Benny Lewis - Language Hacking Mandarin: A Conversation Course for Beginners

Its true that some people spend years studying Mandarin Chinese before they finally get around to speaking the language.

But I have a better idea. Lets skip the years of studying and jump right to the speaking part.

Sound crazy? No, its language hacking.

#LanguageHacking is a completely different approach to learning a new language. Its not magic. Its not something only other people can do. Its simply about being smart with how you learn: learning whats indispensable, skipping whats not and using what youve learned to have real conversations in Mandarin right away. As a language hacker, I find shortcuts to learning new languages tricks and techniques to crack the language code and make learning simple so I can get fluent faster. When it comes to learning new languages, I focus on getting the biggest bang for my buck.

Theres no need to learn every word and grammar rule before you start using the language. You just need to know the most common and the most versatile phrases youll need in most situations, and how to speak around the problem when theres something you dont understand or know how to say yet.

#LanguageHacking isnt just a course. Its a new way of thinking about language learning. It shows you how to learn a language as well as giving you all the language you need and none of what you dont. You can use it on your own or with any other book to start speaking languages faster.

Id like to show you how its done. See you on the inside.

Benny Lewis, Language Hacker

#LanguageHacking isnt like traditional courses. Its a conversation course, which means you will focus on building the language skills you need to have meaningful, real-life conversations with other people in Mandarin right away. By the end of this course, youll be able to introduce yourself and ask and answer hundreds of typical questions in Mandarin. Youll know how to find and connect with other Mandarin speakers no matter where you live. And you will gain the skills and strategies to have countless conversations entirely in Mandarin as well as the confidence to keep them going.

#LanguageHacking can be used either on its own or alongside any other language course whether its a book, app, online, audio or in the classroom. Just grab your notebook and get started!

This course will challenge you to speak from day one by completing ten speaking missions, which will grow your conversational abilities in Mandarin. Each of the features explained below are designed to prepare you for your missions. You can complete the missions on your own, but youll progress much faster if you use the language with real people, so, if you dont have a study buddy, I encourage you to submit your missions to the #LanguageHacking community for practice and feedback.

You cant learn to play the piano until you sit down and put your fingers on the keys. You cant play tennis until you pick up the racket. And you cant learn a language if you dont speak it. By speaking from day one, you will:

pick up expressions and language from others

notice the expression gaps in your language you need to fill

become aware of how other people say things

get feedback from others

improve your pronunciation and fluency

conquer the fear of speaking a new language

feel motivated by hearing your own progress.

Each unit takes you through two conversations in Mandarin that show you how the language is used in common, everyday contexts. The conversations build on each other to grow your vocabulary and prepare you for your mission. Treat each conversation like a lesson, and make sure you understand everything before you move on to the next conversation.

Youll read each conversation and listen to the audio, then Ill help you Figure it Out. These exercises train you to start understanding Mandarin on your own through context, recognizing patterns and applying other language learning strategies without relying on translations. By figuring out language for yourself, youll internalize it better and recall it faster when you need it.

Every conversation is followed by a phrase list with the key phrases, expressions and vocab to know from that conversation, with English translations and pronunciation to help you. Notice exercises get you thinking about the new language and noticing how the language works, so youre gaining an intuitive understanding of Mandarin.

Practice exercises reinforce what you learn. Youll piece together different parts of what you know to figure out how to create new Mandarin phrases on your own.

Finally, youll take everything youve learned and Put it Together to create your own repertoire in Mandarin. Ill help you prepare me-specific language you can use in real-life conversations thats actually relevant to you.

In Language Hacking, your ability to have conversations in Mandarin is not limited by the number of words you know.

As you go along, you may develop your own shortcuts for making learning simple. If you do, share them with others and me, and use the hashtag #languagehacking.

Youll learn unconventional shortcuts to boost your language abilities exponentially. I reveal the different patterns, rules and tools to help you crack the code and get fluent faster. Each of the ten hacks equips you with techniques you can use in this course and throughout the rest of your learning journey.

Youll learn essential conversation strategies, like conversation connectors, filler words, and survival phrases to strike up conversations and keep them flowing.

You dont need to learn all the grammar. A lot of the time you can learn language in chunks the same way you learned your native language. You learned to say there it is before you ever understood what each individual word meant on its own and you still got your point across.

Well cover the foundation of the grammar you need to know, but I wont overload you with whats not essential to communication. Ill help you understand the important parts of Chinese pronunciation and share techniques to help you get them right.