Master Mandarin: The Beginner's Step-by-Step Guide to Learning Chinese the Fun Way

by John Fotheringham

You don’t need to spend thousands on classes. You don’t need boring textbooks. You don’t need to be good at languages. And you don’t have to move to China or Taiwan (though that’s great if you can). What you need are the right tools, “S.M.A.R.T.” goals, adult-friendly methods, and fun materials suited to your interests that will help you internalize the language naturally, understand what you hear, and speak with speed and confidence. This is precisely what Master Mandarin provides. I’ve been learning and teaching languages for over a decade, and have poured everything I’ve learned (and everything I wish I had known when starting out) into Master Mandarin: The Beginner’s Step-by-Step Guide to Learning Chinese the Fun Way. With the guide, you’ll have everything you need to acquire Chinese using proven strategies, free online tools, and materials you love. But please keep in mind that Master Mandarin is not a textbook that will “teach” you Chinese: no book, course, or teacher can ever get a language into your head. This is not The Matrix, Neo. Only you can acquire Mandarin by getting enough exposure to—and enough practice using—the language.

296 pages, ebook

Published August 3, 2015

About the author

John Fotheringham is a linguist, author, and entrepreneur from Seattle. He's been learning and teaching languages for over two decades, including studying Linguistics at Western Washington University, teaching adults in the U.S., Japan, and Taiwan, presenting at multinational companies, working as a translator and interpreter for the Japanese government, and now blogging, podcasting, and publishing books on independent language learning. He has dedicated his life to empowering language learners, making language acquisition more fun and effective, and helping others avoid some of the mistakes he made along the way.