I’ve written two in-depth guest posts about learning Chinese. My first instinct was to post them here, but John Pasden of Sinosplice.com and Olle Linge of HackingChinese.com were gracious enough to let me share my recent experiences with their audiences. First, my guest post at HackingChinese.com about how I managed to pass the HSK 4 […]
Learning Chinese over 3½ Months | 12-Min Documentary
As we did with Spain and Brazil, we filmed a short documentary chronicling our experiences learning Chinese over a little more than three months. Vat also spent hundreds of hours doing timelapses, hyperlapses and videos to try to capture a different perspective on what life is like in China. We both felt that the China […]
How I Plan to Learn Korean Differently than Chinese
Sometimes I question my sanity. After all, what kind of person agrees to learn four languages in a year, including two linguistically unrelated Asian languages back-to-back in six months? Learning Chinese was a blast, but it was also an incredible amount of work. My stated goal from the beginning was to learn as much Chinese […]
How Well Did the No-English Rule Work for Learning Chinese?
Readers familiar with Vat and my current project of attempting to learn four languages in one year, will note that the big focus has been on one method: not speaking English. Today I want to talk about the failures and successes in applying that philosophy to learning Chinese. My Chinese After Three Months (+100 Hours […]
I'm a Wall Street Journal bestselling author, podcast host, computer programmer and an avid reader. Since 2006, I've published weekly essays on this website to help people like you learn and think better. My work has been featured in The New York Times, BBC, TEDx, Pocket, Business Insider and more. I don't promise I have all the answers, just a place to start.