Learning Conversational Mandarin through podcasts was a huge breakthrough idea in 2023. Podcasts offer the flexibility of listening anywhere, practice in immersing yourself wholly in Chinese language and culture as well as are the richest resource for listening to colloquial Mandarin. Podcasts are a fantastic way to learn Chinese.
Encapsulating some of the best Podcasts for Learning Mandarin, Inchin Closer takes your eyes off the screen and suggests 6 of the top podcasts worldwide for learning Mandarin. Whether you want to sharpen your listening of Mandarin tones, know the latest, coolest fads in China or learn business terminology, podcasts are a sure shot way to pick up the language, anywhere, at your pace and language level.
So lets sit down to focus, get comfortable and listen in to Inchin Closers top podcasts to learn Mandarin.
- Talk Chineasy – From the stables of ShaoLan, the famous TED speaker who made Chinese characters fascinating to learn, Talk Chineasy is a great listening resource for busy learners who have a few minutes a day to pick up new Chinese words and culture. This podcast is available on various platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Soundcloud.
2. Mandarin Bean – a fantastic resource, Mandarin Bean offers podcasts for all levels of language learners. You can choose your topic of interest and listen to conversations and stories. Whats best about Mandarin bean is that each podcast is followed by transcripts in simplified and traditional characters as well as pinyin and English translations too! Plus they throw in a vocabulary list that links to quizlet where you can add all the new words learnt from the podcast!
3. Tea Time Chinese – If you’re looking for thought provoking conversations, and learning more about what its like to be a foreigner living in Shanghai, join Nathan in his podcast Tea Time Chinese. Over short 15 minute episodes Tea Time Chinese talks to the lower intermediate – Intermediate learner and provides explanations in its transcript for characters and grammar used.
4. Melnyks Chinese – a superb listening guide to systematically picking up conversations like in a classroom. Chinese teacher Serge Melnyk expects learners to start with lesson 1 and build up as lessons progress. Each lesson is for 20 minutes, starts with vocabulary that is repeated multiple times, followed by a conversation and then an English explanation of grammar and vocabulary within that context.
5. ChineseClass101 – When you fist join ChineseClass101 you will be encouraged to determine your level. This will then give you access to a library of lessons which include topics like conversations, reading and writing, vocabulary, grammar, and culture. ChineseClass101 is engaging and provides dialogues at different paces – normal and slow.
6. Mandarin Monkey – The only paid podcast on our list, Mandarin Monkey is for serious learners who want to listen to longer podcasts. Interspersed with snipets of English, Mandarin Monkey has over 100 podcasts for intermediate to advanced learners. Tied in with a whatsapp discussion group for beginners and a free Mandarin class a month for advanced learners, Mandarin Monkey aims to create a tiered community of language learners.