I'm Learning Mandarin

Mi Kai
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  • LANGUAGE LEARNING

I'm Learning Mandarin is a podcast that dives deep into the questions that matter to Chinese learners. Host, Mischa Wilmers, talks to the world's leading scholars and draws on his experience of self-studying the language to fluency. Visit the Im Learning Mandarin blog. Popular posts include: Your Ultimate Guide To Learning Chinese Tones: https://imlearningmandarin.com/2024/09/16/its-never-too-late-to-learn-chinese-tones-heres-how/ How Long Does It Take To Learn Mandarin: https://imlearningmandarin.com/2024/09/09/reality-check-can-you-actually-master-mandarin-in-six-months/

  1. 13 HR AGO

    Irish groom delivers hilarious wedding speech in Mandarin!

    Links: Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtJxxePRMtU Download the free Fluency Cheat Sheet here: https://imlearningmandarin.com/Check out flashcard website Hack Chinese here: https://www.hackchinese.com/--One year ago, Chris reached out with an ambitious goal: deliver his wedding speech entirely in Mandarin Chinese. His Chinese wife's family would be gathering in Sichuan, and he wanted to connect with them authentically - not just survive the conversation, but thrive in it.The Challenge: Working full-time in the UK with limited study hoursInconsistent tones and pronunciationOnly 12 months until the weddingThe Method:Chris joined the ILM Gym's 12-month coaching program, focusing on:- Months 1-6: Controlled Output Training to polish tones and pronunciation - Months 7-12: Wedding speech preparation and natural conversation flow - Daily practice using the four-step personalized immersion methodThe Result:Chris absolutely nailed it. His wife's family was in stitches at his jokes, he communicated effortlessly with his in-laws, and he delivered his speech with confidence and clarity—complete with some Sichuan dialect thrown in for good measure.As Chris said: "I forgot I was speaking Chinese a lot of the time; it just felt really natural."Want Similar Results?If you're impressed with Chris's transformation, you can download the free fluency cheat sheet containing details of the exact method he used at imlearningmandarin.com🏔️ Mandarin Retreats (Immersive learning experiences in the UK) https://imlearningmandarin.com/retreat/

    16 min

  2. 13/11/2025

    Ground Zero to Confident Pronunciation: A Working Mother's First 6 Months Learning Chinese

    Links: Read a blog by Lewys, the student I interviewed in Mandarin on the last episode, about his journey to conversational Mandarin in 12 months here: https://imlearningmandarin.com/2025/03/12/lewyss-6-month-transformation-to-conversational-mandarin-video/ Learn more about my coaching programme here: https://imlearningmandarin.com/gym -- So, over the past six months, I've been coaching Katharine, a busy working mom from Wales who wanted to learn Chinese to connect with her friends and help her son with his Chinese homework. And unlike most people who come to me for coaching, Catherine was starting from ground zero. She tried Duolingo for around a week, but quickly realized that she needed a more systematic approach that would actually enable her to reach her goals. So, Katharine has a demanding career. She's raising a family and she lives in the UK. Hey, so moving to China or dedicating full days to study isn't really an option. And so we set a very specific goal for her first 6 months, which was to establish a rock-solid foundation when it came to pronunciation, tones, and sentence structure. So that meant rather than cramming thousands of random words from HSK lists, focusing on the words that she needed to use herself to talk about, the things that she was interested and wanted to talk about, and making sure she could say those things really well. So making sure that her pronunciation and tones were really good for the things that she wanted to say. And so that's what she's done for the first 6 months, collecting phrases that she actually wants to say and building her own kind of personalized immersion environment where she's immersing in those things that she wants to talk about all the time while walking the dog, commuting to meetings, etc. So, in a moment, we're going to hear a clip of Katherine reading a script that she wrote about whales, entirely in Chinese with excellent tones. And after you hear that clip, I interview Katherine in English about her experience over her first 6 months of learning Chinese. So, now let's listen to Katherine in Chinese on the topic of Wales, where she's from.

    16 min

  3. 30/10/2025

    Can a new dad with a full-time job learn Chinese in just one year?

    💬 Links: 🎯 My Coaching Programme: https://imlearningmandarin.com/gym 📹 Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io0UWFtVIwk 📹 Lewys’s 6-Month Progress Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29Oxh1eA9xs Can you learn Mandarin to a conversational level in just one year while working full-time and raising a family? In this video, I share Lewys’s inspiring one-year Mandarin learning journey - an example of what’s possible with the right approach.A year ago, Lewys joined my coaching programme with one question in mind: how much Mandarin can a new dad with a full-time job realistically learn in a year?Lewys works as a senior accountant and has a young daughter, so finding time to study was always going to be a challenge. Yet, through consistent effort, a structured plan, and regular coaching, he managed to make remarkable progress.This episode documents his one-year results and includes our final interview, conducted entirely in Mandarin. It’s an honest and inspiring look at what can be achieved with the right mindset and method, even when time is limited.If you’re learning Mandarin and want to see what’s possible, this story is for you.

    10 min

  4. 19/06/2025

    How to use language exchange to level up your Mandarin

    Links: My Discord server: https://discord.gg/b9PAyKwT9p My 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 learning If 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

    12 min

  5. 11/06/2025

    Getting smart about Mandarin listening

    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).

    10 min

  6. 04/06/2025

    Exposing Mandarin learning snake oil content

    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.

    8 min

  7. 27/05/2025

    Generate instant Mandarin podcasts on any topic with this mindblowing AI tool

    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.

    14 min

  8. 21/05/2025

    Interviewing Chris in Mandarin after 6 months coaching

    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.

    20 min
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About

I'm Learning Mandarin is a podcast that dives deep into the questions that matter to Chinese learners. Host, Mischa Wilmers, talks to the world's leading scholars and draws on his experience of self-studying the language to fluency. Visit the Im Learning Mandarin blog. Popular posts include: Your Ultimate Guide To Learning Chinese Tones: https://imlearningmandarin.com/2024/09/16/its-never-too-late-to-learn-chinese-tones-heres-how/ How Long Does It Take To Learn Mandarin: https://imlearningmandarin.com/2024/09/09/reality-check-can-you-actually-master-mandarin-in-six-months/

Information

  • Creator
    Mi Kai
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    100
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Mi Kai
  • Show Website
    I'm Learning Mandarin