Canto to Mando

Hiring!!! The Canto to Mando Family is growing!!!

Paid position! Fully remote! Looking for someone to join our Content Planning Team. Part time to start with potential for full time in the future

About you: -You're fluent in English, Cantonese and Mandarin

- You love unnecessarily overanalyzing things and are opinionated / love sharing your opinions

-You're interested in You Tube and want to learn more. You consume a lot of You Tube!

Extra points if you love linguistics

If interested, please send a resume to

Sheldon.ho@thecmblueprint.com

4 months ago | [YT] | 46

Canto to Mando

Fun fact... I cannot find this channel if I search it lmaoo...

All I get is: Did you mean... Cantomando? hahahaa

7 months ago | [YT] | 34

Canto to Mando

Five years ago, Jackie came up to me and wanted to learn Mandarin FAST.

He was in a hurry because his father was just diagnosed with cancer.

"My father is dying. And I can barely speak to him.”

As time slipped away, Jackie faced the truth that changed everything.

It wasn't just about basic communication…

It was about FINALLY connecting with his father before time runs out…

It was about his identity and honoring family roots…

And no more feeling left out and being truly present.

This reminded me of a quote from Andrew Garfield.

When he lost his mother, he described what grief was, beautifully:

“This is all the unexpressed love, the grief that will remain with us until we pass because we never get enough time with each other, no matter if someone lives till 60, 15, or 99.”

It’s everything that matters when you realize someone you love will soon be gone forever.

And before joining our Mandarin learning program, Jackie already tried language learning apps like Pimsleur…

You see, most of the traditional Mandarin learning methods are designed for English speakers starting from absolute zero…

Not for Cantonese speakers who already have a foundation but need a bridge.

(Yes, you already have a solid foundation to learn Mandarin at speed.)

And that’s where we do things differently in our Canto to Mando Blueprint program.



Instead of forcing you to start from scratch, we show you how to literally “copy” what you already know in Cantonese and “paste” it into Mandarin.

Using systematic “mistake” patterns.

For example, when you know how to change word-final sounds like "-k" in Cantonese to their Mandarin equivalents, suddenly thousands of words become instantly recognizable.

When you understand how Cantonese tones map to Mandarin tones following predictable rules, pronunciation becomes intuitive rather than memorized.

Traditional programs completely ignore these connections…

They treat you like someone who's never heard a Chinese word in your life - wasting weeks on basics you already understand.


Basically, these programs are designed for English speakers, not for YOU.


So, when Jackie joined our Mandarin learning program, he got what he wanted.



By applying the same Copy and Paste method you will see inside the Canto to Mando Blueprint Program, Jackie improved his Mandarin within weeks instead of months.


He was FINALLY able to talk to his dad, heart-to-heart.


AND, his Cantonese also improved from what he called “30%” to “70%” fluency.


In other words, Jackie didn’t just accomplish his main goal when he joined our program i.e. to finally be able to connect with his father and his heritage.



His new-found confidence in Mandarin and in Cantonese allowed him to connect with more Chinese people.

That connection - that bridge between worlds - is what this is all about.

I'm sharing Jackie's story because I suspect you might feel what he felt.

That disconnects from your heritage…


That disconnect from your own people……



The feeling of being left behind as your community shifts toward speaking more Mandarin. As Mandarin becomes more popular and dominant in the workspace.


If you're like Jackie ( like I was), traditional language programs will always feel frustratingly slow because they weren't built for us.


So, if you’re like Jackie, who knows how important it is to learn Mandarin, how important it is to get to know your family more intimately...

And how important it is to learn a language that’s becoming mainstream due to the global economy…


Join the Canto to Mando Blueprint Program.


And when you sign up today, you’ll also get access to:


Cantonese Fluency Course for $0 instead of $400.


You might want to hurry. Because admissions are open for the next 4 days only.


And just so you know:


You get FULL ACCESS to the Canto to Mando Blueprint Program which will help you speak fluent Mandarin in 6 weeks – or we’ll coach you FOR FREE until you do.



Click the link below to learn more about the program:

go.thecmblueprint.com/cmbp-video1

8 months ago | [YT] | 37

Canto to Mando

"Mark Zuckerberg's Mandarin Journey (and why it matters to you)"

10 years ago, a video of Mark Zuckerberg went viral.

It was a Q&A session held in Beijing.

The audience gasped, wow’d, and clapped when the Facebook billionaire said:

“Hey everyone, thanks for coming!”

And then he kept going and won the audience all the more.

The reason was simple: Mark was speaking Mandarin.

By his own admission, his Mandarin was "terrible" and it was a challenge to learn it because, as an English speaker, he found it very hard to speak properly — but kept going anyway.

When asked by the host why he decided to learn Mandarin…

Zuckerberg shared 3 reasons that hit close to home:

1. FAMILY CONNECTION

His wife is Chinese. Her family speaks Mandarin.

And barely any English.

So, he really wanted to get to know her family more.

And the language barrier was stopping him from doing that.

In fact, when they decided to get married, he shocked his wife's grandmother by asking for her blessing, in Mandarin!

Can you imagine her face?

This reminded me of the awkward silence in the hospital when I was alone with my grandfather and I couldn’t even ask about his day.

2. CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING

Mark believes China is a great country and so, he wanted to understand its culture better.

And he knew that China’s native language and culture are deeply connected. You cannot really understand a culture without really understanding its native language.

This spoke true to me, as well. I felt disconnected from parts of my own heritage when I was unable to speak or understand Mandarin.

3. PERSONAL CHALLENGE

Mark admitted Mandarin was incredibly difficult to learn…

But because he loves taking on tough challenges, nothing stopped him from getting closer to his wife’s family and their culture.

Now, here's what made me wonder the most about this story:

If a busy tech CEO with ZERO Chinese background can learn Mandarin (even "terribly") just by putting in the effort...

How easy it would be for someone like me, who:

- Already speaks some Cantonese at home
- Is familiar with Chinese sounds and tones
- Recognizes common words and phrases

And already has an ear for Chinese tones English speakers spend years developing?

In other words, even if my Cantonese was casual “kitchen Cantonese” mixed with English, I already had a MASSIVE head start Mark Zuckerberg knew he didn’t have.

Because his native language is English!

And guess what? After learning Mandarin from Cantonese (and not English), I was not only able to learn Mandarin in weeks instead of months…

I was also able to teach Mandarin from Cantonese because of how proficient I became with the language!

And if I can do it, you can too.

And much faster than me too because I’ve gone through all the trials and errors, made all the “mistakes” already, so my students don’t have to.

I’ll share more about these “mistakes” on Monday and show you how to leverage what you ALREADY KNOW to start understanding and speaking Mandarin in just a few days!

+ something special I’ve been working on that I’ve never shared before.

Something that could very well become your gateway to breaking that disconnect with your native language, culture, and family you felt for years…

Just because you don’t speak or understand Mandarin.

Keep an eye out on my next post here.

Until then,

Sheldon

8 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 57

Canto to Mando

"I'm gonna be the laughing stock of the school...these kids are gonna fall asleep..."

A few days ago, literally less than 24 hours after landing in China, I got an unexpected invitation to speak at a school in Guangzhou. They wanted me to give a talk to a room full of kids about the power of language, and they needed me to do it… the very next day.

My mind went straight to all the ways this could go wrong. I wasn’t prepared, I hadn’t planned anything, and I was jet-lagged beyond belief. But then, I thought, “How many chances do you get to inspire kids in another country?” So I agreed, knowing if I messed up, I could become the laughing stock of the school.

That night, I barely slept. I spent hours putting something together, and all the nerves came flooding in. I mean, these were young teenagers who’d probably rather be anywhere else than listening to me talk about languages.

I remember at their age, they made us watch Obama's inauguration speech, and I dozed off. So if a U.S. president couldn’t keep a teenager's attention, what chance did I have?

Would they all fall asleep?

I told them about my own journey with languages—how growing up, I didn’t care much for Chinese - and because of that, I missed out on opportunities to connect with family, and people I care about.

I shared how when I finally learned the language, it ended up giving me a whole new world of connections, experiences, and even a career.

It opened doors, got me doing youtube, helped me build friendships, and even got me where I was standing right then, in front of them, on that stage in Guangzhou.

I was so worried they'd fall asleep, but I saw them attentive, some were crying from my speech - even the principal cried 🥺

Having the honour of sharing the importance of Cantonese, Mandarin and English with these teenagers was such a humbling experience.

One of the big things I told them was, “Never underestimate where learning something new can take you.” I shared how learning Cantonese and Mandarin started as just another skill but turned into something life-changing. Always be learning.

I will never forget this experience. Thank you so much to the students of Minxin ♥️♥️♥️

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11 months ago | [YT] | 143

Canto to Mando

Posted this video, but didn't really get many people commenting and telling me whether it was useful or not.
If you're trying to learn Chinese, could you please give it a watch and comment if it's helpful? Not even for the algorithm but just so I can know if I should keep making these lol
https://youtu.be/Pcg_yy8ZhFY?si=rJHYj...

1 year ago | [YT] | 7

Canto to Mando

Is your Cantonese or Mandarin up to par? Check with our new video
https://youtu.be/jx5yP8s3DY0

1 year ago | [YT] | 11

Canto to Mando

If You're Wanting to Learn Cantonese or Mandarin, our newest video might be helpful :)

1 year ago | [YT] | 3