Journey to Chinese Fluency | Learn Chinese | Culture | Technique | Motivation

Complete show note: https://chinesetalkeze.com/32   Lizzie is an Australian but grew up in New Zealand and Australia. Lizzie studied Chinese formally for 1.5 years at the university level but studied informally by living in Beijing for 13 years. Lizzie now lives in Melbourne Australia, working as a primary school teacher, as a specialist EAL teacher (English as an Additional Language).   Interesting fact: Lizzie was born in a small town in Germany called Blankenstien   Join our Facebook group: http://talkchinesecommunity.com Learn one Chinese word a day on Instagram: @chinesetalkeze

Complete show note: http://chinesetalkeze.com/31   Hannah comes from the United Kingdom. Hannah has studied Chinese for 4 years and lived in China for 5 years. She is now living in London and works for the Body Shop.   Interesting fact: She has a six-month-old puppy called Snoop.

Complete show note: https://chinesetalkeze.com/30   Santiago is dual Australian and British citizen. His hometown is Sydney Australia. He has lived, studied and worked in Australia, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Japan.  Apart from English and Chinese, Santiago also speaks fluent Japanese, intermediate Spanish and used to be able to speak French at an advanced level. Santiago is now 35 years old, he owns and manages a boutique China consultancy and digital agency, which is also incubating a tech startup. He now lives between Beijing, Shanghai and Sydney.    Interesting fact: Santiago’s Chinese name is 马云驰. Which is very similar to Jack Ma’s Chinese name 马云. The name was given to Santiago at Beijing Language and Culture University in 2009 before Alibaba had become a global powerhouse.    Learn one Chinese word a day with Victor on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chinesetalkeze/ Leave us your feedback here: http://chinesetalkeze.com/feedback

ANNOUNCEMENT: 1. Victor now offers 1-on-1 Chinese tutoring. Register your interest here: http://chinesetalkeze.com/tutoring 2. Victor will be in China in late April and he is organising a Chinese immersion and photography trip. Register your interest here: http://chinesetalkeze.com/trip   Complete show note: http://chinesetalkeze.com/29   Vladimir (竹文峥) comes from France. He speaks French and Serbian natively, where Serbian his mother tongue. Apart from speaking fluent French, Serbian, English and Chinese, he also speaks Russian. Vladimir has lived in Shanghai for the last 16 years. He is the founder and CEO of Labbrand - a leading global brand consultancy originated and headquartered in China.   Interesting fact: He named some famous brands in Chinese including LinkedIn（领英）, Marvel（漫威）, Booking.com (缤客) and Airbnb（爱彼迎）   Learn one Chinese word a day with Victor on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chinesetalkeze/ Leave us your feedback here: http://chinesetalkeze.com/feedback  

Show note: http://chinesetalkeze.com/28   Latonya is from Brisbane Australia. She has studied Chinese for 5 years. Latonya is now 23 years old, living in Melbourne and working as an acrobat.    Interesting fact: She is a vegetarian.

Show note: http://chinesetalkeze.com/27 Imelda is from Queensland Australia. Now living in Melbourne. She speaks English natively and she is also fluent in Chinese and Italian. Imelda has learned Chinese for more than 8 years. Now she is working in international education. Interesting fact: She loves travelling and she enjoys learning phrases in the local language.

Andreas is from Germany and he speaks German natively. Apart from speaking fluent English and Chinese, he also speaks rusty fluent French, intermediate Thai and some basic Japanese and Korean. That’s 7 languages. Andreas has studied Chinese for 8 years and he now lives in Guangzhou China. He is now 27 years old, working as a project manager at the German Chamber of Commerce.    Interesting fact: He once travelled from Singapore to Germany via land.  

Show note: http://chinesetalkeze.com/25   Cameron comes from Wales in UK. Apart from English and Chinese, he is also learning Swedish since his girlfriend is from there. Cameron first started learning Chinese 14 years ago, but he has studied it properly for 7 years. Cameron is now 22 years old, living in Lancaster and studying for a masters degree in physics at Lancaster University.    Interesting fact: He got to perform for the Chinese President Xi Jinping during his state visit to the UK a couple of years ago.  

Show note: http://chinesetalkeze.com/24   Mike is from Minnesota, United States. Apart from English and Chinese, he also speaks basic Spanish. Mike studied Chinese on and off for 5 years, then just learned through daily things. Mike is 37 years old, now living in Shanghai and teaching Design Technology at an international school.   Interesting fact about Mike: He hates eating tomatoes but he loves foods with tomato in them.  

Show note: http://chinesetalkeze.com/23   Bradley has dual Australian and New Zealand citizenship. Apart from English and Mandarin Chinese, he also speak a smattering of Cantonese. Bradley first started learning Chinese when he was about 6 and he studied a few years of Chinese through the New Zealand high school curriculum and a couple of Mandarin University papers. Bradley now lives in Christchurch, New Zealand and he has recently graduated from university and currently work as a full stack web developer. Bradley also do some random jobs on the side including acting, hosting, and pine tree removal.   Interesting facts about Bradley: 1. He was born in Taiwan. 2. He competed in the 2015 Chinese Bridge Competition and had a great time!

Show note: http://chinesetalkeze.com/22   Bridie 宋玉滢 was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia. Apart from English and Chinese, Bridie also speaks Italian at an intermediate level as well as some Spanish. Bridie has been studying Chinese for 17 years since primary school, but more seriously since high school. She has lived in China for about a year all together through various trips. Bridie is now 22 years old, currently doing her third year of Bachelor of Arts majoring in Chinese at the University of Melbourne. She is also the president of ACYA (Australia-China Youth Association), Unimelb Chapter. Bridie is really passionate about connecting the Chinese and Australian communities and promoting the Chinese language to other Aussies.    One interesting fact about Bridie: She loves to dance! From ballet to salsa to contemporary, that's what she fills her spare time with.

Show note: http://chinesetalkeze.com/20   Iain is from the city of Cardiff which is the capital city of Wales in the United Kingdom. Iain has always enjoyed learning foreign languages. Apart from English and Chinese, he started to learn the ancient Celtic language of Welsh when he was in primary school. He has learnt French for seven or eight years and his university course was interpreting and translating Russian and German into English. He also has some conversational Japanese since he lived in Hokkaido Japan for two years. And he speaks some basic Czech and Dutch. That’s 9 languages! Iain has been living in China for 13 years. He is now 39 years old, living in the beautiful tropical city of Sanya in the province of Hainan. Iain is a freelance actor, presenter, and singer.   One interesting fact about Iain: He enjoys singing Chinese 'red songs’, which are patriotic songs that praise China and the Chinese communist party. It has helped him massively with his Chinese learning. Iain appeared on China’s Got Talent and became very famous for singing the Chinese red songs!

Show note: http://chinesetalkeze.com/20   Richard is from Dublin, Ireland born in 1976. His native language is English (with a bit of Irish). Richard lived in China from 1998 to 2013. Since then have been back several times a year for work as an educational consultant.    One interesting fact about Richard: He went to China as a bet and ended up living in China for 16 years.

Show note: http://chinesetalkeze.com/19   Joseph was born in Germany but raised in the USA, mainly in Colorado, currently, lives in Denver. Joseph began studying Chinese 8 years ago. After 2.5 years of study, he moved to China for 4 years. Joseph now works for the Colorado Judicial Branch of government and his current position is a clerk to a magistrate.   One interesting fact about Joseph: He enjoys running and attended the Shanghai marathon in 2013 and got a very ugly orange shirt for doing that.

Show note: http://chinesetalkeze.com/18   Jonathan is an American film and television actor based in China. Jonathan was born in Torrance, California, in 1973. He attended the film and acting schools of New York University but completed his university career there studying molecular biology. Jonathan began studying Mandarin Chinese at New York University, and relocated to China in 1997 and started his acting career 2 years later.   One interesting fact about Jonathan: He is an actor and he always plays white guys in Chinese movies. 

Show note: http://chinesetalkeze.com/17   Laurence is from the United Kingdom. His parents currently live in Edinburgh. Laurence has spent 3 years learning Chinese. Apart from English and Chinese, he also speaks Dutch at beginner’s level. At the age of 22, Laurence goes to university in London and live there during term time. However, he is now studying abroad in Beijing.   Two interesting facts about Laurence:  Laurence was born on New Year's Day.  Laurence likes running half marathons. He has run three half marathons, and is going to Singapore this December to run another one.

David's Chinese name is 王大伟. He is from Melbourne, Australia. Apart from English and Chinese, David also speaks a little bit of Italian and French. David started learning Chinese 10 years ago since year 7 in high school. He is now an English and Chinese teacher, completing a Masters of Secondary Teaching at the University of Melbourne. David also performs bilingual musical shows at Primary and Secondary schools to encourage students to learn languages.   One interesting fact about David: He has won awards in two shows on China Central Television.

Sally had always wanted to become fluent in a second language but didn't get the chance until she started learning Chinese at university. Her first trip to China was twenty years ago. Sally is fluent in spoken and written Chinese and has attained professional accreditation as a translator in the direction from Chinese to English. Sally is from Brisbane, Australia, now working as a yoga teacher but also teaches Chinese privately to people in her neighbourhood.    One interesting fact about Sally: She wrote a book about her experiences of being married to, and raising a family with her husband who is from Qingdao, China.   Show notes: http://chinesetalkeze.com/15

Tristan was born in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia and he lived in Melbourne for the last 5 years. Tristan speaks English natively and Mandarin Chinese. He started learning Chinese since 2013 and now at the age of 24, he is studying Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering. One interesting fact about Tristan: He won the second place in Oceania in the 2016 Chinese Bridge Competition. See full show note at http://chinesetalkeze.com/14

Diogo is from Portugal. Currently studying International Relations at University of Lisbon. Diogo has studied Chinese for almost 3 years and will be representing Portugal in the Chinese Bridge worldwide competition for college students. Besides Portuguese which is his native language, he can also speak English, Chinese and a conversational level of Spanish.   Two interesting facts about Diogo: 1. His Chinese name is 李白lǐ bái which is identical to THE most famous Chinese poet of all time.   2. Diogo has an identical twin brother who doesn't speak Chinese and whenever Diogo’s Chinese friends met his brother, they all spoke Chinese with him and they found it weird that Diogo didn't understand anything they said.

Andrei comes from Moscow Russia. He started learning Chinese 6 years ago. Apart from speaking fluent Mandarin Chinese, he speaks Russian, French and English all at native level. He is now 22 years old. Currently pursuing a Master’s degree in mathematics at McGill University. His field of research is probability theory.    One interesting fact about Andrei: At the age of 11, he won an international mathematics competition and almost exactly 10 years from that day at age 21, he won the Chinese Bridge Competition, which is a Chinese proficiency competition for foreign college students. 

Lawrence is from Texas United States. Currently living in Los Angeles. Lawrence has studied Chinese for almost 7 years. Having just returned to the US and moved to LA, he is now doing acting, modelling, hosting, and writing jobs. Lawrence did some standup in China and plans on doing it in the US as well. One interesting fact about Lawrence in his own words: Despite being 6 foot 3 (192cm) and busting my ass for a model's frame, it's completely hollow. I am at best mediocre at all sports; can't jump high, can't run fast, reaction time is garbage. Unfortunately, as a basketball enthusiast, every time I played ball in China with a new crew, we always had to get through the inevitable awkward moment of them realizing the tall muscular American sucks.

Matt grew up on a farm in the US. He spent some time learning Chinese in China and he is now living in Chicago in the US. Matt is now 28 years old, working for a Chinese airline.    One interesting fact about Matt in his own words: The coolest thing I did in China was taking a bike trip through the countryside. When I was sitting by a lake eating my lunch, dozens of fish started to jump out of the water. I never knew China had such beautiful nature.

Anthony is from Darwin Australia, now living in London England since 2012. He has learnt Chinese for 3 and a half years and planning to take HSK 6 exam soon. Anthony is 27 years old and now studying full time in International Studies (which is essentially international relations) and Chinese. One interesting fact about Anthony in his own words: Even though I am left handed naturally I can only write Chinese properly with my right hand.

Nick is from the United States and currently living in Chiang Mai, Thailand. His native language is English. Apart from that, he speaks fluent Mandarin and basic Cantonese. Nick has studied Chinese for almost 10 years now. At 32 years old he now has a website and a book that help people find a job and create a life in China. He also does Chinese translation and interpretation. Here’s one interesting fact about Nick in his own words: I'm addicted to Seinfeld. Seinfeld is an American comedy TV series from the 90s. I've probably seen all 180 episodes 30 times each or more. I've been a fan since I was 10 and used to talk about episodes with my friends at the lunch table in 4th grade. There are some good references to China and Chinese in several episodes.

Anthony is from Connecticut, USA. Anthony is in his late 30s. He speaks fluent English and Mandarin Chinese. Apart from that, he can also speak Thai at basic conversation level and bits and pieces in Cantonese and Teochew 潮州话 which are another 2 dialects of Chinese. Anthony is married. Now teaching martial arts and just started doing some English-Mandarin interpreting. 

Klaudia is from Poland. Her native language is Polish. Apart from Chinese and English, she also speaks Spanish and learning French and Korean at the moment. Klaudia started her journey learning Chinese since she was 13. She is now an undergraduate student in Amsterdam Netherlands.

Anthony is from High Wycombe, England. Apart from English and Chinese, he also speaks French and German. Anthony is a NAATI professional Chinese-English translator, a tutor, a musician and a song-writer. He started learning Chinese since 14 years old and continued learning Chinese in high school and university. Anthony has just turned 30, now living in Melbourne Australia and completing his PhD in Chinese computational linguistics and teaching Chinese part-time in Monash University. 

Andres is from Merida, Mexico. His native language is Spanish. Apart from that he also speaks English and Chinese. Andres is currently living in Hudson, Ohio in the United States. He is now 18 years old, studying in high school.

Bayan was born in Iran and moved to Australia at the age of two, now living in Adelaide. He speaks English, Persian, Mandarin Chinese, a little German and currently learning French. At the moment Bayan is studying psychology, sociology and French in university.

Matt Sheehan was raised in California, the United States with an Irish and Italian ancestry, now living in Oakland California. Apart from English and Chinese, Matt also speaks Spanish. Used to be at a very proficient level but now very basic. Matt has studied Chinese on and off for 7 years. He spent much of the last 5 years in China, the last two as the China correspondent for the Huffington Post. Matt is 29 years old, now writing a book about the budding relationship between China and California, titled “Chinafornia”. One interesting fact about Matt is that he co-founded the first ever ultimate frisbee team in Xi’an China.

Dashan is THE most famous foreigner in China. Pretty much anyone in China who has had a TV at home knows him. Dashan is known for his super fluent Mandarin Chinese and his crosstalk on the Chinese TV. Crosstalk or 相声(xiàng shēng) is basically the Chinese style stand-up comedy. Dashan had been doing crosstalk since 1988.