This episode is a fully bilingual English–Mandarin conversation. Tom speaks in English. Ula responds entirely in Mandarin.

We talk about:

Extreme risk and a climber scaling Taipei 101

Whether dangerous stunts should be streamed live

Travel plans including Lapland, skiing holidays, the Maldives, and the US

Fear, animals, parenting, and how perspective changes over time

This is not a scripted lesson.

It’s how Mandarin is used naturally in real life.

If you’re learning Mandarin and want:

Real listening practice

Natural speed and phrasing

Mandarin used in context, not explained to death

This episode is for you.

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Why does Mandarin feel easy when you’re listening…

but impossible the moment a real person speaks?

In this mailbag episode, we answer real listener questions about learning Mandarin in the real world.

Textbooks vs real speech. Tones. Confidence. Speaking to in-laws. And why your brain sometimes just shuts down.

We talk about:

• Why textbooks teach words nobody actually says
• Whether tones really matter (and why)
• Freezing when speaking to native speakers
• Speaking Mandarin with your partner’s parents
• Why some days you feel fluent and others you forget everything
• Mainland Chinese vs Taiwanese Mandarin

If you’ve ever thought, “Is it just me?”

…it isn’t.

00:00 Welcome & what this episode is

03:10 Why textbooks don’t sound like real people

11:45 Speaking Mandarin with your partner’s parents

23:40 “I understand podcasts but not real people”

33:10 Do tones really matter?

41:45 Why some days Mandarin feels impossible

52:30 Mainland Chinese vs Taiwanese Mandarin

59:10 Final thoughts & how to keep improving

01:02:30 How to support Mandarin Monkey

🎧 Support the podcast: https://patreon.com/mandarinmonkey

📚 Book lessons: https://mandarinmonkey.com

👥 Join Mandarin Monkey Hangouts on Patreon

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We’re back. We both got hit with a nasty illness for a few weeks and lost our voices, so this one is low-energy and coughy. We talk about why we disappeared, why this Christmas felt “off”, a New Year’s Eve living-room campout with the kids, and how fast sickness can wipe you out. Then we look back at some 2025 goals, set fresh 2026 goals, and Tom admits he’s convinced Premium Bonds will make him a millionaire every month. We also share why Disney matters to us, plus a quick reminder: if you’ve been listening for ages and thinking about lessons, now’s a good time to start.

0:00 Welcome back and why we disappeared

0:40 Three weeks ill, lost voices, low energy

3:00 Christmas felt quiet this year

6:00 New Year’s Eve with kids and getting sick

10:30 Moving house, 2025 drama, hoping 2026 improves

17:00 Premium Bonds and the monthly million fantasy

20:30 2025 goals review, exercise, habits, tracking

26:00 Journaling, Finch app, wanting better insights

27:30 Disney plans and giving kids real memories

34:00 Hobbies, dates, books, piano, creative projects

40:00 2026 goals, family time, couple time

47:00 Where we might live next, avoiding tourist traps

50:30 Dog debate, Halloumi, dog sitting reality

54:30 Lessons, teachers, Patreon, wrap-up

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It’s our Christmas Special Mailbag.

We answer listener questions about real Chinese greetings, why “Ni Hao Ma” sounds unnatural, fear of flying explained by a pilot, and how to type pinyin with tone marks properly.

We finish with a fun Christmas quiz full of strange traditions and surprising facts from around the world.

If you’re learning Mandarin and want natural Chinese, not textbook Chinese, this episode is for you.

Topics include

• What to say instead of “Ni Hao Ma”

• Casual vs polite Chinese greetings

• Flying anxiety and turbulence explained

• Typing pinyin with tones

• Christmas traditions and trivia

Merry Christmas and thank you for listening to Mandarin Monkey.

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Ula explains why some dictionary and app translations feel unnatural, and shares a new Mandarin dictionary app recommendation. Then we mess around with a sound-guessing game, chat about school plays, and end with Tom quizzing Ula on the Life in the UK test.

00:00 Intro, episode 438, Wednesday energy

01:35 What subject do we look like we teach?

07:10 Midweek fatigue and kid sleep chaos

09:20 Why “dictionary Chinese” sounds unnatural

11:40 New app recommendation, 橘子漢語 (J-U-Z-I)

15:20 Free vs paid features, why it beats Pleco for usage

18:00 Nativity play recap, Bethlehem Bake Off confusion

24:35 Game time, People Places Projects sound guesses

25:55 Sound: vacuum cleaner 吸塵器

33:10 Sound: “personal trainer”, Schwarzenegger link

38:20 Sound: parking sensor, reversing beep

41:55 Next week schedule, last broadcasts, Christmas plan

43:20 Visa update and Life in the UK test quiz

48:15 Judiciary question confusion

50:55 Habeas Corpus question, 75% pass mark talk

58:50 Wrap

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Why doesn’t “How are you?” really exist in Chinese?

In this episode, we talk about how Chinese people show care without asking about feelings. Food, warmth, sleep, and daily life matter more than emotional check-ins. We also talk about sleep, anxiety, bilingual kids, accents, affection across cultures, and then completely lose control playing a sound guessing game.

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

Friday mailbag time. Chinese and English together, as always.

Today you get listener stories about:

• Stress gestures that looked like a love confession

• Soft Mandarin that sounded like poetry underwater

• Motivation, guilt, discipline and VR boxing

• Ten minutes of bus auntie story with zero context

• Scooter fails in Taiwan and panic Mandarin

• Sounding fluent while saying nonsense

• Noodle theft in a Bristol flat

• Turning passive vocab into active speech

We talk through:

• How to describe emotions without strange vibes

• Why quiet Mandarin feels impossible to decode

• When to push through and when to rest

• How confidence helps even if the vocab falls apart

Email your story for a future mailbag:

chat@mandarinmonkey.com

Lessons, community, and all the good stuff:

mandarinmonkey.com

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A bilingual Mandarin and English episode filled with Christmas nonsense, food talk, and some heavier life planning.

We talk about UK food labels, sugar overload, and why buying cheese feels like a health exam. Then we drift into real life. Stress. Pressure. Planning the next five to ten years. And why that feels very different when you have kids, bills, and responsibilities.

Tom talks through moving to Taiwan with almost no plan. Ula talks about goals and why planning triggers old student stress. We look at how to balance enjoying the moment with taking care of future you.

If you want to practise listening to natural Mandarin and English in a real conversation, this episode is perfect.

You can book a free trial lesson at mandarinmonkey.com.

Send your emails for the Friday mailbag to chat@mandarinmonkey.com.

CHAPTERS

0:00 Intro

0:33 Christmas, turkeys, and the turducken problem

2:20 Giblets, guts, and Taiwanese menus

3:40 UK Christmas decorations and candy canes

5:15 Sugar, food labels, and supermarket misery

7:30 Comparing food labels in Taiwan and the UK

8:20 Sleeping positions and being the big spoon

10:50 Christmas hats, hoodies, and decorating the house

11:24 The smoke machine debate

12:40 Christmas lights and buying more nonsense

13:48 Teaching our daughter Mandarin

14:50 Talking about old homes and old decisions

16:10 How planning shapes the next 10 years

18:00 What peace, fun, and goals mean

20:00 Moving to Taiwan with no plan

22:30 Making mistakes when you’re young

24:40 Why planning feels heavier as an adult

27:00 Arriving in Taiwan with total freedom

30:00 Mixing living in the moment with long-term goals

33:00 Having things to look forward to

35:00 December Hangouts and lesson schedule

36:00 How to book lessons and send mailbag emails

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