大家好.
After more than 10 years of listening to Chinesepod, I finally find the time to introduce myself…
So far I have mostly listened to the Podcasts on the go, with almost no time to really sit down and study or participate in the great community of learners and teachers here. Life is becoming a bit easier now (kids are grown and house is built…), so it allows for more dedication to my Chinese studies.
I have been studying Chinese since 2002 when I entered university for an international business degree near Cologne/Germany. After graduating in 2006, I went back to my hometown Munich and started work in importing foods, always with a strong relation to China. The same year I also discovered Chinesepod, which helped me a lot building my business Chinese, but also the small talk skills.
Currently I use Chinese in Emails, Wechat and on the phone on a daily basis and I get to travel to China 3-4 times per year to meet my suppliers.
I would say I can easily cover all work-related topics, but sometimes I still have a hard time in small talk, depending on the subject. Also, I definitely need to concentrate much more than when talking German or English. So, my goal is to become really fluent in every subject and to feel relaxed when speaking Chinese. I heavily use Chinesepod’s lessons and audio flashcards in Anki.
Another goal is being able to read Chinese novels (which I already do using Pleco, but it feels to slow). Therefore I read every evening on Pleco, mostly NYT in Chinese and stuff from baidu.
Oh yes, and one day I hope to find the time to take a looong bicycle trip around China. Like Beijing-Shenzhen with as many detours as possible. So I sometimes read Chinese bikers’ forums. But given life’s circumstances, this is a remote dream at least several years away!
Shout out to the new team, I really appreciate the recent podcasts.