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In this episode I’m looking at accent and dialect. Many learners have a distinct foreign accent. Is that inevitable, or are their ways to work on your accent (and if so, is it necessary)? I’m talking about various techniques, such as shadowing and working on individual sounds, as well as how sounds that initially seem familiar may be the ‘problem areas’ where an accent persists, just because the learner does not realise that the pronunciation is slightly different, while totally different sounds may, eventually, be easier to produce. As my pronunciation was getting better, I had to choose whether to copy my teachers’ northern accents, or include other dialectal features in my speech. 

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My spoken Chinese was getting more and more ‘fluent’, in that I could have uninterrupted conversations in real life, using my online conversation lessons with teachers to iron out any issues in my pronunciation and expression. All of a sudden, Chinese just ‘clicked’. I could watch a video and would suddenly understand everything that was said. My approach to learning changed, and I explored new materials. I now also enjoyed speaking Chinese more frequently with people I didn’t know, watching their reactions.

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This episode is about me, finally, finding teachers to Chinese. At first I was learning in a vacuum at home, building confidence in understanding the language, but now that I had taken the plunge and had started to speak to others, I wanted to work on my conversation skills, because… well, they needed quite a lot of work. Working with online Chinese teachers really helped to boost my confidence, talk through topics I wanted to discuss in a safe environment, while learning a lot about some of the things my teachers were interested in. But how do you even find a suitable Chinese teacher?

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In this episode I’m finally taking the plunge, looking for more speakers of Chinese to talk to. I’m considering tandem language exchange programmes and finding Chinese friends, eventually finding a group dedicated to learners and speakers of Chinese in my town. Joining the group was fun, especially just relaxing and chatting away in my improving Chinese. Not yet great, but good enough to get started. I also started talking to more Chinese people around me, though I realised quickly that there has to be something in it for the other person to want to speak Chinese with me. What to do?

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Would I ever be able to speak Chinese fluently, and what would that mean? I had reached a stage where I was starting to speak more coherently, but on some days it felt like I was not able to speak at all. Crucially, my speaking lagged well behind my understanding and I would often have to stop to search for words when speaking. What level was I at now? Could I use descriptors for language proficiency to identify my current level of Chinese?

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In this episode I explain how I initially learnt and revised vocabulary, and how I prepared for the next stage of my learning journey: speaking for real. Well, I had a number of attempts at trying to speak for real and not really succeeding at first. Eventually, I decided to speak Chinese to my ever-so-patient cat and tried out AI programmes. But then, finally, I got to speak Chinese to actual speakers of the language, while on a work trip to the US.

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In this episode I explore how I honed my different Chinese language skills: understanding, speaking, reading and writing. I look at all those wonderful tools, most of which are free, that are available to the intermediate learner. In my own learning, Chinese podcasts for learners, as well as Chinese television dramas started to play in increasingly important role. This was time well spent and I was taking in the language in a fun and engaging way to kept me motivated, coming back for more.

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In this episode I'm looking at language tests and certificates. Would that be a goal for me, and which test should I aim for? Would preparing for a test really motivate me?
I try to find ways to make my language learning at the intermediate stage fun and greatly motivating. Looking at implicit and explicit learning, I investigate the role of memory in language learning. How does one develop 'native-speaker intuition'? Is it okay to make mistakes while learning or should one always strive for perfection?

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How do you even write Chinese text messages when you don't have a keyboard with 5000 or more characters? In this episode I look at ways in which Chinese is used today, and at some of the changes to the written language within the last 100 years. Is the traditional Chinese writing system really more beautiful than the simplified system? What if you have to look up an uncommon character in a Chinese dictionary? How complex do Chinese characters get and how do you distinguish between those that look almost identical but mean totally different things? Finally, how many characters would I have to learn to be able to read a book without using a dictionary?

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In this episode I'm looking at the history of the Chinese writing system and why it is so successful that it is still used today. In my own learning, once I knew enough characters and had built up a basic understanding of how the system worked, I was suddenly able to decipher the words (and characters) I came across for the first time.

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