LTL School
At LTL School, just like Mandarin Retreat, we believe Mandarin isn’t just learned in a classroom. It’s absorbed, lived, and spoken until it becomes se…
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Mindset & Motivation
Breakthrough thinking, plateau-busting, and the psychology of language acquisition.
38 posts
My Full Asiaglot Speech: The Inconvenient Truth about Mandarin Learning (Podcast)
On today's episode, I'm going to play my speech, which I recently made at the Asiaglot conference in Taipei. The speech was called The Inconvenient Tr…
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Prof Clare Wright: Why Some Learners Succeed While Others Lag Behind (Podcast)
This podcast is available on Apple and Spotify On today’s episode, I interview a long-time member of the I’m Learning Mandarin community who also happ…
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Four Attitude Shifts You Need to Master Mandarin Speaking
This podcast is available on Apple and Spotify Over the next few weeks I'll be taking the I'm Learning Mandarin podcast in a slightly different direct…
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Join Our New Discord Community For Mandarin Learners
Over the past few months, I’ve been coaching Chinese learners from around the world whose goal is to improve their conversational skills in the langua…
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How long does it take to learn Mandarin Chinese in 2025
A number of influencers claim to have mastered Mandarin within just six months. But is this really possible? And just how long does it actually take t…
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Have You Had a Chinese Learning Wet Fish Moment?
This podcast is available on Apple, Spotify and Google In my first few years of learning Chinese, there were many occasions when I'd suddenly be made…
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How to Get Hooked on Mandarin Learning (Podcast)
This podcast is available on Apple, Spotify and Google One of the most rewarding parts of running this podcast and creating Mandarin-learning content…
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Channeling Jealousy into Curiosity is the Key to Mandarin Progress (Podcast)
This podcast is available on Apple, Spotify and Google On today’s podcast episode, I have a really insightful chat with one of my students on my coach…
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Sorry but Nobody Ever Learned Chinese By Making Mistakes
One of the most fashionable ideas in language learning is that we learn by making mistakes. This idea is appealing for obvious reasons. Beginner and i…
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How the Dunning Kruger Effect Makes Chinese Learners Overestimate Their Skills
Will Hart is an Educator, fluent Chinese speaker and I'm Learning Mandarin contributor. In this blog post, he explains how a psychological phenomenon…
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This Bully Nearly Made Me Give Up Chinese! (Podcast)
This podcast is available on Apple and Spotify In today's episode of the I'm Learning Mandarin podcast I tell a story in Chinese about bullying and la…
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How to Stay Motivated When Learning Chinese (Podcast)
This podcast is available on Apple, Spotify and Google On today’s episode, I speak to Sara Jaaksola, A Ph.D. researcher and Chinese teacher originally…
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There Isn’t a Shred of Evidence That Speaking Early is Harmful for Your Chinese
“When should you start speaking Chinese?” This is the question at the centre of one of the longest standing debates in the language learning community…
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Fewer Students are Taking Chinese at University. But Online Self Directed Learning is Booming!
Recently the Times reported the number of British pupils studying foreign languages has more than halved over the last 20 years. Only 131,000 pupils t…
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Five Ways I’ve Changed My Mind About Learning Chinese
My approaches to studying Chinese have evolved quite a bit since I first started this blog two years ago. Broadly speaking my view on how we learn lan…
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Why I Never Use The CEFR Framework to Measure my Chinese Proficiency
Last week I started a discussion thread on the LingQ open forum in which I expressed my surprise at how popular the CEFR (Common European Framework of…
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Why Most Language Proficiency Exams are a Pointless Waste of Your Time
Recently I tweeted out the following message concerning language exams, generating a fair amount of discussion and agreement among fellow learners. I’…
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2023 Chinese Learning Plans: I'm Moving to Taiwan!
Over the past few weeks, I haven’t posted quite as often as previously. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that I was struggling with m…
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Opinion: No, Professor Krashen, the Perfect Accent Is NOT Already Within You
Just over a year ago, I attended an online networking conference for Mandarin enthusiasts. The event was run by the Confucius Institute and provided a…
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Four Myths About Learning Chinese Debunked
1. You Need to Go to China to Learn Chinese When I first started learning Chinese teachers and fellow learners often told me the only way I could poss…
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Watch this Beautiful Animated Short Story & Discover the Key to Persevering in Your Chinese Studies
In this post, language teacher and I'm Learning Mandarin blogger Lingo Geek reflects on the striking parallels between the classic tale, The Man Who P…
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The 5 Most Common Chinese Learning Pitfalls & How to Avoid Them
(Illustrations by Esther Birts) A large part of my motivation for writing this blog is to discuss mistakes I've made in my approaches to learning Chin…
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Interviewing This Master of Oral Chinese Made Me Rethink Everything I Believed About Language Learning
This week I had the pleasure of interviewing two fascinating guests on my podcast, both of whom have achieved unusually high levels of spoken Mandarin…
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Mental Health & the Psychological Highs and Lows of Learning Chinese (Podcast)
This podcast is also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Many listeners of this podcast are people who, like me, get immense joy and gratificatio…
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Is Matt Vs Japan Right That Your Accent Really Matters?
A few days ago I had the pleasure of interviewing the accomplished Japanese learner and YouTube star Matt Vs Japan for the I’m Learning Mandarin podca…
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Debate: Is Talent A Factor in Language Learning Success? (Podcast)
This podcast is also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. On today's episode, I debate the concept of language talent with two guests. Yong Jun is…
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不敢当 Why I Hate it When Native Speakers Praise my Chinese
Last week a friend in the UK who is at a higher elementary level of Mandarin was telling me about an experience he had while walking the dog in the pa…
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Join the I'm Learning Mandarin Facebook Community
I recently launched a Facebook group for Mandarin learners to connect with native speakers, share Mandarin learning resources and access our weekly la…
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Christmas Reflections & Ambitious New Year Goals
Reflecting on my progress over the past year I am left with a strange feeling. On the one hand, I believe my spoken proficiency, listening comprehensi…
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Benjamin Zephaniah on Learning Mandarin (Podcast)
This podcast is also available Apple Podcasts. For Today’s podcast, I had the honour of interviewing a very distinguished guest. Benjamin Zephaniah is…
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Don't Blame Native Speakers for Not Understanding You
I recently came across a video parodying a phenomenon allegedly encountered by many Japanese learners. The sketch (see below) involves a group of five…
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Cracking the Intermediate Plateau (Podcast)
https://anchor.fm/mi-kai/episodes/Overcoming-the-Intermediate-Plateau-e1751as/a-a65lkr4 The I’m Learning Mandarin Podcast is now available on Apple Po…
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Why I Don't Believe in Language Talent
Below is a video of me being interviewed in Mandarin on YouTuber Will Hart’s channel. I used to think there was such a thing as language talent. I use…
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Letting Go of Mandarin Learning Delusions
Around a year ago I fell into a common trap for Mandarin learners. I started to prematurely believe that I was on the verge of becoming “fluent” in th…
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This Tutor Almost Made Me Give Up Learning Chinese
Most of my experiences with Chinese tutors over the years have been excellent and I have benefited from their guidance immensely. However, a couple of…
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Why I Don't Study Formal Chinese Grammar
Below is a video of me being interviewed in Mandarin on YouTuber Will Hart’s channel. In the four years I have been learning Chinese I have spent very…
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Remembering Laoshu: the Imperfectionist Polyglot
The recent death of popular YouTube polyglot, Laoshu (老鼠) has caused me to reflect on an issue that continues to afflict the language learning communi…
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