A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
三十年，每个月一封信
Thirty Years, One Letter Every Month
About this story
Thirty Years, One Letter Every Month. HSK 2 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 2 Chinese listening episode that runs about 5 minutes. The full Mandarin script is shown with tap-for-pinyin and a line-by-line English translation, so you can listen and read at once — comprehensible input in the sense of Stephen Krashen's i+1 theory. It teaches 12 key vocabulary words such as 电影、朋友、写 and walks through 4 grammar patterns, each explained in English with examples. The same news story is retold at 4 difficulty levels — use the level selector above to find the version that is challenging but still understandable for you.
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原文Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
English transcript reference
Today I want to tell you about a movie.
A lot of people are watching this movie now.
The movie is called Letters to Grandma.
What is Amma?
Amma is grandma.
It's dad's mom,
or mom's mom.
This movie
is a grandma's story.
It's a friend's story.
It's also a story about writing letters.
The grandma in the movie is called Shurou.
She lives in southern China.
It's a small place.
She's already very old.
She lives alone at home.
What about her husband?
Her husband isn't home.
Her husband went to Thailand.
Thailand is a country.
It's a country below China.
Why did he go to Thailand?
He went there to work.
He went there to earn money.
He sent money home.
He wrote letters to grandma.
He wrote:
"I have money now.
"I'll send you money.
"I love you.
"I miss you.
Grandma wrote letters too.
Grandma wrote:
"I love you too.
"I miss you too.
"When are you coming home?
They kept writing.
One year, two years,
ten years, thirty years.
But,
there was a problem between them.
What problem?
Grandma's husband was gone.
Soon after he got to Thailand,
he was gone.
It had been many years.
Then who was writing the letters?
It was a friend of his.
The friend was a woman.
Her name was Nanzhi.
Nanzhi was Chinese.
She and grandma's husband
were good friends.
She knew: he was gone.
But she thought:
"Grandma doesn't know.
"I don't want grandma to be sad.
"Let me write for him.
So Nanzhi started writing.
She used grandma's husband's name.
She wrote:
"I have money now.
"I'll send you money.
"I love you.
"I miss you.
How many years did she write?
She wrote for thirty years.
For thirty years,
one letter every month.
Some money every month.
Grandma thought:
"My husband wrote these.
She didn't know:
it was actually Nanzhi.
With the money Nanzhi sent,
grandma sent her child to school.
The child went to college.
The child got a job.
Things slowly got better at home.
Now in the movie,
grandma is old.
Nanzhi is old too.
Grandma's grandchild
is called Xiaowei.
Xiaowei doesn't have money.
Xiaowei went to Thailand
to find his grandpa.
He thought:
"Grandpa has money in Thailand.
"I'll ask grandpa to help me.
But he didn't find grandpa.
He found Nanzhi.
Nanzhi told him:
"Your grandpa is gone.
"I'm the one who wrote those words.
"I'm the one who sent that money.
After hearing this,
Xiaowei cried for a long time.
He went back to China.
He told grandma.
Did grandma cry?
Grandma didn't cry.
What did she do?
She went to check the food she'd made.
She said:
"If the food gets cold,
"it won't taste good.
Just that one line.
When I saw this part,
I cried too.
Because I understood:
grandma actually knew long ago.
Or,
she just didn't need to ask who anymore.
What she cared about was:
that someone,
in those thirty years,
hadn't let her be alone.
She said:
"Nanzhi is my good friend.
"Nanzhi is also my family.
She said:
"These thirty years of mine
"weren't lived by one person.
"They were lived by two people together.
This movie
has no big events.
No fights.
No competitions.
Just writing letters,
sending money,
making food.
But it's these small things
that are real love.
Real friendship.
Real family.
So if you're looking for a movie to watch lately,
please watch Letters to Grandma.
While you watch,
bring extra tissues.
You will definitely cry.
But after crying,
you'll feel:
real family
isn't always blood family.
Real family
is the person in those thirty years
who didn't let you be alone.
Okay.
That's all for today.
Talk tomorrow.
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇Film. Used to describe the recently popular Chinese movie 《给阿嬷的情书》.
Friend. The story turns on the question: can a 朋友 of thirty years actually be 家人 (family)?
To write. The whole story is about 写信 — writing letters that travel between China and Thailand for thirty years.
Money. The husband supposedly sends 钱 home from Thailand; in reality, Nanzhi is the one funding the family.
Husband. The story centers on grandma's 丈夫 — who, unbeknownst to her, has been dead for thirty years.
To tell (someone something). Construction: 告诉 + person + content. Nanzhi 告诉 Xiaowei the truth.
A letter (written correspondence). In the film, hundreds of 信 cross the ocean over thirty years.
Standard Mandarin for paternal grandmother. The film uses the Teochew word 阿嬷 throughout, but the narrator uses 奶奶 to help learners.
To decide. Nanzhi 决定 — she makes a quiet, life-changing decision to write in the dead man's name for thirty years.
To send through the mail. 寄信 = send a letter; 寄钱 = send money. Different from 送 (to deliver in person).
To do something in someone else's place. 我替他写 = 'I'll write in his place.' This is the structural heart of the story.
Family member. Grandma's final line — '南枝也是我的家人' (Nanzhi is also my family) — is what makes the film land.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法替 + X + Verb
替 marks doing something for someone else, often when that person can't do it themselves. In the film, Nanzhi 替木生写信 — writes letters on Musheng's behalf, because Musheng is dead.
我替他写。
南枝替木生寄钱。
以为 + clause
以为 is 'to think' — but with the implication that the thought turned out to be wrong. Grandma 以为 her husband was still writing. She was wrong. Use 觉得 for neutral 'I think'; 以为 for 'I thought (but I was wrong).'
奶奶以为是丈夫写的。
我以为他会来。
S + 不在了
Literally 'no longer here.' The standard polite, indirect way to say someone has died in Chinese. The episode uses 不在了 (and not the blunter 死) — matching how families really speak.
他不在了。
他到了泰国不久就不在了。
不一定 + clause
不一定 softens an absolute statement: 'not necessarily true.' The closing line — '真的家人，不一定是一家人' — uses it to make the film's whole thesis: real family isn't always blood family.
真的家人，不一定是一家人。
他不一定会来。
Proper nouns
专有名词Free account
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