Shhka-shhka-shhk. Step into China’s nightlife, and this is the sound you’ll hear. Laughter bounces around the tables, occasionally interrupted by the venue’s favorite band. They play every night, again and again, but no one seems to mind...
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Listening is a skill in itself—one that second-language research shows is understudied and under-supported in most classes. The best listeners adopt specific strategies—cognitive, metacognitive, and socio-affective. If you’re struggling with...
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Reading is undeniably one of the most effective ways to improve your Chinese skills. Mountains of research show the impact of reading on language development, especially in a foreign language. But reading Chinese can be hard, leaving you looking...
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Once again you’ve found your way back to the Asian market. But, today, you’re on a mission. You’re going to find someone to practice Chinese with even if it kills you. Hold on. There, that’s an opportunity for a conversation if you’ve ever seen...
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Step by step guy for anyone who wants to learn how to read Chinese.
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Chinese reading exercises might not have the sexy swagger of, say, watching a hip Chinese sitcom or meeting up with your language buddy for a drink. But—did you know that they can improve your language learning acquisition leaps and bounds? Read...
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It’s always an exciting endeavor to work on ideas for new books. When John and I conceptualized a lower level that used only 150 characters, we didn’t realize the challenges that lay ahead of us. Now that we are announcing the release of the 5th...
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“We can’t have any animals in any of the stories” John said as we sat down to discuss story ideas. “Not any animals at all? Why not?” I defiantly stated. “If you look at all the characters for animals, they all fall outside of the 150 characters...
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So, at one point or another, we’ve all had a really strange teacher, the kind you still tell stories about long after your school days have ended. This new original Mandarin Companion story follows two students who are convinced their...
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Steven Kaufmann is a world renown polyglot (a person who knows and is able to use several languages) who speaks 20 languages. I had the privilege to interview him for our podcast and talk about his story of learning Chinese and his perspectives...
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We are pleased to announce all of the Mandarin Companion Level 1 books are now available as audiobooks on Audible, Amazon, and iTunes! Over the years, we’ve had numerous emails from listeners asking for audio versions of the graded readers. We’ve...
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Since John and I started Mandarin Companion back in 2012, we have pursued a vision of a revolution in learning Chinese marked by the advent of easy-to-read and interesting (key word interesting) books in Chinese. Few things have the impact on any...
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