Transform your Mandarin pronunciation in 84 days with our "Finding Your Mandarin Voice" training boot camp: www.ritachinese.com/pron-bootcamp 2024 will be a fulfilling year... Let's start with nailing down your mouth muscles to speak Chinese naturally and hear natives clearly!
Don't feel down hearted if you've been studying for longer and you have not achieved his level yet, and if you haven't started studying don't expect to be that good in a such a short time frame. I've been studying mandarin for 6 years and just recently I feel somewhat comfortable with the language Everyone's different. Keep thriving
@@vitaliy1858 Agreed, you also have to keep in mind that Will spent roughly 4 hours of study a day, for 1.5 years. 1.5 years is subjective, the average person doesnt spend anywhere near this in study time and some dont study everyday (some people even only take a class 1-2 times a week) , so technically someone could achieve what he did in 4-5 years by just studying 1 hour a day. And the best practice of all is actually conversing with a Native speaker which he did everyday. Still what he did is an absolutely amazing feat and he far surpasses my Mandarin level and I have been learning over a year BUT I only spend about 10-20 mins learning per day so of course theres a huge difference. So take his advice, don't be disheartened at all due to your level difference and have been learning longer than Will. Take it at your own pace.
@@azrilntdrill It's not nonsense. It's literally possible. BUT you have to replicate the conditions under which he accomplished his level of fluency to receive similar results.
The key thing that this dude did was LEARNING LIKE A NATIVE. He literally learned Chinese by speaking with Chinese people, just like a baby who is born in China. If you don't have this opportunity please don't get discouraged. Reaching this level of Chinese is great but definitely is not a regular thing. Most of the people don't have enough time to study for even 1 hour a day so if we would be able to calculate how many hours did this guy studied in 1.5 years maybe it will be equal to your 4 year study. So if you are a starter please don't expect this type of development but try to study as much as you can and also try the methods that he mentioned.
Thanks I’m learning Chinese and really enjoying it. But actually I have no opportunity to talk with lime him. I’d like to meet Chinese people in my business field to practice 🤩
You can't learn like a native when you learn at a later age. You always learn through your native language and hear/pronounce tones the way you would in your language. It is an automatic process your brain does- it maps the sounds it hears to the sounds in native language. It is very hard to get past that later in life, of course it is possible to a degree, but not completely. It also depends on a person, their talents, hearing, muscle flexibility, etc.
There's always a catch in something like this. His Chinese is really good, the best I've heard by a foreigner. I currently study at ZJU in Hangzhou and we have 400+ students (some who are native Chinese) and no one is on this level. However, he only knows 100 characters? I *suspect* there's more to it than what we're seeing. In a few of his videos I noticed he was being coached off camera by a Chinese native. That's probably his partner. It's not wrong and completely normal, but a lot of fluent Mandarin speakers leave that part out when discussing Mandarin speaking tips.
OMG, I can't believe that he has been learning Mandarin for only one and a half year! His Mandarin is amazingly good! Pretty close to a native speaker!
For all you guys stating this isn't possible, thanks for the motivation. I love when people say something is not possible so I can go out and prove them wrong. Regardless, my main motivation is getting to one day live in china and learn the culture through speaking to people
You should not be living your life to prove wrong those who do not think about you at all. Success achieved through trying to prove others wrong will eternally be empty.
This guy is mind-blowing! A year and a half! He learned Chinese faster than a toddler! Seriously amazing! He is my biggest inspiration! Thank you for sharing this!
For every one of his kind, there are 100 that won't have that success with the exact same techniques. Those guys are just not invited to language focus podcasts. It's a selection bias.
i think the most impressive is his pronunciation. honestly his vocab is like HSK5, which is very possible in 1.5 years. And the grammar he uses is not complex, about HSK4 and HSK5. But his pronunciation really shocks me, its very native! he must have focused a lot in immersion with Chinese friends to reach this level.
Ironically enough, I started learning Spanish 1.5 years ago, also because of Covid. I am at a high intermediate level now. I just started learning Mandarin a couple weeks ago. So far, so good. Interesting interview!
You won't forget your Chinese if you learn Spanish. I speak English and Spanish fluently and I am adding Chinese. I think the key is to alternate inputs and outputs in the 2 foreign languages alternating every other day to maintain fluency in all three languages. You can have communication in English for a small portion of the day.. There are books on strategies of how to maintain fluency in three to five languages.
What a wonderful interview and video. This guy is an inspiration for all us language learners! I feel I had a similar arc as him with Spanish and Portuguese, just fully immersing myself in audio materials and hanging out with people that speak those languages. Now I am beginning to improve my Mandarin and it seems like a big hill to climb, but watching your channel and interviews like this keeps me motivated !!
I lived in China for about 3 years. I enjoyed learning the language and eventually did the HsK up to level 3. But this is 3 years ago, although I’m still learning, my level is decent, but the fact he accomplish this level of 标准说的话 is very impressive. Big ups. I’m envious.
Thank you for the excellent subtitles! This kind of quality is hard to find. I'm 25 minutes into it so far. I've spent around 6 hours watching this video already, pausing to look up vocabulary, re-listening to sentences until I hear the words. 你們說很快啊！ Once I got halfway through the video, I changed the speed to 0.75x speed and that really helps. This video is definitely taking me to the next level!
Rewatching 9 months later, this is my favorite Chinese learning video on UA-cam. I'm amazed at his ability to express himself and his effortless grammar. Your subtitles and notes really elevate the video. I tried some of his methods. In the last 9 months my reading and listening comprehension has gone up but I'm still slow, can't quite keep up with most content. This took me a little over an hour to re-watch, so 7x faster!
Rita, what a fantastic video, thanks for putting together those meticulous subtitles, that must have been a lot of work! Will's level is incredibly impressive!
4 hours a day, everyday, socializing and proactively talking to himself, and painstakingly using anki. Only that dedication can achirve this. There is no textbook or course than can get you there, but his method is the one that the language institute in the Navy uses for their officers.
after studying Chinese for about 4 semesters online, i realize that i know a lot of simple words and sentences but without the fluency to fully describe what i'm thinking about... now that I've found a native language partner, its slowly coming together although not as fast as i would like ;-)
This was a great interview, and I learned about a lot of other resources I wasn't aware of before. As someone that has been trying to use various self-teaching resources for studying Chinese over the past ~8 months or so, it's really amazing to see someone that has done so well. Unfortunately, much like Will has no one to practice Spanish with, I don't really have anyone to practice Chinese with. I may need to look into something like Tandem and see if that works for me. Looking forward to the next part of this series.
Such a good inspiration. I spent like 2years trying to learn Chinese by myself but it was to hard for me, so I decided to take classes and in 1 year I’m way too far from his level. He really found his language 🥳🥳🥳🥳
Amazing achievement! Very inspiring. It also hammers home the importance of speaking (from early on if possible)..which also presents the greatest hurdle for most of us 😅 Love the idea of talking to oneself in the target language, or pretending to be on the phone. Maybe i'll try speaking Mandarin to my cats from now on, I don't think they care, as long as there is food involved in one way or another 😆. 加油, fellow learners x
Well now I have some more inspiration to get back to studying. I kick myself for even stopping. Rita, I have your course and I'm starting it over right now!
Awesome, William!! Glad my video gets you motivated to be back working on our course😄🙌 Looking forward to talking to you at live stream and hearing your progress in the course💪💪
I love your video introduction with the Fàn Lǎoshī expression. So unique and original, plus your videos are also very analytical and educational, love your videos ! Keep it coming.
Humble learner who took up learning the language because it was interesting and they felt they could get more out of it. 1.5 years and he sounds very natural and relaxed. Not unlike some of these "other" learners who just learn/learned it because it can get them likes or "shock" people. They speak well but sound way too excited and of course have a camera recording so that adds another level of "difficulty". This is a great example of learning a language because you want to versus because you need to. His 1.5 years sounds better than people with 5+ years. Good for him. He doesn't seem to let it go to his head either.
his Chinese is A LOT better than most of the students in the China Studies department (me included) after 1 1/2 years, it's crazy! he must've spent a lot of time every day on it
I have learned about 300 words and can read and write some characters. I chose not to study grammar, asI did with Spanish and have learned Chinese grammar naturally. I have nobody with whom to practice, and, like Will, I am speaking to myself and watching Chinese programs on my level (or close to it). Now that I have learned the basics, I am only focusing on memorizing whole sentences and speaking them too. I just found Anki and am looking forward to uploading a deck. Thank you for the great interview! I felt inspired! 太好了！我喜欢学习汉语。谢谢你！
He did something called sentence mining and reviewed his cards as closed deletion. He didn't memorize the sentences, there's there's huge, game changing difference here. If you care about copying his steps you better learn what those things are and how to setup your anki accordingly 👌
so he never actually studied and just learned through chatting and watching tvshows and anki, and got to this level? 😳 damn, now i feel stupid haha spending so much time studying grammar and sentences and everything for 7 months now and I'm not even close to intermediate level while speaking 😭
I don’t know if you have been following a more systematic curriculum or learning order, but I believe if you are learning the whole new sound system (listening and speaking) and the whole new written system (reading and writing characters), the learning process is definitely a lot more time-consuming. And for Mandarin Chinese learning, the first phase of building up a solid foundation for everything I mentioned is relatively longer than other languages that are closer to your native language. No need to feel stupid or frustrated, you’re just starting a fascinating journey! If you put more attention and consistent practice on listening and speaking, you will progress faster in using the language to communicate with natives through the sounds for sure, like Will did! 加油💪
@@RitaChinese I think the same as Franscica; When I watched the video, I wondered how one can speak so well by only learning vocabulary; And yes, he spent a lot of time talking with his friends but how did he build sentences then? It's great for him that he got to this level! Me, these kind of testimonials tend to make me think that I'm stupid I have been learning for more than 3 years using several applications and at the same time, I read and write. I also watch a lot of Drama and listen to songs, which means that I hear Chinese everyday ; The advantage is that I don't forget the words and sometimes even think in Chinese! Only what is still difficult to remember are the sentence structures.
@@elodieperochon931 Probably trial and error as well as having very kind friends, who would correct and teach him. At one point he mentioned his ex was a Chinese teacher. He has also stated that he studied at least 4 hours a day, but from what he was saying, he had a lot more exposure to Chinese than that. Finally, I do think he has a knack for language learning, to be honest.
I don't think what you did is stupid because not many people have such a great learning environment like his. He has many Chinese friends and even an ex-girlfriend who was a Chinese teacher. He could easily find an answer through his Chinese friends, not to mention he spent over 4 hours per day to practice Chinese speaking and listening. Systematic learning through basic words, sentences and grammar may still be the best and even the only way for most people. I don't have as much time as he has. I only have 1 hour per day to learn English at most. I have to make a living, so it is impossible for me to practice like him.
His sentence structure and pronunciation is soooo good, too good. Better than most people I know that have been speaking Chinese for many years as a second language.
@@RitaChinese If you don`t have community around yourself - it`s impossible to achive small targets - it takes too much time for practise - minimum 3-4 hours per day !
I don’t get why some in the comments are doubting he get that fluent in 1.5 years. He said he spent hours a day studying. It takes 2000 hours for an English speaker to learn Chinese , so it’s not much of a stretch that he could get good that fast by studying 4 hours a day.
@@gdup1728 Oh just start with spanish. Immerse yourself in that language. I must admit I'm not a native speaker, but I had to force my brain to start thinking in english language.
I don't think I'm alone when I say, more intermediate/advanced learners can listen and understand what is said, but the problem is mainly recreating the sentences for themselves later in conversations. Or more simply put, I can listen and understand what someone says, but I can't create a perfectly grammatical sentence in return. There is always some element missing or 搭配 is incorrect. At least that's the hurdle I'm currently experiencing.
Ya, im currently on the same stump learning arabic and i cant also understand like you said but when i need to recreate i get problems with rebuilding it in good grammar
Amazing in all aspects! Chapeau!!! Yet one little note: At one point he mentions that his ex-gf was Chinese, even a Chinese teacher..... as if it was a small unimportant side info....in fact this is a KEY FACTOR. So if we want to use his approach the key is: 1. date someone ... 2. do all the things he mentions in the video. 😜😉
Glad you like it!! The second half will publish when the subtitles are done. And we can definitely invite Will again to talk more about his experience!
I'm learning Chinese only casually a little bit each day. The main language I'm learning is Japanese. I've been learning for 6 years and I can't speak as comfortably as he can! After I finish my exams I'm turning my brain into Japanese, I love talking to myself anyway! By the way, I'm applying to graduate school in Japan hopefully it goes well
"Casually a little bit each day" while focusing mostly on another language, is totally different from 2-4 hours per day of focused study on one language. He very well may have put in more hours of study than you, which is far more significant than how long it has been since you started.
Awesome good luck with your application! When you are surrounded by native speakers and use the language as much as you can, I’m sure that you’ll feel so much comfortable using the language to communicate with people😄
I was watching a show called 76 Horror Bookstore, and the main character of the first episode was researching on the computer and used the characters 手語 and from my very basic understanding of japanese I understood this as sign language. I'm just starting out on my Chinese journey but I felt accomplished in understanding something without having to read subtitles.
He is very good and sounds native to me as a Cantonese American. I lived in an enclave in a Los Angeles suburb for two years where the demographics are mainly Mexican and Chinese from Mainland and Taiwan and I dont believe my level is anywhere near his. What epiphany I got from this video is that Chinese or ANY non English speaker will CELEBRATE and APPLAUD your level of achievement learning their language BUT IN REVERSE , Ive NEVER seen ANY American or British (Aussie NZ Canada as well) media FEATURE a non White person trying to learn English and show the same RESPECT and
I wish it happened both ways equally. i think the reason a lot of the time is that it comes from an inferiority complex. i took a paper at uni that touched about racism and white renervation and inferiority complexes in south america stemming from colonial times. and also maybe bc english is a global lingua franca that too a lot of people it basically feels that english is a common language learnt around the world. and i also think that a lot of white people in western countries can get nervous about commenting and someones english in fear of offending them for some reason, ik that i do unfortunately. i work at a shop thats in an area where a large portion of the demographic is asian/indian and obviously a lot of them have learnt english so well after having lived here (New Zealand) and some not so fluent, mostly in the older generations, and it makes me happy when i speak to particularly those that arent as fluent. bc im a language student for both spanish and chinese and im not that good. learning any language is hard and i know that even as a native english speaker that english is a bitch of a language so i have mad respect for people that learn it as a language thats not their mother tongue
As a fellow Brit I am inspired by his dedication. I need to do more immersion and speak more? I think that's how to learn faster and in context . I've been learning for about a year but not at the level of time he did. I can say the basics 😁
This is very interesting. I did something similar when I was learning Spanish some years ago ... My biggest problem is still vocabulary, but I can attest to the viability of this quasi-immersive approach. I'd love to be as fluent in Chinese as this young man is 2 years from now, but now that the worst of the pandemic is over, I'm unlikely to have the extended blocks of time to immerse myself the way he did.
Not everyone gets to spend so much time and effort on consistently learning and practice, use better materials and efficient method, and have native speakers around to have massive input and output. But everyone CAN make it all happen if they are really determined to😊💪
@@RitaChinese Hmmm, I've been learning for almost the same amount of time as him. I use diverse materials, focus primarily on listening, speaking, and input. But it's still not at this guy's level. Honestly, I really don't believe it's been a year and a half. I study at least 2 hours per day, but oftentimes up to 5 hours (and sometimes even 8 hours). I do use Anki, so I encounter the sentences and words A LOT. But it feels like this dude has been consistently exposed to, and has used, a LOT of vocabulary. He seems so ready to communicate. In a year and a half, that just can't be possible, right? When the pandemic lockdown started, I dove deep into this and had tons of time to dedicate to this, and I've made learning Chinese and incorporating it into my life a consistent habit. But I still cannot begin to compare to this. For Will, it's almost second-nature, almost as if he's been living in China for years. If he's really, truly been learning Chinese for only a year and a half......... y i k e s
@@iamclarity he's probably spoken a lot chinese with his friends and that surely makes a big difference with someone who gets a lot of input but who doesn't frequently use the language to communicate with other native speakers
Glad you like my content! I edited the first 10+ UA-cam videos myself, and then I found a brilliant (and expensive) editor😆 I still edit all the videos for my Instagram posts myself💪
Transform your Mandarin pronunciation in 84 days with our "Finding Your Mandarin Voice" training boot camp: www.ritachinese.com/pron-bootcamp 2024 will be a fulfilling year... Let's start with nailing down your mouth muscles to speak Chinese naturally and hear natives clearly!
His vocabulary and sentence structures are so good, this is really impressive for only 1.5 years. This inspires me to be at his level
Glad to hear that you are inspired by his story! 加油加油😄💪
Certainly would be one way to waste some months
It's 5 year not 1,5 he lies..and he has been to taiwan for a long time. A liar
@@annemuenkai5679 Seems appropriate for a liar to be fluent in chinese...haha
@@THE_ONLY_GOD why would learning a language be a waste?
Don't feel down hearted if you've been studying for longer and you have not achieved his level yet, and if you haven't started studying don't expect to be that good in a such a short time frame.
I've been studying mandarin for 6 years and just recently I feel somewhat comfortable with the language
Everyone's different. Keep thriving
Thank you, I needed to hear that!
@@vitaliy1858 Agreed, you also have to keep in mind that Will spent roughly 4 hours of study a day, for 1.5 years. 1.5 years is subjective, the average person doesnt spend anywhere near this in study time and some dont study everyday (some people even only take a class 1-2 times a week) , so technically someone could achieve what he did in 4-5 years by just studying 1 hour a day. And the best practice of all is actually conversing with a Native speaker which he did everyday.
Still what he did is an absolutely amazing feat and he far surpasses my Mandarin level and I have been learning over a year BUT I only spend about 10-20 mins learning per day so of course theres a huge difference. So take his advice, don't be disheartened at all due to your level difference and have been learning longer than Will. Take it at your own pace.
I dont feel disheartened. In fact I feel annoyed. STOP SPROUTING nonsense that you can get fluent within 1.5years. It is so darn annoying.
His real advantage was the free time, but having friends who were willing to chat with him comes a close second.
@@azrilntdrill It's not nonsense. It's literally possible. BUT you have to replicate the conditions under which he accomplished his level of fluency to receive similar results.
The key thing that this dude did was LEARNING LIKE A NATIVE. He literally learned Chinese by speaking with Chinese people, just like a baby who is born in China. If you don't have this opportunity please don't get discouraged. Reaching this level of Chinese is great but definitely is not a regular thing. Most of the people don't have enough time to study for even 1 hour a day so if we would be able to calculate how many hours did this guy studied in 1.5 years maybe it will be equal to your 4 year study. So if you are a starter please don't expect this type of development but try to study as much as you can and also try the methods that he mentioned.
Thanks I’m learning Chinese and really enjoying it. But actually I have no opportunity to talk with lime him.
I’d like to meet Chinese people in my business field to practice 🤩
You can't learn like a native when you learn at a later age. You always learn through your native language and hear/pronounce tones the way you would in your language. It is an automatic process your brain does- it maps the sounds it hears to the sounds in native language. It is very hard to get past that later in life, of course it is possible to a degree, but not completely. It also depends on a person, their talents, hearing, muscle flexibility, etc.
There's always a catch in something like this. His Chinese is really good, the best I've heard by a foreigner. I currently study at ZJU in Hangzhou and we have 400+ students (some who are native Chinese) and no one is on this level. However, he only knows 100 characters? I *suspect* there's more to it than what we're seeing. In a few of his videos I noticed he was being coached off camera by a Chinese native. That's probably his partner. It's not wrong and completely normal, but a lot of fluent Mandarin speakers leave that part out when discussing Mandarin speaking tips.
@ of course they’re a catch.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all he has learned it for far longer than he claims.
OMG, I can't believe that he has been learning Mandarin for only one and a half year! His Mandarin is amazingly good! Pretty close to a native speaker!
Xie xie ni. Xiao mei mei nali?
nah g, he's basically native level
感谢范老师给我这个机会，很高兴跟大家分享我学习中文的经历！
谢谢Will联系我，才有可能做这次采访！大家都很喜欢😄🙌
很多人说中文是很难学的，其实我们作为母语者，有时候也会觉得有些长词语比较难理解，因为中文词语经常会有歧义，在没有特定场景的情况下，非母语者就更难懂了。威廉，你的口语和表达节奏已经达到95%接近中文母语者了，而且还能说出儿化音，虽然部分发音还有提升空间，但完全不影响我们听懂。对了，听到你说喜欢看潘粤明的《白夜追凶》，真是佩服你了👍👍加油呀，欢迎你来中国
@@Jimmy_Chow 谢谢你的鼓励 我会加油的！因为我是个完美主义者 所以我一定要接着提升我的发音。你说有些发音还有提升空间，你能告诉我是哪些吗？这样的话我可以去特意的练习那些音。
一年半？对不起我不相信你 🤣 请告诉我这是一个玩笑
@@willhartmandarin 这个办法很好。你的汉语很厉害。我喜欢中国文化然后我在学习普通话。我是墨西哥人。再见
For all you guys stating this isn't possible, thanks for the motivation. I love when people say something is not possible so I can go out and prove them wrong. Regardless, my main motivation is getting to one day live in china and learn the culture through speaking to people
Go for it!! You can do it with right materials, methods, tools and instruction! 加油加油💪💪
@@RitaChinesecan a high level be reached in short period of time? I need to find a practice partner, but difficult.
So how good is your chinese right now?👀
@@WinkelmanSM-3 nobody ever responds to this question in UA-cam comments :(
You should not be living your life to prove wrong those who do not think about you at all. Success achieved through trying to prove others wrong will eternally be empty.
This guy is mind-blowing!
A year and a half! He learned Chinese faster than a toddler! Seriously amazing!
He is my biggest inspiration!
Thank you for sharing this!
For every one of his kind, there are 100 that won't have that success with the exact same techniques. Those guys are just not invited to language focus podcasts. It's a selection bias.
Wow, this dude's Chinese is really good. Although you can detect a slight trace of foreign accent, his spoken Chinese is excellent.
I know 30 year chinese colleagues that never lose accent. It matters not.
i think the most impressive is his pronunciation. honestly his vocab is like HSK5, which is very possible in 1.5 years. And the grammar he uses is not complex, about HSK4 and HSK5. But his pronunciation really shocks me, its very native! he must have focused a lot in immersion with Chinese friends to reach this level.
He must have had much much much free time to learn the language. Hats off to his unwavering effort and dedication.
No excuses
The key is motivation
Ironically enough, I started learning Spanish 1.5 years ago, also because of Covid. I am at a high intermediate level now. I just started learning Mandarin a couple weeks ago. So far, so good. Interesting interview!
He's not only diligent he's also smart if people noticed, I enjoyed him
You won't forget your Chinese if you learn Spanish. I speak English and Spanish fluently and I am adding Chinese. I think the key is to alternate inputs and outputs in the 2 foreign languages alternating every other day to maintain fluency in all three languages. You can have communication in English for a small portion of the day.. There are books on strategies of how to maintain fluency in three to five languages.
What a wonderful interview and video. This guy is an inspiration for all us language learners! I feel I had a similar arc as him with Spanish and Portuguese, just fully immersing myself in audio materials and hanging out with people that speak those languages. Now I am beginning to improve my Mandarin and it seems like a big hill to climb, but watching your channel and interviews like this keeps me motivated !!
I lived in China for about 3 years. I enjoyed learning the language and eventually did the HsK up to level 3. But this is 3 years ago, although I’m still learning, my level is decent, but the fact he accomplish this level of 标准说的话 is very impressive. Big ups. I’m envious.
Thank you for the excellent subtitles! This kind of quality is hard to find.
I'm 25 minutes into it so far.
I've spent around 6 hours watching this video already, pausing to look up vocabulary, re-listening to sentences until I hear the words. 你們說很快啊！
Once I got halfway through the video, I changed the speed to 0.75x speed and that really helps.
This video is definitely taking me to the next level!
Rewatching 9 months later, this is my favorite Chinese learning video on UA-cam. I'm amazed at his ability to express himself and his effortless grammar. Your subtitles and notes really elevate the video.
I tried some of his methods. In the last 9 months my reading and listening comprehension has gone up but I'm still slow, can't quite keep up with most content. This took me a little over an hour to re-watch, so 7x faster!
Rita, what a fantastic video, thanks for putting together those meticulous subtitles, that must have been a lot of work! Will's level is incredibly impressive!
4 hours a day, everyday, socializing and proactively talking to himself, and painstakingly using anki.
Only that dedication can achirve this.
There is no textbook or course than can get you there, but his method is the one that the language institute in the Navy uses for their officers.
感谢你们两个进行这个采访!
Hi Rita! Thanks for continuing to upload your videos! He is really amazing! 1.5 years???! Wow!
after studying Chinese for about 4 semesters online, i realize that i know a lot of simple words and sentences but without the fluency to fully describe what i'm thinking about... now that I've found a native language partner, its slowly coming together although not as fast as i would like ;-)
This was a great interview, and I learned about a lot of other resources I wasn't aware of before. As someone that has been trying to use various self-teaching resources for studying Chinese over the past ~8 months or so, it's really amazing to see someone that has done so well. Unfortunately, much like Will has no one to practice Spanish with, I don't really have anyone to practice Chinese with. I may need to look into something like Tandem and see if that works for me. Looking forward to the next part of this series.
Yay glad you find the video helpful! To use the language with real people is really important for language learning! Good luck with your studies!
Go Hello talk. Much better than Tandem
我很喜歡這樣的影片！感謝Will分享他的學習中文的經驗！這樣的榜樣鼓勵我繼續加油！🙂
Hey Todd! 你的發音已經很不錯啦，多說多用你也沒問題的😄🙌
Its not about
The vocabs but the rythym that makes his chinese sound so authentic. I know all of the vocabs he use but I cant speak like that
Such a good inspiration. I spent like 2years trying to learn Chinese by myself but it was to hard for me, so I decided to take classes and in 1 year I’m way too far from his level. He really found his language 🥳🥳🥳🥳
Such an insult
make chinese friends like he did. immersion into the language is key.
Amazing achievement! Very inspiring. It also hammers home the importance of speaking (from early on if possible)..which also presents the greatest hurdle for most of us 😅 Love the idea of talking to oneself in the target language, or pretending to be on the phone. Maybe i'll try speaking Mandarin to my cats from now on, I don't think they care, as long as there is food involved in one way or another 😆. 加油, fellow learners x
Well now I have some more inspiration to get back to studying. I kick myself for even stopping. Rita, I have your course and I'm starting it over right now!
Awesome, William!! Glad my video gets you motivated to be back working on our course😄🙌 Looking forward to talking to you at live stream and hearing your progress in the course💪💪
Aiya
My first Mandarin word
I love your video introduction with the Fàn Lǎoshī expression. So unique and original, plus your videos are also very analytical and educational, love your videos ! Keep it coming.
Thank you so much, Terry! Will try my best to put out more content!
Humble learner who took up learning the language because it was interesting and they felt they could get more out of it. 1.5 years and he sounds very natural and relaxed. Not unlike some of these "other" learners who just learn/learned it because it can get them likes or "shock" people. They speak well but sound way too excited and of course have a camera recording so that adds another level of "difficulty". This is a great example of learning a language because you want to versus because you need to. His 1.5 years sounds better than people with 5+ years. Good for him. He doesn't seem to let it go to his head either.
his Chinese is A LOT better than most of the students in the China Studies department (me included) after 1 1/2 years, it's crazy! he must've spent a lot of time every day on it
我是个印度人，也是学了一年半我直接找了一个自己最适合的方法，看到这个以后才知道他的方法一样😂。
但我还不是他这么牛逼啊需要练习很多呀
若有人愿意帮我学习我会非常的开心哦 😇
I have learned about 300 words and can read and write some characters. I chose not to study grammar, asI did with Spanish and have learned Chinese grammar naturally. I have nobody with whom to practice, and, like Will, I am speaking to myself and watching Chinese programs on my level (or close to it). Now that I have learned the basics, I am only focusing on memorizing whole sentences and speaking them too. I just found Anki and am looking forward to uploading a deck. Thank you for the great interview! I felt inspired! 太好了！我喜欢学习汉语。谢谢你！
Awesome!! Glad to know that you find the video inspiring and helpful😊 加油加油🙌❤️
He did something called sentence mining and reviewed his cards as closed deletion. He didn't memorize the sentences, there's there's huge, game changing difference here. If you care about copying his steps you better learn what those things are and how to setup your anki accordingly 👌
@@justalameusername1736 Can you link me ressources about that ?
Amazing video!!! Great content! I'm attempting to learn mandarin again and u both motivated me today
so he never actually studied and just learned through chatting and watching tvshows and anki, and got to this level? 😳 damn, now i feel stupid haha spending so much time studying grammar and sentences and everything for 7 months now and I'm not even close to intermediate level while speaking 😭
I don’t know if you have been following a more systematic curriculum or learning order, but I believe if you are learning the whole new sound system (listening and speaking) and the whole new written system (reading and writing characters), the learning process is definitely a lot more time-consuming. And for Mandarin Chinese learning, the first phase of building up a solid foundation for everything I mentioned is relatively longer than other languages that are closer to your native language. No need to feel stupid or frustrated, you’re just starting a fascinating journey! If you put more attention and consistent practice on listening and speaking, you will progress faster in using the language to communicate with natives through the sounds for sure, like Will did! 加油💪
i did the same thing he did, it’s the best way
@@RitaChinese I think the same as Franscica; When I watched the video, I wondered how one can speak so well by only learning vocabulary; And yes, he spent a lot of time talking with his friends but how did he build sentences then? It's great for him that he got to this level! Me, these kind of testimonials tend to make me think that I'm stupid I have been learning for more than 3 years using several applications and at the same time, I read and write. I also watch a lot of Drama and listen to songs, which means that I hear Chinese everyday ; The advantage is that I don't forget the words and sometimes even think in Chinese! Only what is still difficult to remember are the sentence structures.
@@elodieperochon931 Probably trial and error as well as having very kind friends, who would correct and teach him. At one point he mentioned his ex was a Chinese teacher. He has also stated that he studied at least 4 hours a day, but from what he was saying, he had a lot more exposure to Chinese than that. Finally, I do think he has a knack for language learning, to be honest.
I don't think what you did is stupid because not many people have such a great learning environment like his. He has many Chinese friends and even an ex-girlfriend who was a Chinese teacher. He could easily find an answer through his Chinese friends, not to mention he spent over 4 hours per day to practice Chinese speaking and listening. Systematic learning through basic words, sentences and grammar may still be the best and even the only way for most people. I don't have as much time as he has. I only have 1 hour per day to learn English at most. I have to make a living, so it is impossible for me to practice like him.
His fluency is kinda exceptional imo.
He barely ever hesitates or searches his words…
Yeah it's amazing. And it shows how much time and effort he must have put in👏
His sentence structure and pronunciation is soooo good, too good. Better than most people I know that have been speaking Chinese for many years as a second language.
No, I take my word back. He is not just better. His sentences are just like a native speaker. And his accent is 99% like a native speaker.
He got to that level in 18 months?!?! That's insane. I wish I was half as good as that.
Pretty impressive, yeah? We can hear the time and effort that he has made from all the details in his pronunciation and expressions👏
@@RitaChinese I don't think I could anywhere close to that level. Heck, I can't even do tones.
@@peterbayne7227 You got this, keep going!!
This is amazing!!!! How?!!!!! Perhaps the secret is literally immersion! So good!
Yeah you can always create a Chinese language environment for yourself! Glad you liked the video!
@@RitaChinese so much!
@@MarkusBlue 😄🙌
@@RitaChinese If you don`t have community around yourself - it`s impossible to achive small targets - it takes too much time for practise - minimum 3-4 hours per day !
Wow that's amazing!!! How damn a guy could be that !!
I don’t get why some in the comments are doubting he get that fluent in 1.5 years. He said he spent hours a day studying. It takes 2000 hours for an English speaker to learn Chinese , so it’s not much of a stretch that he could get good that fast by studying 4 hours a day.
YES , You are right - minimum value of hours - 500 hours for conversational level !
Please do a followup video with Will! :)
This is insane! So inspirational. I'm a med student in USA trying to learn spanish, as well as chinese. I like them both! hard to choose
Yooo that entire sentence is true for me, except replace the the USA with UK
@@gdup1728 Oh just start with spanish. Immerse yourself in that language. I must admit I'm not a native speaker, but I had to force my brain to start thinking in english language.
Right now I'm focused on spanish and japanese. I want to become LANGUAGE CHAD.
I'm a medical doctor and speak both of them plus other languages. You can do it
Excelente video. Estoy empezando mi viaje en el mandarín!
beautiful teacher, Im learning chinese too just starting
I don't think I'm alone when I say, more intermediate/advanced learners can listen and understand what is said, but the problem is mainly recreating the sentences for themselves later in conversations. Or more simply put, I can listen and understand what someone says, but I can't create a perfectly grammatical sentence in return. There is always some element missing or 搭配 is incorrect. At least that's the hurdle I'm currently experiencing.
Ya, im currently on the same stump learning arabic and i cant also understand like you said but when i need to recreate i get problems with rebuilding it in good grammar
Amazing interview!
作为Will身边的朋友，看得出他在日常生活点滴里，如何努力把学习中文这件事做到最好，保持毅力和恒心，给语言学习者树立了一个很好的榜样。如果我们都能专注一件事并做到极致，我们都能发挥自己最大的潜能。
说得好，作为十一年中文老师，真的能想象他付出了多少时间和努力在这么短的时间内达到这个水平！
1.5 years? Impressive.
...So it's possible. This is all I need to know.
1年半说得这么流利，语感这么好，挺牛的👍
是的呢，下功夫了！
18个月能说的这么好真的太绝了。
我一个海外华侨也才在中学毕业之后才跟中国/台湾/香港朋友聊天。都说我口音太重，一听就知道第一语言不是中文。我也不知道现在好点了没😂😂😂
Amazing in all aspects! Chapeau!!!
Yet one little note: At one point he mentions that his ex-gf was Chinese, even a Chinese teacher..... as if it was a small unimportant side info....in fact this is a KEY FACTOR. So if we want to use his approach the key is: 1. date someone ... 2. do all the things he mentions in the video. 😜😉
RITA HELP ME! I’m HSK 1 and I’ve been studying only for a few weeks. I want to meet you and I love your videos!
Jiayou！
Thank you for doing this video. I think it is really a new perspective to learn a new language.
I really enjoyed this interview and would like to know more about his way of learning tones.
Glad you like it!! The second half will publish when the subtitles are done. And we can definitely invite Will again to talk more about his experience!
guy is a natural talent.
I'm learning Chinese only casually a little bit each day. The main language I'm learning is Japanese. I've been learning for 6 years and I can't speak as comfortably as he can! After I finish my exams I'm turning my brain into Japanese, I love talking to myself anyway! By the way, I'm applying to graduate school in Japan hopefully it goes well
"Casually a little bit each day" while focusing mostly on another language, is totally different from 2-4 hours per day of focused study on one language. He very well may have put in more hours of study than you, which is far more significant than how long it has been since you started.
Awesome good luck with your application! When you are surrounded by native speakers and use the language as much as you can, I’m sure that you’ll feel so much comfortable using the language to communicate with people😄
他的中文说得太好了吧，还有东北口音😯作为海外华人我真的要多努力学习中文
This is unbelievable! His Chinese is so good!
哇，真太励志了! You are awesome, dude! ;d
I relate so much with "I wanted to learn it because it was a big challenge" because my gamer mind loves going into bigger challenges. ^^
Totally fantastic!
哇，他的口音很好啊，词汇量也大。牛！
Bro man sound like a native speaker 👏🏾🔥
Thanks for the vocab highlights Rita! Could you possibly put them in the description for reference? Thank you!
How's possible I wasn't subscribed to this channel? ❤
真的吗？这么短时间中文说得这么棒😍太神奇了👍💪🏼❤️
I love this guyyyyyyyyy
This is my first day learning mandarin ,and I’m nervous 😂
I also learned Chinese in about 1 year. It was not hard, because Chinese characters are very interesting.
國語很流利，我很羨慕！他給我們學習中文的外國人希望，將來可以跟他一樣厲害！我對他學習聲調的策略特別有趣。
this is insane... inspiring
Mind blowing🤩
I was watching a show called 76 Horror Bookstore, and the main character of the first episode was researching on the computer and used the characters 手語 and from my very basic understanding of japanese I understood this as sign language. I'm just starting out on my Chinese journey but I felt accomplished in understanding something without having to read subtitles.
厉害！真的很厉害！努力的小伙子最可爱！羡慕他的认真😅😂
He is very good and sounds native to me as a Cantonese American. I lived in an enclave in a Los Angeles suburb for two years where the demographics are mainly Mexican and Chinese from Mainland and Taiwan and I dont believe my level is anywhere near his.
What epiphany I got from this video is that Chinese or ANY non English speaker will CELEBRATE and APPLAUD your level of achievement learning their language BUT IN REVERSE , Ive NEVER seen ANY American or British (Aussie NZ Canada as well) media FEATURE a non White person trying to learn English and show the same RESPECT and
Im cantonese american too hehe
I wish it happened both ways equally. i think the reason a lot of the time is that it comes from an inferiority complex. i took a paper at uni that touched about racism and white renervation and inferiority complexes in south america stemming from colonial times. and also maybe bc english is a global lingua franca that too a lot of people it basically feels that english is a common language learnt around the world. and i also think that a lot of white people in western countries can get nervous about commenting and someones english in fear of offending them for some reason, ik that i do unfortunately. i work at a shop thats in an area where a large portion of the demographic is asian/indian and obviously a lot of them have learnt english so well after having lived here (New Zealand) and some not so fluent, mostly in the older generations, and it makes me happy when i speak to particularly those that arent as fluent. bc im a language student for both spanish and chinese and im not that good. learning any language is hard and i know that even as a native english speaker that english is a bitch of a language so i have mad respect for people that learn it as a language thats not their mother tongue
As a fellow Brit I am inspired by his dedication. I need to do more immersion and speak more? I think that's how to learn faster and in context . I've been learning for about a year but not at the level of time he did. I can say the basics 😁
兴趣是最好的老师。
Reminds me of a friend I met in language exchange app, she also had been learning mandarin for less than 2 years yet she was really good.
靠自修而且才一年半就说得那么好的普通话！历害啊！佩服佩服！👍👍👍👍👍
He definitely speaks like a native speaker, I'm Chinese
Thank you, that was so so helpful!!! どうもありがとう！
You're very welcome! Glad you find this video helpful😊
ionically my one chinese-speaking friend makes me use english cuz she says my chinese 太坏了 lol i will try tandem.
或着太坏的朋友吧
Super video!
Yay glad you like it😄🙌
Wow😮
他要说学了15年，说成这样我都觉得牛
厉害呀
I love Duolingo! It gave me a great advantage in class.
只能听到范老师和英国小哥的声音(可惜整个屏幕都是黑的) 。他的中文说得太棒了，而且只学习一年半的时间。
He is a genius at Chinese
我在中国生活了11年了虽然没有系统的学习中文我能过的管关这小伙子已经超过我的水平.很佩服他
He even laugh like a Chinese shy boy! Amazing
Could you give a link of this video 's subtitle? So that after watching this video, I can revising it. 谢谢你的精彩视频。
awesome accent🙃
This is very interesting. I did something similar when I was learning Spanish some years ago ... My biggest problem is still vocabulary, but I can attest to the viability of this quasi-immersive approach. I'd love to be as fluent in Chinese as this young man is 2 years from now, but now that the worst of the pandemic is over, I'm unlikely to have the extended blocks of time to immerse myself the way he did.
Very proud of him not everyone has that ability
Everyone does have that ability, that’s the point
Not everyone gets to spend so much time and effort on consistently learning and practice, use better materials and efficient method, and have native speakers around to have massive input and output. But everyone CAN make it all happen if they are really determined to😊💪
@@RitaChinese Hmmm, I've been learning for almost the same amount of time as him. I use diverse materials, focus primarily on listening, speaking, and input. But it's still not at this guy's level. Honestly, I really don't believe it's been a year and a half. I study at least 2 hours per day, but oftentimes up to 5 hours (and sometimes even 8 hours). I do use Anki, so I encounter the sentences and words A LOT. But it feels like this dude has been consistently exposed to, and has used, a LOT of vocabulary. He seems so ready to communicate. In a year and a half, that just can't be possible, right? When the pandemic lockdown started, I dove deep into this and had tons of time to dedicate to this, and I've made learning Chinese and incorporating it into my life a consistent habit. But I still cannot begin to compare to this. For Will, it's almost second-nature, almost as if he's been living in China for years. If he's really, truly been learning Chinese for only a year and a half......... y i k e s
@@iamclarity he's probably spoken a lot chinese with his friends and that surely makes a big difference with someone who gets a lot of input but who doesn't frequently use the language to communicate with other native speakers
Love your videos so much, Do you edit all of your videos by yourself?
Glad you like my content! I edited the first 10+ UA-cam videos myself, and then I found a brilliant (and expensive) editor😆 I still edit all the videos for my Instagram posts myself💪
There is a rumor she has hypnotized and ENSLAVED some poor spanish bloke!
but that's just a vicious rumor!
i hear she feeds him. sometimes.
Me too. Learning 4 languages in the same time. English, Arabic, Korean and Chinese. Stuck in basic level. Gonna download anki and tandem after this.
I am a 曼大 alumna, yeah, we have tons of Chinese students, so I didn't improve my English much when studying there.😂😂
哈哈这是中国留学生碰到的问题😆
I would say something, but my jaw is on the floor.