I finished transcribing all of 灵契 Líng Qì Spiritpact, Season 1 in Mandarin today!
Each episode is 10 minutes long, not counting the opening and closing songs, and there are 20 episodes so that is 200 minutes of content I wrote out by hand in Mandarin. I feel like I deserve a certificate of graduation from the Spiritpact School of Mandarin Literacy.
I started this process back in November 24, 2020 with the very first episode, playing the Mandarin version with the Chinese subtitles, and stopping at every sentence to check up any words that I do not know. It was a slow and painful process that lasted for an entire week. As I started to retain some of the vocabulary, I got a little bit faster until by the end I managed to go through most of the last three episodes in a single day. It has been exactly 14 weeks since the start of this journey and I feel incredibly accomplished.
Episode 18
There are some words which look similar that I repeatedly mistaken for each other such as 比 bǐ, 此 cǐ, and 些 xiē.
比如 bǐrú for example
如此 rúcǐ in this way (5:22)
有些 yǒuxiē some (9:52)
My three favorite phrases:
1. 连本带利 (4:43)
lián běn dài lì
pay back with interest
连 lián including
本 běn principal
带 dài along with
利 lì interest
2. 板上钉钉 (9:24)
bǎn shàng dìng dīng
"nail it down"
absolute final decision
板 bǎn plank
上 shàng on
钉 dìng nailing
钉 dīng a nail
3. 精英倍出 (11:24)
jīngyīng bèi chū
cultivate an abundance of the crème de la crème
精英 jīngyīng cream of the crop
精 jīng elite
英 yīng outstanding
倍 bèi to increase or multiply
出 chū to produce
Episode 19
I have always enjoyed the insults in this show. I find them creative and more diverse than ones in English.
挑梁小丑 (4:39)
tiāo liáng xiǎochǒu
balance beam walking clown
tightrope walking clown
小丑 xiǎochǒu clown
挑 tiāo carry a balancing pole
梁 liáng balance beam (as in gymnastics)
小 xiǎo small
丑 chǒu ugly
One of my favorite moments:
掉线几分钟 (9:56)
diàoxiàn jǐ fēnzhōng
lost internet connection for a few minutes
掉线 diàoxiàn offline
分钟 fēnzhōng minute
掉 diào drop
线 xiàn line
几 jǐ a few
分 fēn a part of
钟 zhōng time
Episode 20
There are words in Chinese that look exactly the same but are pronounced differently and have different meanings, such as the word 还 which can be pronounced as hái or huán.
还剑 (5:04)
huán jiàn
return the sword
还有 (10:21)
háiyǒu
still have
There are two words that look nearly identical: 怒 nù and 恕 shù.
(8:00) 息怒 xīnù extinguish fury, to calm down
息 xī cease
怒 nù anger
(8:03) 恕罪 shùzuì please forgive me
恕 shù forgive
罪 zuì crime
[Updated March 3, 2021: *sigh* Yet another one to add to the list 怨 yuàn "to blame" from the second episode of the donghua 百妖谱 bǎi yāo pǔ Hundred Demons Scroll (14:10) 不怨 bùyuàn to not blame.]
Another pair of similar looking words which I keep misreading: 直 zhí and 真 zhēn.
(11:23) 直 zhí straight
(11:27) 真好 zhēn hǎo truly good
My favorite phrase:
甘拜下风 (8:32)
gān bài xiàfēng
step down gracefully
下风 xiàfēng leeward
甘 gān willingly
拜 bài to pay respect
下 xià down
风 fēng wind
My favorite moment:
人压鬼啦 (9:34)
rén yā guǐ la
A human is crushing a ghost!
The ending is quite poetic:
将一切画上据点 (12:52)
jiāng yīqiè huà shàng jùdiǎn
After all that has happened, I will now place here, a period.
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