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 -- 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.
Link to Discord Server: https://discord.gg/gvWFSDbj -- 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.
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.
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/ -- 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.
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 -- 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.
Links: Phillipps blog: https://philippmarxen.com/?p=256 My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook My Blog: imlearningmandarin.com -- 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!
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 -- 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!
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 -- 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!
Links: My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook My blog: imlearningmandarin.com -- 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.
Links: Follow this episode along with a Chinese transcript and translation: imlearningmandarin.com My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook -- 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.
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 -- 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.
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 -- 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!
Links: My free eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook My Blog: imlearningmandarin.com Daniel's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DanielLeoSimpson -- 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.
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.
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 -- 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!
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.
My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook David's blogpost, Why Chinese is So Damn Hard: https://pinyin.info/readings/texts/moser.html My blog: imlearningmandarin.com -- My guest today is David Moser, an Associate Professor at Beijing Capital Normal University. He’s had a fascinating and varied career in academia teaching courses in Chinese history and politics and authoring books on Mandarin grammar and the unification of the Chinese language. There’s so much we could have spoken to David about. But for this interview, we decided to focus two main areas: The first is his story of self-studying Chinese to fluency. It began in the US in the 1980s and ultimately led to a series of amazing life experiences in Beijing, where he became a national star, performing in front of up to a billion people in live televised comedy sketches. The second point of focus is a piece David wrote called Why Chinese is So Damn Hard. It’s possibly the most widely read blog post on Chinese learning ever written and also one of the inspirations for me starting my own blog and this podcast. The blog is a tongue-in-cheek lament on the difficulties and frustrations we all face when we take on the Chinese language. I’ve included a link above. I hope to have the opportunity to get David back on the podcast to discuss his academic career in future. But for now, I give you, round 1 of my interview with David Moser.
My free Mandarin learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook Transcript: imlearningmandarin.com -- In today’s episode, I tell a story in Chinese about bullying and language learning based on personal experience. As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ll be posting these shorter Chinese episodes every two weeks, in between the longer interviews with Mandarin scholars, learners, and experts. One of the things I’ve found is that setting yourself a goal to record and post podcasts speaking Chinese is a brilliant way to improve your speaking skills. When you know other people are going to hear your recording it pushes you to work harder on your delivery! So that’s why I’ve decided to open up the podcast to listeners who are interested in recording and producing your own short monologues in Chinese. If you’re at an intermediate to advanced level and would like to have a go at recording an episode in Chinese please get in touch by emailing info[at]peakmandarin[dot]com. You’ll be supported through the process of developing your idea as well as recording and producing an episode in Chinese to be published on I’m Learning Mandarin. Finally, before you listen to the podcast, I recommend installing the browser plugin Zhongwen Chinese-English Dictionary (available on Firefox and Chrome) so you can look up any characters or words you don’t know by hovering over them. Now on to the episode!