THE LESSON LIBRARY
Your next conversation starts here.
Real stories. One lesson at a time.
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Mandarin Chinese · Fluency Level 1
A Call from Chengdu
Take Grandma Deng's New Year call with Master Chen: trade the greeting, ask after her health, hear her hesitate with the little words people say while they think, hear that the teahouse can hardly keep going, guess it is the rent, and promise to come in May.
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Mandarin Chinese · 12 levels
Fluency Level 1 Audio instruction: English 30 lessons
Little Wu gets married in Anhui, and an old teahouse in Chengdu is about to close. Among mahjong tiles, ear cleaners and storytellers, Owen learns to talk fast, tease back and tell a story. Learn the Chinese of the street, Sichuan style.
30 min
30 min
30 min
Fluency Level 2 Audio instruction: English 30 lessons
In Beijing, Owen opens a stall in the city's great tea market, drinks jasmine tea with old Beijingers, and steps on stage for a crosstalk act about tones. Learn wordplay, sayings and the humour of the north.
30 min
30 min
30 min
Fluency Level 3 Audio instruction: English 30 lessons
Master Chen's last spring at the wok: the stories he never told, Mrs. Lin's side of 1985, and a village that gathers to watch him hand the wok to Owen. The last level of Mandarin: everything you've learned, at the speed of real life.
30 min
30 min
30 min
The first 2 lessons of every level are free.