About learning Chinese characters
Teaching Chinese characters is outside the scope of this podcast, but if you are learning Chinese characters through another course or method, you can use the transcript below to follow along.

Learning characters can be a fulfilling project, and can help you to remember and differentiate similar-sounding words. And, of course, it opens up more avenues for practicing your Mandarin, such as reading (books, children's books, comic books) and corresponding with Chinese speakers via email and other messaging apps. I highly encourage you to give it a try!

However, if the thought of memorizing all those characters now gives you a headache, rest assured: you can start speaking Mandarin without being able to read or write. Millions of preliterate children speak Mandarin fluently, and so can you! If and when you are ready to start learning the characters, already speaking some Mandarin will make it that much easier. 

The bottom line is this: Don't let anything stop you or discourage you. The best method is the method you actually use, and any method you choose is better than no method at all! Find a way to move forward. You can always make adjustments later. 

Dialogue transcript:

• L：嘿，你在哪裡？
• M：我嗎？我在台灣啊
• L：在台灣哪裡？
• M：在台北啊！你呢？你在哪裡？
• L：我... 我在... 我在西雅圖
• M：啊？
• L：喂？
• M：請再說一次
• L：我說，我在西雅圖
• M：西雅圖在哪裡？
• L：西雅圖在美國
• M：你在美國？！
• L：對，我在美國
• M：你是美國人嗎？
• L：對啊，我是美國人
• M：我以為你是台灣人呢
• L：真的嗎？

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