❤️ I have feelings for you…in Chinese
❤️ I have feelings for you…in Chinese
Learning to read online jokes and memes is a fun and effective way to learn real and colloquial Chinese.
This is a cute text exchange between a Chinese couple that I saw online recently.
Do you know what it says?
Step 1: Pre-test
Try to read the text above without any help.
This step is known as pre-testing and it’s proven to enhance memory by focusing your attention (even if you can’t read much).
Students who pre-test learn significantly more compared to those who don’t, even if they feel like they “bomb” the pre-test.
Step 2: Listen + Read
Next, listen to the audio file below and read along with the characters, pinyin, and translation (shadow). Learn more about how to shadow effectively in my speaking course.
Look up any words you don’t understand (vocabulary list below).
wǒ duì nǐ yǒu gǎn jué
我对你有感觉
我對你有感覺
I have feelings for you
wǒ duì nǐ yě yǒu gǎn jué
我对你也有感觉
我對你也有感覺
I have feelings for you too
nā wǒ men shì?
那我们是?
那我們是?
Then we are?
nā wǒ men shì gǎn jué zhě
感觉者
感覺者
Feeling-people, feel-er (made up word), sensate (capable of feeling)
*Do you get it? This is a joke. We were expecting a response about their relationship, maybe that they could be starting a romantic relationship.
But the answer we got was a very literal response to the previous text about the fact that they both have feelings for each other, thus, they are 感觉者。
者 is typically placed at the end of a word to make it into a person.
For example 翻译 is translate and 翻译者 is translator.
Vocabulary List
Organize all your vocabulary in one hub and learn Chinese faster here.
Step 3: Repetition + Retrieval
Most learners stop here, but they miss the most important step: repetition and active recall/retrieval (proven to enhance memory).
Read the characters out loud without audio. Focus on getting the correct tones/pronunciation.
Try not to look at the pinyin, but use it like training wheels if you forget.
Repeat until you don’t need to look at the pinyin.
wǒ duì nǐ yǒu gǎn jué
我对你有感觉
我對你有感覺
wǒ duì nǐ yě yǒu gǎn jué
我对你也有感觉
我對你也有感覺
nā wǒ men shì?
那我们是?
那我們是?
gǎn jué zhě
感觉者
感覺者
Step 4: Final “Test”
Final stretch. Re-read the original text again.
How did it feel?
Congrats! You just read a piece of real Chinese material.
This is the exact system I used to learn authentic Chinese and build fluency fast.
See you next week for another breakdown!
PS If you’re looking for more help, here are some other ways I can help you:
Speaking Course: This is the step-by-step system I used to go from struggling to speak to knowing what to say, sounding more natural, having better conversations, and making new friends with native speakers.
The Language Learner OS: The all-in-one hub to help me organize all my notes, track my progress, stay more productive, and learn Chinese faster and more effectively.
The Monthly Signs: Dive deeper into these lessons with interactive vocabulary lists, flashcards, and real-world video examples.