My eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook Links:  My blog on Language Talent: http://imlearningmandarin.com/2021/09/03/why-i-dont-believe-in-language-talent/ My roadmap for learning Chinese tones: http://imlearningmandarin.com/2022/02/12/its-never-too-late-to-learn-chinese-tones-heres-how/ On today's episode I debate the concept of language talent with two guests. Yong Jun is a PHD student researching the philosophy of language. Katherine, who has appeared on the podcast before, is a Masters student in translation studies. Both guests are language learning enthusiasts and have ample experience of learning languages to high levels. We discuss whether it's meaningful to talk about having a gift for languages and whether it's true that some learners really are more gifted than others. 

My eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook Links:  My best app recommendations for learning Chinese: http://imlearningmandarin.com/2022/02/20/thanks-to-these-apps-self-studying-chinese-is-much-easier-than-ten-years-ago/ Alej's Langaholic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg3WIz-1ezXsIsGQqWBlwEA Alej's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Langaholic My Twitter: https://twitter.com/MischaWilmers It’s often said that different languages shouldn't be compared with each other in terms of difficulty. I  understand this sentiment but also think it’s useful to be aware of  certain key differences between the challenge of learning Chinese  compared to that of taking on other languages, particularly those more closely related to our mother tongue. Many learners feel disappointed when they compare their speed of  progress to that of friends studying other languages. You might see people  online who appear to have reached fluency in Spanish in under a year  while you still don’t feel fluent in Mandarin after several years. It  can be easy to wonder if there’s something wrong with you as a learner. The reality is that there’s nothing wrong with you and there may not  even be anything wrong with your learning methods. I think it’s helpful  to be aware that there are particular challenges involved in learning  Mandarin which make it, if not more difficult than many other languages,  then certainly more time consuming. To discuss this topic with me on today’s episode is polyglot Alej, also known by his YouTube name Langaholic.  Alej has taken on a number of languages, including Mandarin, and is in a  great position to explore how the challenge of learning Chinese differs  from other languages.

My eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook Links:  Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/imlearningmandarin  Lei Lei's Blog: https://mixitwithmandarin.wordpress.com/ Blog on mastering tones: http://imlearningmandarin.com/2022/02/12/its-never-too-late-to-learn-chinese-tones-heres-how/ Blog on Netflix Chinese: http://imlearningmandarin.com/2022/03/04/how-to-learn-mandarin-with-chinese-netflix-shows/ Blog on best Chinese learning apps: http://imlearningmandarin.com/2022/02/20/thanks-to-these-apps-self-studying-chinese-is-much-easier-than-ten-years-ago/ My guest today is called Lei Lei. Lei Lei is a blogger and Mandarin Chinese learner who writes about the process of learning Chinese to a high level. After stumbling across Lei Lei’s blog a couple of months ago there were a couple of things I which I thought would make for a great discussion. The first point something we have in common which is that we are both bilingual learners. Lei Lei was brought up in Canada and was educated in French whilst English was always used in the family home. I was interested in exploring how being bilingual has affected our approach and attitude to language learning. The second point was that Lei Lei has written a very insightful blog about reaching high levels in listening proficiency. With so much focus on tones and characters, listening is perhaps the most underestimated aspect of Mandarin learning in terms of difficulty. The number of homophones as well as high variety of accents spoken across China and Chinese speaking countries means becoming good at listening doesn’t happen overnight. Luckily Lei Lei has some great tips on how to reach impressive levels of listening comprehension which we can all learn from. 

#10 Sign up to the Tones Mechanic newsletter on ⁠⁠⁠⁠imlearningmandarin.com⁠⁠ -- Links:  Details of the Chinese Writing Contest: https://www.mslmaster.com/index.php/8-contest/196-chinese-writing-contest Link to last years contest book: https://mslmaster.com/index.php/9-books/222-easy-to-read-chinese-short-stories-book-1 My blog on Chinese literacy: http://imlearningmandarin.com/2021/11/07/can-you-be-literate-without-writing-chinese-characters-by-hand/ On today’s episode I talk to inspirational Mandarin Teacher and founder of the website www.mslmaster.com April Zhang.  April is also the brains behind the annual Chinese Writing Challenge, a competition for Chinese learners of all levels, who are invited to write a story using only 320 characters.  The winners of the competition will then have their story published in a book.   Last year, 82 submissions were received. The best 17 entries were published. These newly published authors were from eight different countries and regions around the world. This year Imlearningmandarin.com are proud collaborators of the competition. So I encourage all of you to take part to connect with other learners from around the world and for the chance to become a published Chinese author.  I spoke to April about her background in teaching Chinese  her inspirations for starting the competition as well as details of how those interested in participating can enter. 

#9 Sign up to the Tones Mechanic newsletter on ⁠⁠⁠⁠imlearningmandarin.com⁠⁠ -- Anyone who has learned Mandarin will be familiar with how encouraging Chinese people tend to be towards those of us who take an interest in their language. For the most part this is great. All we have to do is say 你好 in order to be showered with praise and encouragement. But at times it can also be quite tricky to navigate the unwritten rules of Chinese polite culture. To the new Mandarin learner, it isn’t always clear when praise is sincere as opposed to merely small talk. Throughout my learning experience, I’ve also found it a challenge to get honest feedback on my Mandarin as opposed to exaggerated and undeserved praise. On today’s podcast, I invited three of my language buddies, Helen, Mingna and Katherine. Helen, like me, is a fellow Mandarin learner while  Mingna and Katherine are both students from China. Together we explore how Chinese politeness can impact language learners in both positive and negative ways.

#8 Sign up to the Tones Mechanic newsletter on ⁠⁠⁠⁠imlearningmandarin.com⁠⁠ -- For Today’s podcast I had the honour of interviewing a very distinguished guest. Benjamin Zephaniah is best known as one of Britain’s favourite poets. He is also a political activist, playwright and novelist who has been listed as one of Britain’s 50 greatest postwar writers by the Times newspaper.  One of the lesser known aspects of Benjamin’s life is his interest in foreign languages and in particular Mandarin. In his Autobiography, the life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah, he writes about his decades long exploration of the Chinese language and culture. I wanted to find out more about why he took on the challenge of learning Chinese, how he went about doing so and why he believes language learning can be a powerful tool against bigotry and war.  Links:  For more blogs & podcasts: imlearningmandarin.com Benjamin's Website: https://benjaminzephaniah.com/ Benjamin's autobiography: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Life-Rhymes-Benjamin-Zephaniah-Autobiography/dp/1471168921 Dreaming in Chinese, Deborah Fallows: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dreaming-Chinese-Deborah-Fallows/dp/1780720858

#7 Sign up to the Tones Mechanic newsletter on ⁠⁠⁠⁠imlearningmandarin.com⁠⁠ -- On today's podcast I discuss how expectations often differ from reality when learning Mandarin. My guest is YouTuber Luke Truman who has been documenting his journey of learning Cantonese and Mandarin for four years. His experiences have given him some really interesting insights into studying using immersive methods, the limits of learning through input alone, how to improve pronunication and much more.   Links: Luke's Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/LukeTrumanFTF What 80% Comprehension Feels Like: https://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2016/08/25/what-80-comprehension-feels-like The Echo Method Ted Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQEWEPIHLzQ#4

#6 Sign up to the Tones Mechanic newsletter on ⁠⁠⁠imlearningmandarin.com⁠ - On today’s episode I discuss a topic I have previously blogged about: graded readers. For those who aren’t familiar, graded readers are books intended for beginner-intermediate language learners. They are typically  set at different levels according to the number of words used. They enable Mandarin learners to start reading extensively with as few as 100 characters and I benefited from them immensely in the past.  My guest today is Mandarin learner and entrepreneur Jeff Pepper from Imagin8 Press, a company he set up which publishes Chinese graded readers. His readers cover a diverse range of topics from novels to classic Chinese philosophy. I started by asking him how his own experiences of learning Chinese inspired him to start creating his own graded readers.  Anyone interested in Jeff's readers can check out his website at https://imagin8press.com/

#5 Sign up to the Tones Mechanic newsletter on ⁠⁠imlearningmandarin.com⁠ -- On today’s episode I discuss learning Mandarin with a man who has not only learned the language for  himself, he’s also observed the trajectories of hundreds of other learners over the years.  Max Hobbs is Marketing Director at the leading Chinese language school, LTL Mandarin. He first came into contact with Chinese while backpacking in 2014 and he has since continued to study Mandarin whilst working. His position at the school has given him a real birds eye view, observing and documenting the stories of numerous students over the years at the school he works for.  I found it really insightful to talk to him about his learning experiences and in particular his observations of which attitudes and traits are the strongest predictors of a successful Mandarin learner.

#4 Sign up to the Tones Mechanic newsletter on ⁠⁠imlearningmandarin.com⁠ -- As an intermediate Mandarin learner, one of the main challenges I face is acquiring lower frequency words. In any language the most frequent few thousand words account for over 90% of words used in daily conversation. Mandarin is no different and, although I typically understand the vast majority of words in a sentence, it’s those rarer words which can throw me off.  So how can we overcome the intermediate plateau and learn enough low frequency words to become proficient?  That’s where today’s guest Andrew Methven comes in. Andrew first started learning Chinese whilst on a backpacking trip in China in 2002-03. He eventually went on to train as a translator and interpreter, before joining a startup in the UK focussed on China. More recently, he started the newsletter: https://slowchinese.substack.com designed to help intermediate and advanced learners fill in key gaps in the vocabulary.  Every week Andrew shares new words, phrases, idioms, colloquialisms and slang with the goal of helping readers maintain and improve their Chinese, while staying up to date with latest language trends. Andrew’s experiences of backpacking through China as well as his insights into overcoming the long intermediate plateau are fascinating and insightful.