You Can Learn Chinese

When Emma first came to China for a two-month internship, she had no intention of learning Chinese. In fact, she had spent years telling herself she simply wasn't a "language person." But after returning to China a second time, a desire to communicate her strict vegan diet led he ...  Show more

Why do tones sometimes seem “good enough”… until they suddenly create complete chaos? In this episode, Jared and John dive into one of the trickiest realities of learning Chinese: when small tone mistakes collide with low-context situations and produce surprisingly big misunderst ...  Show more

What happens when your reason for learning Chinese changes?In this interview, Jared talks with Anastasia Tulupova about her journey from a goal-driven teenager in Ukraine, determined to master the “hardest language in the world” and become a translator, to a Chinese teacher who n ...  Show more

What does it actually mean to be at a “level” in Chinese and why does moving up feel so slow?In this episode, Jared and John dig into the concept of leveling from both the perspective of the learner and from decades of experience in creating Chinese learning content. With John’s ...  Show more

Most people struggle to find time to learn Chinese. Adam started learning it in the middle of one of the most intense study periods of his life, and kept going.A pre-med student at the University of Illinois, Adam didn’t begin with a clear plan or a class requirement. Instead, it ...  Show more