I'm Learning Mandarin

Links: My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook Chinese transcript and translation: imlearningmandarin.com Clement's Twitter: https://x.com/cjpgverrier -- On today’s podcast, I broadcast the first of what I hope will be many Chinese monologues submitted by listeners to this podcast. Today’s recording is by Clement, an I’m Learning Mandarin listener from France who lives in Taiwan. He talks us through his fascinating Chinese learning experiences. I first met Clement in Taiwan a year ago after he attended a group language exchange session I organised. He’s since gone on to use many of the methods we recommend on this podcast, including sentence mining and tone training and, as you’ll soon hear, has achieved an outstanding level of pronunciation and spoken fluency within just two years of learning. As usual, you can find a Chinese transcript for this episode along with an English translation on imlearningmandarin.com If you like this episode please don’t forget to leave a five-star rating on your favoured podcast provider. And if you’re listening on Apple Podcasts you can also leave a review. Now over to Clement!

My Free Mandarin Learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook My Chinese learning Blog: imlearningmandarin.com James's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jameswonglife James's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JamesWongLife/videos -- On today’s podcast, I speak to James Wong, a commercial model and influencer from the UK who has an incredible story of overcoming adversity to become fluent in Chinese. James’ dad is from Hong Kong but moved to the UK as a child. James was raised monolingual in English but as an adult decided to explore his heritage by taking on Chinese languages. He moved to Taiwan to study Mandarin a few years ago and has lived there ever since. His Chinese learning journey would eventually see him reach a high level in spoken Mandarin, master the tones, and even take part in several televised interviews in Taiwan. These achievements were made all the more remarkable by the fact that James has severe hearing loss. I began by asking James about his mixed heritage background and early exposure to Chinese language and culture growing up.

My free Mandarin learning ebook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook Follow this Chinese podcast along with a transcript and translation: imlearningmandarin.com -- In today’s episode, I talk about the recent history of Chinese attitudes towards foreigners speaking Mandarin and how this differs from the English-speaking world. It’s always struck me that the way Chinese people react to foreigners speaking their language can have a major impact on our learning journey. On the one hand, it feels nice to be showered with praised as a beginner for saying a few basic words. But on the other hand, this can get old quickly. And the culture of treating foreign Chinese speaking as an entertainment spectacle, with international Chinese speaking competitions broadcast on TV to a whole nation can seem odd for learners who’ve never encountered it before. So today I discuss the origins of these attitudes and the reasons why Chinese people tend to react the way they do when they hear non-native speakers speak Mandarin.

David Moser, an Associate Professor, shares his journey to fluency in Chinese, becoming a TV star in China. He discusses the challenges of learning Chinese in a humorous blog post. The podcast explores his transition from academia to TV, censored comedy skits, and techniques for improving spoken Chinese skills.

Podcast discusses personal story of bullying in Chinese, encourages listeners to record in Chinese for speaking practice. Teacher shares tips on supporting students in language learning and building resilience.

Computer scientist Emmanuel Roche shares his 35-year journey learning Chinese, developing Full Chinese app for native-level proficiency. Discusses challenges in Chinese learning, importance of complete sentence understanding, benefits of sentence mining, and bridging academic-community gap for efficient language acquisition.

Peak Mandarin Newsletter: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook Transcript and translation: imlearningmandarin.com Recently I decided to commit to producing the I’m Learning Mandarin podcast once a week instead of fortnightly. The plan is to continue posting guest interviews and discussions about learning Mandarin once a fortnight. Then, in between each interview, I’ll post shorter episodes in which I speak in Mandarin about a topic. Today’s episode is the first one in the series of these Chinese monologues. In it, I speak about my experiences living in Taiwan last year and offer three things all learners should know before going to Taiwan to study Chinese.

Isaac Myers, a language teacher and podcast host, shares his incredible journey learning Mandarin while working at Google on speech recognition systems. He discusses the shift from traditional methods to immersive experiences and how engaging with enjoyable content can enhance language acquisition. Isaac also delves into the challenges adults face in overcoming identity barriers while learning a new language. Finally, he highlights the parallels between memorization in language learning and machine learning, providing unique insights for aspiring Mandarin speakers.

Get the full eBook for free here: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook -- One of the questions I've always been fascinated by and covered extensively on my podcast is: what do the most successful Chinese learners do differently from everyone else? Is their success purely down to talent or is there method behind the genius?My new eBook, Lessons from a Chinese Learning Phenomenon looks at this question through the case of Will Hart, a young British medical student who achieved what many linguists thought impossible. During lockdown, he reached a near-native level of spoken Mandarin within just 1.5 years.I got to know Will after watching him being interviewed in flawless Chinese on YouTube in 2022. I then interviewed him on this podcast and went on to collaborate with him on our series of Masterclasses, teaching intermediate students how to overcome specific obstacles on the journey to Chinese fluency. Based on extensive interviews and many hours spent in his company, I reveal exactly how he managed to reach such a high level so quickly. I also explain how, after years of failure, I put his methods into practice to become proficient in Chinese myself.And how you can too!The book comes with a foreword written by world-leading linguist and elite Mandarin speaker Professor Karen Chung of National Taiwan University. And in today's episode, Karen reads out the foreword in her own voice.

In this podcast, Ryan, a friend of the podcast, shares his journey from struggling with Chinese tones to mastering them. The episode introduces Peak Mandarin, a new platform offering masterclasses and online programs for Mandarin learners. Ryan emphasizes the importance of constructive criticism and daily practice in improving language skills, with a focus on mastering tones through feedback and effective learning techniques. The podcast highlights the transformation from struggling with tones to confidently identifying and pronouncing them, showcasing the value of resilience and hard work in language acquisition.