How to Learn Lanzhou Dialect With Comprehensible Input

Lanzhou speech is a Lanyin Mandarin dialect with four tones and plenty of its own words, so even learners who know Standard Mandarin meet surprises. A list of Lanzhou words can tell you what each means. Following them as people talk takes many scenes you already understand. That kind of Lanzhou speech is comprehensible input: language you mostly follow, where the setting gives away each new word.

What Comprehensible Input Looks Like

In the picture, each row is one Lanzhou sentence and each bar is one word. A gray bar is familiar, and a purple bar is the local word you're learning.

About one unfamiliar word per sentence, while you still follow the meaning.

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With the rest of the sentence understood, the purple word's meaning comes from the scene. At first, that's two lines over a bowl of beef noodles. Later, a picture guide to Lanzhou words gives enough context to guess an expression. If you can't follow most lines, go back to shorter scenes for a while.

Your Roadmap by Level

Each of Bubblegum's six levels is a line a reader might say about themselves, and the first row covers pinyin. Pick the one nearest you, and treat the recording and guides as a loose match, since they don't use these levels.

1. First Steps

   I can't read pinyin yet.

   Learn pinyin first, and listen to easy Mandarin while you do.

   Bubblegum's free Pinyin course →
2. Level 1

   I'm just starting out and can't read much yet

   Ask Poppy, your AI tutor in Bubblegum, for two-line Lanzhou scenes with pinyin and a translation, and try the line further down this page.

3. Level 2

   I can read basic characters and simple sentences

   Read free graded Mandarin stories for extra reading at your level, since they share most characters with Lanzhou speech.

   Mandarin Bean →
4. Level 3

   I can read short chats and stories in the local dialect

   Listen to a speaker from Lanzhou reading the Analects in her dialect, and replay one line at a time until you can pick out each word.

   Gansu 3 recording →
5. Level 4

   I can read longer texts about everyday life.

   Read 兰州发布's picture guide to Lanzhou words, written in Chinese, and guess each word from its picture first.

   一起看图get兰州方言 →
6. Level 5

   I can follow complex topics, but miss some details.

   Read a Chinese article on Lanzhou speech and its forms of address, then use them with a tutor.

   甘肃经济信息网《兰州方言》 →
7. Level 6

   I can follow local jokes, wordplay and slang in writing.

   Chat with a tutor or a friend from Lanzhou about local food and places, and ask them to explain any joke you miss.

   Preply Chinese tutors →

Go one row further when the current one feels easy, and one back if most lines send you to the dictionary.

Try It on a Sentence

Wiktionary lists 尕 as "small" in Lanyin Mandarin, the group Lanzhou speech belongs to. In 这个碗尕得很 ("This bowl is really small"), 这个碗 (this bowl) and 得很 (really) are familiar from Standard Mandarin, so the scene tells you what 尕 means.

Bubblegum is a language app in which Poppy, your AI tutor, writes Lanzhou lessons for your level about what you like. Voices that speak Lanzhou dialect read them aloud, and Regenerative Review™ brings saved words back in later lessons.

Frequently Asked Questions About Comprehensible Input