How to use language exchange to level up your Mandarin

Links:My Discord server: https://discord.gg/b9PAyKwT9pMy blog: imlearningmandarin.com--In this episode, I share my personal experiences and practical tips on how to use language exchange to supercharge your Mandarin speaking skills.I talk about:When I think it's best to start looking for a language exchange partner.Where I’ve had the most success finding partners.How I structure my sessions using a simple Green, Amber, Red system to match different stages of learningIf you're looking to build real fluency through conversation, this one's for you. Don’t forget to check out the I'm Learning Mandarin Discord server — a growing community of nearly 400 learners supporting each other on the road to fluency!https://discord.gg/b9PAyKwT9p

Links:My website: imlearningmandarin.com--In this episode, I discuss one of the biggest challenges Mandarin learners face: improving listening skills. I explore why this aspect of language learning often feels so frustrating, including the psychological hurdles unique to Mandarin and the sheer amount of vocabulary needed for smooth comprehension.I share practical strategies to overcome these obstacles, focusing on the power of consistent exposure through both extensive listening (broad, varied content) and intensive listening (focused, repeated study of specific material).

Links: My website: imlearningmandarin.com--On today's episode, I'm going to talk about a genre of Mandarin learning content which in recent times has exploded on the internet. And that is what I would broadly term as Mandarin learning snake oil. I break down how you can easily tell the difference between Mandarin learning advice given in good faith versus snake oil, basically designed to scam you.

Links;Notebook LM: https://notebooklm.google.com/My website: imlearningmandarin.com--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.

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.

My blog: imlearningmandarin.com--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.

Links: My blog: imlearningmandarin.com--

Links: My blog: https://imlearningmandarin.com/Mandarin Retreats: https://imlearningmandarin.com/uk-mandarin-immersion-retreats/--New vocabulary learned:1. 甜筒Pinyin: tián tǒngEnglish: 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 bèiEnglish: 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 fǎnEnglish: To return by the original route / retrace one’s steps原路 = original path / the same road折返 = to turn back / go backOften used in navigation, or metaphorically in life to mean going back the way you came.4. 知难而退Pinyin: zhī nán ér tuìEnglish: 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 / withdrawRefers 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 yǎnEnglish: Contact lenses隐 = hidden眼 = eyeShort for 隐形眼镜 (yǐn xíng yǎn jìng) = invisible (contact) lensesColloquial and very commonly used in Taiwan and among young people.

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.

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