We skip the small talk and jump straight into chaos. One of us wears noise-cancelling headphones with brown noise blasting. The other says sentences in Mandarin and English. The goal is simple. Lip read the line. No clues. No questions.

The results are a mess. “You squeezed it before I was ready,” becomes cheesecake. 羊羹 becomes “some kind of rat.” Twice becomes twat. And a totally normal Chinese sentence turns into Argentina.

If you enjoy Mandarin learning mixed with confusion, misread lips, and unearned confidence, this game delivers.

Send your sentences or game ideas to chat@mandarinmonkey.com.

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Wrong day, wrong week, right podcast. Today’s mailbag episode starts with that weird moment when your brain swears Friday arrived, but the calendar says otherwise, then drifts into lottery fantasies, nannies who only speak Mandarin, and baldness fear. Standard Mandarin Monkey energy.

Then listener stories:

• Daniel in Manchester used Mandarin to survive lockdown loneliness and asks how to practice speaking when nerves block every sentence.

• John in Southern California listened to the whole podcast three times and still wants more. Respect.

• Debbie in Lagos started Mandarin because C-drama subtitles missed the point and now fights double audio and dodgy subs.

• Olivia fell in from the short clips, forgets new words in days, and wants to keep going without burnout.

• Vivi did “immersion” in Kaohsiung, made international friends, defaulted to English, and now only understands Mandarin with heavy context.

We talk about:

• Why tutors hear every mistake already and still support learners

• How mirroring and shadowing native speakers trains tones and rhythm

• Why motivation fades and discipline keeps progress alive

• How to use scripts, news, and audio to train listening without subtitles

• Single-channel brains, overwhelm, and why context helps more than people admit

Bilingual as always. Ula speaks Mandarin, Tom speaks English, you follow along.

Send your story or question to:

chat@mandarinmonkey.com

or DM on Instagram / Facebook.

Your email might show up in the next mailbag.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We put on noise-canceling headphones, blasted brown noise, and tried to read each other’s lips in Chinese.

Spoiler: “Are you the king of Mandarin Monkey?” turned into “Are you licking a mandarin monkey?”We also talk about Tom’s 3D-printed bust mini-movie, the “shi” tongue twister that broke him, and why bringing back the silly side of Mandarin Monkey might be the best idea yet.

Send your stories for Friday Mailbag: chat@mandarinmonkey.com

Lessons and more at mandarinmonkey.com

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Mailbag time. Phoebe’s moving to China in a week, Jasmine’s torn between Simplified and Traditional, Mark nails his first all-Mandarin order, Anna shares tonal research, and Katie reminds us to slow down. We talk avoiding the foreigner bubble, finding a “language parent,” sleep habits, and why progress feels slow, until it doesn’t.

Send your story: chat@mandarinmonkey.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Practice Mandarin listening with a native Taiwanese Mandarin speaker and English support. We cover cold-weather camping at 3°C, off-grid power, food, health, and planning a sensible motorbike tour through Europe. Great for beginners to intermediate, HSK prep, and heritage Chinese/Taiwanese learners keeping both languages fresh.

You’ll learn: camping and travel vocab, opinion phrases, modal verbs for suggestions, health/food terms, and natural Taiwanese rhythm.

Resources

• Free transcripts/clips on our YouTube (search “Mandarin Monkey listening practice”)

• Book a lesson with a Taiwanese teacher (all levels)

• Mailbag: send a short story (Mandarin or English) to chat@mandarinmonkey.com

for feedback

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Today’s Listener Mailbag is stacked: Mandarin at the bus stop, writing a sky-lantern wish in Pingxi, ordering dinner in Kunming with zero English, the strange peace of visa lines with a podcast in your ears, and a market auntie gifting a spring onion for luck. Plus: dogs, Edinburgh place names, and whether American English secretly makes more sense. Perfect for immersive Mandarin listening practice - Ula in Mandarin, Tom in English - so you can follow along and pick up real phrases in context.

Send your story for a future episode: chat@mandarinmonkey.com

Book lessons / join the community: mandarinmonkey.com

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Hump day chat with bilingual Mandarin + English listening practice baked in. We tackle a parenting standoff over toys at school, how “Thrill of the Fight” in VR turned into a 12-round sweat fest, whether gua sha helps or just hurts, Halloween safety (and trunk-or-treat), British politeness vs Taiwanese directness, and a surprisingly decent side hustle: cleaning garages for cash.

Send us a story for Friday’s Listener Mailbag: chat@mandarinmonkey.com

Lessons, hangouts, intensives: mandarinmonkey.com

Topics: Mandarin listening practice, VR boxing, gua sha scraping, UK vs Taiwan culture, Halloween UK, trunk or treat, side hustles, bilingual conversation.

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Ever tried to learn Mandarin while you sleep?

One listener did — and his girlfriend woke up to him whispering “māma” all night.

In this episode, we read your wildest Mandarin stories:

🧠 Sleep-learning experiments gone wrong

🐟 The “train station” that turned into a pet shop

💔 The couple arguing about the third tone

🙊 Why Chinese speakers don’t say “bless you”

and much more from our Listener Mailbag.

This is real Mandarin listening practice — with jokes, accents, and stories from actual learners.

📬 Send us your story: chat@mandarinmonkey.com

🎧 Listen anywhere: mandarinmonkey.com/podcast

🗣️ Book lessons: mandarinmonkey.com/lessons

🎥 Shorts & clips: @MandarinMonkey

#LearnMandarin #MandarinPodcast #MandarinListening #ChineseTones #LanguageLearning #MandarinMonkey

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