My eBook: https://www.peakmandarin.com/free-ebook

Links: 

My best app recommendations for learning Chinese: http://imlearningmandarin.com/2022/02/20/thanks-to-these-apps-self-studying-chinese-is-much-easier-than-ten-years-ago/

Alej's Langaholic YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCg3WIz-1ezXsIsGQqWBlwEA

Alej's Twitter: https://twitter.com/Langaholic

My Twitter: https://twitter.com/MischaWilmers

It’s often said that different languages shouldn't be compared with each other in terms of difficulty. I  understand this sentiment but also think it’s useful to be aware of  certain key differences between the challenge of learning Chinese  compared to that of taking on other languages, particularly those more closely related to our mother tongue.

Many learners feel disappointed when they compare their speed of  progress to that of friends studying other languages. You might see people  online who appear to have reached fluency in

Spanish in under a year  while you still don’t feel fluent in Mandarin after several years. It  can be easy to wonder if there’s something wrong with you as a learner.

The reality is that there’s nothing wrong with you and there may not  even be anything wrong with your learning methods. I think it’s helpful  to be aware that there are particular challenges involved in learning  Mandarin which make it, if not more difficult than many other languages,  then certainly more time consuming.

To discuss this topic with me on today’s episode is polyglot Alej, also known by his YouTube name Langaholic.  Alej has taken on a number of languages, including Mandarin, and is in a  great position to explore how the challenge of learning Chinese differs  from other languages.