All Episodes

What Does Your “Chinese Level” Even Mean?

From Med School Prep to Mandarin: Adam Syed’s Story

How Chinese Changed Our Lives (and Why It Might Change Yours)

Heritage, Belonging, and Healing Through Chinese: Jade’s Story

Don’t Read Kids’ Books to Learn Chinese

Speak First, Figure It Out Later: How Jack Turned Chinese into a Superpower

6 Chinese Listening Hacks That Will Transform Your Chinese Listening

Alexander Brose on Juilliard, the Royal Conservatory, and the Power of Language

The Lie We Were Told: You Must Handwrite Chinese Characters

Learning Chinese Through Life, Not Lessons: How Matthew McGuire Did It

10 Things AI Will Never Do Better Than a Chinese Learner

A Czech Perspective on Learning Chinese: Renata Mirkova’s Story

The 7 Worst Ways to Learn Chinese (And What to Do Instead)

Fluency Now with Marko Jovanovic: No Classes, Just Progress

Does It Matter Where You Learn Chinese? Yes And Here’s Why

From Bubble Tea to Boxing Rings: How Freddy Buechel Found His Voice in Chinese

You Can Speak Chinese, but Can You Understand the Reply? (And Other Listener Questions)

How to Learn to Read Chinese: Developing Fluency Now (Replay)

Fun First, Fluency Follows: Karl Vilhelmsson’s Chinese Strategy

Too Many Chinese Videos, Too Little Progress? Lets Fix That

Burnout, Breakthrough, and Fluency: Chaniece’s Story

Crutch or Catalyst? The Truth About Pinyin

Starting Over in China: Chimsy’s Story of Risk, Grit, and Growth

Are AI Tutors the Future of Language Learning?

City 不 City: How Paul Mike Ashton Memed His Way to Fame in China

Translating: A Tool for Fluency or a Crippling Crutch?

How to Pass the HSK and AP Chinese Tests (replay)

Why Chinese Learners Know the Language Better Than Natives (Sometimes)

Your Chinese Accent Is Terrible, But It Doesn’t Have to Be

Fluent in Funny: Jesse Appell on Learning, Performing, and Laughing in Chinese

RedNote 小红书 Buzz: Can It Really Help You Learn Chinese?

Persistence, Connection, and Culture: Joseph Vincent’s Journey from Student to Teacher

Charting Your Path to Chinese Fluency: Finding Purpose and Making Progress

The Best of You Can Learn Chinese: Top Stories from 2023-2024

Roll for Initiative: How Learning Chinese is Like a Game of Dungeons & Dragons

Economist by Day, Rapper by Night: Andrew Dougherty (a.k.a. Big Daddy Dough)

Listener Mailbag: Keeping Fluent with AI, Grammar, and Real-World Practice

Pinyin Over Characters: the Crippling Crutch (Replay)

A Shortcut to Chinese Fluency? Narrow Reading in Chinese

From Forgetful to Fluent: Elijah’s Inspiring Persistence in Learning Chinese

The 6 Biggest Questions About Chinese Characters—Answered!

Characters, Cocktails, and Karaoke: How Mike Kennedy Blended Passion and Chinese

Language Learning Adventures: The Role of Randomness and Unpredictability

From the Classroom to China: Teenagers Putting their Chinese to the Test

Is Your Chinese as Good as You Think it is? Confronting the Dunning-Kruger Effect

From Reluctant Traveler to Fluent Speaker: Cleopatra’s Chinese Language Adventure

When to Start Reading for Maximum Fluency

Raising Bilingual Children: Sunny's Story and Strategies from Spot of Sunshine Chinese

Motivation and the Influence of Cultural Attitudes on Learning

From American Football to Chinese Films: The Journey of Matt William Knowles

The Frustrated Learner and the Sound of Progress

Finding Your Voice in Chinese: Happi's Multilingual Melody

Japanese and Chinese: Unraveling the Differences of Two Ancient Tongues

The Making of a YouTube Star: Ari Smith's Transformation into Xiao Ma

Bridging Continents and Cultures: How Akeel Alleyne Found His Calling and Career in the Heart of China

The Impact of Native Teaching Methods on Chinese Learners: Insights from a Shanghai Classroom

How to use ChatGPT to Learn Chinese

Christmas in China (Ep. 25 Replay)

The Future of the You Can Learn Chinese Podcast

Mandarin reboot: How to get back into learning after taking a break

Reframing the 10 worst Chinese learning tips

Fluency now: The power of extensive reading

Knowledge vs Proficiency (Ep. 12 Replay)

Five tips on taking better notes for learning Chinese

Imperfectly fluent: Letting go of perfection

How To Find The Perfect Tutor (Ep. 36 Replay)

Unleashing the power of motivation: Swire Chinese language conference

Listener questions answered: learning habits, immersion, and the power of extensive reading

Why are dialogues so popular in language learning?

Beyond memorization: Higher order thinking skills in language learning

Will technology replace language learning?

Breaking down emotional walls: the key to successful language learning

The impact of comprehensible input on language learning: a deep dive

How your personality changes in another language

Traveling to the Middle Kingdom: What to know before you go

How to increase your listening speed

How to focus your learning efforts for the maximum gain

The vocabulary dilemma

What you should know about Chinese literature

Where Chinese Words Come From

Why we love Chinese (and so should you)

The power of questions

Learning Chinese: expectation vs. reality

100th Episode Special

Nine signs your Chinese is getting better

The 10 worst pieces of advice for learning Chinese

Should you take the HSK?

Do music skills make you better at Chinese?

Five qualities of good language learners

Four types of teachers to avoid

Game-based learning with Fred Poole, Ph.D.

A rude awakening: Chinese norms and niceties

Brain exhaustion and building stamina

When the dictionary is wrong

Vocab apps and learner engagement

The importance of anticipation in learning

The six types of Chinese learners

Learning Chinese slang

When native speakers lead you astray

#84 How to progress from textbooks to conversation

#83 Using WeChat to Learn Chinese

#82 Music, learning Chinese, and Bohan Phoenix

#81 Tones: Answers to questions you didn't know to ask

#80 Games for learning Chinese

#79 Why typing characters is better than handwriting

#78 Top 10 Stories of 2021

#77 Reading Techniques to Master Chinese

#76 Cantonese and the uniqueness of Chinese dialects

#75 How to learn similar words the right way

#74 Improving your listening skills (Part 2 of 2)

#73 Improving your listening skills (Part 1 of 2)

#72 The Truth about Chinese subtitles

#71 Colorful or clean? Swearing in Chinese

#70 Reading the News: Do’s and Dont's

#69 The rivalry: Beijing vs. Shanghai

#68 Why is Chinese so damn hard?

#67 Pop-up dictionaries: Helpful or not?

#66 8 Tips for Using Your Dictionary

#65 Going all the way: Graduate studies in Chinese

#64 Tips and tricks for typing Chinese

#63 The truth about vocabulary

#62 Make your language learning learner-centric

#61 National Chinese Language Conference 2021 Report: Hope for all Chinese learners

#60 How Chinese food can help your Chinese

#59 Bridging to Breakthrough and Abigail Washburn

#58 Will Chinese become the next global language?

#57 What’s in a Chinese surname?

#56 When should you start learning characters?

#55 Flashcards, spaced repetition software, and building proficiency

#54 Putting the Drama into Chinese Class

#53 Reality vs. How You Think Your Chinese Sounds

#52 Top 10 Stories of 2020

#51 Behind-the-Scenes Making a Mandarin Companion Graded Reader

#50 What’s Holding You Back From Learning Chinese

#49 How to Learn to Read Chinese: Bridging the Gap to Native Materials (Part 4 of 4)

#48 How to Learn to Read Chinese: Developing Fluency Now (Part 3 of 4)

#47 How to Learn to Read Chinese: Baby Steps to Real Reading (Part 2 of 4)

#46 How to Learn to Read Chinese: Pinyin, Characters, Vocabulary (Part 1 of 4)

#45 The Perils of Taking Chinese Literally

#44 Using Chinese at Work with Kaiser Kuo

#43 How to Level Up Your Listening Skills

#42 How to Get a Laugh in Chinese

#41 How to Use Translation to Learn Chinese

#40 How to Set Goals for Learning Chinese

#39 The Future of Learning Chinese

#38 How Much Mandarin Do You Need To Speak?

#37 Chinese Homestay Censorship Vampires

#36 How To Find The Perfect Tutor

#35 Don't Be the Girl with the Name Radiohead

#34 Pronouncing Chinese Confidently

#33 Writing Chinese: How to Build Your Skills

#32 COVID-19: A Tale of Two Cities

#31 Extensive Reading and the Path to Fluency

#30 Second Language or Foreign Language: What Type of Learner Are You?

#29 How to Pass the HSK and AP Chinese Tests

#28 A Method to Remember Thousands of Characters

#27 Can You Learn Chinese from a Textbook?

#26 End of Year Special

#25 Christmas in China

#24 The 4 Types of Tone Mistakes

#23 Pinyin Over Characters: the Crippling Crutch

#22 Going from "Learning to Read" to "Reading to Learn"

#21 How Important is Chinese Culture When Learning Chinese?

#20 Confessions of a Chinese Language Teacher

#19 How to Find Your Motivation

#18 The Controversy Between Simplified and Traditional Characters Explained

#17 Bridging the Gap to Higher Levels

#16 How to Build Listening Skills

#15 Steven Kaufmann “The Linguist” Interview

#14 How to Pronounce Like a Pro

#13 The Four Keys to Learning Chinese You Need to Know

#12 Knowledge vs Proficiency

#11 How to Build Reading Fluency

#10 The Stages of Learning Chinese

#9 Skritter CEO Jacob Gill Interview

#8 Tones, Music, and Confidence

#7 The Myth of Learning Chinese Like a Child

#6 Chinese Immersion: The Home Version

#5 Writing Characters: Is It Worth Your Time?

#4 Chinese Language Power Struggles

#3 Chinese Dual Immersion: It's Been Going On Longer Than You Think

#2 Why Chinese is Taught the Way It Is

#1 Introduction