Links: Bryce's website: https://www.brycehedstrom.com My free Mandarin Learning eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook -- 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 corporatio...
Nov 13, 2024•28 min
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 -- 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...
Nov 06, 2024•55 min
Links: Peak Mandarin Discord Server: https://discord.gg/b9PAyKwT9p Your ultimate guide to Mastering Chinese tones -- 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....
Oct 30, 2024•8 min
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 o...
Oct 23, 2024•1 hr
Links: Peak Mandarin Discord Server: https://discord.gg/b9PAyKwT9p -- 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....
Oct 16, 2024•9 min
Links: Peak Mandarin Discord: https://discord.gg/b9PAyKwT9p -- 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...
Oct 09, 2024•1 hr 9 min
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 -- 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 fù...
Oct 02, 2024•9 min
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...
Sep 25, 2024•27 min
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 an...
Sep 18, 2024•24 min
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 ...
Aug 28, 2024•18 min
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 u...
Aug 14, 2024•14 min
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, i...
Aug 07, 2024•18 min
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...
Jul 31, 2024•29 min
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 th...
Jul 24, 2024•8 min
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 recentl...
Jul 17, 2024•27 min
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, Stac...
Jul 10, 2024•29 min
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. ...
Jul 03, 2024•9 min
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....
Jun 26, 2024•24 min
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 abo...
Jun 19, 2024•6 min
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 ...
Jun 12, 2024•28 min
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...
Jun 05, 2024•10 min
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 cov...
May 29, 2024•30 min
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 Clemen...
May 22, 2024•6 min
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 monol...
May 15, 2024•34 min
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...
May 08, 2024•8 min
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 c...
May 01, 2024•36 min
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 Chin...
Apr 24, 2024•7 min
My eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook Emmanuel's Full Chinese app: https://www.fullchinese.com/ My blog: imlearningmandarin.com My guest on today’s podcast is computer scientist and educational technologist, Emmanuel Roche. Emmanuel has more than 35 years of experience learning Chinese. He began his Mandarin odyssey in the late 80s, studying the language at university. But he quickly became frustrated at how inefficient teaching and learning methods were at the time. Most of his clas...
Apr 17, 2024•30 min
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 Chin...
Apr 10, 2024•6 min
Peak Mandarin Newsletter: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook Isaac's Mandarin from the Ground Up podcast: https://www.mftgu.com/ -- On today’s podcast, I speak to language teacher and podcast host, Isaac Myers. Isaac has a fascinating Mandarin learning backstory which involves extensive travel around Taiwan and China and working at Google training language models for speech recognition systems. Through his podcast, Mandarin from the Ground Up, he teaches Chinese using the same imitation tec...
Apr 03, 2024•33 min
