Learn Chinese Insights Podcast Episode 020: Shaun Bettinson

In this episode, I interview Shaun Bettinson, a Brit who now lives in Taichung, Taiwan.

Listen to find out:

– What brought Shaun to Taiwan initially
– Where he learned his initial Chinese
– What he didn’t like about his first group class
– What he liked about his next teacher
– What he recommends you look for in a private teacher
– What kind of effort he put in to learn Chinese outside of class
– What benefits he found from being able to speak Chinese
– How he transitioned from teaching into an alternate career path
– How his Chinese helped him in his new position
– What advice he’d give to someone wanting to switch from teaching to a different career path

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Learn Chinese Insights Podcast Episode 019: Davide Saccon

In this episode, I interview Davide Saccon, an Italian now living in Qingdong, China.

Listen to find out:

– How he learned “street” Chinese in Italy
– What brought him to China after that
– Why the Chinese he had learned before wasn’t as useful in smaller Chinese villages
– How he used the Chinese he had learned to land his first job in China
– Why it was much harder to learn Chinese outside of China than in China
– What cultural differences he noticed between working in China versus Europe
– How compensation affects motivation with Chinese workers
– How he manages language and communication with his Chinese wife
– Why he had to change the language approach he used with his kids
– The language approach he finds works best with kids from mixed language couples
– The problem he found with the local education system for kids, and what solution they found for it

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Learn Chinese Insights Podcast Episode 018: Ethan Feig

In this episode, I interview Ethan Feig, an American now working in a trade company in Taichung, Taiwan.

Listen to this episode to find out:

– What brought Ethan to Taiwan at age 18
– How Taiwan differed from his prior expectations
– How he learned Chinese from a fellow expat, and how that approach compared to his Taiwanese teacher
– How he maintained his Chinese listening and comprehension skills while back in the US for 2 years
– How he transitioned from teaching English into other work
–  About the work culture at his current company
– What advice he has for others wanting to work in non teaching careers in Taiwan

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Learn Chinese Insights Podcast Episode 017: Wesley Insights

In this episode, we welcome back Wesley (from our last episode) to share some of the more fascinating aspects of the Chinese language including:

– How abbreviations work in Chinese (and how they differ from English)
– Why Chinese can’t be the next global language
– Why understanding Chinese culture is so important to understanding Chinese
– The actual meaning of “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”
– How chengyus are formed, used and developed
– Sarcasm in Chinese culture and how it’s used
– How he learns and uses chengyus, and how this differs from how native speakers learn them
– Why accents in Chinese don’t matter
– Why Chinese TV has Chinese subtitles
– How the writing system of dialects like Taiwanese has evolved
– The multiple ways that dialects can be subtitled
– “False friends” in Chinese
– How colors in Chinese are used differently than they are in English
– Why language learning is a series of plateaus with no distinct peak

 

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Learn Chinese Insights Podcast Episode 016: Wesley Holzer

In this episode, I interview Wesley. He’s an American, with degrees in Chinese and translation.

Listen to this episode to find out:

  • How Wesley got interested in Chinese in the first place.
  • How he found Chinese easier to learn as a second language than Spanish.
  • What his teacher did to significantly increase his interest in learning Chinese.
  • Why it’s important to learn the whole culture rather than just the language.
  • What aspect of Chinese drove his main interest in the language.
  • His biggest struggle learning Chinese in LA.
  • What his best decision was, regarding learning Chinese.
  • What he learned on the street that they don’t teach in textbooks.
  • What he learned from taking a degree in translation.
  • Why he learned more from his grad school classmates than from local friends.
  • What happens to foreigners as they live in Taiwan / China for an extended period.
  • The difference in culture working for a Taiwanese run company.
  • Why you also need to maintain your English, while living in a foreign country.
  • The benefits and limitations of having a local partner, with regards to improving your Chinese.

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