Sentence 13: 我相信你一定会了解。"I believe you'll definitely understand." This is the last sentence I will do for the challenge, but I'm going to continue until I get to the end of this song; just another 5 sentences. Looks like this activity will continue as a part of my daily study for the foreseeable future.

Sentence 13: 我知道我将面对许多寂寞的夜晚。"I know I'll face a lot of lonely nights." This is a difficult sentence to mimic. To be continued in 2018.

Sentences 11 & 12. 亲爱的你哦，我不知道。"Dearest you, I just don't know." 该怎么向你道别。"How to say goodbye to you?" These were easy to mimic. I sure hope I can use them in a conversation.

Sentence 10: 我知道我将永远不孤单。"I know I'll never be lonely." This sentence was difficult to mimic.

Sentences 8 & 9: 亲爱的爸爸亲爱的妈妈。"Dear Father, dear Mother." 我的爱和我的家。"My love and my family." These sentences were rather easy to say and memorize, but they sound really sappy to me.

Didn't have time to login yesterday due to Christmas holiday activities - ran out of time. But today I got back on track with a new sentence: 也所以梦想才会被叫做梦想。 "And that is why dreams are only called dreams." Can repeat, but not memorized.

Reviewed sentence 6 while shoveling White Christmas snow - haha. Work and study together. Started Sentence 7: 许多痛苦和悲伤。"A lot of pain and sorrow." What an appropriate phrase after shoveling snow!

Sentence 6: 我知道前方有大风大浪。"I know that there are great storms ahead." I really have to work on making my 2nd tone words more emphatic. Just got some coaching from my sister-in-law.

Today was review day to try to fix in my brain sentences 1-5 said without reference to the text, and fluently. Not there yet because I have to pause between sentences, but getting to say each sentence pretty fluently.

Sentence 5: 我们要头也不回地离开。"We must leave without looking back." Got fluent, but must commit to memory.

4th sentence of song: 我们没有太多力气回头感伤。"We don't have enough energy to look back and feel sad." I am able to say this from memory fairly fluently, but need one more day to fix it in my mind. I don't think the English translation does justice to the emotion of the Chinese.

Sentence 3: repetition. Finally got it fluently. But still need to fix in my mind. Practice sentences 2 & 3.

Review sentence 1 and say fluently from memory. Learn sentence 2: 是时候我们往前走了吧。 "It's time for us to move forward!" Can now say this from memory. Started Sentence 3: 把这美丽的一切都深深刻在心里吧。 "Deeply engrave these beautiful things in our hearts."

Repeating AIA insurance video from memory. Started new video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrGxru6nqeQ 那我懂你意思了It's time to say goodbye. Practiced repeating 1st line: 伙伴们快背好你的行囊 Companions, carry your luggage on your backs quickly! This guy sounds like a wannabe Bob Dylan.

35 minutes - shadowing of entire video

Sentence 16 - Last sentence: 有我帮你友邦人寿。 You have me to help you. AIA insurance. Easy to say.

Sentence 16: 因为了解所以与你更靠近 To understand you, we need to get close to you. Can say this fluently, but have problems remembering it. Review of Sentence 15: can now say fluently and from memory.

Sentence 15: 赶快回去看孩子。Hurry home to see your kids. Somehow, this is difficult to remember and say quickly. Don't have the hang of it yet. Spent 15 minutes reviewing sentences 1-14 and 15 minutes on trying to do Sentence 15.

Sentences 12-14: 这么晚了你怎么还在？我i们一直都在。拜拜，谢谢。It's so late! Why are you still here? We are always here. Bye, thanks. These were easy to do. These are all words I am familiar with.

Spent most of the time on Sentence 10. Can now say from memory, but have to concentrate hard. I think I can proceed.

sentence 10 is difficult: 至少听听其它医疗专家的说明啊。At least listen to the advice of other medical experts. Not memorized yet, but can speak while reading.

Mimicked sentences 8 & 9: 医生说很严重。公司帮你安排。The doctor says it's very serious. The company will arrange things for you. These were short and easy to repeat. Much of time was spent consolidating speaking of sentences 1-7.

Sentence seven: 最近我的健康检查报告出来了。 Recently I received the results of my health exam. The combination of character that make up "health exam report" 健康检查报告 is difficult to get the tone sequence right 413244. I can reproduce it smoothly only once out of 3 or 4 times. Got to let this rest for a while.

Worked on sentences 5 & 6 of insurance text: 我们家有五个人。哪来那么多钱啊？There are already five people in our family. Where will we get that kind of money? 我也 没有啊。但可以尽早准备。Me neither. But we can start as early as possible. Practicing saying each of these sentences and alternated with prior sentences.

4th sentence: 一个人要两百多万 One person costs 2 million. Consolidated speaking of sentences 1-3, and got fluent in sentence 4.

Practice repeating 3rd line for 20 minutes while running. Finally got to say it fluently and without hesitation.
Spent 15 minutes learning and mimicking 4th line of dialogue: 你知道我们一辈子要花多少医疗费用吗？"Do you know how much we have to spend in a lifetime on medical expenses?" Can say this while reading pinyin, but hesitate when speaking from memory.

3rd line of AIA video: 不会啊。我们可以帮助你用更简单的方式得到保障。"It doesn't have to be a hassle - we can help you find a simpler way to reach your coverage goals."
This was easier than line 2 and I can say it fairly quickly, but not fluently every time. Still needs some work.

AIA Insurance video - second line is "Recently, I've been thinking of getting more coverage for my family, but buying insurance is such a hassle." I am finally able to say this line from memory with a good rhythm. I first practiced mimicking the native speaker tape for 15 minutes, and then kept repeating it out loud while walking my dog for another 30 minutes.

Making progress on the second line of the AIA video. Can mimic while reading transcript, but still practicing to do it without. To be continued.

Started a new video. An insurance ad for AIA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=elm_BgTXHxg. This is more difficult than the Fedex ad. I was able to mimic the first line of the ad very easily, but the second line is like a tongue twister. I'm stuck.

Still on the Fedex ad. Am able to repeat the dialogue without looking at the text.

For 30 days, I will be mimicking the dialogues of Mandarin language youtube clips. For today, it is a Fedex ad on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=krFW4kDiDKk. I start with a complete transcription and an audio of native speakers reading the dialogue. I repeat the script slowly at first and then faster that approaches the same speed as the original. This can be very frustrating, but after many many repetitions, my tongue and mind get the hang of it. Today, I was able to repeat the dialogues at a fast pace while reading the transcript.