Day: July 5, 2022

In this episode, I interview Wesley. He’s an American, with degrees in Chinese and translation.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• How Wesley got interested in Chinese in the first place.
• How he found Chinese easier to learn as a second language than Spanish.
• What his teacher did to significantly increase his interest in learning Chinese.
• Why it’s important to learn the whole culture rather than just the language.
• What aspect of Chinese drove his main interest in the language.
• His biggest struggle learning Chinese in LA.
• What his best decision was, regarding learning Chinese.
• What he learned on the street that they don’t teach in textbooks.
• What he learned from taking a degree in translation.
• Why he learned more from his grad school classmates than from local friends.
• What happens to foreigners as they live in Taiwan / China for an extended period.
• The difference in culture working for a Taiwanese run company.
• Why you also need to maintain your English, while living in a foreign country.
• The benefits and limitations of having a local partner, with regards to improving your Chinese.

The post Learn Chinese Insights Podcast Episode 016: Wesley Holzer appeared first on Chinese Learn Online.

In this episode, we welcome back Wesley (from our last episode) to share some of the more fascinating aspects of the Chinese language including:

– How abbreviations work in Chinese (and how they differ from English)
– Why Chinese can’t be the next global language
– Why understanding Chinese culture is so important to understanding Chinese
– The actual meaning of “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”
– How chengyus are formed, used and developed
– Sarcasm in Chinese culture and how it’s used
– How he learns and uses chengyus, and how this differs from how native speakers learn them
– Why accents in Chinese don’t matter
– Why Chinese TV has Chinese subtitles
– How the writing system of dialects like Taiwanese has evolved
– The multiple ways that dialects can be subtitled
– “False friends” in Chinese
– How colors in Chinese are used differently than they are in English
– Why language learning is a series of plateaus with no distinct peak

 

The post Learn Chinese Insights Podcast Episode 017: Wesley Insights appeared first on Chinese Learn Online.

In this episode, I interview Ethan Feig, an American now working in a trade company in Taichung, Taiwan.

Listen to this episode to find out:

– What brought Ethan to Taiwan at age 18
– How Taiwan differed from his prior expectations
– How he learned Chinese from a fellow expat, and how that approach compared to his Taiwanese teacher
– How he maintained his Chinese listening and comprehension skills while back in the US for 2 years
– How he transitioned from teaching English into other work
–  About the work culture at his current company
– What advice he has for others wanting to work in non teaching careers in Taiwan

The post Learn Chinese Insights Podcast Episode 018: Ethan Feig appeared first on Chinese Learn Online.

In this episode, I interview Davide Saccon, an Italian now living in Qingdong, China.

Listen to find out:

– How he learned “street” Chinese in Italy
– What brought him to China after that
– Why the Chinese he had learned before wasn’t as useful in smaller Chinese villages
– How he used the Chinese he had learned to land his first job in China
– Why it was much harder to learn Chinese outside of China than in China
– What cultural differences he noticed between working in China versus Europe
– How compensation affects motivation with Chinese workers
– How he manages language and communication with his Chinese wife
– Why he had to change the language approach he used with his kids
– The language approach he finds works best with kids from mixed language couples
– The problem he found with the local education system for kids, and what solution they found for it

The post Learn Chinese Insights Podcast Episode 019: Davide Saccon appeared first on Chinese Learn Online.

In this episode, I interview Shaun Bettinson, a Brit who now lives in Taichung, Taiwan.

Listen to find out:

– What brought Shaun to Taiwan initially
– Where he learned his initial Chinese
– What he didn’t like about his first group class
– What he liked about his next teacher
– What he recommends you look for in a private teacher
– What kind of effort he put in to learn Chinese outside of class
– What benefits he found from being able to speak Chinese
– How he transitioned from teaching into an alternate career path
– How his Chinese helped him in his new position
– What advice he’d give to someone wanting to switch from teaching to a different career path

The post Learn Chinese Insights Podcast Episode 020: Shaun Bettinson appeared first on Chinese Learn Online.