Student Q&A: March, 2025: Chinese slang, leaving expat bubbles, and competing with other learners

Is learning Chinese slang worth your time? What do you do when someone with less study time speaks better than you? And how can you escape the expat bubble and start learning Mandarin?

This week’s podcast episode is a reader and listener Q&A, where I answer three questions about speaking Chinese.

This time, I’m answering questions about:

• Comparing yourself with people who learn faster than you do
• Breaking out of the expat bubble to start learning Mandarin
• Whether or not you should learn slang in Chinese (and how)

Tune in to the Hacking Chinese Podcast to listen to the related episode (#239):

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and many other platforms!

Links to things mentioned in the introduction

• Chinese speaking challenge, March 2025
• Student Q&A: March, 2025: Chinese slang, leaving expat bubbles, and competing with other learners

Links for question 1 about other people learning faster

• How long do you have to study Chinese to make it useful?
• Why your Chinese isn’t as good as you think it ought to be

Why your Chinese isn’t as good as you think it ought to be

Links for question 2 about learning Chinese as an expat

• You won’t learn Chinese simply by living abroad
• The 10 best free Chinese listening resources for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners
• The 10 best free Chinese reading resources for beginner, intermediate and advanced learners
• Unlocking Chinese: The Ultimate Guide for Beginners

You won’t learn Chinese simply by living abroad

Links for question 3 about slang

• Learning (or not learning) Chinese slang
• Should you learn Chinese vocabulary from lists?

Learning (or not learning) Chinese slang