I'm Learning Mandarin
By Mi Kai
Visit the Im Learning Mandarin blog. Popular posts include:
Your Ultimate Guide To Learning Chinese Tones: imlearningmandarin.com/2024/09/16/its-never-too-late-to-learn-chinese-tones-heres-how/
How Long Does It Take To Learn Mandarin: imlearningmandarin.com/2024/09/09/reality-check-can-you-actually-master-mandarin-in-six-months/
Generate instant Mandarin podcasts on any topic with this mindblowing AI tool
Links;
Notebook LM: https://notebooklm.google.com/
My website: imlearningmandarin.com
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In this episode, I’m sharing a tool that’s completely blown my mind, it might be one of the most impressive things I’ve ever come across for language learning. It’s called Notebook LM, and it’s a website run by Google.
Here’s what makes it so powerful: you can feed it any content: websites, text, even audio, and it will generate a podcast-style conversation between what sound like two real human voices. The result is super chatty, natural, and surprisingly hard to tell it’s AI-generated.
I first discovered NotebookLM a few months ago and started using it to make casual English podcasts. At the time, I remember wishing it supported other languages, especially Mandarin, because it just seemed like it had so much potential for language learning.
Well, that’s now changed, NotebookLM recently rolled out support for a bunch of new languages, including Mandarin. So today, I’m going to walk you through how this tool works and how you can use it to supercharge your Mandarin learning.
Interviewing Chris in Mandarin after 6 months coaching
Links:Sign up for the I'm Learning Mandarin Newsletter to get updates as soon as new spaces become available at the I'm Learning Mandarin gym: https://imlearningmandarin.com/Find out more about the I'm Learning Mandarin gym: https://imlearningmandarin.com/gymChris Blogpost Month 1: https://imlearningmandarin.com/2024/1...Chris Blogpost Month 2: https://imlearningmandarin.com/2025/0... Chris's Blogpost Month 3: https://imlearningmandarin.com/2025/0...Chris's Blogpost Month 4 & 5: https://imlearningmandarin.com/2025/0...--A few months ago, I received an email from a Mandarin learner named Chris Foley.Chris had been studying the language for several years and could already hold conversations. After marrying his Chinese wife, he set an ambitious new goal: to sharpen his spoken delivery, especially his pronunciation and tones, in time for his Chinese wedding ceremony in 12 months. Soon after, he joined the I’m Learning Mandarin gym, with me as his coach, and committed to documenting his journey through monthly blogs and interviews at the 6-month and 12-month marks.In this video, I speak with Chris entirely in Mandarin to reflect on his progress at the 6-month milestone.
Is Taiwan a good place to study Mandarin?
My blog: imlearningmandarin.com
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In this episode, I delve into the question: Is Taiwan a good place to study Mandarin? I draw on my experiences of living and studying in Taiwan and give it an overall rating out of 10 across three criteria:
1. Overall as a place to live.
2. Quality of teaching.
3. Immersive opportunities.
Five Mandarin phrases I've learned navigating daily life in Taiwan
Links:
My blog: https://imlearningmandarin.com/
Mandarin Retreats: https://imlearningmandarin.com/uk-mandarin-immersion-retreats/
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New vocabulary learned:
1. 甜筒
Pinyin: tián tǒng
English: Ice cream cone
甜 = sweet
筒 = tube/cone (refers to the cone shape)
Together, this means an ice cream cone.
2. 中焙 / 中深焙 (used in the context of coffee roasting)
中焙
Pinyin: zhōng bèi
English: Medium roast中 = middle / medium
焙 = to roast (especially coffee or tea)
This is a medium roast — a balanced roast level often used for drip coffee.
3. 原路折返
Pinyin: yuán lù zhé fǎn
English: To return by the original route / retrace one’s steps
原路 = original path / the same road
折返 = to turn back / go back
Often used in navigation, or metaphorically in life to mean going back the way you came.
4. 知难而退
Pinyin: zhī nán ér tuì
English: To retreat in the face of difficulties / to back off when realizing something is too hard
知 = to know
难 = difficulty
而 = and / yet / but (classical-style connector)
退 = to retreat / withdraw
Refers to making a wise decision to step back after recognizing a challenge is too tough to overcome. Sometimes used to describe prudence, sometimes cowardice, depending on context.
5. 隐眼 (shortened form of 隐形眼镜)
Pinyin: yǐn yǎn
English: Contact lenses
隐 = hidden
眼 = eye
Short for 隐形眼镜 (yǐn xíng yǎn jìng) = invisible (contact) lenses
Colloquial and very commonly used in Taiwan and among young people.
How to generate your own personalised tongue twisters with AI
Today, I'm going to talk through a really simple method that you can use to use AI to generate your very own Mandarin tongue twisters .
Recently, I started using a method with my students where we would create our own tongue twisters centered around their specific pronunciation problems.
Today, I'm going to explain in three simple stages how I've been creating these tongue twisters with my students and how they use them to improve their pronunciation.
My Asiaglot speech: The inconvenient truth about Mandarin learning
On today's episode, I'm going to play my speech which I recently made at the Asiaglot conference in Taipei.
The speech is called The Inconvenient Truth About Mandarin Learning. And in it, I talk about my own Mandarin Learning Journey and some of the methods that I initially followed, which were a combination of traditional methods and also comprehensible input methods.
I go into how these methods worked to varying degrees, but there were certain obstacles that I came up against which I wasn't able to find any solutions to when turning to traditional education or comprehensible input.
And I go on to talk about what the solutions that I did find involved, and how that really helped me on my Mandarin learning journey.
The audio recording quality of this speech that I gave at Asiaglot was not the best, but I've tried to salvage it a little bit through some editing. So hopefully it's good enough that you can hear it pretty clearly.2
Why Deepseek is the biggest Mandarin learning game changer of 2025
Links:
Discord server: https://discord.gg/b9PAyKwT9p
My Asiaglot experience: https://imlearningmandarin.com/2025/03/30/my-experience-at-asiaglot-asias-hottest-multilingual-conference/
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This week on the I'm Learning Mandarin podcast, I discuss how you can use Deepseek as a game-changing tool to become fluent in Chinese.
As we've previously covered, while tools like ChatGPT are helpful for various aspects of Mandarin learning, they often fall short when it comes to generating truly natural, colloquial speech.
This is because their training data seems to be heavily weighted towards more formal, sometimes translated sources.
Native speakers often point out that while ChatGPT's Mandarin is usually grammatically correct, it just doesn't sound like how real people talk.
That's where Deepseek, the Chinese version of ChatGPT, really excels.
Despite some of its limitations, such political censorship and data concerns, there is no doubt that it excels at generating authentic spoken Mandarin, which is exactly what we Mandarin learners need when it comes to improving our conversational skills.
So, how can you effectively use Deepseek to level up your spoken Mandarin?
Listen to the episode to find out!
How Shannon fixed his tones in time for his trip to Asia
Join the I'm Learning Mandarin Gym: imlearningmandarin.com/gym
As an ILM podcast listener, you can get 50% off your ILM Gym subscription when you use this discount code at checkout (offer ends April 9th): IMLEARNINGMANDARINPOD
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Documenting Jered's transformation from robotic to natural Mandarin
Want to transform your Chinese from mediocre to excellent within months? Join the I'm Learning Mandarin Gym and hire me as your one-to-one Personal Trainer: imlearningmandarin.com.gym
As an ILM podcast listener, you can get 50% off your ILM Gym subscription when you use this discount code at checkout (offer ends April 9th): IMLEARNINGMANDARINPOD
Interviewing Lewys entirely in Mandarin after 6 months of coaching
Join the I'm Learning Mandarin gym here: imlearningmandarin.com/gym
As an ILM podcast listener, you can get 50% off your ILM Gym subscription when you use this discount code at checkout (offer ends April 9th): IMLEARNINGMANDARINPOD
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On today’s episode I interview my student Lewys entirely in Mandarin Chinese.
Lewys is a 31 year-old accountant from wales who lives in the UK with his Chinese wife and young daughter.
You may remember him from an interview I recorded with him last summer in which we discussed the difficulties he’d faced learning the language.
At that point, Lewys had been learning Mandarin for around two years in order to communicate with his Chinese mother-in-law and extended family.
He’d tried most of the apps and classes everyone tries. But nothing really worked. Here’s a clip of what he sounded like at that time.
He was close to giving up. But instead, last year he contacted me for help after coming across the I'm Learning Mandarin blog.
And in today's episode I document his progress over 6 months on my coaching programme, supporting him to transform his spoken Mandarin.
If you’re impressed with the results that Lewys was able to achieve on my coaching programme while holding a full-time job and having a young child, then listen on.
Because today I’m announcing the launch of the I’m Learning Mandarin gym, enabling you to transform your spoken Mandarin from mediocrity to excellence within months, with me as your Personal Trainer.
When you sign up to the gym, you’ll benefit from an in-depth, structured study plan, one-to-one coaching sessions with me, homework exercises, regular feedback on your performance via voice recordings, and continuous support, ensuring you’re virtually guaranteed to exceed your Mandarin speaking goals.
Interested in finding out more? Go to imlearningmandarin.com/gym for all details and information about the programme or click the link in the description.
Prof Clare Wright: Why some learners succeed faster than others
Links:
My blog: imlearningmandarin.com
Clare's page: https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/languages/staff/1258/prof-clare-wright
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On today’s episode, I interview a long-time member of the I’m Learning Mandarin community who also happens to be a Professor of Linguistics at the University of Leeds.
Professor Clare Wright has pioneered research into second language pedagogy, with a particular focus on Mandarin.
She is particularly interested in discovering why some learners on Mandarin courses seem to do so well at reaching communicative levels quickly while others lag behind.
I first met Clare in 2018 when she interviewed me for her research into what motivates Mandarin learners to study the language.
We’ve kept in touch ever since, and in this interview, we discussed what Mandarin learners and educators can learn from her research to improve their outcomes and reach their goals.
How my student founded Asia's hottest languages conference
Asiaglot will take place on March 22-23 in Taipei. To get a third off tickets go to asiaglot.com and select the 'Early Bird Weekend Ticket' option. The use the following code at checkout:
IMLEARNINGMANDARIN800
My four coolest moments when learning Mandarin
My blog: imlearningmandarin.com
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Mandarin involves a lot of hard work and sometimes we can start to question whether it's worth the struggle. But staying the course and persevering through the hard times has enabled me to have all sorts of life experiences that I would otherwise never have had. Today I'm going to talk about four of the coolest experieces I've had that made it all feel worthwhile.
These might not mean much to anyone else, but they felt cool to me:1. Studying at NTU2. Leading Mandarin Retreats3. Being mistaken for a native speaker4. Giving Keynote Speeches
Check out the episode to hear more. And don't forget to subscribe on your favourite podcast provider!
4 attitude shifts you need to ace your speaking goals
Links:
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In this episode, I reflect on the past year during which I've been coaching Mandarin learners from all around the world to nail their speaking goals.
I discuss four attitude shifts that I've identified help learners make swifter progress.
If you like this episode don't forget to subscribe.
How Jake Gill from Skritter learned Chinese
Links:
Skritter: https://skritter.com/
I'm Learning Mandarin: imlearningmandarin.com
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Today on the podcast, I’m speaking with Jake Gill from Skritter, one of the most well-known apps for learning to write Chinese characters.
Skritter has been around for years, helping learners improve their handwriting and character recognition through a unique combination of spaced repetition and stroke-by-stroke feedback.
For many students, particularly those focused on writing, it’s an essential part of their study routine.
In this conversation, Jake shares his own experiences with learning Chinese including what it was like living in Taiwan and being one of the only non-native speakers taking a course in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.
Jared Turner on how he created Mandarin Companion graded readers
Links:
My Tones Mechanic newsletter: imlearningmandarin.com
Mandarin Companion: https://mandarincompanion.com/
Jared interviews me on his podcast: https://mandarincompanion.com/you-can-learn-chinese-podcast/63-the-truth-about-vocabulary/
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Today, I'm joined by a special guest on the podcast, Jared Turner from Mandarin Companion.
If you’re learning Chinese, you’ve probably heard of Mandarin Companion’s graded readers, which make it possible to read Mandarin from an elementary level.
I used them a lot in my own learning journey, and as I've written on my blog, they were a game-changer for me when it came to reading.
What makes this conversation extra special is that a few years ago, Jared actually had me on his podcast, the You Can Learn Chinese podcast, where we talked about my experiences learning Mandarin in lockdown.
Now, it's my turn to turn the tables and interview him!
We had a wide-ranging chat, covering how he got into learning Chinese, and why he decided to start the legendary Mandarin Companion graded reader series.
Gamify your Chinese learning journey with Ninchanese
Links:
My Tones Mechanic newsletter: https://imlearningmandarin.com/
Ninchanese: https://ninchanese.com/
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On today's episode, I’m joined by Sarah Aberman, co-founder of Ninchanese, an app that makes learning Mandarin fun and accessible through gamified lessons and interactive tools.
We talk about her personal journey learning Mandarin and the inspiration behind creating Ninchanese.
Learning Mandarin with Dong Chinese
Links:
Tones Mechanic Newsletter: imlearningmandarin.com
Dong Chinese: https://www.dong-chinese.com/
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On today's episode of I'm Learning Mandarin, I speak to Peter Olson, the founder of Dong Chinese.
Dong Chinese is an all-in-one Chinese learning app that enables learners to learn sentences in context using spaced repetition.
In the episode, we discuss Peter's own background. Peter was actually born in China before leaving at an early age without learning much of the language, before later moving back and rediscovering Mandarin in adulthood.
We also delve into how the challenges he faced early on as a learner shaped the approaches he developed when creating his app.
This includes some really helpful features, such as the handwriting practice tool that helps solidify memory and the comprehensible media selections that match learners to online Chinese content appropriate to their level.
Former NASA employee applies engineering approach to Mandarin learning
Links:
Tones Mechanic newsletter: imlearningmandarin.com
Outlier Linguistics: https://www.outlier-linguistics.com/
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Ash Henson is the co-founder of Outlier Linguistics, a company dedicated to creating tools and courses that make learning Chinese and other languages more effective and engaging.
Outlier specialise in facilitating the language learning process by breaking down the complexities of the language, including Chinese characters.
And Ash is particularly well placed to do this. He holds a PhD in Chinese Palaeography and Phonology from National Taiwan Normal University, with a specialisation in the study of ancient writing systems.
Initially, he began his career as an electrical engineer and since then he has consistently sought to apply this engineering mindset to the study of languages.
In this interview, I chat with Ash about his novel approaches to learning characters and Mandarin tones.
I began by exploring his unusual background working as an engineer for NASA and how this influenced his learning approach.
Making Mandarin relevant for kids with Karen Cheuk
Links:
Karen's website: Happy Mandarin
My website: imlearningmandarin.com
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Today's guest is Karen Cheuk, an inspiring educator behind Happy Mandarin, an organization that helps children learn Chinese in a fun and engaging environment.
Karen was born and raised in Hong Kong and went on to study at Cambridge University on a scholarship. After graduating and having a daughter, she was inspired to create Happy Mandarin.
She noticed that existing Chinese classes did not strike the right balance between fun and learning and often only catered to Chinese-speaking families, so she created Happy Mandarin to fill this gap.
Karen is also a mother and juggles her work activities with raising a trilingual daughter.
We had a wide-ranging chat about the importance of creating an immersive environment for children to learn a second or third language, encouraging parents to learn alongside their children and how to integrate the language into their daily lives.
Interview with Michael Campbell from Glossika
Links:
Glossika: https://ai.glossika.com/
The I'm Learning Mandarin blog: imlearningmandarin.com
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In this episode, I talk with Michael Campbell, a true language enthusiast and the founder of language learning app, Glossika.
Michael has dedicated a significant portion of his life to understanding and mastering languages, having lived in Taiwan for most of his life and become proficient in many Chinese languages and dialects along the way.
In this wide ranging interview we discuss how growing up surrounded by polyglots in the intelligence community inspired him to take up languages as well as the driving force behind the creation of Glossika.
Glossika takes a unique approach to language acquisition, focusing on building “muscle memory” through repeated exposure to sound patterns.
This method, coupled with a clever blend of increasing and decreasing spaced repetition intervals, helps learners internalize the natural flow and structure of their target language.
I began by asking Michael how and why he started learning Mandarin.
Interview with Phil Crimmins of Mandarin Blueprint
Links:
Mandarin Blueprint: https://www.mandarinblueprint.com/
My blog: imlearningmandarin.com
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On today’s episode, I interview Phil Crimmins. Phil is one of the two minds behind Mandarin Blueprint, a Mandarin learning course with over 4000 videos taking learners step-by-step all the way to Mandarin proficiency.
Phil's journey with Mandarin is fascinating. He graduated from Sichuan University in China with a bachelor's degree in the Chinese language. But he left unsatisfied with the traditional methods of learning Chinese he'd been exposed to.
So together with his business partner Luke, they created Mandarin Blueprint.
Before exploring how the blueprint works and the thinking that went behind it, I was keen to find out more about Phil’s personal experiences of learning Mandarin.
Learning Mandarin with Amanda Miss Panda
Links:
Amanda's website: https://www.misspandachinese.com/about/
Let's Learn Chinese with Miss Panda album: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7glqGNHQOnHMV7pNKbMTSU
My website: imlearningmandarin.com
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Welcome to the podcast! Today's guest is Amanda, better known as "Miss Panda," a renowned expert in Mandarin language instruction.
Amanda boasts over 30 years of experience teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) and Mandarin Chinese.
She's also a published author, consultant, and the creative force behind the popular "Let's Learn Mandarin Chinese with Miss Panda!" album, which has helped introduce Mandarin Chinese to a global audience.
Throughout her career, Amanda has made significant contributions to the field of language acquisition, presenting her insights at conferences worldwide.
Her dedication extends beyond the classroom; she actively assists various educational institutions in developing their Chinese language and culture programs.
In this episode, we'll explore Amanda's inspiring journey as a Mandarin teacher, her innovative teaching methods, and the impact she's had on countless language learners.
I began by asking her how that journey all began.
Maintaining your Mandarin skills while living outside China: Interview with Jorrit
Links:
Jorrit's Kaohongshu blog: https://kaohongshu.blog/about/
My free eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
My blog: imlearningmandarin.com
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In this episode, I have the pleasure of chatting with Jorrit, a Dutch blogger and the creator of the Kaohongshu website, about his Mandarin learning journey.
Jorrit opens up about learning the language, living in China, and the challenges of maintaining his abilities after returning to a non-Chinese-speaking environment.
We also explore the story behind his Kaohongshu blog and his mission to inspire and help others in their language-learning journeys.
Teaching Languages Through Storytelling: Interview with Bryce Hedstrom
Links:
Bryce's website: https://www.brycehedstrom.com
My free Mandarin Learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
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On today’s episode, I interview Bryce Hedstrom – an award-winning teacher trainer in northern Colorado.
Bryce has a varied and fascinating history in language learning and teaching, graduating in Spanish before teaching the language in public schools and at the college level for 30 years.
He’s worked with clients in the business world, including Fortune 500 corporations and has received multiple awards for his work implementing methods for language instruction that centre around comprehensible input and storytelling.
Moreover, as we’ll soon discover, he’s taken an interest in learning Mandarin, applying similar methods to those that were so effective in his teaching career.
With so much to cover in this interview, it was hard to know where to start. So I began by asking Bryce how his fascination with languages all began.
Special Live Q&A: Ask me anything with Will Hart
Links:
Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/b9PAyKwT9p
Our Peak Mandarin Masterpack for learning Chinese: https://www.peakmandarin.com/masterclass
Will's Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@willhartmandarin/videos
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In this episode, I share our special live q&a session with Will Hart, co-founder of Peak Mandarin.
Will should need no introduction to readers of this blog. Two years ago he burst on the Mandarin learning scene when videos of him speaking flawless Chinese after learning for less than two years went viral on YouTube.
In the q&a, Will took live questions from the audience in our Discord Server on all things Mandarin learning.
Questions ranged from Will’s thoughts on Comprehensible Input to how he went about learning characters.
75% of learners make these Chinese tones mistakes
Links:
Peak Mandarin Discord Server: https://discord.gg/b9PAyKwT9p
Your ultimate guide to Mastering Chinese tones
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In this episode, we’re diving into one of the most challenging parts of learning Mandarin: mastering tricky tone pairs.
I’ll walk you through four of the most commonly mispronounced tone combinations and explain how to get them right.
Live Q&A: How to fix your tones
In this episode, we bring you the recording of our October 20th session where we tackled questions on how to fix your tones.
If you're looking to improve your tones but aren't sure how, this discussion is packed with insights from me, as well as server moderator, Jered.
Tune in to hear valuable tips, expert advice, and answers to your questions from the live audience. Perfect for anyone looking to level up their tones!
Interested in joining more live sessions like this? Join our Discord server on this link: https://discord.gg/b9PAyKwT9p
Do you have to memorise all the tones for Mandarin words you know?
Links:
Peak Mandarin Discord Server: https://discord.gg/b9PAyKwT9p
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In this episode, I dive into one of the most common questions Mandarin learners face:
Do you really need to memorise the tones for every new word?
Drawing from my personal journey of learning Mandarin and my experiences coaching other learners on my Pronunciation Academy, I discuss the challenges many learners encounter with tone memorisation.
I’ll share tips on memorising tones and learning to produce them accurately.
Live Peak Mandarin Discord Q&A: How To Practice Early Output
Links:
Peak Mandarin Discord: https://discord.gg/b9PAyKwT9p
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In a recent episode, we announced the launch of our Peak Mandarin Discord Server.
In just over a week we’ve seen the server grow into a thriving hub with nearly 200 learners supporting each other to ace their Mandarin-speaking goals.
And in today’s episode you’ll hear our first-ever live Q&A hosted in the server last Sunday, covering how to practice speaking at an early stage of your learning.
Joining me on the q&a panel were Peak Mandarin server moderators, Jered and Lewys, who’ve each been leaning Mandarin for around two years and focussed heavily on speaking during that time.
We had some great questions covering how to find opportunities to speak and get feedback from native speakers early on, in a way that’s effective and stress-free.
How to accurately mimic full-speed Mandarin in four simple steps
Links:
Peak Mandarin Discord server: https://discord.gg/BtT6t7fK
Interview with Karen Chung: https://imlearningmandarin.com/2022/06/26/how-to-achieve-a-near-native-chinese-accent-with-professor-karen-chung-podcast/
My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
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Recently a member of our Peak Mandarin Discord server posted a short clip of a native Mandarin speaker saying a sentence in mid-conversation at full-blown speed.
The sentence was: 这么复杂的东西怎么学得会啊不可能的嘛对吧。Zhème fùzá de dōngxī zěnme xué de huì a bù kěnéng de ma duì ba. Something this complicated, how could I possibly learn it? It's impossible, right?
The challenge was laid out for members of the server to mimic the sentence and post their attempts on the thread to receive feedback from other learners.
So I decided to deploy the methods I often use to mimic native speech and give it a go.
In this episode I’m going to break down step by step how I went from struggling to keep up to being able to deliver the sentence with natural rhythm and accurate tones at lightning speed.
A word of caution, this sentence was particularly challenging, so if you don’t have much experience mimicking Mandarin, it’s advisable to start with something shorter and much slower.
Learning Chinese with AI: Interview with Joshua Lykes
Links:
My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
Our Peak Mandarin Discord Server: https://discord.gg/b9PAyKwT9p
Joshua's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@jlykes
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On today’s episode, I interview Joshua Lykes, an up-and-coming YouTuber whose recent videos on learning Chinese have been creating waves in the community.
Joshua recently posted an hour-long video documenting in detail his first year of Mandarin learning.
And one of the things that stood out to me about that video Joshua’s use of technology, much of which wasn’t available to me when I first started learning Chinese.
It strikes me that in the last year or two, the sudden exposition of AI has had a tremendously deep impact on how we learn Chinese and that’s only going to increase going forward.
So after meeting Joshua on our Peak Mandarin Discord server and learning about his journey, I decided to get him on the podcast to chat about his experiences using AI to learn Chinese, as well as his hopes for the future of technology and language learning.
Launching our new Discord community for Mandarin learners!
Link to Discord Server: https://discord.gg/gvWFSDbj
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One thing I’ve found that’s often missing for a lot of learners is this sense of community, of belonging to a network of other learners who share similar goals and can support each other.
This is something I try and provide here through my blog. But I’d like to expand this further. So today, we’re announcing the launch of our Peak Mandarin Discord community, a space where Mandarin learners can hang out, share tips and learning experiences and support each other to achieve our goals.
To join the community you can click this link. If you don’t already have a Discord account you’ll be prompted to create one and then join the Peak Mandarin server.
Once in the server feel free to write a post introducing yourself to the community, share your experiences and get involved in discussions.
To explain more about why we’re creating this online community and what we hope to achieve through it I sat down to chat with three of our community moderators, Lewys, Jered and Philipp.
Have you had a Chinese learning wet fish moment?
Links:
My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
My blog: imlearningmandarin.com
In my first few years of learning Chinese, there were many occasions when I’d suddenly be made aware of a huge flaw in my Chinese I had previously been blind to.
This might take the form of a direct comment from a native speaker who is less polite than normal. Or it might be an embarrassing failed attempt to communicate in Mandarin.
These moments can be pivotal in shaping our learning experience for better or worse.
Recently I was talking about this to one of my students, Lewys, who I’ve previously interviewed on this podcast. Lewys has experienced plenty of what he calls – ‘wet fish moments’ some of which affected his confidence and even caused him to give up.
So in this episode, we share our experiences of having our egos crushed in the process of learning Mandarin and offer our tips for other learners on how best to avoid similar experiences.
Launching new sentence mining app Mandarin Mosaic
Links:
Get 20% off first month of Mandarin Mosaic: https://mandarinmosaic.com/imlearningmandarin
Karl's blog on ChatGPT: http://imlearningmandarin.com/2024/05/19/does-chatgpt-speak-authentic-chinese-the-results-of-my-study-may-surprise-you/
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My guest on this week’s episode is an app designer who has made several appearances here in the past.
Karl Baker, recently launched his new Mandarin learning app, Mandarin Mosaic.
The App seeks to make sentence mining accessible. Like Anki, but easier to use and
And if you’re interested in trying it out, you can go go mandarinmosaic.com/imlearningmandarin to get 20% off your first month.
I caught up with Karl and began by asking him all about his new launch, as well as his plans for the future.
We just got back from Mandarin Summer Camp! (5 days of pure language immersion)
Links:
Peak Mandarin Newsletter: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
My blog reflecting on the summer camp experience: http://imlearningmandarin.com/2024/08/04/5-things-i-learned-from-5-days-of-total-mandarin-immersion/
Will's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@willhartmandarin/videos
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Last week I attended a five-day immersive Mandarin Retreat Summer Camp as a lead organiser.
A group of 14 of us, including learners, organisers volunteers, and native tutors got together in Cheddar, in the south-west of England, and spoke nothing but Chinese for five days straight.
While it’s all still fresh in my mind, I decided to get my colleague and co-founder of Peak Mandarin, Will Hart, to chat about the experience.
Will also attended the retreat as an organiser and in this episode, we chat about what the experience of deep immersion was like and how we plan to make these camps bigger and better in the future.
This Mandarin learner set himself an extreme one month Anki challenge
Links:
Phillipps blog: https://philippmarxen.com/?p=256
My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
My Blog: imlearningmandarin.com
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In this podcast and on my blog, I've often discussed how Anki flashcards can be used to boost your Mandarin learning.
Anki is a Spaced Repetition flashcards program that enables you to drill and create flashcards to aid your memory's retention of new information.
And my guest on today's podcast recently decided to take the Anki plunge, setting himself an ambitious challenge to drill flashcards for several hours a day every day, while documenting his progress on his blog.
Philipp Marxen is from Germany and has been learning Mandarin on and off for over two decades.
In this episode, we discuss his recent one-month challenge, including how he structured his learning and what it was like drilling Anki for several hours a day.
Does he recommend the method to others? Listen on to hear more.
If you like this episode please don't forget to subscribe on your favoured podcast provider.
Now onto the episode!
Fluent Mandarin speaker uses sentence mining to learn Spanish
Links:
Follow along with a transcript and translation on: imlearningmandarin.com
Get your free copy of my eBook on: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
Subscribe to Will's YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@willhartmandarin/videos
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Today's podcast episode features a Chinese learning superstar who should need no introduction.
Will Hart, created waves in the Mandarin learning community when he reached an incredible level of fluency in just 1.5 years while living in the UK during the Covid pandemic.
Will is the co-founder of our learning platform Peak Mandarin. And he's also the subject of my eBook, Lessons from a Chinese Learning Phenomenon, in which I unpack how he used a mixture of immersion and sentence-mining techniques to become fluent in Chinese - and how I put his methods into practice to learn the language myself.
In today's episode, Will talks in Mandarin about his recent attempts to learn Spanish using similar methods to the ones that previously worked so well for him.
As usual, you can follow along with a transcript below, as well as an English translation.
And if you like this podcast, please don't forget to subscribe to your favourite podcast provider.
Now on to Will's Spanish learning adventures!
From Mandarin learner to teacher & Instagram star: Kristen laoshi's amazing transformation
Links:
Kristen's Instagram Channel: https://www.instagram.com/learnchinesewithkristen/
My Free Mandarin Learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
My blog: imlearningmandarin.com
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On today’s episode, I speak to Kristen, a Mandarin speaker and teacher from Canada.
Kristen has been learning Chinese since 2013. Like me, she initially began learning outside China, and is full of insights based on her experience of overcoming barriers on the path to spoken Chinese fluency.
More recently, Kristen turned her attention to helping others learn Chinese, teaching the language through her popular Instagram channel.
And with over 15,000 followers, she’s become well-known within the online Mandarin learning community for her short reels teaching Chinese grammar points, phrases and pronunciation tips.
My interview with Kristen is full of gems for anyone looking to become a fluent Chinese speaker. In particular, listen out for her tips on learning Mandarin outside the classroom and structuring your learning around your interests.
For anyone interested in checking out her channel, I’ve left a link to it in the description.
And as usual, if you enjoy this podcast please don’t forget to hit the subscribe button on your favoured podcast provider.
Now on to today’s interview with Kisten!
Insights from a lifelong Mandarin learner
Links:
My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
My blog: imlearningmandarin.com
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My guest on today’s podcast has a Mandarin can trace his Mandarin learning journey all the way back to the 1980s.
Stacy Bridges, from the US, began learning Mandarin at school and has continued studying the language on and off ever since.
He recently attended one of our Peak Mandarin Subscriber Q&A sessions on how to go about practicing speaking Mandarin.
After the session, Stacy reached out for advice on improving his pronunciation and speaking.
We decided to record our conversation which explores his long Mandarin learning journey and challenges with tones and speaking as we thought it might be helpful to listeners facing similar challenges.
As usual, if you like this podcast don’t forget to hit the subscribe button on your favoured podcast provider.
How to get hooked on Mandarin learning
Links:
Follow this episode along with a Chinese transcript and translation: imlearningmandarin.com
My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
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One of the most rewarding parts of running this podcast and creating Mandarin-learning content is receiving messages from learners whose lives have been changed in profound ways after taking our learning advice.
Recently this podcast has featured several of these inspiring stories, and today’s episode features another one.
A few weeks ago, Peak Mandarin Co-founder Will Hart and I received an email from a Pharmacy student based in Liverpool called Simon Griffiths.
Simon had just finished reading my eBook, Lessons from a Chinese Learning Phenomenon – in which I unpack Chinese learning phenomenon, Will Hart’s, incredible story of Mandarin mastery – and wanted to get in touch to express his gratitude.
After reading Simon’s email, Will and I reached out to him, asking if he’d be interested in recording a podcast in Chinese about his inspiring story.
So on today’s episode, we hear Simon tell his story in his own Mandarin words, including his advice on how to get hooked on Chinese learning.
As usual, if you like this podcast please don’t forget to hit the subscribe button on your favoured podcast provider.
And if you’re interested in recording your own podcast in Chinese please get in touch by emailing info@peakmandarin.com and I’ll be happy to support you through the process.
Channeling jealousy into curiosity is the key to Mandarin progress
My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
My Mandarin learning blog: imlearningmandarin.com
Our Peak Mandarin Masterclasses: https://www.peakmandarin.com/masterclass
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Hello and welcome back to the I’m Learning Mandarin podcast.
On today’s episode, I have a really insightful chat with one of our Peak Mandarin students, Lewys Thomas.
Lewys has been learning Chinese for a few years but recently realised despite getting a tonne of input his speaking wasn’t improving.
After coming across my blog, he reached out for help and is now thankfully well on track to acing his speaking goals.
One of the most interesting things to come out of my conversation with Lewys was his admission that when he first saw a video of me speaking fluent Chinese, he felt a pang of jealousy, like I was doing something that was beyond his abilities.
But what he’s since been able to do is to channel that jealousy into something much more productive: curiousity.
And after becoming curious and opening his mind to learning about how we became fluent in Chinese, he began putting these methods into practice himself and things really started changing for Lewys.
So we get into all of that later in the interview but to start with, I began by asking Lewys how his Chinese learning journey all started.
App developer reveals 5 tips for Chinese sentence mining
Links:
My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
Karl's Mandarin Mosaic App: https://mandarinmosaic.com/
Episode transcript and translation: imlearningmandarin.com
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On today’s I’m Learning Mandarin podcast episode, app developer Karl Baker gives us his five top tips for mining Chinese sentences.
Karl began learning Mandarin several years ago as a way of communicating with his Chinese wife’s family and he’s previously written for the I’m Learning Mandarin blog about using sentence mining to improve his speaking skills.
Recently, he’s started developing a new app called Mandarin Mosaic which is designed to facilitate the sentence mining process.
As usual, you can follow along with a Chinese transcript below. If you’re interested in recording your own short episode in Mandarin, please get in touch at info@peakmandarin.com and I’ll be happy to support you through the development, production, and recording process.
Finally, if you like this podcast please don’t forget to leave a review or five-star rating on your preferred podcast provider!
Language exchange app leads composer to Chinese speaking breakthrough
Links:
My free eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
My Blog: imlearningmandarin.com
Daniel's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DanielLeoSimpson
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Recently on the I’m Learning Mandarin podcast, I’ve had the fortune of interviewing a number of fascinating learners in our community.
And today’s guest is a perfect example of this. Daniel Leo Simpson is a composer from the US whose music has been played by orchestras around the world.
Daniel began learning Chinese as a hobby a few years ago and recently turned his attention to developing his speaking confidence.
He approached us for help with this, completing all our Peak Mandarin Masterclasses teaching our best methods for learning to speak Chinese fluently.
It was during one Masterclass in particular, that Daniel learned about a language exchange app called Hello Talk.
And as you’ll soon hear, this was somewhat of a Eureka moment for Daniel. He started using the app regularly to meet native Chinese speakers and got in the rhythm of speaking Chinese every day, all of which, combined with the methods he learned in the Masterclass has propelled his speaking confidence to new heights.
Before we got into discussing these recent game-changing experiences, I began by asking Daniel about his background as a musician and composer and how this influenced his interest in languages.
Practicing output is every bit as important as Comprehensible Input
Links: My Mandarin learning eBook
Chinese Transcript & translation: imlearningmandarin.com
A few weeks ago, I received a message from an I'm Learning Mandarin listener from the US called Jered. Jered was responding to my callout inviting listeners to produce their own short podcast episodes in Chinese, with my support.
Jered is an accomplished technologist who recently moved to Taiwan to start a new venture. And he was keen to set himself the challenge of recording a podcast in Mandarin as a way of honing his speaking skills.
So in today's episode, we'll hear Jered talk all about his Mandarin learning experiences and explain how speaking from early on in his studies helped him make swift progress.
As usual, you can follow along with a Chinese transcript below. If you're interested in recording your own short episode in Chinese, please get in touch at info@peakmandarin.com and I'll be happy to support you through the development, production, and recording process.
Finally, if you like this podcast please don't forget to leave a review or five-star rating on your preferred podcast provider.
How to practice Mandarin speaking (Live subscriber Q&A)
Links:
To get updates on future Peak Mandarin live Q&A events subscribe to our free newsletter.
Follow this podcast along with a Chinese transcript on imlearningmandarin.com
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If you’ve listened to this podcast for long, you’ll know that our purpose here is to support learners like you to achieve your Mandarin-speaking goals.
So on today’s podcast episode, I’m broadcasting a live Q&A session I recently hosted together with fluent Mandarin speaker and YouTuber, Will Hart.
The session covered the best ways to go about practicing Mandarin speaking and was hosted for subscribers to our Peak Mandarin newsletter, giving learners a chance to put their questions to us directly and seek our advice.
We had a lively and interesting discussion covering a range of questions, from how to structure language exchange sessions to how to use sentence mining to improve your speaking.
This event was part of a series of monthly live Q&A series we’re hosting as part of our Peak Mandarin project.
Whether you’re an intermediate or beginner learner, Will and I were in the same place not so long ago.
And our goal now is to use our knowledge and experience to help you structure your Mandarin learning as effectively as possible and avoid falling into some of the same pitfalls we did!
So if you’re interested in attending future discussions and taking part in similar Q&A discussions with Will and me in the future, sign up for our free newsletter and we’ll send you emails about all our events.
Now let’s get into the Q&A!
From Zero to Fluent in Two Years: I’m Learning Mandarin Listener Nails Spoken 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
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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!
How this Deaf Mandarin Learner Perfected Chinese Tones
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
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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.
The history of Chinese attitudes to Mandarin speaking foreigners
My free Mandarin learning ebook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook
Follow this Chinese podcast along with a transcript and translation: imlearningmandarin.com
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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.