🇨🇳

Mandarin

Anchored to Shanghai

6 levels · 170 lessons published

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你好 — First Words and The Four Tones

Jia Jia Tang Bao (佳家汤包), Huangpu district — one of Shanghai's most beloved xiaolongbao shops. 7am queue, steam rising, the city already awake. Your first four words of Mandarin.

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The course

170 lessons across six levels. Level 1 is free forever, the whole of it; Savor+ opens the rest. Within a level, start anywhere.

Level 1

Basic

A125 lessons

Your first words: greeting someone, asking what things cost, finding the street you want, and enough food vocabulary to order without pointing.

Unit 1

1你好 — First Words and The Four Tones 2多少钱 — Numbers and Prices 3在哪里 — Asking Directions 4我叫 — Introducing Yourself 5听不懂 — Confusion Recovery

Unit 2

1有没有 — Do You Have?2我喜欢 — Expressing Preferences 3再来一个 — Ordering More 4买单 — Paying the Bill 5干杯！— Toasting and Social Mandarin

Unit 3

1新鲜吗 — Fresh Produce 2几斤几两 — Quantities in Shanghai 3喝茶 — Shanghai Tea Culture 4节气 — Seasonal Shanghai Shopping 5买菜 — The Full Market Shop

Unit 4

1订位 — Making a Reservation 2到了 — Arriving at the Restaurant 3烹饪方法 — Cooking Methods 4喝什么 — Drinks and Toasting 5离开 — Paying and Departure

Unit 5

1地铁 — The Shanghai Metro 2法租界 — French Concession 3日常生活 — Daily Shanghai Life 4微信 — WeChat and Social Shanghai 5测试 — Taste Oral Assessment

Level 2

Conversational

A245 lessons

The past tense, and opinions. You start saying what happened and what you made of it — comparing two dishes, describing a wine, disagreeing without being rude.

Unit 1

1我吃了 — The Completion Particle 了 2太好吃了 — The 太...了 Exclamatory Pattern 3我去了 — Past Movement with 了 4我认识了 — Meeting People with 了 5太棒了！— A Full Day Story in Shanghai

Unit 2

1我更喜欢 — Expressing Preferences 2我觉得 — Giving Opinions 3你喜欢哪个？— Asking Preferences 4最好的 — Superlatives 5我要 — Confident Ordering with Opinions 6我更喜欢 — Preferences 7我觉得 — Opinions 8你喜欢哪个？ — Preferences 9最好的 — Superlatives 10我要 — Ordering

Unit 3

1比 (bǐ) — A比B + Adjective 2跟...一样 — Expressing Equality 3更好 / 更差 — Better and Worse 4最 (zuì) Deep Dive — Market Negotiations 5吃在中国 — Food Culture Expressions 11比 — A比B Comparisons 12跟...一样 — Equality Comparisons 13更好/更差 — Reviews 14最 Deep Dive — Superlatives in Action 15吃在中国 — Food Culture

Unit 4

1我打算 — Plans & Intentions 2你想不想？— Invitations 3我需要订位 — Reservations 4如果有时间 — Conditionals 5周末 — Weekend Plans 16我打算 — Plans 17你想不想？ — Invitations 18我需要订位 — Reservations 19如果有时间 — Conditionals 20周末 — Weekend Dim Sum Plans

Unit 5

1干杯 — Toasting & Banquet Culture 2时令 — Seasonal Eating 3市场的故事 — Market Stories 4上海的夜 — Night Food 5最终评估 — Final Assessment 21干杯 — Toasting Culture 22时令 — Seasonal Eating 23市场的故事 — Market Stories 24上海的夜 — Night Food 25最终评估 — Farewell Dinner Assessment

Level 3

Intermediate

B125 lessons

Where the grammar turns real: the imperfect, the subjunctive, relative pronouns and the conditional. Enough machinery to tell a story properly and write your first review.

Unit 1

1因为...所以 — Because and Therefore 2虽然...但是 — Although and But 3不但...而且 — Not Only, But Also 4如果...就 — If and Then 5连接大师 — Combining Complex Connectors

Unit 2

6把菜端上来 — The 把 Construction 7做得好 — The 得 Complement 8找到了！ — The 到 Complement 9吃完了 — The 完 Complement 10把菜做到完美 — 把 with Complements

Unit 3

11他说... — Basic Reported Speech 12他问我... — Reported Questions 13他让我... — Reporting Requests 14我以为... — Reporting Thoughts and Beliefs 15大家都说... — Complex Reported Speech

Unit 4

16被吃完了 — The 被 Passive 17请您... — Formal Register 18随便吃嘛 — Casual Register 19看场合说话 — Register Switching 20这家店值得推荐 — Writing Food Reviews

Unit 5

21综合运用 — Integrating All Structures 22讲一个故事 — Extended Narration 23你觉得哪家好？ — Debating and Comparing 24吃在上海 — Shanghai Food Culture 25我的上海美食之旅 — Final Mastery Performance

Level 4

Advanced

B225 lessons

Nuance and the professional register. Discourse markers, the art of concession and emphasis, the business lunch and the gala — and the literary tenses underneath them.

Unit 1

1把味道提上来 — Complex 把 Patterns 2煮烂了 — Advanced Result Complements 3是在上海学的 — 是...的 Emphasis 4吃了三年了 — Double 了 Pattern 5上海菜，甜的多 — Advanced Topic-Comment

Unit 2

6首先...其次...最后 — Formal Argumentation 7虽然...但是 vs 尽管...还是 — Debate Markers 8恐怕不行 — Hedging & Softening 9连盐都没放 — Emphasis with 连...都/也 10难道不好吃吗？ — Rhetorical Questions

Unit 3

11请上座 — Business Dining Etiquette 12此菜品 vs 这个菜 — 书面语 vs 口语 13接下来我想谈谈 — Presentations 14能不能再商量一下 — Negotiations 15幸会幸会 — Professional Networking

Unit 4

16被评为最佳 — Advanced Passive Voice 17色香味俱全 — Sensory Writing 18说来话长 — The Art of Storytelling 19画龙点睛 — Metaphor & Idiom 20有待提升 — Constructive Food Criticism

Unit 5

21民以食为天 — Food as Culture 22大道至简 — Philosophy of Food 23品茗论道 — The Language of Tea & Wine 24舌尖上的记忆 — The Food Essay 25食在上海 — Final Synthesis

Level 5