Andrew Methven is the creator of Slow Chinese 每周漫闻, a weekly newsletter that helps Mandarin Chinese learners immerse themselves in authentic, colloquial language via interesting stories and news events handpicked from Chinese media, social media, and TV.
Instead of learning the stilted and stuffy language of Chinese textbooks, Andrew’s excellent newsletter trains you to understand the way people really speak and write the language today.
In the interview, Andrew shares how he first fell in love with Chinese, differences between Mandarin between Mainland China and Taiwan, and his top tips for language learners.
Resources Mentioned
- Andrew’s Slow Chinese Newsletter (use this link to get 17.5% off)
- Oxford Chinese Dictionary
- 天下雜誌 (CommonWealth Magazine)
- Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language
- Linguist & “Because Internet” Author Gretchen McCulloch on What Makes Modern Internet Language Special
Show Notes
- Hàn-yǔ Pīn-yīn (漢語拼音/汉语拼音)
- Bopomofo or Zhù-yīn Fú-hào (注音符號)
- National Cheng Kung University (成功大學)
- 時期 (“period of time”): Pronounced shíqī (with a first tone on qi) in Mainland China and shíqí in Taiwan (with a second tone on qi)
- Taiwanese language
- Weibo (微博)
- YYDS: Pinyin initialism for 永遠的神/永远的神 (“eternal god”) or 永遠單身/永远单身 (“forever single/alone”)
- XSWL: Pinyin initialism for 笑死我了 (“I’m dying laughing/LMAO”)
- Dài jiézòu (帶節奏/带节奏): Literally means “bring rhythm” but is used to mean “carrying a team to victory” in gaming or “misleading the public” in politics
- Chōngtǎ (冲塔): Meaning “rush the tower” in gaming or to “protest against authority” outside of gaming
- Dōngběi Huà (東北話/东北话): The northeastern Mandarin dialect
- Zéi (賊/贼): Literally means “thief” but has the slang meaning of “extremely” in Northeastern China