Getting started · Early beginner · 42 pages
Your First 14 Days of Spoken Mandarin
A calm fourteen-day speaking path that builds one small everyday exchange at a time, retrieves yesterday's language, and finishes with a short original conversation.
Download free PDFNo signup. No email form. Version 1.1, updated 2026-08-26.
What’s inside
- A ten-minute daily speaking loop
- Fourteen practical speaking missions
- One cold callback on every day after Day 1
- Introductions, preferences, café language, time, family, directions, prices, and plans
- A worked mini-exchange on every daily page
- A personalized retrieval prompt every day
- A cumulative roleplay and one-possible-answer models
What you’ll practice
- Introduce yourself and return a simple question
- Order a drink and simple food item
- Ask about time, place, direction, price, and preferences
- Describe family, a routine, a plan, and one completed action
- Combine familiar frames into a short responsive conversation
Sample lines
- 我叫安娜。你呢？ · Wǒ jiào Ānnà. Nǐ ne? · My name is Anna. And you? (A first introduction plus a topic-return question.)
- 我想要一杯茶。 · Wǒ xiǎng yào yì bēi chá. · I would like a cup of tea. (A complete quantity-and-item request.)
- 我们明天一起吃饭吧。 · Wǒmen míngtiān yìqǐ chīfàn ba. · Let's eat together tomorrow. (A familiar plan with a time and suggestion.)
Frequently asked questions
Will I be fluent after fourteen days?
No. This workbook builds a reliable starting routine and a small set of useful exchanges. Fluency requires much more listening, speaking, feedback, retrieval, and varied real-world practice over time.
Do I need audio to use the workbook?
No. Every model includes Hanzi, tone-marked pinyin, and English. Audio or a fluent partner can improve listening and pronunciation practice, but the printable path is self-contained.
Do the daily checkboxes prove I learned the language?
No. Finishing a page records exposure. A stronger sign is retrieving the phrase later without the model and using it when a detail, role, or situation changes.
What if a personal prompt is not comfortable or relevant?
Use clearly imaginary information or replace the scenario while keeping the language job. The goal is a coherent response, not disclosure of private details.
Keep practicing
Practice a beginner conversation · Browse all free downloads
This is a modest fourteen-day starting path, not a fluency promise; examples and dialogues were independently authored, and completion is not presented as proof of mastery.
Work through it online
Each day runs the workbook's own loop — listen, repeat, shadow, make it yours, then recall — and every step shows the workbook page it comes from, so the page numbers stay in sync.
Day 1: Meet someone
Say your name and ask the question back.
Workbook pages 3–4
Day 2: Say where you are from
Say where you are from and that you speak a little Chinese.
Workbook pages 5–6
Day 3: Talk about what you like
Name two things you like in one sentence.
Workbook pages 7–8
Day 4: Ask for a drink
Order the drink you actually want.
Workbook pages 9–10
Day 5: Order simple food
Order food politely with a quantity, 请, and 谢谢.
Workbook pages 11–12
Day 6: Set a meeting time
Suggest a meeting time and confirm the plan.
Workbook pages 13–14
Day 7: Describe your family
Say how many people are in your family.
Workbook pages 15–16
Day 8: Describe a daily routine
Say what time you do two things every day.
Workbook pages 17–18
Day 9: Ask where something is
Ask where a place is and follow the answer.
Workbook pages 19–20
Day 10: Understand a direction
Give a simple two-step direction: straight, then turn.
Workbook pages 21–22
Day 11: Ask the price
Ask a price and react to the answer.
Workbook pages 23–24
Day 12: Make a plan
Invite someone to do something tomorrow and pick a time.
Workbook pages 25–26
Day 13: Say what you did
Say one thing you did yesterday with 了.
Workbook pages 27–28
Day 14: Keep the conversation moving
Hold a complete first exchange from hello to goodbye.
Workbook pages 29–30
Final review: Two role-plays and your can-do check
Hold two six-turn conversations on your own and back each can-do with one line of evidence.
Workbook pages 31–33
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Model audio on this page is synthetic Mandarin — a listening aid, not a pronunciation assessment.