About learning Chinese characters

Teaching Chinese characters is outside the scope of this podcast, but if you are learning Chinese characters with 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 learn to speak Mandarin fluently, and so can you! If and when you are ready to start learning the characters, already speaking some Mandarin will also 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. And most of all, enjoy! 

Episode text:

• M：對了，你叫什麼名字？
• L：我叫小李，你呢？
• M：我叫阿明
• L：很高興認識你！
• M：我也是
• L：你有英文名字嗎？
• M：有，我有
• L：那，你的英文名字是什麼？
• M：我的英文名字叫Mike，你呢？你也有英文名字嗎？
• L：有啊！我的英文名字叫Lee
• M：跟你的中文名字一樣！
• L：對，我的英文名字和中文名字很像

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