This is a mailbag episode of the Mandarin Monkey Podcast.

We answer listener questions about a deceptively common Mandarin mistake:

why you can’t use “ask” the way you do in English.

Ula explains why 問 is for asking questions, but doesn’t work when you’re asking someone to do you a favour, and why 請 is often the natural choice, even though it doesn’t translate cleanly into English.

We also respond to listener emails about:

• learning Mandarin without a clear end goal
• why grammar turns people off languages
• patience, time, and long-term progress
• how hangouts and lessons help people stick with it

Ula speaks Mandarin pretty much throughout.

Tom speaks English pretty much throughout.

🎧 Lessons, hangouts, and more:

mandarinmonkey.com

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