Northwestern University Professor and author, Dr. LiCheng Gu, has a conversation with Benny Lewis and Shannon Kennedy about co-authoring Language Hacking Mandarin, how language education has changed over the last 30 years, and why Chinese is easier than you think.

Language Hacking Mandarin is available now. You can order it from your preferred retailer, online or in stores.

Featured Resources

Language Hacking Mandarin

Mentioned in this Episode

Language Hacking MandarinChinese for Heritage LearnersPicture CharactersChinese with Lulu and MaomaoIntegrated Chinese

Episode Overview

Some of the topics brought up during the interview are:

Teaching foreign languages at the university levelHow language education has changed over the last 30 yearsLearning Chinese charactersWhy Chinese is easier than you thinkCommon challenges Chinese learners face and how to overcome themCreating language courses and booksWorking on the Language Hacking Mandarin book, and how its approach to language teaching is vastly different from traditional language learningThe conversational approach to language learning and how it “sits” in academiaAdvice for getting started with ChineseUsing pinyin when learning ChineseHow languages are taught and learned in China versus the US

Podcast theme: “A New Beginning” by Shannon Kennedy

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