One of the things I’m most grateful to iTalki for is that it allowed me to find a language exchange partner (or rather for her to find me). Although we’ve only had one Live On-Camera conversation it was very helpful and fun and the two of us have kept in contact via WeChat through text messages and voice messages. She was the one that actually reached out to me first and I’m glad that she did. I hope we’ll be able to have a video chat again soon😊 I was incredibly nervous because at that point I had only been learning Mandarin Chinese for 1 month and wasn’t sure I would be able to understand her or have enough vocabulary to express much for 30 whole mins! Yes, there were many moments I didn’t totally understand but at the end of my half an hour of Mandarin time I realised that OMG I just had a conversation in Chinese Mandarin!😄💪🏽 It really boosted my confidence and made me determined to keep learning so that I could continue to have conversations with her and other people going forward. Did you meet your language exchange partner(s) on iTalki? Mention them in the comments and thank them for their part in your language learning journey. Also let me know your best tips for how to make the most of your time with a language exchange partner! My best tip is: always treat your language exchange partner as a person and a potential friend rather than a tutor or teacher. What’s the difference? Well maybe don’t show up to the chat with all the corrections you need made on something or expect them to be able to teach or clarify grammar rules nor ask them to make lessons for you. Instead try to get to know them and let them get to know you. It’s not wrong to ask for help with a piece of writing but don’t let that be the whole focus of your time. Also, remember that they’re not trained to know grammar rules so don’t expect that either. Do you agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments😊 加油！💪🏽

Learning Chinese was not a New Year’s Resolution but I’m so glad that I started and I’m keen to continue. My learning methods have slowly evolved since I started 4 months ago and my top tips are as follows: 1) Use stories to learn (I’m currently testing out Olly Richard’s’ program Story Learning and have found some Graded Readers with text and audio that I haven’t yet purchased but I’ve found the previews quite good and am working on purchasing one to try - let me know if you’ve tried them yourself and if there’s any other recommendations). 2) Get lots of Comprehensible Input (I’ve used Channels on YouTube with teachers who use this method as well as the Mini Stories on the free version of the app LingQ. I also listen and read the articles on The Chairman’s Bao according to my level). I used to listen to some podcasts on here at iTalki but due to lack of time I haven’t kept it up and have gone off the app to other sources. Which leads me to my next tip 3). Find what interests you. This can be hard as a total beginner and beginner because there’s so many words we don’t know. Therefore the material we can understand may be limited and not exactly suited to our taste and the things we are interested in are written or produced at a level we’re not yet at. But there are options out there. You just have to look. Let me know in the comments if you’re having trouble looking for interesting material and what you’re interested in (i.e. reading, podcasts, music, etc) and I’ll see if I can help. Sorry in advance if I can’t. 4). If you have the time don’t waste it on flashcards. There are better ways to learn new words that don’t involve you sitting there memorising words in isolation. See above for some options. This may be controversial so take it with a grain of salt. It’s just based off my experience. I have a limited amount of time and motivation😄 so I’d rather spend it on something that will generate more motivation in me and have results. Continued in comments…

I’ve been listening to the mini podcast episodes that are posted in Chinese 中文and that’s been really helpful. I like that they have the transcription as well because I’m still at that stage where I struggle to understand the language spoken at normal pace. What I do is listen to the podcast and try and see how much I can understand. Then I read the transcription and see if I caught the right words. I then listen to the podcast 3 more times or so, twice whilst reading along with the transcript and once without to consolidate the words and meanings in my mind. However one suggestion would be for the creators to add English translations so that we, the language learners, can double check to make sure we’re understanding it correctly.