps... qin money
kui about to, almost qin thousand
kui unit of currency qng please
(colloquial term)
kui fast rn hu then (after some time
has passed)
lo elder r sun
lo bn boss, person in charge
le sentence + le represents sn three
something changes shng ge last
li tired shng w a.m., morning
l mian inside sho few, less
ling pair of shi de whose?
lng zero shn me de so on, etc.
li six shn me du everything
(non-specific)
mi to sell shn me something du
mi dong xi to buy something every specific thing
(go shopping)
mn slow shn me sh hu when?,
mi shn me dont worry, what time?
shn me yng de xi xi to rest
what kind of...? xu x to study, learn 19
sh ten
sh hu time yo will, shall
sh fu mate, buddy yo b rn otherwise
shu (jio) to sleep y bi ch a cup of tea
s four (unlucky number: same y dng definitely, certainly
sound as s death, y hu after, behind
different tone) y jng already
y qin before
tng de dng to understand y yng the same, just like
from hearing yn hng bank (silver money firm)
tng shuo heard yng gi should
yu mi yu is there?,
wi out do you have?
wi gu foreign yu qin rich
wi mian outside yu y si interesting
wn late yu yng useful
wn ten thousand yng to use
wn fn evening food, supper y fish
wn shang evening yu month
wn t problem, question
w five zn me how?
zn me bn? whats to be done?
x west zn me yng how is it going?,
x huan to like to do something what do you think of?,
xi ge next how about?
xi w afternoon, p.m. zhn stop, station
xing gng Hong Kong zho to seek, look for
xio little zh only
xio sh hour z word
xi plural marker instead of ge (zh zu to walk, go, depart
xi rn these men) zu most
xng q week zu ha very best
xng q r Tuesday zu to do
xng q li Saturday zu by means of (different
xng q r/tin Sunday character from zu to do)
xng q sn Wednesday zu tin yesterday
xng q s Thursday zo to sit down
xng q y Monday
xng q w Friday
20 Learning the tones using hand movements
Mandarin has four tones, plus a neutral non-tone, which are critical
for communication. While there is considerable leeway for differences
in pronunciation (many Chinese learn Mandarin as a second
language) there is very little for tones. If your tone is off you wont be
understood. Tones, when made user-friendly, are actually quite
simple to grasp and integrate into your learning.

The method for learning the tones* which you will experience in this
course is specifically designed to address all styles of language
learning. It will permit your central nervous system to permanently
create pathways that reflect your personal learning style (visual,
kinaesthetic, auditory, etc.) and support you in effortless recall and
usage of the correct tone at the proper moment in your
communication. It works on a subconscious level. You will very
quickly find that you are using the movements as a natural part of
your learning. These movements work. They have been tested and
refined on students without any previous knowledge of Mandarin from
many different backgrounds and age levels (teens to the elderly).
I encourage you to allow your hands to move with the movements.
For some of you that will be essential. For others, this will be less
essential. Trust whatever helps you. It will work for you as you permit
it to do so.

In this method of teaching tones, each movement is linked to a tone

and colour. Romanized Mandarin (pin-yin) is written with four distinct
tones, which are shown with marks over the affected vowel. These
marks are shown in brackets below. The tones are generally listed in
the following order when taught and when words are listed in a
dictionary.

*patent pending
First tone: ( ) long, steady tone. 21
Colour: Green.
Movement: Thumb out to side with closed fist.
Example: zhng (middle).

Second tone: ( ) rising tone.

Colour: Blue.
Movement: Index finger pointing up.
Example: rn (person).

Third tone: ( ) fallingrising tone. This tone

actually resembles a tick mark (UK) or check
mark (US) (). It starts rather low, goes
down a bit and then rises up to the level of
the green tone.
Please pay close attention to the Chinese
native speakers demonstration of this tone.
Colour: Red.
Movement: Closed fist with index and middle
fingers forming a V and pointing up.
Example: w (I, me).

Fourth tone: ( ` ) falling tone. Colour: Black.

Movement: Index finger pointing down.
Example: sh (to be, am, is, are).

Neutral non-tone: toneless.

Colour: None.
Movement: Closed fist.
Example: ma (question marker).
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